From Relationality and Behavioral Dynamics to Dynamic Relationality: A New Perspective on Cross-Cultural Negotiations

The past several decades have witnessed the continuous growth of international trade volume in the global economy (Martin, 2001; Simintiras & Thomas, 1998), during which time business globalization, employment mobility, and flattening organizations together have underlined the popularity and the necessity of communication across cultural boundaries. Culture affects what and how negotiators communicate with each other during the bargaining process (Kopelman & Olekalns, 1999). It also increases the uncertainties faced by each party due to various differences in their behavioral norms and patterns (Luo & Shenkar, 2002). In striving to overcome cultural barriers at the bargaining table, negotiators are likely to adapt their behavior across cultural gaps. For example, Rao and Schmidt (1998) combined the literatures of strategy and behavioral inf luence to investigate negotiations for international alliances and found that US negotiators use more soft strategies with their counterparts who are at a greater cultural distance (e.g., Far East and Eastern Europe) because they are “adapting their tactics to the culture of their counterpart” (p. 682). The adaptation of negotiator behavior indicates that the negotiation process is not invariable from a behavioral perspective.