Position Loss and Image Loss in Bargaining

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Abstract
Bargaining theorists have had a long-standing interest in understanding the relationship between the tangible and intangible aspects of concession-making—what Pruitt (1971) has described as the risks of "position loss" and "image loss," respectively. In order to evaluate the precise relationship between position loss and image loss, two questionnaire studies were conducted. In Experiment I, bargainers read a cover story describing a dyadic bar gaining episode and were asked to take the role of one of the disputants; they were then to rate the "image" associated with each of a series of offers, and the monetary concession values associated with a set of possible bargainer appearances in a within-subjects design. Experiment II was identical to the first study in all respects, except that only one offer and one bargaining appearance were rated in a between-subjects design. Subjects were found to discriminate better among various bargainer appearances in Experiment I than in Experiment II. In addition, an exponential relationship was found between image loss and position loss in Experiment I, while an ogive was obtained in Experiment II. Implications of the points of similarity and divergence in the results of the two studies are discussed.

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