The Impact of Concession Patterns on Negotiations: When and Why Decreasing Concessions Lead to a Distributive Disadvantage

•Decreasing concessions signal that the sender is reaching their reservation price.•Recipients therefore make less ambitious counteroffers and reach worse agreements.•These effects are stronger when concessions decrease at a moderate rate.•These effects are stronger when more rather than fewer concessions are made.•Thinking of a target protects negotiators against decreasing concessions.