Perceptions of Chinese Negotiation Behavior: A Quantitative Study of Differences in Perceptions between Chinese and Western Managers

Abstract

Chinese-Western business negotiations often fail because of cultural differences. Our research aims at investigating whether and how the self-perception of Chinese negotiation behavior differs to the perception of Western managers. This contributes to identifying possible areas of conflict. For this reason a quantitative survey was conducted among managers from German speaking countries and from China. Our results show that the impact of Confucian values and external conditions on Chinese negotiation behavior are perceived similarly by Western and Chinese managers. However, the Western perception and interpretation of Chinese stratagems thinking differs significantly. In particular, our results show that the purpose of the principal agreement is perceived contrarily.