A Study in the East Asian Context on Computer Support of Pre-Negotiation and Negotiation Stages

Two seemingly disparate phenomena, advancement in computing technologies and rise in complexity of business negotiations owing to globalization, have fostered and made appealing computer-supported negotiations. 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. This chapter 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. Further, 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. Notably, this chapter 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.