Media, affect, concession, and agreement in negotiation: IM versus telephone

The communication of affect, the exchange of offers, and the goal of reaching agreement are factors that play key roles in negotiation processes. Although instant messaging (IM) and phone are used for these processes, not much is known about how they influence these key factors. The present study is focused on this issue. By examining natural communication between negotiators who use these media, we find that computer mediation reduces both the amount of affect communicated and concession, which in turn decreases the likelihood of agreement. We also find that the efficacy of affect communicated is significantly reduced by computer mediation.