Trust Building in E-Negotiation

Abstract

As the global market expands and business and personal relationships are increasingly taking place online, it is common to conduct negotiation processes in the online venue. This chapter focuses on the challenges to inter-party trust in e-negotiation, and on means for overcoming these challenges. It explains the critical role trust plays in negotiation, and portrays the ways in which the communication medium through which a negotiation is conducted affects the dynamics of trust-building and trust-breaking. The author lists eight major obstacles to trust formation in e-negotiation and suggests methods not only for avoiding or defusing trust-breaking situations, but for engaging in proactive trust-building.