Trust Development in Negotiations

How does trust develop in negotiations? In a series of three studies using the actor-partner interdependence model, we investigated how negotiators' trust propensity prior to the negotiation and negotiators' use of strategy during the negotiation predicted their trust development. Study 1 demonstrated that both focal negotiators' (actors') and their counterparts' (partners') trust propensity predicted negotiators' trust development. Study 2 showed that a context-specific measure of trust propensity could predict trust development in the negotiation, but a context-free one cannot. Furthermore, results of Study 2 indicated that information sharing strategic behavior had positive actor and partner effects on trust development, while substantiation strategic behavior had negative actor and partner effects on trust development. Partners' information sharing and substantiation were relatively more important than actors' trust propensity in actors' trust development. Study 3 used a more culturally diverse sample and a team-to-team negotiation task to extend the generalizability of the relationships between two negotiation strategies and trust development. Consistent findings at both individual and team level, with both Chinese and multicultural participants suggest a robust relationship between trust propensity, strategic negotiation behaviors, and trust development in negotiations.