Insights about Integrative Negotiations

The advantages of integrative negotiation have been confirmed by research many times. Multiple obstacles and difficulties for implementation, as well as integrative bargaining tactics, have been examined. However, negotiators often agree on a compromise instead of making the most of integrative gains. Given changing market dynamics and the increasing importance of business relationships, the realization of integrative potentials becomes crucial for business negotiations. This is why – contrary to previous experimental studies – we aim to examine the status quo and the reason for the missed profit optimization in negotiation practice with a comprehensive study. In our study 1 (quantitative study with practitioners) we found that missing integrative profits seems to lie primarily in the assessment of the numerical potential that is possible at all. Therefore, we set up a second (experimental) study to investigate how the integrative potential can be measured and which tools could be optimally used.