Human-software agent negotiations: An experimental study

Abstract

Negotiation is a powerful mechanism for facilitating effective economic exchanges. Electronic negotiations allow participants to negotiate online and use analytical support tools in making their decisions. Software agents offer the possibility of automating negotiation process using these tools. This paper aims at investigating the prospects of agent-to-human negotiations in B2C contexts using experiments with human subjects. Various types of agents have been configured and paired up with human counterparts for negotiating product sale. The paper discusses the results obtained both in terms of objective, as well as subjective measures. © 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.