A Dynamic Constructivist Approach to Cross-cultural Negotiation

Abstract

Previous cross-cultural research focuses on the main effects of culture while neglecting the social contexts of negotiation. My dissertation examines how the interaction between cultural and contextual factors affects business negotiation. Taking a dynamic constructivist approach, I propose that cultural differences in negotiation are exacerbated under certain conditions, but attenuated under others. I apply this view to Chinese and American negotiators, including both negotiations within- and between members of these two cultures.

Two sets of experiments with over 250 business negotiation simulations (including both intra-cultural and inter-cultural negotiation) under 14 different social conditions are designed to test these hypotheses. I found that the difference in relationship frame between Chinese and American negotiators was most salient in the high accountability/ingroup conditions, and such a difference in turn influenced fixed-pie perceptions and joint gain.