Caught Telling the Truth: Effects of Honesty and Communication Media in Distributive Negotiations

Abstract

In the present research, the authors varied the presence versus absence of an honest disclosure in two-party negotiations. Confederates who posed as participants and followed a script carried out the disclosure manipulation. In Experiment 1, communication mode (face-to-face vs. telephone vs. electronic mail) was crossed with disclosure, and an interaction was observed. Specifically, the remote media (phone and e-mail) were found to induce competitive negotiation behavior, but only when there was no honest disclosure; that is, the honest disclosure suppressed the competitive behavior that was otherwise induced by the remote media. Experiment 2 replicated the e-mail condition of Experiment 1, with the only difference being that negotiators were anonymous to one another. Despite the anonymity, the honest disclosure continued to have the same cooperation-inducing effect. Implications of these results and future research directions are discussed.