Cross-cultural Negotiations Research Articles

Nonverbal Cues Associated with Negotiation 'Styles' Across Cultures

Annual International Association of Conflict Management Conference Istanbul, Turkey July 3-6, 2011 Abstract: The current study examines possible miscommunications in cross-cultural negotiation, from a nonverbal communication perspective. We examined cultural variation in nonverbal cues connoting four negotiation styles, associated with the cooperative/competitive dichotomy (Pruitt & Carnevale, 1993; Raiffa, 1982). Canadian and Chinese negotiators were primed with positive or negative evaluation (liking or disliking partner), and dominant or submissive negotiation styles. We found main effects of negotiation approach, where negotiators with a negative and dominant stance, tend to display negative emotion, gesture, occupy space, and engage in high visual dominance. In contrast, negotiators primed with liking or a more submissive negotiation stance were more likely to lean forward, smile, gesture, and exhibit silence. Significant interactions illustrate that Canadian negotiators communicate liking with eye contact, while this same behaviour is associated with dislike for Chinese negotiators. Interestingly, an erect and straight back posture was associated with dominance for Canadian negotiators, while this posture was affiliated with submissiveness amongst Chinese negotiators. Theoretical and practical implications for cross-cultural negotiation and communication are discussed.

Cooperation and Trust for Americans, Power and Relationship for Chinese: In Search of More Culturally Relevant Features of Negotiator Mentality

We define negotiation mentality as a negotiator’s general understanding and belief about the nature, context, and effective approaches of negotiation. In a comprehensive cross-cultural study, we investigate the etic and emic features of negotiators’ mentality. We theorize that how an individual perceives and understands a negotiation is both etic (universal) and emic (culture-specific). We developed a scale to measure negotiators’ mentality (Study 1), and examined the effects of its specific dimensions on negotiation outcomes (Study 2). In Study 1, we found three etic or universal dimensions across both Chinese and American negotiators, in addition, two emic dimensions are found among the U.S. negotiators and three emic dimensions among Chinese negotiators. In Study 2, we validated the developed scale and examined the relationships between the etic and emic dimensions and negotiation outcomes. We found that although the etic factors of cooperation and trust are relevant in predicting negotiation behaviors for both American and Chinese negotiators, their effects are much stronger for the Americans. For Chinese negotiators, the emic factors of power, relational concern, and open discussion are more powerful predictors of negotiation outcome than the etic factors of cooperation and trust. Our research contributes to cross-cultural negotiation research by establishing both etic and emic constructs and scales of negotiation mentality and shedding light on the necessity of investigating the proximal factors influencing negotiation processes and outcomes, especially the potential of emic factors in non-U.S. contexts.

The applicability of Western socio-legal frameworks to the study of negotiation in Chinese society

Theoretical frameworks for the examination of negotiation generated by Western academics do not easily translate to Chinese society because of fundamental differences between Western and Chinese society. Attempts to study negotiation in Chinese society and to improve negotiation between Chinese and Western business people are themselves constrained by cross-cultural differences. Extended immersion of Western academics in Chinese settings and the involvement of cross-cultural specialists is required to advance understanding of cross-cultural negotiation. There is enormous potential for improved understanding of cross-cultural dynamics and development of innovative teaching methodologies if institutional and personal cooperation can be secured. Cross-cultural negotiation as a useful tool in socio-legal framework and/or higher education administration is important especially in the current environment for the Australian education export market.

Global Hollywood, Narrative Transparency, and Chinese Media Poachers: Narrating Cross-Cultural Negotiations of Friends in South China

This paper offers a case study of the cross-cultural consumption of Friends (1994-2004, USA) in South China. It focused on media poachers, or people who use the sitcom in unauthorised or nonlegal ways, and strove for an interdisciplinary and internationalist understanding of global Hollywood. It deployed the qualitative method of in-depth and focus group interviews, both face-to-face and online, and critically surveyed media reception theories, from the effects tradition to the active reader paradigm. Scott Olsen’s theory of narrative transparency (1999) grounded the study’s theoretical premise; central to which is Olsen’s notion of ‘mythotypes’— that which render foreign media texts transparent for indigenous decoding and recoding and which in correspondingly throwing affective hooks at foreign audiences, kept them engaged. The case study revealed that the affective impact was neither uniform nor even: varying degrees of transparency and opacity indeed existed. This finding challenged Olsen’s assertion that affects were universal and therefore escaped culturally coded constraints.

Culture and Negotiation

AbstractThe literature on cross-cultural negotiation has expanded considerably over the past few decades, but the findings are often ambiguous and sometimes even contradictory. This introduction highlights the critical areas where objections are commonly raised about the relevance of national culture, the applicability of typologies that treat cultures as static, and the problem of ambiguous terminology. It may not be surprising that studies contradict each other given the ambiguity of the national cultural construct and variations in the context of the negotiating situations that are studied. The articles in this issue contribute to deepening our understanding about cross-cultural negotiation processes.

The Display of “Dominant” Nonverbal Cues in Negotiation: The Role of Culture and Gender

AbstractThe current study extends prior negotiation research on culture and verbal behavior by investigating the display of nonverbal behaviors associated with dominance by male and female Canadian and Chinese negotiators. We draw from existing literature on culture, gender, communication, and display rules to predict both culture and gender variation in negotiators’ display of three nonverbal behaviors typically associated with dominance: relaxed posture, use of space, and facial display of negative emotion. Participants engaged in a dyadic transactional negotiation simulation which we videotaped and coded for nonverbal expression. Our findings indicated that male Canadian negotiators engaged in more relaxed postures and displayed more negative emotion, while male Chinese negotiators occupied more space at the negotiation table. In addition, use of space and negative emotion partially mediated the relationship between culture and joint gains, as well as satisfaction with negotiation process. We discuss contributions to cross-cultural negotiation literature, implications for cross-cultural negotiation challenges, as well as future studies to address cultural variation in the interpretation of nonverbal cues.

Building intercultural alliances: a study of moves and strategies in initial business negotiation meetings

This paper proposes a conceptual model to study the discourse of initial negotiation meetings between members of New Zealand and Chinese corporations. It attempts to make two contributions to existing cross-cultural negotiation research, especially to rapport management. Firstly, it develops a conceptual position where negotiation meetings require mutual effort for building intercultural alliances. Secondly, the application and further division of initial moves (initiating moves-relational [IM-R] and initiating move-transactional [IM-T]), responding moves (responding move-cooperative [RM-C] and responding move-uncooperative [RM-UC]), and strategies into politeness strategies (PS) and uncooperative strategies (UC-S) offer an in-depth analysis of the nuances of positioning construction between parties. The findings indicate that a successful negotiation meeting establishes and develops intercultural alliances through appropriate use of moves and strategies. Negotiations, however, derail if inappropriate moves and strategies are used, and potential conflicts and communication breakdowns are not addressed in time. © 2011 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG.

Ramping up your skills for cross‐cultural negotiation

Leader to LeaderVolume 2010, Issue 56 p. 60-61 From the Front Lines Ramping up your skills for cross-cultural negotiation First published: 15 March 2010 https://doi.org/10.1002/ltl.417AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onEmailFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume2010, Issue56Spring 2010Pages 60-61 RelatedInformation

Cultural Differentiation of Negotiating Agents

Negotiations proceed differently across cultures. For realistic modeling of agents in multicultural negotiations, the agents must display culturally differentiated behavior. This paper presents an agent-based simulation model that tackles these challenges, based on Hofstede’s model of national cultures. The context is a trade network for goods with a hidden quality attribute. The negotiation model is based on the ABMP negotiation architecture and applies a utility function that includes market value, quality preference and risk attitude. The five dimensions of Hofstede’s model are the basis for the modification of ABMP parameters and weight factors in the utility function. The agents can observe each other’s group membership and status. This information is used, along with the indices of Hofstede’s dimensions, to differentiate behavior in different cultural settings. The paper presents results of test runs that verify the implementation of the model. The model helps to explain behaviors of actors in international trade networks. It proves that Hofstede’s dimensions can be used to generate culturally differentiated agents. Further validations of the model with case studies from literature and experiments have yet to be conducted. Extensions can make this model a useful tool for training traders who engage in cross-cultural negotiation and for implementation in negotiation support systems.

<em>Robert Knight: Reforming Editor in Victorian India</em>, by Edwin Hirschmann

Reviewed by: Robert Knight: Reforming Editor in Victorian India Jennifer Regan-Lefebvre (bio) Robert Knight: Reforming Editor in Victorian India, by Edwin Hirschmann; pp. xi + 272. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2008, £21.99, $50.00. The history of the imperial press is enjoying a healthy popularity, and thus a biography of Robert Knight, the English-born newspaper editor in Victorian India, is timely and welcome. Robert Knight: Reforming Editor in Victorian India is not, however, a rushed attempt to respond to that trend. Edwin Hirschmann explains in the preface that his biography is one forty years in the making, and this is evident in the strong empirical research: the bibliography boasts a generous list of primary sources consulted, both published and archival, on three continents. Rather unfortunately, it also reveals the relatively slim range of recent secondary sources with which Hirschmann has engaged. This is a shame, as this author has undoubtedly witnessed such broad developments in historiography over the past four decades that it would have been interesting to have his reflections on how his subject should be located in the recent historical scholarship on India, the British Empire, press history, and biography more generally. The book is chronologically structured into five chapters which reflect Hirschmann's view of Knight as progressing from reformer to editor, dissident, imperial critic, and finally to "statesman elder" (193). Hirschmann introduces political events and debates, then gives detailed reports of Knight's writings and pronouncements on the Raj. Often quoting Knight's newspaper editorials at length, Hirschmann offers a service to scholars to whom Knight's newspapers are not available. Hirschmann provides historical background that students will welcome for its clarity and accessibility; its particularly strong description of economic, demographic, and technological changes reflects Knight's interest in these topics. Knight is entirely deserving of a biography as the English editor in India who established several major Indian newspapers, including the Times of India and the Statesman, and emerged as a persistent and vocal critic of British policy in India. Of humble London origins, he arrived in Bombay in 1847, married into an Anglo-Indian family, but struggled financially in several commercial positions in trade and brokerage. In 1857, he was offered, on the strength of several articles he had written on Indian [End Page 305] economics, the acting editorship of the Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce. The beginning of his tenure was marked by the so-called Indian Mutiny, and Knight adopted an unusual editiorial position, arguing that the Mutiny revealed the poverty of the Indian people and their exploitation by the Raj. It is regrettable that more source material is not available for Knight's early life; Hirschmann is forced to extrapolate based on what is known about the mores of the London community into which Knight was born to build a picture of him as imbued with the reformist spirit of Chartism. But in terms of his first decade in India, tantalising questions are left unanswered about how Knight went from being a bankrupted Englishman of modest origins and connections to being invited by Indian businessmen to replace the permanent editor of the Bombay Times, with all the cross-cultural negotiations and politics that must have involved. As editor of the Bombay Times (which became the Times of India in 1861), Knight called for Indian land reform, the fair and equal distribution of justice, and fiscal caution. He believed that Christian conversion would be necessary for social reform in India, but he argued for separation of church and state. His tenure as editor ended in 1869 following a dispute with his business partner, Mathias Mull, after which he founded the Indian Economist. A brief spell in official employment analysing economic data for the Bengal government conflicted with Knight's critical editorial output and ended badly. A London edition of the Statesman was short-lived, as Knight was sued for libel and suffered poor health. Back in Calcutta, the Statesman moved forward and gave its support to the young Indian National Congress but faced another expensive libel trial. Knight died in 1890, having consistently scrutinised imperial rule over thirty years, whilst maintaining a belief that imperial government...

The Postcolonial in Motion: Hijra ila ardi al-ahlam and the Construction of Postcolonial Counterdiscourse

AbstractThis paper examines the poetics and politics of representing cultural otherness in Sellam Chahidi's travel-inspired narrative Hijra ila ardi al-ahlam. Since Western cultural encounters have developed an overall epistemological outline in which Moroccan cultural identities are framed and often preconditioned to express western perspectives, Chahidi's narrative foregrounds new ways whereby the existing paradigm of interpretation and power relations are disturbed and subverted. Hijra ila ardi al-ahlam shows an inquisitive mode of cross-cultural negotiation in which various ideological and cross-cultural appropriations are dislocated to take on new twists. It is motivated by a strong desire to forge a new space capable of transcending the sociopolitical reality of the motherland but also capable of challenging the unilateral constructions of identity dictated by the ideologies of an Orientalist mindset.

An Overview of the Cross-Cultural Business Negotiation between Malaysia and Australia

This paper aims to explore communication deviances and strategies in the negotiation discourse of Malaysian-Australian business encounters, from both a linguistic and non-linguistic perspective. Specifically, it sees miscommunications/deviances as factors that may hinder the business communication process and prevent the negotiators from achieving their objectives. The study also focuses on strategies, or those discourse skills which promote successful business Malaysia-Australia negotiation. Key words:Cross-cultural; intercultural; intercultural competence; deviations; strategies; miscommunication; negotiation Resume: Cet article vise a examiner les deviances et les strategies de communication dans le discours de la negociation entre la Malaisie et l’Australie lors des rencontres d’affaires, d’un point de vue linguisitique et non linguistique. Plus precisement, les malentendus/deviances pourraient devenir des facteurs qui entravent le processus de communication et empechent les negociateurs de parvenir a leurs objectifs. L’etude met egalement accent sur les strategies, ou les competences de negociation qui favorisent la reussite de negociation d’affaires entre la Malaisie et l’Australie. Mots-Cles: transculturel; intercultural; competence interculturelle; deviations; strategies; malentendu; la negociation

Culture, Accountability and Group Membership: A Dynamic Constructivist Approach to Cross-Cultural Negotiation

Most cross-cultural research focuses on general differences or similarities between cultures, while little attention has been paid to when these differences emerge. A dynamic constructivist view of culture (Hong, Morris, Chiu, & Benet- Martinez, 2000; Morris & Fu, 2001) posits that culture impacts individuals’ behaviors through the activation of cultural knowledge in specific contexts. Using this approach, the present study examines how the interaction between cultural and situational factors affects business negotiation. Specifically, we predicted that only when they negotiate with ingroup members under high accountability conditions, would Chinese negotiators show greater relationship-oriented (vs. self-focused) tendencies than would American negotiators. A pilot negotiation simulation study with 108 Chinese students and a main study with 230 students from China and the United States provided support to our predictions. The implications of our studies to theory and practice are also discussed.

Getting What You Want: The Role of Culture and Partner’s Needs in Predicting the Effectiveness of Influence in Negotiation

Consistent with a dynamic constructivist approach to culture, we propose the negotiation context activates a different set of needs for U.S. and Japanese negotiators. While both U.S. and Japanese negotiators have needs to be logical and to uphold social norms, we propose that the effectiveness of influence strategies will be explained more by a need for logic in U.S. negotiations and a need to uphold social norms in Japanese negotiations. We test our hypotheses with a sample of 15 U.S. and 15 Japanese dyads that negotiated a conflict simulation. Results indicate that the interaction between a negotiator's use of influence and the partner's underlying needs in predicting how much value negotiators claim is distinct in the U.S. and the Japanese culture. Findings offer extensions to existing theory on culture and negotiation and implications for managers in cross-cultural negotiation and conflict settings.

Culture and Negotiation: The Pedagogical Dispute Regarding Cross-Cultural Simulations

This article examines one especially challenging aspect of active-learning international studies courses—the use of cross-cultural simulations. What is the significance of culture for negotiation? What difficulties might cross-cultural negotiations pose, and how might negotiators work with cultural differences to achieve successful outcomes? Is it possible to model the effects of cultures on negotiators in a classroom role-play? What are the advantages to using cross-cultural simulations, and what difficulties do they entail? How might an instructor make best use of materials that focus on cultural issues and their effect on negotiation? When teaching students of different cultures by active-learning methods, what ought an instructor to bear in mind? What cross-cultural simulations are available, and what readings might be assigned to accompany them?

36 Chinese Strategies Applied to Negotiations

The following is a PowerPoint presentation about the 36 Chinese Strategies as applied to negotiations that I have used many times. You can find more about this subject in, John Barkai, 'Cultural Dimension Interests, the Dance of Negotiation, and Weather Forecasting: A Perspective on Cross-Cultural Negotiation and Dispute Resolution,' (8 Pepp. Disp. Resol. L.J. 403 (2007-2008)). I was first introduced to the 36 Chinese Strategies in the late 1980s when my former student, Laurence Brahm - who has been a lawyer, global activist, international mediator, political, columnist, and author in Hong Kong and China since 1987 – wrote a paper for my negotiations class about the 36 Chinese Strategies. Later, Laurence turned the paper into a book called, Negotiating in China: 36 Strategies (1996). Just about anyone who has 'grown up Chinese' (meaning that they have grown up in a Chinese home that respects and teaches Chinese traditions and values) knows these 36 Strategies. It does not matter whether they grew up in The People’s Republic of China (PRC), The Republic of China (Taiwan); Singapore, Vancouver, San Francisco, Honolulu, or anywhere else. People who 'grew up Chinese' know these strategies. People who negotiate with Chinese (or anyone else) should also know these strategies. For further information on the 36 Strategies, See, Laurence J. Brahm, Negotiating in China: 36 Strategies (1996); Chin-Ning Chu, The Chinese Mind Game (1988) (describing thirty-two of the thirty-six strategies); Chin-Ning Chu, The Asian Mind Game: Unlocking the Hidden Agenda of the Asian Business Culture – A Westerner’s Survival Manual (1991) (describing all thirty-six strategies); Tony Fang, Chinese Business Negotiation Styles, (1999); or, simply 'Google' the phrase '36 Strategies.'

An Analysis of Cross-Cultural Negotiations in Textile and Clothing Exporting Units

Cross-Cultural Negotiations take place among individuals of different countries possessing different cultural values over business issues. Companies engaged in overseas transactions have to necessarily engage in Cross-Cultural Negotiations. It involves looking at all the factors that can influence the proceedings. It takes into account aspects that are usually unimportant in domestic negotiations. If cross-cultural differences are recognized, clearly communicated, and understood by the negotiator, they can be the basis for framing win-win agreements. Precisely for this reason corporates have to tread cautiously with regard to cross-cultural negotiations. In this paper, an attempt has been made to study the awareness and various aspects of negotiation process of cross cultural negotiations in textile and clothing exporting units of Ludhiana. 40 exporters (5 large scale and 35 small scale) were contacted for the Study. The Study reveals that as compared to small scale units, large-scale units were more aware, organized in their approach to negotiation and understood the importance of negotiation styles. On the whole, textile and clothing exporters do not have adequate knowledge about cross-cultural negotiations and they are unable to realize the importance and potential of this concept in today's business world.

Perceptions and Strategies in the Negotiation Process: A Cross Cultural Examination of U.S. and Malaysia

AbstractThis article examines empirical findings of American (n=457) and Malaysian (n=347) college students regarding their perceptions and strategies utilized in the negotiation process. Several hypotheses comparing differences in cross-cultural negotiation styles, perceptions and strategies in negotiation are analyzed. The findings indicate that Malaysian students (from a collectivist culture) tend to have different negotiation perceptions, strategies and styles from those of their American counterparts (from an individualist culture). Specific differences are found in negotiation perceptions, risk taking, individual vs. group orientation, support of family culture, skill comfort level and gender differences. The importance of maintaining relationships with the other party during the negotiation was important in both groups, and both groups felt that they were effective negotiators. The findings extend previous research on cross-cultural negotiation styles with a discussion of specific process and strategy differences. Managerial implications of these findings and future research directions are also discussed.

Bodies, beaches and bars: negotiating heterosexual masculinity in southern Thailand's tourism industry

This article explores the gender politics of heterosexual masculinity by detailing the practices of masculinity and heterosexuality among a group of Thai men working in the tourism industry in Thailand's south. The research is based on ethnographic data obtained during a number of field visits between October 2000 and January 2007 to Pha-ngan Island in southern Thailand. It is positioned within the geography literature on masculinities and heterosexuality, extending the current literature on cross-cultural negotiations of masculinity by exploring negotiations of heterosexual masculinity in a context where differing cultural notions of hegemonic masculinity come into dialogue. Specifically, I detail the articulation of heterosexual masculinity by Thai bar workers through their encounters with three key ‘Others’: Thai transgendered people; tourist women; and tourist men. These encounters provide a context through which the complexity and instability of both hegemonic and subordinated masculinity can be explored. In particular, I argue that the delineation of these masculinities is both contextually and culturally specific. The encounters also provide an opportunity to investigate the importance of spatiality to the performance of heterosexual identities.

Seeing Themselves through the Lens of the Other: An Analysis of the Cross-Cultural Production and Negotiation of National Geographies “The Samurai Way” Story

More than any other publication, National Geographic magazine has taught Americans about the world around them. Recently, the magazine's view of the world has become more complex. Since 1995, the magazine has been producing editions published in languages other than English. This raises questions as to how international audiences negotiate these “glocalized” representations. By investigating how the National Geographic “The Samurai Way” story resonates with Japanese individuals, this study first addresses the cross-cultural reception of an American text not simply exported to another country, but an American text repackaged for a local foreign audience. It then returns to the process of production of the story in an effort to identify points of intersection and contradiction in the discourses emerging about the text from multiple positions.