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

Year 2012, Volume: 4 Issue: 2, 11 - 24, 01.12.2012

Claude Alavoine Ferkan Kaplanseren

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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