Negotiating in the United States and Hong Kong

Abstract

We propose that cultural values (self-enhancement, self-transcendences, conservatism, and openness to change) provide a social environment where some negotiation strategies are selected to survive over others. These selected negotiation strategies become normative. Results from a negotiation simulation in the United States and Hong Kong indicate that U.S. negotiators are more likely to subscribe to self-interest and joint problems solving norms, and Hong Kong Chinese negotiators are more likely to subscribe to an equality norm. Further, U.S. negotiators report more satisfaction when they maximize joint gain and Hong Kong Chinese negotiators are happier when they achieve outcome parity. The reported norms and outcome evaluations are consistent with the value profiles of the two cultures. The implications of these cultural differences are discussed in terms of expanding U.S. based negotiation theory.