You Take Them as You Find Them: An Examination of How Negotiations Build Trust With Parties They Never Meet Face-to-Face
Today fewer business relationships involve meaningful face-to-face in teraction. In terms of negotiation between unfamiliar parties, building trust can be a crucial component of achieving satisfactory outcomes. How a negotiator garners trust in faceless negotiation is a major concern, especially given the inability to observe the verbal and nonverbal cues that heretofore have facilitated the assessment of trustworthiness. In this study, the manner in which previously unacquainted, experienced negotiators develop trust during faceless negotiation is explored. Prior studies that were conducted to investigate trust building in negotiation, both generally and with in faceless settings, are reviewed. Data were collected in this qualitative, grounded-theory research through 16 interviews with individuals experienced in negotiating and trust building with unfamiliar individuals in faceless settings. The findings indicated that trust is built through behavior that is observable over the telephone or through e-mail communication. This includes demonstrating competency; exhibiting active-listening skills; and demonstrating a reasonable, collaborative approach to negotiation. Integrity was not viewed by the study participants as an easily observable behavior from the perspective of early trust building. The findings suggested that focusing on enhancing the three described observable behaviors will facilitate trust in faceless negotiation settings with an unfamiliar party. Future research is recommended to further examine the three described observable behaviors as primary methods of building trust in faceless negotiation with unacquainted counterparties.
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