Applying Media-Richness Concepts for the Optimization of Industrial Negotiations

Abstract

Despite increasing involvement in a global market and growing sophistication of salesperson technologies, salespeople feel unprepared to negotiate digitally and student-learning outcomes tied to digital negotiation exercises are unclear. The present study first outlines the digital negotiation role-play exercise and then compares student learning outcomes between digital and face-to-face negotiation role-plays. It answers research questions revolving around middle-range-richness mediums, i.e., digital communication tools relying mostly on text (e.g., SMS texts). The benefits of digital experiential sales negotiation exercises are uniquely important for building real-world industrial sales negotiation skills due to the complexity and quantity of negotiation messages exchanged.