The Development of Mutual Trust in Cross-Cultural Business Negotiations

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to provide insight into how mutual trust develops in cross-cultural industrial business negotiations. A theoretical framework is provided that identifies a set of constructs proposed to influence the development of mutual trust in business negotiations. This framework conceives the development of mutual trust as a social interaction process in which verbal, paraverbal and nonverbal behavior of each partner are interrelated. The results of an empirical study designed to validate the established framework are presented.