Before Corona, the prevailing wisdom was: for important conversations, you meet in person. But what if it can only be done online? Shortly before the first wave of Corona measures, Professor Ingmar Geiger published an overview of 60 years of research into the differences between virtual and physical negotiation. The outcomes are both surprising and instructive.

Geiger conducted a meta-analysis of 98 empirical studies conducted between the 1960s and the present day on the differences between old-fashioned in-person negotiation and “online” negotiation (via email, video calls, phone, or instant messaging such as SMS and WhatsApp). It turns out that the most common assumptions about online negotiation are not supported by scientific research. For example, the success rate of online channels is no lower than that of physically meeting. Studies contradict each other or find no difference. This also applies to joint gains, the total value that negotiators can create together. This does not appear to be lower (or higher) in an online environment. Negotiator satisfaction afterwards also does not score significantly differently in an online context. The arrows of various studies repeatedly point in different directions. Apparently, the context of the negotiation matters quite a bit.

Are there demonstrable differences then? Yes, Professor Geiger found two elements where there was a significant difference, a difference that was confirmed multiple times in different studies. The first is trust. Negotiators trust each other more on average when they are physically together. The second is the Judgment of the other party's intentions. It turns out that in a virtual setting, negotiators are more likely to misjudge the other party's intentions.

Important? Absolutely. Because if you know that trust is generally much lower in an online setting, you can choose to invest more in it. You can also remind yourself of ANNA: always check, never assume. So, always bring ANNA to that important negotiation on Zoom or Teams.

Geiger, I. From Letter to Twitter: A Systematic Review of Communication Media in Negotiation. Group Decision and Negotiation 29, 207–250 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10726-020-09662-6

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Stefan Szepesi