Schmooze or Lose: Social Friction and Lubrication in E-mail Negotiations

Past research indicates that rapport helps negotiators overcome interpersonal friction and find cooperative agreements. Study 1 explored differences in the behavioral dynamics evoked by e-mail versus face-to-face negotiation. Although some behavioral content categories differed in ways pointing to strengths of e-mail, the strongest pattern was that e-mail inhibited the process of exchanging personal information through which negotiators establish rapport. We hypothesized that the liabilities of e-mail might minimized by a pre-negotiation intervention of social lubrication. To test this in Study 2, half of dyads had a brief personal telephone conversation (schmoozed) before commencing e-mail negotiations, and half did not. Schmoozers felt more rapport; their plans were more trusting though no less ambitious; and their economic and social outcomes were better.