Research: Employees from Lower-Class Backgrounds Negotiate Less—and Face More BacklashSKIP TO CONTENT
Harvard Business Review LogoCompensation and benefits<br>Research: Employees from Lower-Class Backgrounds Negotiate Less—and Face More Backlash
by Jackson G. Lu, Ying Lin and Michele J. Gelfand
August 3, 2026
Yaroslav Danylchenko/Stocksy
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Summary.<br>Negotiation is often treated as a neutral, meritocratic process: Employees ask, managers assess, and the strongest case wins. New research challenges that assumption, showing that individuals from...more<br>Leer en españolLer em português
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Imagine you have two employees with comparable qualifications and performance. One asks for a higher salary, a promotion, or more meaningful work. The other remains silent. In many organizations, the first employee may be seen as proactive and rewarded, while the second may be assumed to be satisfied with the status quo.
Jackson G. Lu is the General Motors Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He focuses on three research streams: (1) the “Bamboo Ceiling” experienced by Asians; (2) how multicultural experiences (e.g., working abroad) shape key organizational outcomes, including leadership, creativity, and ethics; and (3) the multifaceted impact of AI on individuals, organizations, and society.
Ying Lin is an assistant professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Her research examines how culture shapes some of society’s defining challenges—from inequality and conflict to distrust—and how it can help solve them.
Michele J. Gelfand is the John H. Scully Professor in Cross-Cultural Management and Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business. Her research focuses on culture, norms, negotiation, and conflict.
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Read more on Compensation and benefits or related topics Talent management , Negotiating skills , Cognitive bias , Hiring and recruitment , Developing employees , Human resource management and Leadership and managing people
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