تاثیر تفاوتهای فرهنگی بر روی مذاکرات خریدار تامین کننده: مطالعه تجربی

In today's global economy, an ever-increasing number of companies are dealing with international partners, instigating a need to understand the impact of cultural differences on business interactions. Using Hall's distinction of high- and low-context culture, this study investigates the direct and moderating effects of cultural differences in dyadic buyer–supplier negotiations. Theory is developed regarding the impact of culture on joint profits, juxtaposing Transaction Cost Economics and the Relational View. The theory is tested with a negotiation experiment. Participants, classified by their country of origin, negotiate prices and quality levels for three products. This study finds that cultural differences within the negotiation dyad reduce joint profits when compared to dyads of participants with similar cultural backgrounds. Cultural differences also moderate the impact of trust and bargaining strategy on joint profits. Overall, this study concludes that cultural differences, as encountered in day-to-day business interactions in global supply chains, significantly impact negotiation outcomes.

In today's global economy, it is important for businesses to be aware of cultural differences, particularly in buyer–seller interactions. As an increasing number of firms are dealing with buyers and suppliers abroad (Homburg et al., 2002), many are learning that they need to take different cultural traits into account when negotiating across borders. These differences impact behavior and understanding of situations (Gelfand and Christakopoulou, 1999). Increased awareness of potential issues in a negotiation context allows firms to have more successful interactions in the long run and helps avoid misunderstandings (Brett and Okumura, 1998). Furthermore, awareness of the impact of cultural differences can enable firms to negotiate more effectively, resulting in greater cost savings and profits. Thus, there is both a business and an academic need for a better understanding of the impact of cultural differences arising when buyers and sellers differ in nationality, or when “cross-cultural dyadic sales interactions” occur (Mintu-Wimsatt and Gassenheimer, 1996, p.20). Although a growing body of literature has focused on the influence of globalization on supply chains (Cannon et al., 2010, Cheung et al., 2010, Flynn and Saladin, 2006, Naor et al., 2010 and Power et al., 2010), there is a gap in the literature regarding theory on how cultural differences impact buyer–supplier relationships. Studies have compared cultures in countries such as the United States and Germany (Kaufmann and Carter, 2006) and in regions such as Asia (Naor et al., 2010 and Power et al., 2010), but have not developed or tested theory with regard to how cultural differences impact buyer–supplier interactions. Therefore, this study addresses this gap in the extant theory by investigating the following research questions: Do cultural differences between a buyer and supplier reduce the joint profit outcome of supply chain negotiations? Do cultural differences moderate the impact of trust and bargaining strategy on joint profit outcomes? More specifically, this paper contributes to the international operations management literature by juxtaposing two underpinning theories, the Relational View and Transaction Cost Economics. The paper leverages these theories to develop new hypotheses regarding the impact of cultural differences in buyer–supplier relationships. The two underpinning theories provide opposing and seemingly contradictory perspectives on buyer–supplier relationships. They can be reconciled by incorporating the presence or absence of cultural differences. In addition, the study addresses the recommendation of Pagell et al. (2005, p.388), who emphasize that studies should extend beyond the question of “whether culture matters” to investigate “how culture matters”, thereby, furthering the discussion regarding the impact of culture on buyer–supplier relationships. The new theory, in the form of hypotheses regarding the direct and moderating effects of cultural differences on buyer–supplier negotiation outcomes, is tested through the use of a behavioral experiment. Building on a design by Pruitt and Lewis (1975), a negotiation scenario is developed that mimics a common buyer–supplier environment with information asymmetry and the resulting potential for one party to behave opportunistically. The use of dyads provides the opportunity to assess joint profits. This is important because joint profits, defined as the sum of the individual profits realized by the two parties involved in the negotiation, are a measure of overall supply chain performance. The pairings of buyers and suppliers are formed based on the national background of the participants resulting in same- (from similar cultural backgrounds) and mixed-cultural (from different cultural backgrounds) context dyads. In sum, this study contributes to the field of operations management in three ways. First, juxtaposing two prominent theories regarding buyer–supplier relationships, the Relational View and Transaction Cost Economics, yields important new insights. Each of these theories has been used in isolation with regard to a wide range of supply chain questions. Positioning them side-by-side is a valuable exercise. Second, a foundation-based model to address the impact of culture in an international buyer–supplier relationship is developed and grounded in the Relational View and Transaction Cost Economics theory. The theoretic model provides testable hypotheses regarding the impact of cultural differences on supply chain joint profits. Third, the study tests theory on the impact of cultural differences in buyer–supplier dyads, a topic that has not yet received attention in the international operations management literature. As suggested by Bendoly et al. (2006), the current study goes beyond traditional methodologies by using an experimental simulation to capture behavioral aspects in the global buyer–supplier relationship as well as to draw inferences about causality in this context. This provides an important alternative perspective to the literature and contributes to the growing body of research using experimental data as methodology (Siemsen, 2011). In the following section, a brief review is provided of Transaction Cost Economics and the Relational View in the context of negotiations. Based on this foundation, the model is formulated and hypotheses relating to cultural differences are derived. In Section 3, the research methodology is explained, followed by results in Section 4. Section 5 discusses the study's findings, including managerial implications and limitations, followed by a conclusion in the final section.

This study provided both a theoretical and empirical contribution to the timely topic of how cultural differences affect buyer–supplier negotiations. Using Transaction Costs Economics and the Relational View as lenses, theory was developed regarding the direct and moderating effects of cultural differences on joint profits. The model was tested with experimental data. This study found that cultural differences directly influenced supply chain joint profit levels. In addition, cultural differences served as a moderator reducing the strength of the relationship between trust and joint profits. Finally, the results also showed that cultural differences moderate the effect of cooperative bargaining strategies on joint profits. Future research should extend and test theory on this important topic.