50 Years of Multi-Person Negotiations Research: A New Taxonomy To Structure The Field

This review describes 50 years of quantitative multi-person negotiations research. We propose a taxonomy based on three possible multi-person negotiation forms: (a) they can include Multiple parties; (b) at least one party may have more than one member, making it a Team; and/or (c) at least one party may negotiate through Representatives, creating an additional negotiation level (primary and secondary tables). We organize scattered literature by classifying all research according to this taxonomy as well as based on the topic of research, distinguishing between input, process and output variables. Our review provides insight into a) commonalities and differences in research foci depending on the negotiation form, b) how the largely separate research islands on multi-person negotiations can learn from and inspire each other and c) a research agenda that facilitates future scholars to capitalize on unique features of each negotiation form in further research on multi-person negotiations.