Dyadic Bargaining Outcomes Under Individualistic and Competitive Orientations

Abstract

Using forty-eight manufacturing managers as subjects, this experiment tested the outcomes of bargaining sessions held under all the possible combinations of two subject orientations (individualistic and competitive) and four conditions of communication (oral and written in face-to-face and remote situations). The results failed to show any significant main effects of orientation or communication on outcomes or bargaining times, but did show a significant interaction between orientation and remote vs. face-to-face bargaining. Under remote conditions a competitive orientation yielded slightly greater joint outcomes, but, under face-to-face conditions, an individualistic orientation yielded markedly greater joint outcomes. There was a correlation between outcomes and some measures of communication, but the pattern of the experimental effects on communication was not congruent with the pattern of effects on outcome. The findings imply that some visual signals interfere with bargaining under competitive, face-to-face conditions, but the interfering signals were not isolated.

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