Working environments become increasingly culturally diverse and managers, employees and people at large are often required to engage in cross-cultural negotiations. In this regard, it becomes important for negotiators to develop the ability to recognize cultural differences and adapt their negotiation styles to the cultural contingencies they face. This study examines the influence of cultural intelligence on the relationship between cultural values and the individual preferences for a given negotiation style. Our results show that cultural values (e.g. power distance, uncertainty avoidance, collectivism and masculinity) have a direct influence on negotiation styles as well as an indirect effect, which is mediated through cultural intelligence. The study highlights the importance of cultural values and cultural intelligence on negotiation styles and contributes to the research and practice of negotiations.

Introduction

The ability to negotiate is critical for successful interactions in today’s multicultural workplaces. Negotiation is “a process of potentially opportunistic interaction by which two or more parties, with some apparent conflict, seek to do better through jointly decided action than they could otherwise” (Lax & Sebenius, 1986, p. 11). Consequently, management scholars have put much effort in investigating the process of negotiating across different cultures and how cultural differences impact negotiations (Gunia, Brett, & Gelfand, 2016; Ogliastri & Quintanilla, 2016). They find that successful cross-cultural negotiation requires a good understanding of the differences in cultural values and behaviors (Adair & Brett, 2005; Groves, Feyerherm, & Gu, 2015; Imai & Gelfand, 2010). However, prior research also finds that intercultural exchanges in negotiations suffer from higher challenges (Imai & Gelfand, 2010), lower outcomes (e.g., Brett & Okumura, 1998), and communication difficulties (e.g., Liu, Chua, & Stahl, 2010). Yet, negotiating is one of the most practiced joint decision-making processes at different organizational levels and functions (Caputo, 2016; Ogliastri & Quintanilla, 2016). Hence, the choice of an appropriate negotiation style – balancing a competing (or aggressive) style with a collaborating (or cooperating) style – is important to negotiate effectively across cultures (Imai & Gelfand, 2010).