Cultural Influences and Negotiation: Chinese Conflict Resolution Preferences and Negotiation Behavior

As international trade between China and the United States has increased markedly in recent years, negotiation behavior between Chinese and Americans has become a timely issue. Most research conducted in this area discusses the fundamental cultural differences between East and West, as well as the difficulties Westerners have in negotiating with the Chinese. Little was written on the actual negotiation behavior itself. This paper is focused on the negotiation behavior between Chinese and American business people. Following a review of relevant research, the author found that both Confucian philosophy and Taoistic philosophy continue to provide the foundations of Chinese cultural traditions and values, which influence Chinese perceptions and approaches to conflict resolution and thus affect Chinese negotiation behavior. Cultural values discussed include harmony, collectivism, conformity, holism-contextualism, time, face, shame, reciprocity, high context, friendship, and Guanxi. The author suggests that traditional Chinese cultural values influence Chinese people to be less openly assertive and emotional in conflict situations, which consequently lead Chinese negotiators to the adoption of high compromising and avoiding behaviors and a relatively low preference for competing and assertive postures in negotiations. Based on the cultural values and Chinese conflict preferences, the author offers recommendations for preparing, conducting, and concluding negotiations with Chinese people.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts in Communication

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Department of Communication

Year

1995

Author dc:creator

• Sheng, Xiao-ling

• Communication
• Sociology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/883

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.wku.edu:theses-1886