Starting from Scratch: A Multi-Stage Analysis of Remote E-Negotiations

Abstract

This paper presents the design and the findings of an experiment in which subjects were asked to conduct remote, computer mediated negotiations with perfect strangers. As a result, we found evidence that: the consecutive phases of the negotiations have been much more heterogeneous than commonly assumed, the negotiators' approach did not converge, but diverge throughout the process, the 'objective' outcome of the negotiation measured by total score depended primarily on the antecedent phase and only indirectly on the concurrent phase, and finally that the negotiating style demonstrated by the parties was mainly important for the relational outcome and was not correlated with their final score. Based on these findings, we propose a comprehensive model of the overall structure of remote negotiations specifying the relationships between the consecutive phases.