Low Trust in Negotiations Can Lead to High Gains.

A recent study on first-time negotiations found that mutual skepticism can foster more successful outcomes than high trust. In an experiment involving 160 MBA students paired as job recruiters and candidates, low-trust pairs achieved up to 15% higher joint gains than others, likely due to more rigorous questioning and fewer assumptions. The findings suggest that while trust may be vital in long-term partnerships, shared caution can enhance value creation in initial business negotiations.