Negotiation competency in a synchronous virtual computer mediated negotiation environment

Recently, an increasing number of organizations have started to negotiate via online channels with their suppliers. There is a big interest in filling the literature gap on this specific topic due to the rapid increase in the use of visual computer mediated communication (CMCv) in negotiations. The focus of this paper is to find which factors of the negotiation competence model will be influenced by a switch from F2F to CMCv. Results implicate a great influence on relationship building and negotiation intelligence through the influence of social presence, which is mainly due to the perceived distance and amount of personal connection possibilities. The length of a relationship is an influencing factor here as it was found that there is a lower need for social presence due to a longer relationship, where longer relations result in higher levels of trust. Another influencing factor is the type of organization, where private organizations favor personal connection possibilities more than public organizations. The similarity between the cultures of practitioners also plays a role in the success of CMCv negotiations. Using CMCv or F2F can be a form of negotiation strategy and should be used accordingly to the negotiation situation.