The effect of emotional intelligence on negotiation behaviour

Emotional intelligence (EI) and negotiation behaviour are both a growing body of research. Nevertheless, the effect of emotional intelligence on negotiation behaviour by purchasers received little attention in past literature. Hence, there is less known about the relationship between both topics combined. The positive influence of emotional intelligence on leadership effectiveness, job performance and workplace outcomes is proven. Also, negotiations are taking up an important role in conducting B2B transactions due to being an essential element of organisational buying firms. Therefore, the question arises if there is a connection between emotional intelligence and negotiation behaviour. The purpose of this study is to tackle the gap of both fields combined and to explore whether there is a relationship. Through collecting qualitative data, it has been found that participants with a lower EI use ‘compromise’ and participants with a higher EI use ‘soft competition’ negotiation behaviour. Although it is only a slight difference between low and high EI individuals, emotional intelligence has been found to have an impact on the negotiation behaviour used by organisational buyers. Nevertheless, further research is required in order to be able to generalise findings for a practical implication due to limited previous studies.