Suchergebnisse

Active listening is a promising communication technique to positively affect interactions and communication outcomes. However, theoretical propositions regarding its direct effects on interactions have rarely been empirically investigated. In the present research, we studied the role of naturally occurring active listening in the context of videotaped and coded integrative negotiations. Lag sequential analyses of 48 negotiations with 17,120 thought units show that active listening follows offers that comprise two or more issues (i.e., multi-issue offers) above chance level. These multi-issue offer—active listening patterns in turn promoted integrative statements (e.g., further multi-issue offers) and inhibited distributive statements (e.g., single-issue offers). Moreover, multi-issue offer—active listening patterns (and neither multi-issue offers nor active listening alone) also positively related to the achieved joint economic outcomes in the negotiation. Contrary to common expectations, we did not find evidence that active listening promotes the understanding of the other party or rapport between negotiators.

In the present research, we developed NegotiAct, a comprehensive coding scheme for negotiations, comprising 47 mutually exclusive behavioral codes. NegotiAct was derived by systematically integrating (i) 89 extant coding schemes for negotiations, (ii) pertinent findings from negotiation research, and (iii) specific interaction behaviors that were previously not considered in coding schemes for negotiations (e.g., active listening). To facilitate the application of NegotiAct, we designed a coding manual with precise instructions and with definitions and examples for every code. NegotiAct can be customized to address many research questions in experimental settings as well as field research by splitting codes into more specific behaviors. Thereby, differentiated codes can always be traced back to the original codes, preserving comparability across studies and facilitating cumulative research. In combination with interaction analytical methods, NegotiAct enables scholars to detect and investigate specific communication patterns across the negotiation process. As a first empirical validation of NegotiAct, we demonstrate a substantial interrater reliability for 18 videotaped negotiations (κ = .80) and conduct an exploratory validation analysis, studying the relation of multi-issue offers, active listening, and joint gains.