| Abstract: | Previous research on oligopoly bargaining has shown soft strategies to be superior to tough strategies and has suggested that this effect may be moderated by agreement pressure. However, previous research is difficult to interpret because the effects of strategy changes and subsequent strategies have not been adequately tested. Female students from introductory psychology classes were assigned the role of buyers and bargained with initially soft or tough and subsequently soft or tough programmed (seller) strategies under low or high agreement pressure. Subjects had the opportunity to bargain with the strategy (seller) of their choice and to change sellers at any time. As hypothesized, soft seller strategies were found to be superior to tough strategies. In addition, the superiority of soft seller strategies was increased by low agreement pressure. |
