ARE E-BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS REAL NEGOTIATIONS? THE USUAL QUESTION OF POWER AND TRUST

Abstract

Negotiation is a specific form of communication in which the parties enter into deliberately, each with clear aims and goals and a mutual dependency towards a decision due to be taken at the end of the confrontation. The uncertainty of the situation in regards to the other party's intentions and objectives tends to make negotiators cautious about the amount and type of information that they should exchange. The information transmitted can reveal stakes and interests with effects on the balance of power and can allow the other participant to profit from the situation. In negotiation, trust, which can be considered as a tendency to believe that your counterpart will satisfy and respect your expectations, is usually based on mutual perceptions exposed all through the interaction but also on previous experiences and history of relationship. Before and during negotiation, power is established under the influence of numerous variables, bringing for the negotiators the essential question of the balance of power in the process. A favourable power position can be based on many factors that might differ depending on their sources. These can be divided in two categories: the ones related to the negotiator himself and the ones connected with the situation or the context of the negotiation. In e-business relationships, the participants are physically distant and exchange information in a communication process different than the usual bargaining interaction. E-negotiations involve the use of a computerized environment with the possible help of decision support systems or negotiation support systems but also agents or mediators considered as a third party that can facilitate the transaction. Because e-negotiations imply information systems and digital media together with the usual human involvement and assistance, it is difficult to determine exactly how each factor can strongly modify the balance of power, the level of trust and eventually facilitate the interaction. Therefore, because of the nature and number of parties concerned, from human actors to information systems, trust and power are complex issues to investigate in e-negotiations. The remaining question is about the nature of the interaction itself, can it still be considered as a real negotiation? Drawing on concepts from several disciplines, our intention in this paper is to clarify the aspects and elements of the causal relationship between the nature and exchange of information and the evolution of the balance of power and trust in enegotiations in order to uncover new hypotheses for experimental research.

Keywords

• negotiation, e-negotiation, negotiation support systems, information, trust, power

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