Normatively Speaking: Do Cultural Norms Influence Negotiation, Conflict Management, and Communication?

Abstract

This paper elaborates a research agenda on cultural norms in communication, negotiation, and conflict management. Our agenda is organized around five questions on negotiation and conflict management, for example: How do culture and norms relate to an individual's propensity to negotiate? Or How do tightness‐looseness norms explain negotiators’ reactions to norm conformity and norm violation? And three questions on communication, for example: What individual and cultural factors lead negotiators to use miscommunication as an opportunity rather than an obstacle? Or Are there cultural differences in whether and what forms of schmoozing are normative? The present paper is based on three pillars: (a) ideas provided by the think tank participants (full list on website), (b) state of the art research and (c) the authors’ perspectives. Our goal is to inspire young, as well as, established researchers to purse these research streams and increase our understanding about the influence of cultural norms.