The Influence of Power and Individualism-Collectivism on Negotiation Initiation

Abstract Negotiation is an essential business process, with the initiation of a negotiation likely to affect how the process unfolds. Despite the fact that opportunities are often lost when one or more parties fail to initiate, initiation has until recently been overlooked in negotiation process models and research. This paper reports findings from a study that examines the effects situational/contextual factors and culture have on the initiation process (engaging a prospective counterpart, making a request, and optimizing that request), focusing specifically on relative bargaining power (a situational factor) and individualism-collectivism. Higher bargaining power was found to increase the likelihood of initiation intentionality in general as well as the requesting and optimizing phases more specifically. In addition, individualism/collectivism was also found to affect initiation, with individualists more likely than collectivists to initiate a negotiation. Further, this effect was enhanced when individualists had high relative bargaining power. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed, with suggestions for future research.

摘要 谈判是一项核心商务流程，谈判的发起往往会对整个流程的走向产生关键影响。尽管当一方或多方未能发起谈判时往往会错失合作机遇，但直至近年，谈判发起环节在谈判流程模型与相关研究中仍长期被忽视。本文基于一项实证研究展开论述，该研究聚焦于情境因素与文化对谈判发起流程（包括接洽潜在谈判对手、提出诉求及优化诉求环节）的影响，重点关注相对议价能力（relative bargaining power，一种情境因素）与个人主义-集体主义（individualism-collectivism）维度。研究发现，更高的相对议价能力总体上会提升发起谈判的意向概率，同时也会显著提升发起流程中提出诉求与优化诉求两个环节的参与意愿。此外，个人主义-集体主义维度同样会对谈判发起产生影响：相较于集体主义者，个人主义者更倾向于发起谈判。进一步而言，当个人主义者具备较高相对议价能力时，上述影响会得到强化。本文还探讨了该研究发现的理论与实践意义，并对未来的研究方向提出了建议。