The Role of Regulatory Focus and Emotion Recognition Bias in Cross-Cultural Negotiation

Donghee Han, Hyewon Park and Seung-Yoon Rhee
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Donghee Han: Dentons Lee LLP, Seoul 03737, Korea
Hyewon Park: Department of Economics, Finance, and Marketing, Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, TN 38505, USA
Seung-Yoon Rhee: Department of Business Administration, Hongik University, Seoul 04066, Korea

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 5, 1-20

Abstract: Prior research on cross-cultural negotiation has emphasized the cognitive and the behavioral elements. This study takes a different perspective and presents a motivation–emotion model of cross-cultural negotiation. We propose that the cultural differences in chronic regulatory focus will lead to cultural biases in emotion recognition, which in turn will affect negotiation behaviors. People are inclined to perceive and behave in ways that enhance regulatory fit. Westerners and East Asians, who each have different chronic regulatory focus, are likely to interpret the negotiation situation differently in order to increase their regulatory fit. Specifically, this study proposes that when the emotion of the opponent is ambiguous, people from different cultural backgrounds may show cultural biases in emotion recognition, concentrating on the emotion that fits their chronic regulatory focus. Drawing on the Emotion as Social Information (EASI) model, this study discusses how these cultural biases in emotion recognition can affect people’s negotiation behaviors. Finally, some possible moderators of the motivation–emotion model including power and emotion recognition accuracy are suggested to promote sustainable practices in cross-cultural negotiation.

Keywords: emotion recognition; regulatory focus; cross-cultural negotiation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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