Enhancing Negotiators' Performance with Computer Support for Pre-Negotiation Preparation and Negotiation: An Experimental Investigation in an East Asian Context

Business negotiations, as a ubiquitous phenomenon in international marketplaces, are becoming more complex and prevalent as a result of globalization of today’s world economy. This has made the possibility of computer support very appealing. Whereas past studies of negotiation support systems (NSS) have examined the potential benefits of supporting negotiations, computer support for pre-negotiation activities has been largely ignored in so far as empirical work is concerned. The current article addresses this gap by categorizing negotiation activities into the pre-negotiation phase and the negotiation phase, and reports on an experimental study of the impact of NSS on the different phases of negotiation. Results show that both pre-negotiation and negotiation support improved gains in outcome with increased time in reaching agreement. In addition, pre-negotiation support led to more equal outcomes for negotiating dyads. The findings show the usefulness of NSS in enhancing the quality of differing stages of negotiation. Further, it is to note that this article recognizes the important role of culture in the negotiation setting, and discusses its pertinence with respect to the context of the current study. The corresponding implications and conclusions are highlighted.