Is bigger better? Dyadic and multiparty integrative negotiations

Purpose The purpose of the study is to empirically investigate the similarities and differences between dyads and four-party groups in an integrative negotiation. Design/methodology/approach - Data are collected in a between subjects experiment. A total of 182 participants completed a negotiation role play and questionnaire. Hypotheses are tested using t-tests, MANOVAs and two multiple regression analyses. Findings - Results demonstrate that dyads do outperform groups on both the economic and subjective measures of outcomes. Sharing of priority information and the fixed pie bias was higher in groups than in dyads. For dyads the procedure used (considering more than one issue at a time) led to higher economic outcomes, and both procedure and problem solving were important for subjective outcomes. For four-party negotiations, problem solving was significantly related to higher outcomes, on both economic and subjective outcomes, and procedure was moderately related to economic outcomes. Problem solving was significantly more important for the groups than for dyads on economic outcomes. Research limitations/implications - The controlled experimental setting could limit the generalizabiltiy of the findings. Measures of the intermediate variables could be improved by including additional items and observations. Future research is required in field settings using multiple measures of the process. Practical implications - In multiparty negotiation information sharing and the presence of cognitive biases may not be as important as focusing on a problem solving approach. Originality/value - An empirical investigation that groups under-perform dyads in an integrative negotiation has not been conducted before.