Bridging social distance in inter‐cultural negotiations: “you” and the bi‐cultural negotiator

Abstract

Purpose-In this study of Korean and U.S. negotiators, we demonstrate limits on the presumption that inter-cultural negotiations are doomed to generate low joint gains. Design/methodology/approach-In a laboratory study with 45 bi-cultural Korean students and 47 mono-cultural American students, we created a total of 16 U.S.-U.S., 15 Korean-Korean, and 15 U.S.-Korean dyads. We audio-recorded their negotiation conversations and analyzed the content of the negotiation transcripts. We focused on the use of pronouns and coded how they were used and the impact this use had on the outcomes of the intra-and inter-cultural negotiations. Findings-Results show that inter-cultural dyads generate higher joint gains than Korean or U.S. intra-cultural dyads. The explanation based on social awareness and social distance theorizing shows that inter-cultural negotiators, one of whom is bi-cultural, who use language, especially the pronoun-you‖ to close social distance, achieve higher joint gains than intracultural negotiators who do not. Research limitations/implications-We conclude that the language people use in social interaction, especially pronouns, is an indicator of social awareness and signals attempts to close social distance. Originality/value-This research demonstrates that the way negotiators use language predicts their economic outcomes.

East Asians’ Social Heterogeneity: Differences in Norms among Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Negotiators

“…The ability to anticipate one's counterpart's culturally normative behaviors can be critical for inter-cultural negotiation success (Lee, Adair, and Seo 2011). Negotiators who lack accurate knowledge of the counterpart's culturally normative behavior may form inaccurate interpretations of his or her behavior, which can precipitate the strategic mismatches that arise all too commonly in inter-cultural negotiations (Lee 2005;Adair, Taylor, and Tinsley 2009;Kern et al 2012). Global negotiators will benefit from knowledge of regional differences, knowledge that does not assume that a Korean partner in an upcoming negotiation will behave similarly to a Japanese partner in a previous negotiation just because both are East Asians.…”

Diplomatic Chameleons: Language Style Matching and Agreement in International Diplomatic Negotiations

“…Ireland and Henderson () also observed that language style matching in the initial phases of negotiations predicted more positive interactions. The importance of linguistic matching for reaching an agreement has also been demonstrated in intercultural negotiations (Kern, Lee, Aytug, & Brett, ), conflict resolution between romantic partners (Bowen, Winczewski, & Collins, ), team performance (Yilmaz, ), and interpersonal mediation (Donohue & Liang, ; Olekalns, Brett, & Donohue, ).…”

Celebrating the Work of Jeanne M. Brett: Building Bridges and Making Connections

“…Their analysis, which compares Korean and U.S. negotiators, shows that seeking priority information clusters around the use of "you" for Korean but not U.S. negotiators. Kern et al (2012) conclude that Korean negotiators use "you" to reduce the social distance between negotiators.…”

“…() conclude that U.S. negotiators use offers for information consolidation, whereas Japanese negotiators use offers for information gathering. Kern, Lee, Aytug, and Brett () provide a more fine‐grained analysis of strategy‐in‐context by focusing on the strategies that cluster around the pronoun “you.” Their analysis, which compares Korean and U.S. negotiators, shows that seeking priority information clusters around the use of “you” for Korean but not U.S. negotiators. Kern et al.…”

“…Kern et al. () conclude that Korean negotiators use “you” to reduce the social distance between negotiators.…”