Perception formation in global negotiations: The role of culture and sacred value

We examine how sacred values, or fundamental beliefs that reflect moral norms, and national culture interact to influence perceptions in cross-cultural negotiation. Perceptions formed toward a negotiator can subsequently affect decision-making, cooperative behavior, outcomes and reputations. Caucasian-American and South Asian-Indian observers viewed an intercultural negotiation with a negative, distributive outcome and rated their perception of a culturally in-group (same culture) versus culturally out-group (different culture) negotiator. Prior to viewing the negotiation, we manipulated observer and negotiator congruency of sacred values via deontological versus instrumental reasoning styles. The results illustrate a "black sheep effect," where observers perceived the cultural in-group negotiator negatively, only when they shared similar sacred values but not when those values were different. In contrast, sacred value congruence did not matter when observers rated the cultural out-group negotiator. Instead, observers' perceptions were heavily influenced by the negotiator's values.