Episodic Organization of Integrative and Distributive Negotiation Strategies: Differences Between Negotiations Ending in Agreement and Non-Agreement

Abstract: Negotiations unfold as sequential streams of verbal communication in which integrative and distributive acts form ordered interaction patterns. Building on a dynamical-systems perspective, we examine whether negotiations resulting in agreement versus non-agreement differ in their episodic organization of these acts. Archival video recordings of 40 simulated face-to-face negotiations were segmented into sense units and coded with NegotiAct (18,347 events). The NegotiAct micro-codes were then aggregated, based on theory, into integrative, distributive, and neutral strategic orientations. Episodic organization was quantified using recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) and hidden Markov models (HMMs). Negotiations ending in non-agreement showed higher global determinism and laminarity, driven by distributive subsequences. Negotiations resulting in agreement exhibited a larger share of integrative episodes and longer median integrative episode length, whereas negotiations resulting in non-agreement showed more fragmented distributive episodes. Overall, episodic process organization differed between these negotiation outcomes.

Keywords: Negotiation processes; Behavioral episodes; Negotiation strategies; Interaction coding