“What is Your Best Price?”—An Experimental Study of an Alternative Negotiation Opening

Much attention has been devoted to the “first offer” in negotiation research. Rightly so, as strong empirical evidence shows that the first offer has a significant impact on the negotiated outcome and, therefore, is a highly relevant topic for negotiation scholars and practitioners. Scholars typically recommend making the first offer. However, in the field, we have observed an alternative opening tactic—asking for the best price that the counterpart is willing to accept. This question represents a real alternative to making the first offer by initiating the discussion of specific settlement proposals, provided the counterpart answers the query. Does it, however, lead the other side to make a better offer? How does the question impact the economic and relational outcomes of the negotiation? Is it advisable to use this tactic in negotiations? We investigated these questions based on a controlled laboratory experiment, in which 227 dyads of cellphone buyers and sellers negotiated synchronously via a text chat. We found that the best-price question has an impact on not only the first offer but also the negotiation outcome. When the buyers in our experiment asked the question, the results were not significantly different than those from negotiations in which they made the first offer. This effect was driven by the first offer in response to the question. Additionally, we found that the best-price question did not negatively impact the relational outcome. Moreover, the effect was reduced when list price information was available. These findings suggest rethinking the traditional view of the offer-counter-offer sequence and provide an alternative opening tactic to making the first offer in the context of high information asymmetry.谈判研究领域对“首次报价”给予了大量关注。这一聚焦实属合理，因为大量实证研究表明，首次报价对谈判最终结果具有显著影响，因此对于谈判学研究者与实务从业者而言均是极具相关性的研究主题。学界通常建议谈判者主动作出首次报价。然而在实务场景中，我们观察到一种替代性开局策略：询问谈判对手愿意接受的最优价格。若对手回应该询问，这一问题便可通过启动具体和解方案的讨论，成为作出首次报价之外的真正替代方案。但这一策略能否促使对方给出更优报价？该问题会如何影响谈判的经济收益与关系结果？在谈判中采用这一策略是否可取？本研究通过一项控制实验室实验对上述问题展开探究：实验中共有227组手机买卖双方配对，通过文本聊天同步开展谈判。研究发现，最优价格询问不仅会影响首次报价，还会作用于谈判最终结果。当实验中的买方提出该问题时，其谈判结果与买方主动作出首次报价的组间并无显著差异。该效应由针对该询问作出的首次报价所驱动。此外，我们发现最优价格询问并未对谈判关系结果产生负面影响。进一步而言，当谈判双方可获取标价信息时，该效应会有所减弱。上述研究结果表明，有必要重新审视报价与还价序列的传统认知，并为高信息不对称情境下的首次报价策略提供了一种替代性开局方案。