Negotiations via internet: Study of negotiator versus consumer behavior through the web

Abstract

Through the studies carried out by the INTERNEG project (1996), research was initiated to evaluate and raise hypotheses regarding the influence of new computing technologies, where the small corner store started to negotiate via the web with another entrepreneur/consumer that previously would not be considered – the virtual trader. Then came the “faceless negotiator”, and the “remote or virtual consumer”, who geographically or culturally would be interacting in maximizing their utilities. The INTERNEG project had the INSPIRE tool as a working tool, which would allow, through a pre-questionnaire, an analysis of the messages exchanged between the negotiators, and a post-questionnaire (not mandatory), to evaluate the negotiations made between individuals who did not know each other. , as well as the outcome of their negotiations. The purpose of this article is to analyze internet trading – precursors of e-commerce, consumer trust relationships, efforts to make negotiations more interactive, and negotiator and consumer behavior. The method of analysis used is based on the structuralist view whose objective is to discover which structures support all the things that human beings do, think and perceive, being still a current of thought in the human sciences that was inspired by the linguistic model and which infers social reality from a considered elementary (or formal) set of relationships. The results showed that the bargaining scenario with few exchanges is undesirable to persuade the participants to accept post-agreement offers, however, it suggests that such offers must be accompanied by additional arguments that will make the bargain viable and allow the achievement of Pareto-optimal virtual trading.