Effects of Language Familiarity on e-Negotiation: Use of Native vs. Nonnative Language

This study explored the influence of language familiarity on persuasion behavior in e-negotiation. This was motivated by booming global e-business and the resulting popularity of cross-country e-negotiation. A laboratory e-negotiation experiment was conducted with two groups who used native and nonnative language in negotiation separately. We found that language familiarity has a positive effect on both language self-efficacy and negotiation self-efficacy. Moreover, mediated effect analyses revealed a critical effect path from language self-efficacy to negotiation self-efficacy to communication efficiency to communication effectiveness to persuasion behavior. This indicates that language familiarity is the fundamentally critical factor in guiding persuasion behavior since it can affect both language self-efficacy and negotiation self-efficacy. Therefore, determining how to improve both language self-efficacy and negotiation self-efficacy when negotiating in a nonnative language is very important. Finally, possible contributions provided by information technology are proposed from the viewpoint of the information systems discipline.