IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jbecon/v88y2018i9d10.1007_s11573-018-0896-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Disentangling complexity: how negotiators identify and handle issue-based complexity in business-to-business negotiation

Author

Listed:
  • Christoph Laubert

    (Freie Universität Berlin)

  • Ingmar Geiger

    (Aalen University)

Abstract

Research regarding the complex content and issues in business-to-business (B2B) negotiation is sparse. Although negotiation issues are ubiquitous in experimental negotiation studies, descriptions of what constitutes a complex issue are set in an abstract context. Therefore, this study investigates the characteristics of real-world negotiation issues and their associated complexity drivers. Data from 29 in-depth interviews of managers in the B2B field provide the research material, analyzed according to the Gioia methodology. Eleven issue-based complexity facets emerge that fall into the object-, context- and subject-level of complexity. Eight strategies for handling complex negotiation issues also result from the analysis. The findings provide a detailed description of issue-based complexity, which can be used to create more realistic negotiation experiments, as well as help negotiators disentangle and manage complex content in their own B2B negotiations. By answering the call from research for a more detailed description of complex negotiations, and by linking handling strategies with specific situations, this study provides further insights for negotiation theory.

Suggested Citation

  • Christoph Laubert & Ingmar Geiger, 2018. "Disentangling complexity: how negotiators identify and handle issue-based complexity in business-to-business negotiation," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 88(9), pages 1061-1103, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jbecon:v:88:y:2018:i:9:d:10.1007_s11573-018-0896-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s11573-018-0896-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11573-018-0896-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11573-018-0896-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wolfgang Ulaga & Arun Sharma, 2001. "Complex and Strategic Decision-Making in Organizations: Implications for Personal Selling and Sales Management," Post-Print hal-00485118, HAL.
    2. Patton, Charles & Balakrishnan, P.V. (Sundar), 2012. "Negotiating when outnumbered: Agenda strategies for bargaining with buying teams," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 280-291.
    3. Naquin, Charles E., 2003. "The agony of opportunity in negotiation: Number of negotiable issues, counterfactual thinking, and feelings of satisfaction," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 97-107, May.
    4. Fred Charles Iklé & Nathan Leites, 1962. "Political negotiation as a process of modifying utilities," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 6(1), pages 19-28, March.
    5. Harinck, Fieke & De Dreu, Carsten K. W. & Van Vianen, Annelies E. M., 2000. "The Impact of Conflict Issues on Fixed-Pie Perceptions, Problem Solving, and Integrative Outcomes in Negotiation," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 81(2), pages 329-358, March.
    6. Lilien, Gary L., 2016. "The B2B Knowledge Gap," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 543-556.
    7. Stephen E. Weiss, 2012. "Negotiators’ Effectiveness with Mixed Agendas: An Empirical Exploration of Tasks, Decisions and Performance Criteria," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 255-290, May.
    8. Kalyan Chatterjee & Larry Samuelson, 1987. "Bargaining with Two-sided Incomplete Information: An Infinite Horizon Model with Alternating Offers," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 54(2), pages 175-192.
    9. Rothman, Naomi B. & Northcraft, Gregory B., 2015. "Unlocking integrative potential: Expressed emotional ambivalence and negotiation outcomes," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 65-76.
    10. Sebenius, James K., 1983. "Negotiation arithmetic: adding and subtracting issues and parties," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 37(2), pages 281-316, April.
    11. Johannes Gettinger & Michael Filzmoser & Sabine T. Koeszegi, 2016. "Why can’t we settle again? Analysis of factors that influence agreement prospects in the post-settlement phase," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 86(4), pages 413-440, May.
    12. Jehoshua Eliashberg & Gary L. Lilien & Nam Kim, 1995. "Searching for Generalizations in Business Marketing Negotiations," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 14(3_supplem), pages 47-60.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lai-Bennejean, Christine & Arndt, Aaron D, 2025. "Empowering salespeople in complex negotiations: autonomy and leeway in preparation and concession-making," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    2. Andreas Engelmann & Ingrid Bauer & Mateusz Dolata & Michael Nadig & Gerhard Schwabe, 2022. "Promoting Less Complex and More Honest Price Negotiations in the Online Used Car Market with Authenticated Data," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 419-451, April.
    3. Shlomit Flint Ashery & Carl Steinitz, 2022. "Issue-Based Complexity: Digitally Supported Negotiation in Geodesign Linking Planning and Implementation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-19, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shlomit Flint Ashery & Carl Steinitz, 2022. "Issue-Based Complexity: Digitally Supported Negotiation in Geodesign Linking Planning and Implementation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-19, July.
    2. Dinkevych, Elena & Wilken, Robert & Aykac, Tayfun & Jacob, Frank & Prime, Nathalie, 2017. "Can outnumbered negotiators succeed? The case of intercultural business negotiations," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 592-603.
    3. Lai-Bennejean, Christine & Arndt, Aaron D, 2025. "Empowering salespeople in complex negotiations: autonomy and leeway in preparation and concession-making," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    4. Katrin Zulauf & Ralf Wagner, 2023. "Countering Negotiation Power Asymmetries by Using the Adjusted Winner Algorithm," SN Operations Research Forum, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 1-20, March.
    5. Stephen E. Weiss, 2012. "Negotiators’ Effectiveness with Mixed Agendas: An Empirical Exploration of Tasks, Decisions and Performance Criteria," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 255-290, May.
    6. Wilken, Robert & Jacob, Frank & Prime, Nathalie, 2013. "The ambiguous role of cultural moderators in intercultural business negotiations," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 736-753.
    7. Carsten K. W. Dreu & Tim R. W. Wilde & Femke S. Velden, 2021. "Intergroup Competition Mitigates Effects of Reward Structure on Preference-Consistency Bias and Group Decision Failure," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 30(4), pages 885-902, August.
    8. Nicoleta ISAC & Medina JAKUPAJ & Ava VATANDOOST, 2024. "Neuroscience Integration In Marketing: Leveraging Biosensors For Consumer Insights And Enhanced Customer Interactions," Scientific Bulletin - Economic Sciences, University of Pitesti, vol. 23(2), pages 21-30.
    9. Jinsoo Park & Hamirahanim Abdul Rahman & Jihae Suh & Hazami Hussin, 2019. "A Study of Integrative Bargaining Model with Argumentation-Based Negotiation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-21, December.
    10. Dominik M. Wielgos & Christian Homburg & Christina Kuehnl, 2021. "Digital business capability: its impact on firm and customer performance," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(4), pages 762-789, July.
    11. Chen, Yanyan & Mandler, Timo & Meyer-Waarden, Lars, 2021. "Three decades of research on loyalty programs: A literature review and future research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 179-197.
    12. Jacob D. Petersen-Perlman & Itay Fischhendler, 2018. "The weakness of the strong: re-examining power in transboundary water dynamics," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 275-294, April.
    13. Anita Gantner, 2007. "Bargaining, Search, and Outside Options," Working Papers 2007-16, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.
    14. Jonas Schmidt & Tammo H. A. Bijmolt, 2020. "Accurately measuring willingness to pay for consumer goods: a meta-analysis of the hypothetical bias," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 499-518, May.
    15. Paul Poast, 2013. "Issue linkage and international cooperation: An empirical investigation," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 30(3), pages 286-303, July.
    16. Stefan Kohler, 2012. "Incomplete Information about Social Preferences Explains Equal Division and Delay in Bargaining," Games, MDPI, vol. 3(3), pages 1-19, September.
    17. Merlone, Ugo & Lupano, Matteo, 2022. "Third party funding: The minimum claim value," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 296(2), pages 738-747.
    18. Latinovic, Zoran & Chatterjee, Sharmila C., 2022. "Achieving the promise of AI and ML in delivering economic and relational customer value in B2B," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 966-974.
    19. Scharpf, Fritz W., 1991. "Koordination durch Verhandlungssysteme: Analytische Konzepte und institutionelle Lösungen am Beispiel der Zusammenarbeit zwischen zwei Bundesländern," MPIfG Discussion Paper 91/4, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    20. Andreas Schmid & Mareike Schoop, 2022. "Gamification of Electronic Negotiation Training: Effects on Motivation, Behaviour and Learning," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 31(3), pages 649-681, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • D7 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making
    • M10 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - General
    • M31 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Marketing and Advertising - - - Marketing

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jbecon:v:88:y:2018:i:9:d:10.1007_s11573-018-0896-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.