Dan-Cristian DABIJA1, Liana STANCA2, Oana ENĂȘEL3, Maria Luiza SOUCA4, Alexander EIGNER5, Timo HOLOPAINEN6, Kati LANG7, Harri LAPPALEINEN8, Johannes REITERER9, Eva TÖRÖK-BEISTEINER10
Abstract. The recent crises (sanitarian, socio-economic, energetic, military) have largely affected the negotiation capacity of organisations worldwide, fostering the development of skills and competencies towards online settings. Classic, face-to-face negotiations have begun to lose importance. Therefore, the aim of this research is to identify possible challenges faced by companies in conducting online negotiations with different partners. A semi-structured in-depth interview guide was developed, and company representatives from different sectors were interviewed to highlight their experience in conducting online negotiations. A total of 32 interview guides, consisting of textual transcripts, were analysed using a multi-method approach to uncover significant themes and patterns. The techniques used included: TF-IDF, to identify relevant keywords; LDA, to model main topics; and cluster analysis, to group responses based on thematic similarities. This combination of methods allowed for a deeper understanding of the collected textual data. The applied analysis allowed the delimitation of three main topics in the considered dataset, which were titled ‘Challenges of multi-party negotiations‘, ‘Structuring online decision-making process‘ and ‘Comprising diversity of perspectives on negotiations‘. The cluster analysis revealed four possible clusters of answers, comprising company representatives that are more ‘Reconciliators’ (Cluster 1), ‘Euristians’ or ‘Lateral Thinkers’ in Cluster 2, ‘Strategists’ or ‘Pragmatists’ in Cluster 3 and ‘Minimalists’ in Cluster 4. The thematic analysis also allowed for drawing some interesting insights into managing multi-party negotiations, as it requires establishing protocols, communication channels and considering various aspects. The novelty of the research lies in the multi-methods approach laid out in the analysis.
Keywords: online negotiations; interviews; data mining; multi-party negotiations; decision-making process; trust; strategy
DOI 10.56082/annalsarscijkd.2025.1.52
1 Babeș-Bolyai University, Mihail Kogălniceanu 1, 400084 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; Academy of Romanian Scientists, Ilfov Street 3, 050094 Bucharest, Romania, ORCID No. 0000-0002-8265-175X; dan.dabija@ubbcluj.ro (corresponding author)
2 Babeș-Bolyai University, Mihail Kogălniceanu 1, 400084 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; ORCID No. 0000-0003-2453-1511; liana.stanca@ubbcluj.ro
3 Babeș-Bolyai University, Mihail Kogălniceanu 1, 400084 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; ORCID No. 0000-0002-0238-7806; iulia.enasel@ubbcluj.ro
4 Babeș-Bolyai University, Mihail Kogălniceanu 1, 400084 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; ORCID No. 0000-0002-0562-1880; luiza.souca@ubbcluj.ro
5 University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt, Austria; ORCID No. 0000-0003-1525-4735; alexander.eigner@fhwn.ac.at
6 Turku University of Applied Sciences, Finland; ORCID No. 0000-0002-2698-9457; Timo.Holopainen@turkuamk.fi
7 University of Applied Sciences Düsseldorf, Germany, email: kati.lang@hs-duesseldorf.de
8 Turku University of Applied Sciences, Finland, email: Harri.Lappalainen@turkuamk.fi
9 University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt, Austria; ORCID No. 0000-0002-7467-1419; johannes.reiterer@fhwn.ac.at
10 University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt, Austria, email: e.toeroek-beisteiner@fhwn.ac.at
PUBLISHED in Journal of Knowledge Dynamics, Volume 2, No1