The Impact of the Negotiators' Personality and Socio-Demographic factors on their Perception of Unethical Negotiation Tactics

Hamida Skandrani (), Lilia Fessi and Riadh Ladhari
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Hamida Skandrani: UMA - Université de la Manouba [Tunisie]
Lilia Fessi: URCA - Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne
Riadh Ladhari: ULaval - Université Laval [Québec]

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Abstract: Purpose-The study aims to examine the impact of a negotiator's profile (personality, gender, age and experience) on his perception of unethical negotiation tactics. Design/methodology/approach: A survey has been conducted among 220 middle manager employees and chief executive officers (CEOs) who are directly involved in the negotiation processes and activities for their organizations. A component factor analysis (CFA) was first performed. Then, a multiple regression analysis and ANOVA analysis were conducted to test the study hypotheses. Findings: The study suggests that negotiators with a high level of 'openness to experience' perceive the use of 'traditional competitive bargaining' and 'inappropriate information gathering' as ethical. However, 'conscientious' negotiators perceive the use of 'misrepresentation of information' and 'inappropriate information gathering' as unethical. In addition, negotiators with a high level of 'agreeableness' perceive the use of ethics worldwide. Negotiators are not the exception. Hence, identifying which personality traits are likely to predispose negotiators to endorse unethical negotiation tactics may help shape training programs suitable to produce favorable inclinations to comply with ethical negotiations' principles. This seems to be possible, on the face of the recent findings suggesting the likelihood of personality traits changes, following the implementation of some particular actions (Hudson and Fraley 2015). Originality/value: To the best of our knowledge, this study is among the few that examine the impact of the negotiator's personality traits and his socio-demographic variables on his perception of the appropriateness of negotiation tactics. This study is in line with calls to reconsider the role that personality plays in negotiation processes, ethical/unethical behavior and outcomes, after a long period of skepticism among scholars as to its significant impact.

Keywords: Unethical negotiation tactics; Personality traits; Perceived appropriateness; Gender; Age; Work experience (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-03499514
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in Journal of Business to Business Marketing, 2021, 28 (2), pp.169-185. ⟨10.1080/1051712X.2021.1920700⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03499514

DOI: 10.1080/1051712X.2021.1920700

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