Negotiation Simulation Research Articles

A Compromise! Using Star Trek: Lower Decks to Help Negotiators Move Beyond Splitting the Difference

In this article, we use three humorous clips from Star Trek: Lower Decks to introduce common misperceptions about the role of compromise in negotiation. These clips help illustrate the difference between compromise and collaborative strategies and allow students to analyze the clips to identify appropriate strategies to employ in different situations. They can also complement traditional negotiation simulations and exercises. The humor in these clips can lower the apprehension novice negotiators often express at the start of their first negotiation simulation in a class and help illustrate the value of considering underlying interests instead of focusing only on initial positions.

Asking for less (but receiving more): Women avoid impasses and outperform men when negotiators have weak alternatives.

Both research and conventional wisdom suggest that, due to their relational orientation, women are less likely than men to engage in agentic and assertive behaviors, leading them to underperform in zero-sum, distributive negotiations where one party's gain is equivalent to the other party's loss. However, past research tends to neglect the costs of reaching impasse by excluding impasses from measures of negotiation performance. Departing from this convention, we incorporate the economic costs of impasses into measures of negotiation performance to provide a more holistic examination of negotiation outcomes. In so doing, we reveal a reversal of the oft-cited male performance advantage when obtaining an impasse is especially economically costly (as is the case when negotiators have weak negotiation alternatives). Specifically, we predicted that female negotiators would make less assertive first offers than men due to their more relational orientation and that these gender differences in offer assertiveness should result in women avoiding impasse more often than men. Since avoiding impasses should improve negotiation performance when negotiators are able to obtain a deal that is more valuable than their negotiation alternative, women's tendency to avoid impasses should improve their performance when negotiators have weak (vs. strong) alternatives. These predictions were supported in eight studies (three preregistered) across various negotiation contexts, comprising data from the television show Shark Tank (Study 1), four incentive-compatible negotiation simulations (Studies 2 and 3, Supplemental Studies), and a multistudy causal experimental chain (Supplemental Studies 4a-c). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

National first-class course: International Business Negotiation (including International Business Negotiation Simulation)

In line with the educational positioning of Fujian Normal University to “cultivate high-level applied talents needed by society”, and the goal of the International Economics and Trade major to “cultivate applied talents with innovative consciousness, suited to global economic and trade demands”, this compulsory course for the major focuses on addressing students' lack of innovative consciousness and practical abilities. In implementing the course, emphasis is placed on integrating industry and education to jointly cultivate students, fostering innovative thinking and practical skills. The course aims to familiarize students with the basic theories, procedures, strategies, and legal knowledge of international business negotiations, and to master basic negotiation methods, skills, and the art of communication. Students are expected to develop abilities and qualities such as agile and clear thinking, the capability to express and convey information, keen insight, high-level forecasting and adaptability. The course actively implements the principles of “moral education and nurturing talents”, integrates ideological and political elements into the curriculum, and guides students to establish a correct view of negotiations. It aims to shape talents in international business negotiations who are conscious of the rule of law, possess social responsibility, team spirit, patriotism, and are suited to the demands of an open economic development. This paper discusses seven aspects: basic course information, teaching professors (teaching team), course objectives, course construction and application, course features and innovations, course construction plan, and a list of supplementary materials. It elaborately presents the core content of the application in strict accordance with the requirements of the second batch of national first-class undergraduate course application (offline course), offering a reference for the application of the third batch of national first-class undergraduate courses.

Interdisciplinary multicriteria analysis in the simulation of complex negotiations a study on safeguards

Interdisciplinary multicriteria analysis in the simulation of complex negotiations a study on safeguards

Simulated negotiations as a teaching tool in the ESP classroom

Abstract Courses of English for Specific Purposes are offered by many universities, yet the potential these courses have to enhance learning in the students´ field of study is sometimes neglected. This article describes one effective method, focusing on the use of simulated negotiations as a teaching tool in the ESP course for political scientists. Simulated negotiations have been used in teaching of political science, international relations, diplomacy and related fields for many years but so far, their use outside political science courses has not been described. Relying on personal experience, we not only outline the steps needed to run a successful simulation in the ESP classroom, but also look at the benefits simulated negotiations bring both within and outside the ESP course. Participant feedback shows that apart from developing English language proficiency, simulated negotiations in ESP classes also enhance the students´ understanding of topics and issues from the field of political science. Another perceived benefit is the development and cultivation of transferrable / soft skills. Closer cooperation between language centres and individual university departments may lead to such modifications of the ESP syllabus that will complement both the ESP course and specialised courses from the students´ field of study.

Integrating Explicit Political Costs into a World Trade Organization Negotiation Simulation

ABSTRACT This paper enriches the existing set of global trade negotiation simulations by incorporating explicit, country-specific domestic political consequences incurred from trade concessions. Several semesters of testing with undergraduate students in the U.S. and master’s students in Argentina demonstrate that the simulation statistically significantly enhances students’ understanding of the role that domestic political pressures play in preventing negotiators from reaching the first-best trade regime. Students learn-by-doing that conflicting country philosophies regarding free trade vary substantially not only between developed and developing countries, but also depending on the geography and key industries of each country. The simulation also provides students with current, realistic economic values for the country and the world from freeing trade. Seventeen country tables provide instructors with tremendous flexibility in structuring the negotiation framework. A complete instructor’s manual with a detailed description of how to use the simulation, all student handouts and an Excel file that automatically calculates point totals is available via e-mail from the corresponding author.

Foreign language effect in negotiations: negotiation language and framing effect on contract terms and subjective outcomes

PurposeThis study aims to test negotiation outcomes when bilinguals negotiate in a foreign rather than their native language. Decision research on the foreign language effect indicates that bilingual individuals may be less susceptible to framing bias when using a foreign language because they make less emotional and biased choices. With increasing international business activity, there is a pressing need to examine the effect of language on bilingual negotiators.Design/methodology/approachThe authors tested the hypotheses using a two (task frame: gain vs loss) × 2 (language: foreign vs native) factorial design recruiting 246 Korean–English bilinguals. A negotiation simulation with three issues was used, and participants exchanged offers with a preprogrammed computer they believed to be a real counterpart.FindingsThere was no significant interaction effect between framing and language on the offers made, but the framing effect was mitigated and nonsignificant for negotiators who used their foreign language. The interaction between framing and language conditions significantly affected negotiators’ positive emotions and satisfaction with the negotiation.Originality/valueThe uniqueness of this paper is related to its effort to investigate the effect of negotiation language on a negotiator’s decision-making. Considering globalization and the increasing prevalence of international negotiations, this paper has implications for researchers and practitioners.

Strategic adaptability in negotiation: a framework to distinguish strategic adaptable behaviors

Purpose This study aims to propose and evaluate a novel framework of strategic adaptability in dyadic negotiations. The authors define strategic adaptability as a reaction to a cue that leads to shifts between integrative and distributive strategies. Based on the literature on turning points, phase models and strategic negotiations, the authors developed an initial framework identifying five distinct strategic adaptations. Design/methodology/approach To verify the framework, the authors analyzed two negotiation simulations with a diverse set of negotiation students. Negotiations were content-coded, and adaptations were labeled. Findings The authors found a consistent pattern across two studies. Overall, 12% (study 1) and 18% (study 2) of all speaking turns were identified as strategic adaptations. The findings empirically confirmed four of their strategic adaptation types: adapt to deadlock, follow adaptation by opponent, adapt to priority of issue under discussion and adapt to new information on issue. Moreover, findings of this study revealed two new types of strategic adaptability: delayed adaptation to opponent and adapt to understand opponent. Study 2 additionally revealed that strategies vary with the negotiation phase, and negotiation outcome seems to benefit more from the constellation rather than the frequency of adaptations. Furthermore, lower-scoring negotiators tended to adapt to the opponent’s strategy instead of initiating a change in strategy. Originality/value The findings of this study provide preliminary insights into how strategic adaptations unfold. These findings present future research opportunities to further test the framework's robustness, increase the knowledge of individual and cultural factors, explore the relationship with negotiation outcomes and develop educational interventions to enhance strategic adaptability.

Assessing the Learning Outcomes of a Role-Playing Simulation in International Environmental Politics

This paper pilots a method of testing the learning effects of a role-playing simulation of negotiations over the Nile basin. Players negotiate how to apply general principles from international law, such as sharing water equitably and avoiding significant harm, to specific circumstances of the river basin. Students are presented with a set of factual statements about the basin and surveyed before and after play as to which facts will be (were) most important in negotiations. Surveys of 75 participating graduate students show interesting patterns: (1) a shift from emphasis on managing risks to exploiting cooperative opportunities; (2) change in the value orientation of the statements students consider most important, with development-oriented values increasing and environment-oriented values decreasing; and (3) change in the dimensions of power students consider most salient, including an increased appreciation for the institutional and knowledge-related elements of power and a de-emphasis on the structural aspects of power. Before-and-after surveying offers an alternative to the more common methods of learning assessment, based on knowledge acquisition or student satisfaction, while discussion of the survey results with students allows for a richer, more reflective learning experience.

A Practical Guide to Negotiation Simulation Writing

There are many good reasons for writing negotiation simulations, but designing and preparing simulations that generate desired pedagogical effects is a challenging process. Building on an earlier article in this journal that presented fundamental principles for the design of negotiation simulations, this article offers a practical guide that outlines in detail how negotiation simulations can be structured and what elements they should include. We offer blueprints for creating six types of simulations: short introductory, distributive, integrative, multi‐issue, multiparty, and multiparty multi‐issue. For each type of simulation, we suggest the pedagogical use, discuss the basics of the construction, and present the core elements schematically: parties, decision problem, interests, and options. Finally, we illustrate the different types of negotiation simulations with representative examples.

Using business negotiation simulation with China's English-major undergraduates for practice ability development

As an important part of business English practice teaching, this study explores the design and implementation of business negotiation simulation in a Chinese university context with 77 English-major participants, using online surveys and written document analyses. The English-major participants were satisfied with the approach used in the design of the business negotiation simulation, which mostly used real-world cases in the international context. The participants considered teamwork and group cooperation to be their most improved skills, along with other soft skills and practice abilities. Most of the participants reported that the business negotiation simulation directly reflected the real-world scenarios. Most of the participants ranked the negotiation process as the best sessions, followed up by preparation, group cooperation and discussion. Regarding areas of improvement, the participants needed more rehearsal and practice, more examples of negotiation, more guidance from the teacher on case selection and grouping, feedback from the teacher and the incorporation of simulation activities in offline classroom teaching settings.

Hybrid negotiation simulations: how mixing fact and fiction can lead to a more comprehensive learning experience

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe an innovative approach to overcoming a common dilemma in designing negotiation simulations – that of situating a simulation in a real-life or fictitious context. This binary choice, which the authors call the negotiation designer’s dilemma, has profound implications for the types of learning activities and outcomes that can be integrated into the overall learning experience. As a way of overcoming the trade-offs inherent in this dilemma, the authors developed what they term hybrid simulations, which blend elements of fact and fiction in its contextual design in a particular way. Design/methodology/approach The authors were part of a negotiation simulation design team that used Design Thinking to understand the negotiation designer’s dilemma and to prototype and test a corresponding solution. Findings This paper demonstrates the benefits, potential applications and the how-to of hybrid simulations within the context of two such simulations the authors have designed at two different Swiss business schools. This paper concludes by discussing the potential and limitations for the application of hybrid simulations, as well as areas of potential further development. Originality/value The concept of a hybrid negotiation is a novel design trick that can be used in a variety of negotiation simulation contexts.

Negotiation and the law of contract – multivalency or incoherence?

Negotiation features in Contract Law in numerous guises. (1) Courts recognise that negotiation may precede agreement (2) Courts will enforce agreements made after a negotiation process where parties intended to enter into legally binding arrangements (3) Courts decline to construe the contract by interrogation of the negotiations which led up to the point of agreement (4) A Court may create imaginary negotiation evidence, gleaning this from a Court simulated negotiation between hypothetical parties to the actual agreement (5) In the event of a breach of contract, a party may establish that the breaching party had actual knowledge of a state of affairs that might be a not improbable result of that breach. That actual knowledge will almost certainly have been created or transferred during negotiations. In this note, I argue that the principles of construction at 3 and 5 above are manifestly mutually incompatible. The logic of my argument is that reconsideration of the exclusionary rule is merited, particularly in the light of multiple exceptions and given the fact that Judges routinely deal with evidence of negotiations. As the actual knowledge rule is unexceptionable and the exclusionary rule highly questionable, coherence can be brought to the law relatively easily.

Beyond the First Offer: Decoding Negotiation Openings and Their Impact on Economic and Subjective Outcomes

First offers play a significant role in negotiations as they anchor negotiators’ perceptions and influence negotiation outcomes in favor of the first-offer proposer. However, negotiation is a joint decision-making process in which a first offer is typically succeeded by a counteroffer. The impact of a counteroffer has not yet been systematically researched. We propose that a counteroffer influences negotiation outcomes like a first offer. In addition, we conceptualize the “anchor zone” as the distance between the first offer and the counteroffer. We theorize that the anchor zone influences negotiation outcomes because it captures additional information compared to a single offer. To test our hypotheses, we conducted two studies: Study 1 was a vignette study (n = 190) in which participants reacted to a counteroffer that they received based on their first offer as part of a simulated negotiation. Study 2 was an online experiment (n = 212) in which participants negotiated by exchanging offers with no further communication. Our analysis suggests that the counteroffer is a significant predictor of economic outcomes. Thus, it works like a first offer, but with a lower impact. In addition, the anchor zone predicted how far the final agreement was from the first offer. Furthermore, we found that the third offer, the average concessions, and the number of offers mediated the effects of the counteroffer and anchor zone on economic outcomes. Finally, we discovered that a more aggressive counteroffer reduced the subjective value of both negotiators.

NegoSim: A Modular and Extendable Automated Negotiation Simulation Platform Considering EUBOA

In recent years, the research community has become increasingly interested in automated negotiation. It has been used in real-world systems such as autonomous vehicle transportation systems, smart grids, and e-commerce. Considering the broad range of applications, automated negotiation is of great use and interest to engineers, developers, and industry-focused researchers. Therefore, some researchers have developed platforms for automated negotiation. However, these systems do not provide complete control over the development of various protocols or analytic tools. This paper introduces NegoSim, a new negotiation simulator that introduces a new negotiation framework called EUBOA, though it also works on the well-known BOA framework. NegoSim is completely modular, with different APIs allowing users full control over developing and modifying automated negotiation agents, different assessments, protocols, and utility spaces, as well as the ability to create or modify different GUIs. NegoSim also includes predefined agents, protocols, utility space, and analytic tools, making it an ideal platform for researchers.

Deceitful when insecure: The effect of self‐efficacy beliefs on the use of deception in negotiations

AbstractThis article investigates if and how negotiators' self‐efficacy beliefs affect their use of deception in negotiation. Specifically, we propose that self‐efficacy can be interpreted as a threat to self‐concept, which encourages individuals to temporarily bypass self‐regulatory obstacles by morally disengaging their cognitive moral filters, thereby enabling them to use deception in negotiation. We test our hypotheses in three independent experimental studies involving an interactive negotiation simulation, totalizing 460 participants. We find that negotiators with low self‐efficacy regarding their negotiation abilities are more likely to use deception than those with high self‐efficacy beliefs. Furthermore, we find that moral disengagement mediates the effects of self‐efficacy on deception. Our findings suggest that self‐efficacy plays a key role in shaping negotiators' ethical behaviors and we identify the psychological mechanism underlying this relationship.

Experiential Learning for Training Future Science Policy and Diplomacy Experts

Experiential Learning is a useful tool to prepare negotiators and politicians in the art of diplomacy and can have a unique value in Science Policy and Diplomacy training. This workshop review summarizes two EL activities undertaken in a University of Arizona SPD course. The first was a semester-long project in conjunction with graduate and undergraduate students from a UA climate change adaptation course and the United States Department of State’s Diplomacy Lab. For this project, students researched issues and potential policies to address climate change effects on water, energy, and food resources in the Lower Mekong river basin. The second activity was the Mercury Game, a negotiation simulation that challenged students to represent interests of various countries to tackle an international environmental issue. Student survey results and other feedback demonstrate that EL is a valuable tool for SPD education and preparation for practice. Insights into how faculty, staff and students can facilitate EL in coursework are also discussed. This paper is authored by the student participants and documents their outcomes and perceptions after completing these activities.

The Case for Negotiation Robots in simulated workplace negotiations A Theoretical Approach

Job negotiations are an anxiety-inducing and highly important form of social interaction. Most people are not sufficiently trained in negotiation strategies and often do not receive job offers that are conducive to financial stability. With the rise of virtual agents and robotics that are capable of modeling social interactions, a significant research effort has been established to create realistic simulations of negotiations. While the bulk of this research has focused on virtual agents as a medium for simulated negotiations, we propose that embodied agents can be utilized to model the inherent nuances in human interaction. In this paper, we propose a study that aims to evaluate the effectiveness of embodied agents compared to virtual agents in simulated negotiations with human participants.

Exploring configurations of negotiating behaviors in business negotiations: A qualitative comparative analysis

Previous research has explored the antecedents of negotiating behaviors separately, without considering their potential correlations. Applying a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis to a sample of 407 participants in simulated negotiations, the effects of different combinations of indicators (gender, subjective value, risk attitude, the negotiator’s anger, and the perceived opponent’s anger) on different negotiating behaviors are examined. This study reveals little role for gender differences in negotiating behaviors, except for forcing behavior. When the levels of most subjective values are high or low, different behavioral tendencies combine with other conditions. The risk takers tend to exhibit integrating and forcing behaviors, whereas risk averters are more likely to adopt yielding and avoiding behaviors. When the levels of both negotiators’ anger are similar, they are inclined to adopt integrating, compromising, avoiding, and yielding behaviors.

Investigating the Role of Positive Emotions in Bilateral Negotiations: A Pilot Study

This pilot study aimed to assess loving-kindness meditation as a mood induction procedure and investigate the role of positive emotions on different aspects of negotiation processes and outcomes. Thirty-eight undergraduate psychology students formed dyads and were assigned to one of three conditions: in the first condition, positive emotions were induced to both parties in each dyad; in the second condition, positive emotions were induced to one of the two counterparts, and in the third condition, individuals were not exposed to any emotional manipulation. The effectiveness of the meditation practice was assessed using SPANE-8 to measure participants’ emotions and a negotiation simulation followed using a widely used cell phone negotiation exercise. The results showed that loving-kindness meditation led to increased levels of positive emotions and decreased levels of negative emotions. Also, it was found that positive emotions relate to increased cooperation potential and reduced possibilities for exit decisions, while it was also found that the higher the levels of positive emotions, the less negotiation time is needed for individuals to reach an agreement. The hypotheses about the relationship of positive emotions with negotiators’ first offer, aspirations, expectations, individual gains, and joint gains were not confirmed.