Negociação

Journal of Business and Psychology, Vol. 19, No. 1, Fall 2004 (Ó2004)

DETERMINANTS OF A NEGOTIATOR’S INITIAL OPENING OFFER Marc Buelens Dirk Van Poucke
Ghent University

ABSTRACT: Although the initial offer is a crucial aspect in the process of most negotiations, there is still a complete lack of empirical evidence on what underpins initial offer decisions. For this reason, the effects of different reference points on the negotiator’s initial offer were examined in this study. Results from a sample of 596 managers indicate that knowledge of the opponent’s best available alternative, or (Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement BATNA), is by far the strongest determinant. Criteria of fairness, as reflected in an estimated market price, are also important. However, awareness of the dependency of the other party has no direct effect on the initial offer. Apparently, negotiators define the negotiation game as the management of interdependency in an extremely egocentric way and base their opening offers largely on cues regarding the power structure within the dyad. KEY WORDS: negotiation; reference points; initial offer; power; fairness.

How do negotiators decide on their initial offer? This extremely simple and straightforward question remains largely unanswered. The absence of an answer is even more surprising when we realize that over the last 20 years, decision-making has been placed at the heart of the negotiation research agenda (Bazerman, Curhan, Moore, & Valley, 2000; Bies, Lewicki, & Sheppard; Thomson, Peterson, & Kray, 1995). The question is certainly not a trivial one. We enter most negotiations with the pressing question: How do we start? What will be our first offer? Negotiators clearly see initial offers as part of their definition of the negotiation game. Not surprisingly, most courses and textbooks on negotiation devote entire sessions or chapters to the prescriptive side of the subject (Shell, 1999; Thomson, 2000). Pruitt and Carnevale (1993) see