Thursday Thought: Online or Offline?: Factors of Aggressiveness When Negotiating Online

Posted By Sam Mandell, Jun 16, 2016

          Millennials are constantly being told that they need to put away their electronic devices and interact with the real world. This might be particularly true when millennials, now graduating from law school, enter the legal field and begin negotiating. Researchers have identified dramatic differences between negotiations that take place via email versus one that occur face-to-face. When we head online, our interactions have a risk of suffering from bad symptoms including reduced rapport building, decreased satisfaction with the negotiation, and lower levels of trust. So, when you are considering whether to negotiate in person or online, here are a couple of key questions to keep in mind.

  1. Do you really want to shoot for the stars?

            Generally, negotiators who make aggressive opening offers tend to attain higher economic outcomes, regardless of whether the negotiation is over email or in-person. Aggressive offers are those that set ambitious targets. Email negotiators also exhibit more risk-seeking behaviors than in-person negotiators, and tend to perceive themselves and their opponents as more competitive. For example, a person negotiating a sale over email is more inclined to start with a high-dollar “take it or leave it” offer than the same person would if they were negotiating the sale in person.

The theory of “media richness” suggests that people make more aggressive offers in part because social context clues are easily lost online. For example, a buyer might refrain from making a particularly aggressive opening offer in person because he or she might want to avoid being immediately rebuffed. Similarly, in-person negotiators might refrain from aggressive offers in order to seem more collegial and avoid uncomfortable circumstances. So, when you are negotiating behind a computer screen, you may want to consider if you would make the same offer to a live person before pressing send.

  1. Who are you, and who are you talking to?

          Cultural differences between negotiators add a new layer to the aggressiveness of an opening offer and strategy. For example, researchers have found that maintaining social harmony is highly valued in Hong Kong because it has a collectivist culture. Without subtle social cues prodding them to maintain harmony, however, negotiators from Hong Kong are more likely to rock the boat with an aggressive opening offer when negotiating online. By comparison, the United States has a more individualist culture where rocking the boat isn’t as frowned upon. While email might similarly release inhibitions for American negotiators, the change is less dramatic between email and in-person due the cultural context of American society.

          While it is always useful to consider how inhibited you want a negotiation to be, it is particularly necessary when negotiating with someone who comes from a different cultural background than you do. While negotiators made higher offers via email across the board, negotiators from Hong Kong were more aggressive than U.S. negotiators by a substantial factor when they worked online. If you engage in cross-cultural negotiation with someone from a collectivist society (for example, if you are an American negotiating with someone from Hong Kong), it is important to keep in mind that you will both likely make more aggressive offers than you would in-person. Additionally, they might make a more aggressive offer than a similarly situated person in the U.S. would since negotiators from Hong Kong tend to make more aggressive offers online regardless of their posture in the actual negotiation.

            In sum, there are several factors to consider when deciding to use email negotiation versus in-person negotiation. First, determine what you want the tone of the negotiation to be. If you prefer a more collegial tone, consider an in-person discussion to capitalize on natural tendencies to maintain social and cultural norms. If you think it would be advantageous to have a more aggressive opening offer, opt for email. Second, you should consider who you are and who you are negotiating with and how each of your cultures will affect the way you are likely to interact in person versus over email.. Remember, negotiators from more collectivist societies are likely to be substantially more aggressive via email than in-person because they will be less inhibited and, if their skills are up to par, they might consequently achieve more positive financial gains than they would in an in-person negotiation.

          Regardless of whether you are a millennial tied to your keyboard or a seasoned negotiator who likes to do things the old-fashioned way, it is important to consider all of these factors in context. While positive financial outcomes for your clients can certainly help keep the lights on, depending on who you are negotiating with, what your relationship with your opponent is like, and the issue you are negotiating, aggressiveness displayed via email may come off as unrealistic and could run the risk of hurting a future relationship. Ultimately, it is important for negotiators young and old, new and experienced, to consider who they are negotiating with before setting a tone and choosing a communication format.

For more information about negotiating via email, see Ashleigh Shelby Rosette et al., When Cultures Clash Electronically: The Impact of E-Mail and Social Norms on Negotiation Behavior and Outcomes, 5(2) J. Cross-Cultural Psychol. 210 (2012).