An experimental investigation of the impact of NSS and proximity on negotiation outcomes

Negotiations are often not as rational as desired due to the cognitive difficulty of finding optimal agreements. With higher information-processing capacity and capability, negotiation support systems (NSS) are viewed as a viable solution to overcome this difficulty and help negotiators achieve integrative agreements. In addition, advances in network communication technology have enabled distributed meetings to be carried out easily. This in turn leads to the notion of conducting distributed negotiations by combining NSS and distributed communication technology. This study examined the impact of NSS in face-to-face and distributed settings. The results suggested that NSS led to higher and fairer outcomes for both face-to-face and distributed dyads. Another interesting finding from this study is that there were gains with respect to initial expectations of outcomes when NSS support was provided. As corporations expand globally, NSS will play a significant role in coordinating distributed negotiations, saving time and cost.