مقاله سال ۲۰۱۶

Negotiation has been an important field of study within organizational behavior and management science since the publication of Walton and McKersie’s (1965) book, A behavioral theory of labor relations, which provided in-depth descriptions of two different strategic approaches to negotiation in behavioral terms. Walton and McKersie (1965), themselves, were influenced by the newly emerging field of game theory (Luce & Raiffa, 1957). The game theory perspective can be seen in the pervasive focus on understanding deviations from rational negotiation outcomes. It was largely Pruitt (1981) and his students during the 1970s who brought the social psychological perspective and its rigorous experimental methods to negotiation research.

In this review, we adapt Brett’s model of culture and negotiation as an organizing guide for our examination of the literature (Brett, 2000). According to the model, negotiators’ interests and priorities affect the potential value of their joint gains. Negotiators’ strategies affect the nature of the interaction between the parties. How well the negotiated outcome captures the potential value of the negotiators’ joint gains depends on the nature of their interaction. Although Brett’s model was developed to examine inter-cultural negotiations, it also can be used to organize and examine the research on negotiation more broadly. Much of this research addresses factors that negotiators bring to negotiation and that affect their interests and priorities and or use of negotiation strategy, thereby affecting the nature of the interaction at the negotiation table. Specifically, we focus on psychological factors including: cognitions and biases, personality, motivation, emotions, inclination to trust; and on social-environmental factors including: reputation and relationship, gender, power and status, culture. We begin by reviewing the research on negotiation strategy. We then turn to the research on psychological and social-environmental factors that influence negotiators’ interests and priorities and use of strategy.

We pay special attention to the research that launched each area and then examine how the area has advanced. This is not a comprehensive, but a selective review. We focus on two-party negotiations in which people communicate and voluntarily choose to reach terms, what Nash (1950) referred to as cooperative negotiations. We do not review research on social and prisoner’s dilemmas, trust, ultimatum, or dictator games. However, we largely focus on empirical research that uses scoreable simulations in experimental designs. We conclude with a discussion of how future directions might address some of the limitations of current research.