In business, the ability to develop rapport with a potential exchange partner can significantly impact the outcome of a negotiation. Although non-verbal communication is a key factor in relationship-building, there is little research on use of touch in business, and even less about hugging, even though hugging is becoming more common in the US. To explore hugging as a nonverbal form of communication in the workplace, the researcher adopted a quasi-experimental design informed by Social Exchange Theory (SET). During the experiment, power and dyadic gender composition were manipulated to study their effects on a “hugee’s” decision to reciprocate a hug, or not, in a business setting. Following a scenario-based encounter between subject and confederate, the subjects answered a series of questions about themselves and their experience. This research shows that female research participants are more likely than male participants to reciprocate a hug offered by a same-gender exchange partner; that the power (status) of a “hugger” does not significantly influence whether or not a research participant will reciprocate a hug offered by an exchange partner; that the gender of the research participant does not moderate the effect of power of the exchange partner such that power will have a greater effect on female participants than male participants and that individual traits of Emotional Sensitivity and Social Flexibility do not predict hugging in the workplace
