More than words: The effect of emoticons in electronic negotiations

Abstract

While affect plays a similar fundamental role in both, electronic and face-to-face negotiations, the expression of emotions in computer-mediated communication differs considerably from face-to-face settings. The aim of this experimental study is to analyze how the systematic use of emoticons – facilitated with software – affects negotiation behavior in alternative computer-mediated negotiation settings. With a 2 × 2 design comparing system-induced emoticon use with a text-only condition in synchronous chat or asynchronous e-mail mode we isolate effects of emoticons in these different communication settings. Results show that emoticons are used in different functions, i.e. mainly to supplement and support text messages and less often to mitigate its content. Furthermore, emoticon support increases the communication of positive affect in asynchronous negotiations while it decreases communication of negative affect and distributive negotiation behavior in synchronous negotiations. These findings propose that advancing communication quality via contextualization of affective information in negotiation support systems is promising.