A Research On The Differences Between Business Negotiation Styles Of Turkish And American Managers

Abstract

It is a well-proven evidence that national cultures

of international business managers affect their

negotiation styles. There are also cross-national

studies suggesting that Turkish and American

cultures have unique characteristics and differ in

many ways. Combining these two premises, this

research compares the key negotiation tendencies

of 108 Turkish and American managers who have

been somewhat involved in business negotiations

on behalf of their organizations. Data was obtained

through quantitative ranking style questionnaires

and interviews administrated in the California

State of America and major cities in Turkey. In the

qualitative part, utilizing the mutual assessments

of experienced Turkish negotiators on American

negotiation styles and vice versa, the study gives

insights into the debate on the determinants of

cross-cultural business negotiations in the case

of these two distinct cultures. Results from the

independent-samples t-test which compared the

means of quantitative scores reveal that although

the negotiation styles of Turkish and American

managers working for fully-domestic businesses

differ significantly, both American and Turkish

managers of multinational businesses tend to

use similar negotiation styles. Coherently, some

qualitative assessments were also found supporting

the convergence trajectory towards cultureindependent

‘common’ principles in international

business and cooperation negotiations.

Keywords

• Culture,negotiation,negotiation style,negotiation tendencies,Turkish managers,American managers

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