Getting What You Want: The Role of Culture and Partner’s Needs in Predicting the Effectiveness of Influence in Negotiation

Abstract

Consistent with a dynamic constructivist approach to culture, we propose the negotiation context activates a different set of needs for U.S. and Japanese negotiators. While both U.S. and Japanese negotiators have needs to be logical and to uphold social norms, we propose that the effectiveness of influence strategies will be explained more by a need for logic in U.S. negotiations and a need to uphold social norms in Japanese negotiations. We test our hypotheses with a sample of 15 U.S. and 15 Japanese dyads that negotiated a conflict simulation. Results indicate that the interaction between a negotiator's use of influence and the partner's underlying needs in predicting how much value negotiators claim is distinct in the U.S. and the Japanese culture. Findings offer extensions to existing theory on culture and negotiation and implications for managers in cross-cultural negotiation and conflict settings.