Negotiation Tendencies and Culture: Role of Generations X and Y in Finland, Germany, and Pakistan

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore possible changes in cultural values and in behavior within international business negotiations for generation X and Y members in the three selected countries Finland, Germany, and Pakistan. Methodology – This exploratory study is underlying the critical realism philosophy and follows the deductive approach. This research does not seek generalization. Survey items were adopted from the seminal works by Hofstede and Salacuse and distributed through an online questionnaire via ELomake. The survey yielded in n= 574 responses. Data analysis was conducted with the help of SPSS and SPSS AMOS. After the confirmatory factor analysis, an independent t- test was applied in order to test the dependency between age cohort and cultural values/ negotiation behavior. Findings – Significant differences between generations X and Y were found regarding their cultural values and their behavior within business negotiations. The results further confirm previous studies by showing different negotiation behavior across the three investigated countries. A trend towards a global culture was not confirmed by the results of this study. Research limitations/implications – This empirical study should be repeated with a representative sample from a greater variety of countries. Additionally, generation Z should be in the center of investigation in the near future, since they will enter the job market eventually. Furthermore, qualitative methods like interviews or simulations should be added in order to gain in-depth findings and understand the background of the results. Practical implications – The findings introduce a new source of opportunities but also danger within cross-cultural business negotiations. The results imply that the vital preparation process of a business negotiation needs to concentrate on the negotiator’s age cohort in addition to his/her national culture and further contextual factors. Originality/Value – This research gives advanced insights into cross-cultural negotiations. Due to the research gap within this field of inquiry, this study presents pioneer thoughts on generational-dependent behavior within business negotiations, also regarding cultural values