Ten Ways that Culture Affects Negotiating Style: Some Survey Results

A survey of 310 persons of different nationalities and occupations asked respondents to rate their negotiating styles with respect to ten factors involved in the negotiation process. These factors included a preference for: a written contract in contrast to relationship-building as a negotiating goal; an integrative (win-win) as opposed to a distributive (win-lose) bargaining approach; and high rather than low tolerance for risk-taking. Reporting on the responses of persons from 12 countries and eight different occupations, this study finds that, in many instances, persons from the same cultures and occupations tended to respond to these negotiating elements in a similar fashion. Survey responses were also examined with respect to the respondents' gender. The study would appear to support the proposition that culture, occupational background, and gender can influence negotiating style.