Effects of Pre-negotiation Behavior on the Subsequent Episode

Research has dealt many times with behavior as success factor for negotiation outcome. So far, these factors are limited to a specific negotiation situation while no insights into a negotiator’s most recommendable behavior for successive episodes exist. Accordingly, in this work, the effect of pre-negotiation behavior on the main negotiation episode is examined through a buyer-seller negotiation experiment. Records of online chats were investigated by means of content analysis and combined with questionnaire results in order to reveal behavioral patterns in the pre-negotiation and their consequences onto the main negotiation. Two main behavioral streams have been identified: visionary behavior that emphasizes future collaboration in a positive setting and power-related behavior that rather discloses dominating and imposing elements. This study found that visionary behavior in the pre-negotiation episode leads to more success than a power-related behavior in terms of the general agreement on a negotiation’s conduction and the opponent’s concession attitude.