There are well-documented race and gender inequalities across academia, and one hotly contested aspect of this disparity is the matter of negotiation. A recent study from the University of Michigan adds its two penneth to the debate.

The researchers analyzed differences in negotiation behavior in academia, and also the response of the institutions themselves, with the findings shedding light on pay inequity in the sector.

How we negotiate

The study looked at how people negotiate, paying special attention to differences based on gender and race. The study also examined how colleges and universities respond to these differences. This research sheds light on the important problem of unequal pay and resource allocation in higher education.

The research defined negotiation behavior as actively trying to get a job offer from another place, getting a formal job offer, and then talking about the terms of the job. By looking at these aspects, the research aimed to understand what goes on in the world of academia.

“We wanted to understand better negotiating behavior as a source of inequity,” the researchers explain. “We know that there’s a lot of racism and sexism that manifests in various ways among the faculty. So, we’ve looked at a broader sample and built on what we qualitatively already knew to try to concretize it in a quantitative metric, utilizing the best data possible.”

Career progression

Leveraging data from the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education, a comprehensive faculty survey conducted over nine academic years spanning from 2012 to 2020, the researchers amassed a dataset comprising insights from approximately 31,000 faculty members hailing from 191 different academic institutions.

The study’s primary aim was to paint a detailed picture of faculty members who partake in negotiation activities, understand how institutions respond to these negotiation behaviors, and discern any disparities in negotiation tendencies concerning gender and race/ethnicity among the faculty involved.

“One of the most relevant findings is that there are significant differences in negotiation behavior across gender and racial/ethnic groups,” the researchers explain. “Men and women of color, for example, are less likely than white men to seek external job offers. While men of color are less likely than white men to negotiate their employment net of other variables; the men who negotiate are more likely to receive an increase in base salary compared with other faculty.”

The researchers explain that their findings highlight the role negotiation can play in gender pay disparities. They suggest that the availability of external job opportunities is crucial to securing salary improvements. It’s something that may inadvertently result in pay gaps, however.

“These discussions present some lessons,” the authors conclude. “First, faculty members could be doing themselves a disservice if they don’t engage in seeking external offers. Even though it shouldn’t be their job to play this game, seeking outside may matter, and doing so may help put them in a strong negotiating position.

“Achieving pay equity and resource allocation fairness in higher education is a shared responsibility that requires the commitment of academic institutions and their leaders.”