Questioning Behaviour in Monocultural and Intercultural Technical Business Negotiations: The Dutch—Spanish Connection

Abstract

This article addresses the issue of asking questions as an important element of international business negotiation where there are differences in cultural background. A Dutch-Spanish difference in questioning was related to differences between the two parties in uncertainty reduction and negotiation goals. All 480 questions in 8 simulated Kelley game negotiations were reviewed: both monocultural (3 Dutch-Dutch in Dutch and 2 Spanish-Spanish in Spanish) and intercultural (3 Spanish-Dutch in English), i.e. 2 cultures and 3 languages (average duration of 30 min of recording per negotiation). This analysis may also allow an illustration of the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis (Sapir, 1949 and Whorf, 1956) which holds, at least in its weak version, that culture frames language and language frames culture. It may also be possible to determine the extent to which intercultural differences between Dutch and Spanish questioning behaviours - assuming they can be ascertained in comparison with monocultural Dutch and Spanish behaviour - are language bound. In other words, do negotiators use a different typology of questions in their native language (L1: Dutch or Spanish) than in a neutral language (L2)? A comparison of the monocultural and intercultural data makes it possible to illustrate the above hypothesis, and to establish how far the L1-culture connection differs from that of the L2-culture. For another similar test on culture-language relations in South African mathematics texts and their readers, see Prins and Ulijn (1998). The uncertainty reduction theory (UR) of Berger (1979) and the negotiation models developed by Fisher and Ury (1981) and Mastenbroek (1989) are related to question behaviour, which is analysed with the Verbal Response Mode Taxonomy of Stiles (1981). Pre- and post-negotiation questionnaires (using Likert-scales) were developed and administered to relate the results of the linguistic analysis to the perceptions of the negotiators in order to test the ecological validity of UR. Asking questions appeared to be a critical success factor in both monocultural and intercultural business negotiation on the basis of their relation with UR variables and Kelley game profit levels, but in a different sense to Gudykunst et al. (see Gudykunst, 1985, 1988; Gudykunst and Nishida, 1984), who suggest that questions reduce uncertainty by increasing attributional confidence in a general way, seemingly irrespective of a national cultural background (see Van Dalen, 1995). In this study the Dutch, starting from a higher level of issue-related global confidence, used questions significantly less than the Spanish to attribute confidence to the person, indicating a cultural difference. Most questioning differences appeared to be language - as well as culture-bound. The Spanish asked significantly more for acknowledgement, and the Dutch asked more indirect questions with disclosure, but the two groups did not differ in global uncertainty and attributional confidence after their negotiations. They seemed to reduce uncertainty by adopting a passive, unobtrusive observation strategy. It may be that the type of information needed to become more confident depends on the communicator's personality rather than on his or her cultural background. Dutch and Spanish managers would therefore be advised to balance openness and vagueness to reach their negotiation goals in maximizing profits by using a combination of clear and ambiguous questions and answers and to be aware of the linguistic differences in questioning between Spanish and Dutch, which may even be carried over to English when it is used as a tool of communication.