East Asians' Social Heterogeneity: Differences in Norms Among Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Negotiators

Abstract

This paper shows that the assumption, widely accepted in the culture and negotiation literature, that East Asian cultures are homogeneous in their value for preserving social relationships is an oversimplification. We propose that there will be differences in negotiation norms among managers from China, Japan, and Korea because the focus of social relations – individual versus group – and the emotional versus instrumental nature of those relations varies systematically among these three cultures. Web survey data from managers from the three countries showed, as predicted, that Japanese managers were most likely to endorse distributive tactic norms; Chinese managers were least likely to endorse integrative tactic norms; and Korean managers were most likely to endorse norms for self-interest.