Towards a Structured Design of Electronic Negotiations

Global communication networks and advances in information technology enable the design of information systems facilitating effective formulation and efficient resolution of negotiation problems. Increasingly, these systems guide negotiators in clarifying the relevant issues, provide media for offer formulation and exchange, and help in achieving an agreement. In practice, the task of analysing, modelling, designing and implementing electronic negotiation media demands a systematic, traceable and reproducible approach. An engineering approach to media specification and construction has these characteristics. In this paper, we provide a rationale for the engineering approach that allows pragmatic adoption of economic and social sciences perspectives on negotiated decisions for the purpose of supporting and undertaking electronic negotiations. Similarities and differences of different theories that underlie on-going studies of electronic negotiations are identified. This provides a basis for integration of different theories and approaches for the specific purpose of the design of effective electronic negotiations. Drawing on diverse streams of literature in different fields such as economics, management, computer, and behavioural sciences, we present an example of an integration of three significant streams of theoretical and applied research involving negotiations, traditional auctions and on-line auctions.     

网络背景下的秘书电子媒介沟通活动分析

互联网的快速发展改变了人类的生产生活方式,网络时代下的电子媒介改变了人们的思维方式与工作方式。电子媒介对职场产生了巨大的影响,以秘书工作为例,电子媒介改变了信息交流传递的方式,改变了职场关系,也改变了人们传统的形象管理的方式。     

Hot Versus Cool Behavioural Styles in Electronic Negotiations: The Impact of Communication Mode

In this paper, we study the effects of synchronous and asynchronous communication mode on electronic negotiations. By applying content analysis, we compare the negotiation processes of two e-negotiation simulations conducted in a synchronous and an asynchronous setting. Our results show significant differences in communication behaviour of subjects. Synchronous negotiation mode leads to less friendly, more affective, and more competitive negotiation behaviour. In the asynchronous communication mode, negotiators exchange more private and task-oriented information and are friendlier. These results suggest that negotiators in the asynchronous mode, who have more time to reflect, cool down and control emotions better while negotiators, who communicate synchronously engage more in emotional and competitive “hot” debates. In addition, negotiators in the asynchronous mode are more satisfied with the process and outcome of the negotiation. We conclude that de-individuation and escalating effects might be caused by communication mode rather than by the ability of the media to transmit social cues.     

Design and Implementation of Business Objects for Automated Business Negotiations

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the specification, generation and exchange of business objects in the context of electronic commerce. Common business objects have been defined for product catalogs, purchase orders and other business entities. However, no business objects have been defined and implemented for supporting automated business negotiations even though business negotiation is very much an integral part of business activities. In this work, we have designed and implemented a set of business negotiation objects for supporting the bargaining type of business negotiations. These objects define the operations and information contents needed for negotiation parties to express their requirements and constraints during a bargaining process. They correspond to a set of negotiation primitives, which is a superset of the negotiation-related primitives defined in two popular languages: ACL and COOL. The implementation of these objects is patterned after the business object documents in the XML format proposed by the Open Applications Group, thus conforming to the established standard. The incorporation of several types of constraint specifications in these business negotiation objects provides the negotiation parties and the negotiation servers that represent them much expressive power in specifying callforproposals and proposals. Two synchronization problems and their solutions associated with the withdrawal and modification of negotiation proposals are addressed and presented in this paper. The use of these business negotiation objects in a bilateral bargaining protocol is also presented. We have validated the utility of these objects in an integrated network environment, which consists of two replicated negotiation servers, two commercial products, and some other university research systems that form a supply chain.     

发展传播学视野中的媒介理论变迁

发展传播理论是20世纪下半叶以来围绕传播与社会发展问题兴起的理论范式。由于全球大众传播领域的迅猛发展以及全球政治经济结构的变化,发展传播理论经历了自身理论范式的转换,并面对全球化的新发展视野。重新审视20世纪50年代以来发展传播学视野中大众媒介的角色与功能,在构建和谐社会、全面建设小康社会的国内环境以及全球化的语境中具有重要意义。     

The Effects of Multimedia Communication on Web-Based Negotiation

With the rapid growth of electronic commerce, there is growing demand forremote online negotiations. Although the Internet now enables audio and video communication, most Web-based negotiation systems are still text-based. There is, however, a lack of research on the effects of multimedia on remote negotiations. In this paper, we present a theoretical model to investigate the impacts of multimedia communication in an online negotiation setting. The constructs in our model include communication efficiency, communication effectiveness, and positive and negative social-emotional communication. Through a simulated house purchasing negotiation experiment, we study how different multimedia combinations (text only; text with audio; text with audio and video) affect our constructs and thus further influence negotiation results. Our results showed that both text with audio and text with audio and video communication were significantly preferred to text alone. However, the addition of video to text and audio communication in a negotiation environment was not found to be beneficial. It did not significantly improve communication efficiency, effectiveness or positive social-emotional communication, but distracted negotiators from focusing on the negotiation task. Our analysis also revealed that the communication efficiency construct did not correlate with the perceived success of the negotiation solution; however communication effectiveness and social-emotional communication did correlate with negotiation satisfaction.     

Drifting between Counting Atoms and Telling Stories: Quantitative and Qualitative Ambient OOH Media Planning Guidelines for Emerging Economies

Currently, no guidelines exist to plan ambient out-of-home media in emerging economies. This study is one of the first to explore ambient out-of-home media from a media professional viewpoint. The findings revealed that practitioners in South Africa design campaigns to tell engaging stories in a social context that allows consumers to engage with the medium and the message, rather than just delivering mass media exposure and maximum audience reach. By reviewing the literature, illustrative cases, and obtaining insight from 20 experienced media professionals, this study offers guidelines on the qualitative and quantitative values when using ambient out-of-home media. The results of the research can be used to both appreciate and plan consumer-centered ambient out-of-home media in emerging economies.     

社会化媒体时代城市品牌传播的探讨

面对社会化媒体时代的到来,城市品牌传播该做怎么样的思考?本文基于社会化媒体用户生产并传播内容与用户彼此间的关系为社会化媒体发展的双驱动力的认知之上,围绕社会化媒体时代城市品牌传播发起者的可知与未知、社会化媒体平台在城市品牌传播中的角色认知、政府机构在社会化媒体时代城市品牌传播中角色的认知、社会化媒体时代城市品牌传播渠道认知等几点对社会化媒体时代城市品牌传播展开探讨。     

Not All Threats are Created Equal: How Implicitness and Timing Affect the Effectiveness of Threats in Negotiations

The effectiveness of threats in negotiations was examined by exploring two factors likely to affect it: implicitness, or the extent to which the threat mentions what action the perpetrator would take if the target does not comply; and timing, or the time when the threat is stated. Participants were given a negotiation scenario that differed only by the nature of the threat made by their counterpart. The design was a 2 (implicit vs. explicit threat) × 2 (early vs. late threat) factorial design with a control condition (no threat). The study showed that early-implicit and late-explicit threats were both more likely to elicit concessions than early-explicit and late-implicit threats. The two more effective threats were also the ones that made the perpetrator seem less aggressive. Further, perceived credibility mediated the positive effect that late-explicit threats had over late-implicit threats in eliciting concessions. These results support the claim that whether making the threats sanction implicit is effective depends on its timing, as the nature of bargaining moves and perceptions varies over time (Pruitt 1981). They suggest that the way in which a threat is stated may dramatically influence its effect on the target.     

Getting the Floor: Motive-Consistent Strategy and Individual Outcomes in Multi-Party Negotiations

Social motives influence negotiators actions and reactions. In this study we proposed that social motives moderate the relationship between persistence in the use of integrative or distributive negotiation strategy and individual outcomes in 33 four-person mixed-motive negotiations. Cooperative negotiators who persisted in using integrative strategy achieved higher outcomes than those who did not persist. Persistence in the use of integrative strategy did not pay off for individualistic negotiators in this multi-party setting. We theorized that this pattern of results was due to cooperative and individualistic negotiators using strategy differently. We found that cooperative negotiators used more motive-consistent integrative strategy and less motive-inconsistent distributive strategy than individualistic negotiators, whose pattern of strategy use was consistent with their self-interested motives, providing evidence for our motive consistency theory.     

A Measure of Distributive Justice in Distribution Channels: Scale Development and Validation

ABSTRACT

The construct of distributive justice has been conceptualized largely along the three allocation rules of equity, equality, and need. Extant empirical research in the marketing channels area, however, treats distributive justice as a unidimensional, global construct focusing almost exclusively on the allocation rule of equity. As a result, the measurement of equality and need, two distinct and significant allocation rules, has been largely overlooked in the context of people and organizations involved in interorganizational exchange. The current study tests a measure of distributive justice that takes into account each of the three allocation rules. Results indicate valid scales that accurately measure three rules of distributive justice across two independent samples of channel participants in franchise systems. This research represents an important step toward accurately, concisely, and efficiently measuring this important and socially relevant construct in an interorganizational setting.     

Brand Actions on Social Media: Direct Effects on Electronic Word of Mouth (eWOM) and Moderating Effects of Brand Loyalty and Social Media Usage Intensity

Most existing social media research has been user focused. This study looks at social media from the brand's perspective by testing (1) theoretical links between brand-action antecedents and positive electronic word of mouth (eWOM); and (2) how brand loyalty and social media usage intensity moderate the relationships between the antecedents and eWOM. Using structural equational modelling from 290 Facebook users, we find empirical support for three brand action constructs (personalization, responsiveness, and transparency) to eWOM. We also find the moderating effects of social media usage intensity and brand loyalty on the relationship between responsiveness and eWOM. Theoretical and managerial implications for these findings are discussed.     

企业危机网络媒体传播演变状况分析

鉴于科学地认识企业危机事件的信息在网络上海量传播的现象,本文基于网络媒体的条件,运用以实证研究为基础的内容分析法,通过对企业危机网络传播样本个案的量化分析,研究描述了2003-2010年我国企业危机网络传播的演变趋势、企业危机事件网络传播的时间长度等问题,旨在为采取积极正确有效的企业危机管理对策,提供有关危机信息网络媒体传播的实证依据。     

Electronic Meetings and Intense Group Conflict: Effects of a Policy-Modeling Performance Support System and an Audio Communication Support System on Satisfaction and Agreement

Ad-hoc decision teams were used to examine the effects of an electronic meeting system (EMS) on group satisfaction and agreement. The decision task provoked intense conflict of values. The EMS had two core features - a policy-modeling group performance support system (incorporating structured decision methods and computer-supported cognitive feedback using Multi-Attribute Utility Analysis and Social Judgment Analysis), and an audio-based group communication support system (allowed dispersed members to communicate by voice). Policy groups reached higher agreement than conventional decision-making groups, apparently due primarily to the structure for cognitive-conflict tasks that was imposed on group discussion rather than computer-supported cognitive feedback displays. Audio groups were more satisfied with the conflict process than face-to-face groups. Decision agreement was equivalent across the two media. These audio effects for a highly equivocal task represent a further challenge to media richness theory.     

入世后中国商人商务谈判文化适应现象分析

入世后,中国传统的商务谈判模式和谈判策略面,临着极大的挑战。中国外贸商人在学习西方文化和商业知识的同时．也尝试着改变自己的谈判方式以更好地适应WTO的贸易规则,中国外贸商人在谈判中遇到文化威胁等问题;在国际贸易谈判中的文化适应应是文化差异的适应,其文化取向方面是“沙拉式”的,而非“熔炉式”的。     

Loose with the Truth: Predicting Deception in Negotiation

Using a simulated, two-party negotiation, we examined how characteristics of the actor, target, and situation affected deception. To trigger deception, we used an issue that had no value for one of the two parties (indifference issue). We found support for an opportunistic betrayal model of deception: deception increased when the other party was perceived as benevolent, trustworthy, and as having integrity. Negotiators’ goals also affected the use of deception. Individualistic, cooperative, and mixed dyads responded differently to information about the other party’s trustworthiness, benevolence, and integrity when deciding to either misrepresent or leverage their indifference issue. Mixed dyads displayed opportunistic betrayal. Negotiators in all-cooperative and all-individualistic dyads used different information in deciding whether to leverage their indifference issues and used the same information (benevolence) differently in deciding whether to misrepresent the value of their indifference issue. Mara Olekalns is a Professor of Management (Negotiations) at the Melbourne Business School, University of Melbourne. Her research focuses on communication processes in negotiation. In her research, she has investigated how strategy sequences shape negotiation outcomes. She is extending this research to investigate how impressions and communication shape trust in negotiation. Her work on communication processes in negotiation has been published in Journal of Applied Psychology, Human Communication Research, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. Philip L. Smith is a Professor in the Department of Psychology, University of Melbourne. His primary research interest is in building quantitative models of the human visual system. He also applies his modeling expertise to analyses of communication processes in negotiation, focusing on the relationships between situational and dispositional factors, strategy sequences and negotiation outcomes. It has been published in leading management and psychology journals, including Human Communication Research, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. Authors' Note The research reported in this paper was supported by a Discovery Grant from the Australian Research Council. We thank Ania Ratzik and Rudi Crncec for assistance with data coding. Correspondence should be addressed to Mara Olekalns, Melbourne Business School, University of Melbourne, 200 Leicester St, Carlton, Victoria, 3053, Australia or via email to m.olekalns@mbs.edu     

分配公平、经济效率与社会稳定的协调性研究:一个文献述评

长期以来,关于公平、效率、稳定三者内涵的讨论始终绵延不断,但已有研究重点偏向分配公平或经济效率或社会稳定等某一个问题上,没有将三者纳入一个完整的分析框架内。未来应明确界定分配公平、经济效率与社会稳定的协调性内涵与判断标准,构建三者协调性评价指标体系,探讨其协调性测度方法,并建立其协调性预警机制。     

Work relationships and media use: A social network analysis

Our research provided empirical evidence about the alternative means of communication used by 25 members of a research group who had available to them: unscheduled face-to-face encounters, sheduled face-to-face meetings, electronic mail, telephone, fax, and desktop videoconferencing. The intent of our research is to learn whether there are elements in existing group communication patterns that suggest how future communication systems can be designed or selected to fit the actual work relationships of a group. A detailed social network survey provided information about what members of the group communicated about, how they communicated, and with whom they communicated. Most communication was done through a combination of media, but predominately through unscheduled encounters, electronic mail, and scheduled meetings; people rarely videoconferenced, telephoned, or faxed. Factor analysis reduced the 24 work relationships to six distinct dimensions: receiving work, giving work, collaborative writing, major emotional support, sociability, and computer programming. The proportion in which the three main media were used varied according to the nature of the work dimension. Our findings suggest that a multivariate perspective that considers group norms and practices, social networks, and work dimensions is necessary to analyze media use.     

基于消费者视角的口碑传播媒介组合策略研究

随着互联网的兴起,企业对口碑传播的重视达到了前所未有的高度。当前,传统媒介继续保持旺盛的生命力,互联网成为口碑传播的有力推手,分销渠道则把真实的企业和产品呈现给消费者并与其互动。口碑传播的媒介组合策略正是整合了传统媒介、互联网和分销渠道三者的力量,以期望在消费者之间形成自发的、持续的口碑。