Context Of Negotiations Research Articles

Relational Concerns and the Economic Value of Negotiated Agreements

Theoretical negotiation scholarship has conceptualized economic concerns and relational concerns as independent and orthogonal. Empirical negotiation scholarship has construed economic and relational concerns as compensatory and implicitly assumed that the negotiated deal terms reflect a complete accounting of the economic value of an agreement. We challenge these assumptions and assert that the economic value of an agreement includes both the deal terms and post-negotiation behavior, which may be influenced by relational outcomes. Across four studies, we show that negotiators’ economic outcomes are inextricably linked with their relational outcomes. We introduce a new dimension to characterize negotiation contexts: the Economic Relevance of Relational Outcomes (ERRO), a continuum that reflects the extent to which the economic value of a negotiated agreement hinges on the strength of the relationship between the parties. We show that individuals are more concerned about relationships in high ERRO rather than low ERRO contexts, and that in high ERRO contexts negotiators privilege relational concerns over favorable deal terms. Our work theoretically and empirically addresses a fundamental gap in the negotiation literature by underscoring the importance of negotiation context in linking relational outcomes with economic outcomes.

The effect of gender and firm identification on auditor pre-negotiation judgments

This paper extends current auditor negotiation research by considering the effects of two dimensions of auditors' identity that are posited to be relevant to auditors' negotiation: gender and audit firm identification. Women earn over half of college degrees in accounting, and hold more than half of accounting and auditing positions in the US, yet the balance of the gender of partners at audit firms is currently not equal (AICPA, 2017). However, as more women advance into partnership positions in firms, it is increasingly important to have an understanding of how gender affects the behaviors, processes and outcomes of negotiation, and thus the quality of financial statements. The auditor-client negotiation context has features, such as ambiguity and representation of others that can “trigger” the salience of auditors' gender and firm identity. Once salient, these two dimensions of auditors' identity shape auditors' motivational orientation towards negotiations, which, in turn, affects the auditors' negotiation behavior and negotiation outcomes.The study finds that male and female auditors approach the negotiation over audit adjustments differently. Although many negotiation studies find that males negotiate more aggressively than do females, auditor-client negotiation offers a unique setting that has been found to reverse this common trend. We hypothesize and find that female auditors recommend higher audit adjustments than males. However, the level of firm identification moderates female's recommended audit adjustments such that at higher levels of firm identification, the larger audit adjustments recommended by females decrease. This finding is consistent with the growing research on gender differences in auditing and the research on gender and risk tolerance, which find females to be more risk averse, but contrary to much of the negotiation research which shows males as more aggressive and achieving higher negotiated outcomes. In supplemental analysis, we find that our results hold in the senior manager subsample but not in the partner subsample. This result is consistent with theory on gender differences which suggests that the differences will disappear with increased occupational socialization (Smith & Rogers, 2000). Practical implications are discussed.

Audit negotiations

PurposeAudit negotiations are impacted by many factors. This study aims to investigate how two such factors, communication of the National Office Accounting Consultation Unit (ACU) and the auditor’s approach, affect chief financial officers’ (CFOs’) willingness to adjust the financial statements and satisfaction with the auditor.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a 2 × 3 between-subjects experimental design. Participants are 169 highly experienced CFOs and financial officers. The experimental design crosses the two multi-dimensional auditor approaches found in the literature with two influence tactics used to communicate ACU involvement, as well as a control condition, with no communication of the ACU involvement.FindingsCommunicating the ACU’s involvement as a higher authority (similar to a boss) results in greater willingness to record an adjustment to the financial statements when auditors use a hands-off “compliance-officer” auditor approach, but lower willingness by CFOs to adjust the financial statements when auditors use an expert-advisor auditor approach as compared to when coalition tactics are used. Results also show that communicating the ACU as a higher authority negatively impacts a CFO’s satisfaction with the audit partner. Overall, these results highlight the importance of the auditor’s approach and communication of ACU involvement within the auditor–client relationship. The outcomes of this study are limited to situations where unexpected audit adjustments are found during the year-end process and thus cannot be discussed pre-emptively with clients.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper advances the understanding of how the multi-dimensional auditor’s approach can shape and limit the effectiveness of influence tactics. These factors are important, as auditors are tasked with maintaining not only quality audits but also client relationships. However, although rich in detail, factors other than auditor approach may have inadvertently been manipulated and are driving results.Practical implicationsThe approach taken by the auditor with a client throughout the audit sets the stage during the auditor–client negotiations. Therefore, audit partners must consider their own approach with the client before communicating the ACU’s involvement as the auditor approach shapes and limits the tactics available for use. Using ill-suited tactics may undermine the client’s willingness to record an adjustment to the financial statements and cause undue harm to the auditor–client relationship.Originality/valueThis paper uses highly experienced CFOs and financial officers to examine how two common elements in the audit negotiation context can significantly affect the outcome to the financial statements and the relationship between the client and audit partner.

Social skills based approach in the workplace during a union negotiation process: methodological development in an industrial environment

The present research focuses on social skills in a workplace. In this article, we propose an elaborate way to identify and collect social skills observed in situ in the innovative context of labor-union negotiations. This methodological system includes the creation of specific tools, observations in real situations, films and some interviews such as self-confrontations. Results demonstrate that the proposed method dynamically integrates various steps designed to expose the existence of social skills in a developmental context with challenging and sometimes conflicting issues. Identifying the essential social skills in labor-union negotiation allows consideration of the place of vocational training in the development of these skills in negotiation situations and, more widely, in the field of social dialogue.

Imaginary alternatives: The effects of mental simulation on powerless negotiators.

This research demonstrates that people can act more powerfully without having power. Researchers and practitioners advise people to obtain alternatives in social exchange relationships to enhance their power. However, alternatives are not always readily available, often forcing people to interact without having much power. Building on research suggesting that subjective power and objective outcomes are disconnected and that mental simulation can improve aspirations, we show that the mental imagery of a strong alternative can provide some of the benefits that real alternatives provide. We tested this hypothesis in one context of social exchange-negotiations-and demonstrate that imagining strong alternatives (vs. not) causes powerless individuals to negotiate more ambitiously. Negotiators reached more profitable agreements when they had a stronger tendency to simulate alternatives (Study 1) or when they were instructed to simulate an alternative (Studies 3-6). Mediation analyses suggest that mental simulation enhanced performance because it boosted negotiators' aspirations and subsequent first offers (Studies 2-6), but only when the simulated alternative was attractive (Study 5). We used various negotiation contexts, which also allowed us to identify important boundary conditions of mental simulations in interdependent settings: mental simulation no longer helped when negotiators did not make the first offer, when their opponents simultaneously engaged in mental simulation (Study 6), and even backfired in settings where negotiators' positions were difficult to reconcile (Study 7). An internal meta-analysis of the file-drawer produces conservative effect size estimates and demonstrates the robustness of the effect. We contribute to social power, negotiations, and mental simulation research. (PsycINFO Database Record

NEGOTIATING HEALTH: patients\u2019 and guardians\u2019 perspective on \u201cfailed\u201d patient-professional interactions in the context of the Swedish health care system

BackgroundSweden has a largely tax-funded health care system that aims at providing equal access for everyone. However, the individual’s perception and experience of the health care system remains a relevant topic for researchers. The aim of this study is to learn the patient’s perspective on how patients and professionals negotiate in the social context of the Swedish health care system.MethodsEight essays that had spontaneously been contributed to a medical writing contest were analyzed using narrative methods. Narratives were defined as a sequence of clauses that correspond to an order of events in the narrator’s biography. The analysis comprised a three-step process. First, the essays were read and narratives were extracted. Second, an agency analysis was performed. Third, an analysis of social positioning was employed.ResultsThe Swedish health care system provides the social context and background for negotiations between patients and professionals. The narrators position the protagonists of the illness narratives as either patients or guardians of underage patients. The protagonists meet health care representatives in negotiation situations. Due to the lack of emotional connection between the negotiating parties, impossible situations arise. False promises are made which ultimately result in the patients’ suffering. Thus, all negotiations failed from the narrators’ perspective.ConclusionThe narrators invited their audience to solve negotiation situations differently. This study discusses some actions that may help navigate negotiation situations: Health care providers should acknowledge the patient’s or guardian’s social position and dilemma, allow emotions, involve all parties in the decision-making process and manage expectations. Writing competitions may provide a tool for experience-based assessment of health care systems.

The Concept of “Developing Countries” in the Context of the WTO Fisheries Subsidies Negotiation

This paper explores the concept of developing countries in the context of the WTO DDA fisheries subsidies negotiations. It raises a question whether the concept of developing countries that is widely used in other WTO agreement should be applicable to the new disciplines on fisheries subsidies. In order to address the question, this paper outlines the history of the DDA fisheries subsidies negotiations and discusses the goal of fisheries subsidies negotiations. Then, it presents the concept of developing countries in the GATT, the WTO and other international institutions, and finds that it is almost exclusively based on economic indicators. Then, it reviews global fish production and the amount of global fisheries subsidies. On the basis of its analysis, this paper finds that, in order to achieve the proposed goal of the new disciplines on fisheries subsidies, and to strike a balance between the environmental and the developmental dimensions of fisheries subsidies, the concept of “developing countries” in the context of fisheries subsidies should be different from that in other WTO agreements. It should not include countries that have leading fishing industry for which the governments provide large amount of subsidies, in particular, fishing capacity-enhancing subsidies.

The Role of Argument in Negotiation

The purpose of this paper is to show the pervasive, though often implicit, role of arguments in negotiation dialogue. This holds even for negotiations that start from a difference of interest such as mere bargaining through offers and counteroffers. But it certainly holds for negotiations that try to settle a difference of opinion on policy issues. It will be demonstrated how a series of offers and counteroffers in a negotiation dialogue contains a reconstructible series of implicit persuasion dialogues. The paper is a sequel to van Laar and Krabbe (2017), in which we showed that for some differences of opinion it may be reasonable to shift from persuasion dialogue, aimed at a resolution of the difference on the merits, to negotiation dialogue, aimed at compromise, whereas in the present paper we show that such a shift need not amount to the abandonment of argumentation. Our main aim in this paper as well as in the previous one is to contribute to the theory of argumentation within the context of negotiation and compromise formation.

Optimal linguistic expression in negotiations depends on visual appearance.

We investigate the influence of the visual appearance of a negotiator on persuasiveness within the context of negotiations. Psychological experiments were conducted to quantitatively analyze the relationship between visual appearance and the use of language. Male and female participants were shown three female and male photographs, respectively. They were asked to report how they felt about each photograph using a seven-point semantic differential (SD) scale for six affective factors (positive impression, extraversion, intelligence, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and agreeableness). Participants then answered how they felt about each negotiation scenario (they were presented with pictures and a situation combined with negotiation sentences) using a seven-point SD scale for seven affective factors (positive impression, extraversion, intelligence, conscientiousness, emotional stability, agreeableness, and degree of persuasion). Two experiments were conducted using different participant groups depending on the negotiation situations. Photographs with good or bad appearances were found to show high or low degrees of persuasion, respectively. A multiple regression equation was obtained, indicating the importance of the three language factors (euphemistic, honorific, and sympathy expressions) to impressions made during negotiation. The result shows that there are optimal negotiation sentences based on various negotiation factors, such as visual appearance and use of language. For example, persons with good appearance might worsen their impression during negotiations by using certain language, although their initial impression was positive, and persons with bad appearance could effectively improve their impressions in negotiations through their use of language, although the final impressions of their negotiation counterpart might still be more negative than those for persons with good appearance. In contrast, the impressions made by persons of normal appearance were not easily affected by their use of language. The results of the present study have significant implications for future studies of effective negotiation strategies considering visual appearance as well as gender.

Splitting a Difference of Opinion: The Shift to Negotiation

Negotiation is not only used to settle differences of interest but also to settle differences of opinion. Discussants who are unable to resolve their difference about the objective worth of a policy or action proposal may be willing to abandon their attempts to convince the other and search instead for a compromise that would, for each of them, though only a second choice yet be preferable to a lasting conflict. Our questions are: First, when is it sensible to enter into negotiations and when would this be unwarranted or even fallacious? Second, what is the nature of a compromise? What does it mean to settle instead of resolve a difference of opinion, and what might be the dialectical consequences of mistaking a compromise for a substantial resolution? Our main aim is to contribute to the theory of argumentation within the context of negotiation and compromise formation and to show how arguing disputants can shift to negotiation in a dialectically virtuous way.

Culturally varied relationality in buyer-supplier negotiations: a multi-session simulation

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the role of relationality in buyer–supplier negotiations and how it varies across cultural settings.Design/methodology/approachUsing a multisession simulation design, this study recruited research participants (n = 82) from diverse cultural backgrounds to play the role of either buyer or supplier for two negotiation tasks. Regression analyses were used to test the relationships among relational constructs as well as the moderating role of relational culture.FindingsResults show that negotiators’ relational self-construal enhances their relational commitment to the ongoing negotiations, which leads to a higher level of relational capital accumulated at the end of negotiations. The impact of relational self-construal on relational commitment and that of relational commitment on counterparts’ relational capital are stronger for negotiators from a high (as opposed to low) relational cultural background. Furthermore, intercultural negotiation context, when compared with intracultural context, weakens the impact of relational commitment on relational capital.Originality/valueThis research is among the first to empirically examine the culturally varied relationality in negotiations. The findings offer important theoretical and practical implications regarding how relationality, when interacting with cultural factors, has varying impacts on business negotiations.

More than a Phase: Form and Features of a General Theory of Negotiation

Organizational scholars have systematically studied the negotiation process to guide the development of general descriptive and prescriptive theory. Descriptive research conducted by scholars from anthropology, law, and international relations converge on the features required for a general theory. This includes a multiphase process comprising planning, bargaining, and implementation, as well as multiparty process between actors organized within a multilevel structure. We examine to what extent negotiation scholars in management have incorporated such complexities into their empirical work. In a survey of empirical studies, we observe concentrated efforts to model and measure dyadic interactions in just one phase—bargaining—and the near exclusive use of experimental methods. By contrast, we survey prescriptive theory generated by specialized experts from various negotiation contexts and find that they place greater focus on the preparation and implementation phases. From this review, we recommend that scholars (a) theorize and measure negotiation as a multiphase process with possibilities for recursion, (b) incorporate a multiparty and multilevel structure in which actors beyond negotiating parties can influence the process, and (c) consider agreements as action commitments separate from actually realizing outcomes. In doing so, we discuss the value of integrating analogous work to furnish negotiation theory. We also provide recommendations for novel empirical approaches that move beyond experimental designs of multi-issue bargaining.

The principle of solidarity in asylum and migration within the context of the European Union accession process

This article addresses the question of the principle of solidarity in the fields of asylum and migration within the context of accession negotiations between the European Union and the candidate countries for EU membership. When a candidate country fulfils the membership conditions, it is expected that they will share the values of solidarity, mutual assistance and burden sharing in the fields of asylum and migration which will naturally impinge on their state sovereignty. This article is based on the hypothesis that solidarity in the field of asylum and migration has not been discussed within the enlargement process, meaning that the ‘new’ Member States were not aware of the concrete forms that this principle could take in the future. This hypothesis was tested on three case studies by analysing the accession documents of one candidate country from each of the three enlargement cycles (Slovenia, Bulgaria and Croatia respectively). This article concludes by showing that by agreeing to the EU Treaties, its solidarity clause and the majority vote rules, either as Member States or candidates, the states undertook the duty to transpose obligations in the fields of asylum and migration, even if they did not necessarily agree with them.

The Influences of Media, Power, and Male Communication on Concession Making by Females during Negotiations

ABSTRACTResearch indicates that females' economic negotiated outcomes are generally worse than those of males. However, this research has also noted several circumstances when females' economic outcomes are at least as good as those of males. In the present study, we explore this equivocal pattern of outcomes with a focus on concessions that females make as they negotiate with males over two media, audio and instant messaging (IM). We proposed and tested a model to explain these concessions and how they are influenced by elements of the negotiation context, including the medium, resource power, and the degree that positive affect is communicated by males to females. Our predictions are based on role congruity theory. We predicted and found that females tend to have poorer economic negotiated outcomes due to greater concession making when they use an audio rather than IM media and when they have more resource power. In addition, we found that females tend to fare poorer economically with the combination of having more resource power and negotiating using audio, than would be expected based on the simple sum of the effects of resource power and using audio. Finally, we found that when females have resource power and positive affect is communicated by their male partners, females tend to fare better economically. These findings suggest choices that both females and males can make so as to enhance their economic outcomes. For example, when they can choose the negotiation medium, females should choose to negotiate over IM rather than audio, while males should choose audio rather than IM.

A proposed model for effective negotiation skill development

PurposePrevious research on negotiation skills has focused mostly on the negotiation itself and tactics used when bargaining, while little research has examined the process by which people become effective negotiators. The purpose of this paper is to develop an initial model from an intra-organizational perspective to outline the factors that contribute to the development of negotiation skills and behaviors by employees.Design/methodology/approachThis conceptual paper relies on prior research and existing theory to focus on the types of developmental and learning experiences and processes that lead to the acquisition of three specific types of key negotiation skills and behaviors.FindingsDistributive, integrative, and adaptable negotiation skills are developed most effectively via different learning and development activities, respectively. Additionally, unique individual difference and situational variables could contribute to particular negotiation behaviors, either directly or via an interaction with developmental experiences.Practical implicationsThe paper proposes a model for future testing in which results can provide support for tailored/customized training and development of employee negotiation skills. Providing the correct people with the correct tools in the correct manner is always desirable by practitioners.Originality/valueThis proposed holistic model provides new insights, structure, and suggestions for more research on factors that lead to negotiation skill development and exhibition of effective negotiation behaviors. This paper goes beyond description of negotiation tactics and addresses the various negotiation contexts and the unique skills needed for each. Most importantly, the paper addresses how those skills are uniquely and most effectively developed.

Perceptions of High Integrity Can Persist After Deception: How Implicit Beliefs Moderate Trust Erosion

Scholars have assumed that trust is fragile: difficult to build and easily broken. We demonstrate, however, that in some cases trust is surprisingly robust—even when harmful deception is revealed, some individuals maintain high levels of trust in the deceiver. In this paper, we describe how implicit theories moderate the harmful effects of revealed deception on a key component of trust: perceptions of integrity. In a negotiation context, we show that people who hold incremental theories (beliefs that negotiating abilities are malleable) reduce perceptions of their counterpart’s integrity after they learn that they were deceived, whereas people who hold entity theories (beliefs that negotiators’ characteristics and abilities are fixed) maintain their first impressions after learning that they were deceived. Implicit theories influenced how targets interpreted evidence of deception. Individuals with incremental theories encoded revealed deception as an ethical violation; individuals with entity theories did not. These findings highlight the importance of implicit beliefs in understanding how trust changes over time.

Social contagion or strategic choice?

PurposeThis paper aims to explore how Chinese negotiators’ positive and negative emotions affect value claiming during dyadic negotiations and examine the influence of these aroused emotions on the recipient as well as the antecedents and consequents of such reactions.Design/methodology/approachUsing a simulated face-to-face negotiation between buyers and sellers, the authors conducted an experiment based on the manipulation of the sellers’ emotions. About 280 undergraduates participated in a simulated negotiation. SPSS20.0 statistical analysis software was used to test the hypothesis.FindingsThe results indicated that the sellers who demonstrates negative emotions claimed more value than happy sellers (direct effect), and the perceived power disadvantage mediated this effect. Moreover, buyers in the happy dyads displayed a higher evaluation of their guanxi (relationship). This experiment also indicated that the sellers’ emotions (happiness or anger) evoked a reciprocal emotion in the buyers, supporting the social contagion perspective. More importantly, as emotion recipients, the buyers’ reactions exerted further influence on the outcomes (ripple effect); specifically, in the happy dyads, the buyers’ positive emotional reactions were negatively related to their individual gains. Finally, the buyers with low agreeableness were more likely to display negative emotional reactions.Research limitations/implicationsNegotiators should have an understanding of how emotions may shape conflict development and resolution via direct and ripple effects. In general, during Chinese negotiations, expressing anger is an effective negotiation tactic that incurs the expense of damaged relationships with counterparts.Originality/valueThe findings validated the impact of emotions in the Chinese negotiation context. Further, the paper extended the research by demonstrating the influence of emotions on the recipients’ reactions. Both the direct and ripple effect provided evidence for adopting the strategic choice perspective during negotiations.

Individual Differences Shape Negotiation Context, Process, and Outcomes

For decades, researchers have been pessimistic about the role of individual differences in negotiation. However, both past theory and new empirical reviews suggest that individual differences can a...

Anger in Negotiations: A Review of Causes, Effects, and Unanswered Questions

This article reviews the literature on the emotion of anger in the negotiation context. I discuss the known antecedents of anger in negotiation, as well as its positive and negative inter- and intrapersonal effects. I pay particular attention to the apparent disagreements within the literature concerning the benefits and drawbacks of using anger to gain advantage in negotiations and employ Attribution Theory as a unifying mechanism to help explain these diverse findings. I call attention to the weaknesses evident in current research questions and methodologies and end with suggestions for future research in this important area.

Palestine

This article explores the theoretical bases of the Israel-Palestine peace process to see how that impacts peacebuilding and everyday life in Palestine. It begins by examining the lens through which classical and contemporary realist and liberal thought approaches peace, nonpeace, war, and peacebuilding. Second, it examines how knowledge production on peacebuilding has been applied in the Israel-Palestine peace process based on selected confidential documents from the negotiations’ record that was made available in the so-called Palestine Papers published by the Al Jazeera Transparency Unit in 2011. My analysis of this source reveals how an embedded security and market metaphor regulated the Israel-Palestine peace negotiations. I argue that in an ambiguous context of decades-long negotiations, the results are in effect a “buyout” in which security is understood in exclusionary terms by the powerful side.