A Comparison on Business Negotiation Styles with Education

Training and education is important in negotiation. For a trained negotiator, good results are the consequence of knowing when to follow to his/her instincts and when to employ negotiation theories or use a combination of them. As the economics within Greater China become more internally linked together, it becomes increasingly important to understand the nuances of each culture encompassed by this term. There is very little comparing the negotiation styles of Chinese who live in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China among themselves. To fill the gap, the present research focuses on negotiations style comparison by education among Chinese in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China. The population was chosen from public companies listed under the stock markets. Data was collected using an online survey technique. SPSS was used to conduct data analyses, and a variety of statistical measures were used, including descriptive statistics and MANOVA, and coefficient alphas was reported for modified instruments in order to address reliability and validity of the instrument. The results indicated that three dimensions-intuitive, normative, and analytical-had a significant relationship affected by education among the three regions. The researcher suggests that the negotiators still need to be trained in body language, strategies, temper control, international manners, and customs. A better knowledge of negotiation should be helpful in understanding business and in realizing which negotiation styles are most appropriate for a particular country. The appropriate negotiation skills can bring more competitive advantages and benefits.


Introduction and Background
Training and education is important in negotiation, and for a trained negotiator, good results are the consequence of knowing when to follow to his/her instincts and when to employ negotiation theories or use a combination of them (Nardi, 2006). Nardi (2006) also indicated that a country is training in education systems are affected by culture and Schneider and Barsoux (2003) announced "culture and institutional configurations work interactively to create potential competitive advantage or disadvantage" (p. 8). As the economics within Greater China become more internally linked together, it becomes increasingly important to understand the nuances of each culture encompassed by this term. In recent history, China has been separated politically and economically, which has had a great influence on the development of the business climate of each area. The competing evaluations of the regions also highlight the role of ethnic and cultural influences in the development of business climates. Within these areas, the styles and skills relating to business negotiations have been greatly altered by the varied socio-political systems. The difference in value systems has imbued each one with a different view of foreign cultures. In conducting business, Taiwan typically follows American and Japanese practices, and Taiwan retains some connections with Japan, but in the academic world, it has also been influenced by America (Bray & Qin, 2001). Hong Kong had been a British colony at the end of the twentieth century, and Hong Kong typically follows British practices. The characteristics in Hong Kong are different from China and Taiwan (Bray & Qin, 2001). China has adopted the command economic system and communism since 1945 (Kemenade, 1998). As of social policies at that time were closely guided by the Soviet Union, much of the education system, and especially the university sector, was restructured along Soviet lines (Hayhoe, 1999). This continued until 1979, when Deng Xiaoping announced his "open door policy" (International Tax Review, 2007), resulting in China having more opportunities to contract with other countries. As the number of face-to-face negotiations dramatically increases, business negotiation strategies, styles, and agreements are becoming more important (Kumar, Markeset, & Kumar, 2004). Numerous factors can affect the results of the negotiating process. A few of these include culture, personality, gender, experience, knowledge, and education of the parties involved in the prioritization of directness, the use of language as information, and establishing the relevance of time to negotiations' " (as cited in Schehr & Milovanovic, 1999). Cross-cultural studies like the one aforementioned are related to analyzing the effect of different elements including educational background, beliefs, art, morals, customs, laws, and economic (Evans, Hau, & Sculli, 1989). Mintu-Wimsatt and Gassenheimer (2000) conducted an empirical study about cultural context in buyer-seller negotiations. They used a non-experimental, causal-comparative, quantitative design of industrial exporters from the United States and the Philippines. The literature review was thorough in comparing and contrasting theories about problem-solving approaches of both high and low context cultures. When empirical studies of buyer-seller negotiations were examined, the existing research revealed major differences in problem-solving approaches depending on gender and cultural background--i.e. high-or low -context culture. This resulted in Mintu-Wimsatt and Gassenheimer's study that tested Hill's proposition of high (HC) and low culture (LC). The result indicated that cultural context does not play an important role between gender and problem-solving approaches. In the same culture of HC or LC environment, there were no obvious differences between males and females in negotiations, and gender did not appear to influence cooperative problem solving. The results also suggested that a high-context culture decreases the positive influences of negotiation while using a problem-solving approach. This led to the conclusion that HC negotiators rely more heavily on cooperative problem solving than LC negotiators. Mintu-Wimsatt and Gassenheimer heralded the results of the study in their support for the notion that a better understanding of cultural context and demographic characteristics can enhance negotiation efforts and improve their overall results.
Janosik's Cross-Cultural Negotiation Model: Janosik (1987) introduced his seminal theory of cross-cultural negotiation research based on his qualitative, phenomenological studies to find the relationship between culture and negotiation. The theory also provides that no matter which approach to negotiation be applied, it is still important to understand individual variations in negotiation styles when parties attempt to negotiate cross-culturally. Several subsequent empirical studies by Osman-Gani and Tan led to refinement of the theory. Through these studies, the researchers verified the propositions about different negotiation styles in different cultures. Lately, the theory has been adapted to fit cross-cultural business negotiations involving Asian managers. In one study, Osman-Gani and Tan (2002) conducted an exploratory quantitative study of cross-cultural impacts on negotiation styles of Chinese, Malay, and Indian managers living in Singapore. Their literature review comprehensively examined research relating to the effect of culture on the process of negotiation. Noting the shortcomings of existing research, Osman-Gani and Tan designed their study to test Janesik's propositions with regard to cross-cultural negotiation. These negotiation styles were defined by Osman-Gani and Tan as follows: A factual style identifies facts in an unemotional manner, pays attention to details and all statements made during a negotiation, and places much importance on proof and facts as related to experience. An intuitive person is warm and animated when making statements, flexible and creative during negotiations, fluid and able to adapt to changing subjects and situations, and imaginative in projecting into the future. A normal person considers and weights facts according to a set of personal values; this person uses all the tools at his or her disposal, such as emotions, status, authority, and rewards, to come up with the best bargain. The analytical negotiator is strongly logical, tries to find cause-and-effect in all issues, and likes to weigh pros and cons thoroughly. (p. 825). The study's value lies in its ability to help people understand the similarity of negotiation styles among Chinese, Malay, and Indian managers in Singapore. Osman-Gani and Tan's analysis of the results did not reveal a large difference between the three groups in their negotiations when comparing intuitive, normative, analytical, and factual styles. These findings led to the researchers' conclusion that Chinese, Malay, and Indian managers in Singapore have no significant differences in negotiation styles.

Methodology
The study employed a non-experimental, quantitative research design to analyze educational system differences among Chinese people living in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China. The research design used was causal-comparative (exploratory) and correlational (explanatory), and was intended to examine, describe, and explore the differences and similarities of various negotiation styles in relation to the cultural differences in the three distinct geographic regions of Greater China. The research model and hypotheses are as follows:

Figure 1: Research Model
H1. There is a significant relationship between the normative negotiation style and education of managers or negotiators of public companies in the three regions. H2. There is a significant relationship between the analytical negotiation style and education of managers or negotiators of public companies in the three regions. H3. There is a significant relationship between the factual negotiation style and education of managers or negotiators of public companies in the three regions. H4. There is a significant relationship between the intuitive negotiation style and education of managers or negotiators of public companies in the three regions.
The dependent variables of the model employed in this research are the four negotiation styles including factual negotiation, intuitive negotiation, normative negotiation, and analytical negotiation developed by Casse and Deol (1985). There are 8 questions designed to examine each negotiation style (factual negotiation style, intuitive negotiation style, normative negotiation style, and analytical negotiation style) that are analyzed on the five-point Likert scale. There are five options for each statement: 5. "Always" (around 100% of the time); 4. "Often" (around 75% of the time); 3. "Occasionally" (around 50% of the time); 2. "Seldom" (around 25% of the time); 1. "Never" (around 0% of the time). In total, there are 32 questions for the four negotiation styles. The independent variable is gender. For the data collection of demographic variables, the participants are provides the questions as follows. Education (as a nominal variable): 1= "High School Diploma or Equivalent"; 2= "Associate Degree"; 3= "Bachelor Degree"; 4= "Graduate Degree". Religion (as a nominal variable): 1= "Buddhist"; 2= "Christian"; 3= "Moslem"; 4= "Others". Gender is defined as a dichotomous variable (1=Male; 2=Female). Age is defined as a nominal variable (1= under 35; 2= 35-45; 3= 46-55; 4= over 55). Region of birth: 1= "Taiwan"; 2= "Hong Kong"; 3= "Mainland China". For this study, the accessible population was chosen from public companies listed under the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation (TSEC), Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx), Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SSE) and Shanghai Stock Exchange in China. There were 700 listed companies in the Taiwan Security Exchange Corporation (TSEC), and all listed companies were classified into eight sectors, including cement and ceramics, foods, plastics and chemical, textiles, electric & machinery, paper and pulp, construction, and financial. There were 911 listed companies on the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx), and all companies were classified into six sectors, including financials, utilities, real estate, industries, hotels, and others. In China, there were 585 listed companies (including A stock: 530 companies and B Stock: 55 companies) in the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SSE), and all companies are classified into six sectors, including industry, business, financials, real estate, utilities, and others. There were 872 listed companies (including A stock: 820 companies and B Stock: 52 companies) in the Shanghai Stock Exchange, and all companies were classified into five sectors, including industry, business, real estate, utilities, and others. In total, there were 3,068 listed public companies in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China. Any company listed on these markets had the potential to be included in this study.

Negotiation Styles Education
In order to avoid sampling errors, the population was collected from different sectors of stock markets in the three regions. A random sample was taken from each of these sectors through a stratified random sampling. Overall, this method for determining a sample population is more accurate than purely random sampling, further it allows the researcher to select a sample that accurately reflects the diverse sectors and characteristic patterns in the desired population (Wallen & Fraenkel, 2001). This research method is useful in that it allows a small but carefully selected data pool to provide insight into the more general trends of a larger population. The principal characteristic of probability sampling is that every member or individual has an equal probability of being selected from the population as the sample (Ary, Jacobs, & Razavier, 1996). This is also the reason why the researcher used a probability-sampling plan in this study that allowed, through use of inferential statistics, the researcher to evaluate the extent to which the findings were likely to be different from what they would have been because of investigating the whole population (Ary, Jacobs, & Razavier, 1996). Under ideal circumstances, researchers could conduct studies that sample entire populations with 100% participant rates. Due to practicalities, the researcher was forced, for a variety of reasons, to find a representative sample size. Hair, Anderson, Tatham, & Black (1998) recommended that the minimum sample size is at least five times as many as the observed variables for factor analysis. Gay and Airasian (2000) suggested that if the population is over 5,000, a sample size of 400 should be adequate. Wallen & Fraenkel (2001) indicated that the best sample size should be as large as researchers can acquire with a reasonable expense of time and energy. Larger sample sizes are more likely to represent the target population (Grossnickle & Raskin, 2001). In the research, data was collected using an online survey technique. Sheehan (2001) reported that the average response rate of online survey is 36.83%. Therefore, a large number of the initial e-mail invitations for this study were sent out to ensure a large enough number of online survey responses were obtained. The number of listed companies in the stock markets in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China was 3,068. With an accessible population of 9,204 including CEOs and sales and purchase managers, the desired sample size was 4,605 in order to increase generalization and reduce sampling errors, as suggested by Wallen, Fraenkel, Grossnickle, and Raskin in 2001. To obtain the desired initial sample size of 4,605, 1, 535 companies were chosen, and each company's CEOs and sales and purchase managers were randomly selected from listed companies of stock markets in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China. Invitation e-mails were sent to 4,605 participants. All information, such as the names of CEOs and sales and purchase managers, and e-mail addresses of listed companies were obtained through the website of the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation (TSEC), Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx), Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SSE), and Shanghai Stock Exchange. The survey was accessible on the Internet without direct contact with the researcher. The CEOs and sales and purchase managers of the sample population were invited to participate via an e-mail that explained the research and included a link to the survey website. The questionnaire was posted on the website, "www.my3q.com" in English, traditional Chinese, and simplified Chinese. The researcher asked respondents to return the surveys within 30 days by sending an e-mail to "www.my3q.com" website.
Three hundred and fifty companies were considered from the 700 listed companies on the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation. Three e-mails were sent, one of each to each company's CEOs and sales and purchase managers. There were 1050 potential respondents in total. The number of companies that were considered from the 911 listed on the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx) were 456. The CEOs and sales and purchase managers of each company were contacted by e-mail. The total number of potential respondents for this study from Hong Kong was 1,368. Two hundred and sixty-five companies were considered from the 530 listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SSE) of A Stock. There were 795 subjects from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SSE) of A Stock. Twenty-eight companies were considered from the 55 listed companies in the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SSE) of B Stock. The CEOs and sales and purchase managers of each company were contacted by e-mail. This sample had 84 subjects. Four hundred and ten companies were considered from the 820 listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange of a Stock. The CEOs and sales and purchase managers were contacted by e-mail. There were 1,230 subjects for this study from the Shanghai Stock Exchange of A Stock. Twenty-six companies were considered from the 52 listed in the Shanghai Stock Exchange of B Stock. The CEOs and sales and purchase managers of each company were contacted by e-mail. There were 78 subjects from the Shanghai Stock Exchange of B Stock. The Statistics Package of Social Science (SPSS) for Windows version 13.0 was used to conduct data analyses on collected data. A variety of statistical measures were used, including descriptive statistics and MANOVA. SPSS was also utilized to report coefficient alphas for modified instruments in order to address reliability and validity of the instrument.

Results
In this study, 4,605 invitations were e-mailed to public companies' CEOs and sales and purchase managers in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China by a stratified probability-sampling plan. A hyper-link to the survey web site was provided on each invitation e-mail. Participants who chose to take part in the study were directed to the survey. Data collection lasted for one month, and 860 questionnaires were returned. However, 251 questionnaires were incomplete or invalid. There were 168 usable questionnaires from Taiwan; 179 from Hong Kong, and 262 from China. 609 usable questionnaires were obtained for data analysis.
Reliability Analysis: The internal consistency reliability was measured by using Cronbach's coefficient a according to the mean or average correlation of each item with every other item. Initially, the internal consistency reliability of the individualist/collectivist characteristics and four negotiation styles were assessed and the reliability coefficients of each subscale as follows: 1) individualist/collectivist characteristics (10 items); C r o n b a c h α = 0 . 7 4 ; 2) analytical negotiation styles (18 items

Exploratory Factor Analysis:
The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test and Bartlett's test had to be examined before performing factor analysis. According to Lin (2006), a KMO value larger than 0.50 is acceptable, and in 2005, Leech, Barrett, and Morgan found that Bartlett's test should be significant. The KMO value for the variables used in the study was 0.54, and Bartlett's test was significant, which means all negotiation styles in this study were sufficient for social science research and factor analysis, and could therefore be performed. These items were categorized into four negotiation styles. Each negotiation style was combined with several items that participants needed to respond to in the questionnaire. Goodwin and Goodwin (1999) indicated that if a factor loading is less than 0.30, the variable should not be considered a part of the factor. All of the factor loadings in the study were above 0.30, indicating that the construct validity was acceptable. Among the 609 respondents, 453 (74.4%) were male and 156 (25.6%) were female. In this study, 39 respondents (6.4%) held a high school diploma or equivalent; 23 respondents (3.8%) had an associate degree; 319 respondents (52.4%) were college or university graduates; and 228 respondents (37.4%) had a graduate degree. In terms of religion, 165 respondents (27.1%) were Buddhist; 67 (11.0%) were Christian; 38 (6.2%) were Muslim; and 339 (55.7%) were others. The largest number, nearly a third, 168 (27.6%) of respondents were from Taiwan; 179 (29.4%) were from Hong Kong; and 262 (43.0%) were from China. Respondents' age ranged from 35 to 45 years old. There were 169 (27.7%) respondents under 35 years old; 258 (42.4%) between 35 and 45 years old; 132 (21.7%) from 46 to 55 years old; and 50 (8.2%) who were older than 55. The value of Wilks' Lambda was F = 2.859 (p<0.001), and that MANOVA for the interaction of education and region was significant. The Test of Between-Subject Effect, as shown in Table 1, indicated that the interaction between the education and regions was a significant factor (p<0.05) in affecting the normative, analytical and intuitive negotiation styles but the interaction between the education and regions was not a significant factor (p＞0.05) in affecting the factual negotiation style. H1. There is a significant relationship between the Normative negotiation style and education of managers or negotiators of public companies in the three regions.
As   Table 3. As for normative negotiation style, the mean difference of the Post Hoc Test among subjects at all level groups of education (high school diploma or equivalent group, bachelor degree and graduate degree), the Taiwan group had the highest significant value, as shown in Table 4. It means that negotiators from Taiwan with high school diploma or equivalent, bachelor and graduate degrees prefer to employ the intuitive negotiation style more so than negotiators from China and Hong Kong with the same credentials. Therefore, it can be concluded that the interaction between education and regions is a significant variable affecting the normative negotiation style of business negotiators of the three regions. H2. There is a significant relationship between the analytical negotiation style and education of managers or negotiators of public companies in the three regions.     Table 6. As for the analytical negotiation style, the mean difference of the Post Hoc Test of the high school diploma or equivalent group and the bachelor degree group, the China group showed the highest significant value but as for the graduate degree group, the Hong Kong group had the highest significant value as shown in Table 7. It means that negotiators from China with the education of high school diploma or equivalent and bachelor degree prefer to employ the intuitive negotiation style more so than negotiators from Taiwan and Hong Kong, and negotiators from Hong Kong with the education of graduate degree mostly employ the intuitive negotiation style more so than negotiators from China and Taiwan. Therefore, it can be concluded that the interaction between education and regions is a significant variable affecting the analytical negotiation style of business negotiators of the three regions.
H3. There is a significant relationship between the factual negotiation style and education of managers or negotiators of public companies in the three regions.
The interaction between education and regions is not a significant variable affecting the factual negotiation style of business negotiators. That is, the factual negotiation style of business people in the three regions does not depend on the differences in education among the three regions (Table 1).
H4. There is a significant relationship between the intuitive negotiation style and education of managers or negotiators of public companies in the three regions.  The education in multi-variable analysis in the associate degree group was a significant factor affecting the intuitive negotiation style, and the value of Wilks' Lambda was F= 13.640, p<0.001, and the value of the Test of Between-Subject Effect was F= 20.384, p<0.001. The education in multi-variable analysis in the bachelor degree group was a significant factor affecting the intuitive negotiation style, and the value of Wilks' Lambda was F=149.025, p<0.001, and the value of the Test of Between-Subject Effect was F= 121.524, p<0.001. The education in multi-variable analysis in the graduate degree group was a significant factor affecting the intuitive negotiation style, and the value of Wilks' Lambda was F= 122.005, p<0.001, and the value of the Test of Between-Subject Effect was F= 111.698, p<0.001.  Table 9.  As for intuitive negotiation style, the mean difference of the Post Hoc Test for the high school diploma or equivalent groups, the Hong Kong group had the highest significant value; as for the bachelor and graduate degree groups, the Taiwan group had the highest significant value (Table 10). It means that negotiators from Hong Kong who have a high school diploma or equivalent prefer to employ the intuitive negotiation style more so than negotiators from China and Taiwan, and negotiators from Taiwan with the education of bachelor and graduate degrees mostly employ the intuitive negotiation style as opposed to negotiators from Hong Kong and China. Therefore, it can be concluded that the interaction between education and regions is a significant variable affecting the intuitive negotiation style of business negotiators of the three regions.

Discussion:
The results of this study revealed significant differences (p＜0.05) of the intersection of Test of Between-Subject Effect of education among the three regions on intuitive, normative, and analytical negotiation styles, but there was no significant difference (p＞0.05) on factual negotiation style among managers and negotiators from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China. The intuitive negotiation style was correlated with education for the subjects in the study. At the high school diploma or equivalent level on intuitive negotiation style, Hong Kong negotiators had the highest preference to employ the intuitive negotiation style compared to negotiators from China and Taiwan. At the bachelor and graduate degree levels, Taiwan negotiators had the highest preference to employ the intuitive negotiation style compared to negotiators from Hong Kong and China. The normative negotiation style was correlated with education for the subjects in the study of Taiwan negotiators. At the all levels (high school diploma or equivalent, bachelor and graduate degrees), Taiwan negotiators had the highest preference to employ the normative negotiation style compared to negotiators from China and Hong Kong. The analytical negotiation style had a significant negative correlation (B= -0.104) with education for the subjects of the regression model in this study. China negotiators from all educational levels (high school diploma or equivalent, bachelor and graduate degrees) had the highest preference to employ the analytical negotiation style compared to negotiators from China and Taiwan. Negotiators from Taiwan with a bachelor or graduate degree mostly employ the intuitive negotiation style, and with a high school diploma or equivalent, bachelor or graduate degree prefer to employ the intuitive negotiation style. Negotiators from Hong Kong with a high school diploma or equivalent prefer to employ the intuitive negotiation style, and with a graduate degree mostly employ the intuitive negotiation style. Negotiators from China with a high school diploma or equivalent or bachelor degree prefer to employ the intuitive negotiation style. During the time that Taiwan was a colony of Japan, Taiwan's educational system was adopted from the Japanese educational model (Tsurumi, 1984). Bray and Qin (2001) indicated that Taiwan's subsequent economic prosperity led to the expansion of higher education, and many scholars had received their higher education in the USA or Japan. Taiwan retains some connections with Japan, but its academic world has also been influenced by America (Bray & Qin, 2001). In China, Russian was the dominant foreign language during the initial years of the People's Republic (Bray & Qin, 2001). Because social policies at that time were closely guided by the Soviet Union, much of the education system, especially the university sector, was restructured along Soviet lines (Hayhoe, 1999). Gu (2001) indicated that "China is a socialist country guided by the thought of Karl Marx and Mao Zedong" (p. 242), while Taiwan and Hong Kong had never stressed Marxism and Maoism (Bray & Qin, 2001). None of the respondents from China had an associate degree. Mou (2005) stated that only 164 of 1,277 institutes offer associate diplomas. Duan (2003) indicated that while there is a need for a two or three-year pre-bachelor system to meet the demands of economic development in China, there are too few of the colleges in proportion to China's population. This may explain why there are no respondents from China with an associate degree.

Conclusion
The researcher suggests that the negotiators still need to be trained in body language, strategies, temper control, international manners, and customs. A better knowledge of negotiation should be helpful in understanding business and in realizing which negotiation styles are most appropriate for a particular country. The appropriate negotiation skills can bring more competitive advantages and benefits. Negotiators should create a database about negotiation knowledge that can be applied in different countries. The researcher also suggests that further training and drilling are required for negotiators, and that negotiators should focus on a culture's specific requirements rather than general principles. Although the strategies would be costly in the short-term, company owners who realize the benefits of negotiation stand to gain advantages that are more competitive in the long term.

Recommendation:
The findings were limited to the public companies, and was constrained by person-power, financial resources, and time; therefore the study adopted only a quantitative research method and employed a self-reporting questionnaire to conduct the survey. Future studies could compare the differences and similarities of negotiations in several countries, such as Asia's "four little dragons" or intra regions, such as Korea or Germany.