Treading on a minefield – challenges in conducting real world negotiation research in the SME sector

Sulkowski, Nadine B ORCID: 0000-0001-7182-7468 (2017) Treading on a minefield – challenges in conducting real world negotiation research in the SME sector. In: 1st International Conference on Family Business and Entrepreneurship, 03 - 05 May 2017, Bali, Indonesia. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

Negotiation research has been historically dominated by experimental and classroom based studies whereby inconsistencies of results have raised concerns over their validity and reliability. Whilst the number of practitioner-based studies has increased in recent years, few attempts have been made at a substantive level to integrate different methodological approaches into frameworks that are fit for the purpose of capturing multiple and situationally nuanced impacts on processes on negotiation. These impacts can be particularly diverse within the context of small-sized and family businesses where personal relationships are often key drivers of decision-making and highly dependent on individual, and possibly fluctuating, perspectives of business owners. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how different ontological and epistemological perspectives can inform the study of negotiation behaviour. It introduces different schools of thought in negotiation research and highlights their strengths and limitations in informing practitioner research. It then moves on to reflect on a pilot study that was informed by methodological approaches from different schools of thought in an attempt to offer a more complete perspective of business negotiations than one in isolation would be able to offer. The findings suggest that practitioner negotiation research, where the researcher is a third party, is subject to a range of substantial constraints. These are related to both procedural, reflexive as well as ethical aspects of the research, which highlights the need for the subject community to engage in more critical methodological debates and the development of suitable research protocols

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Practitioner research, negotiation research, ontology, epistemology, small and medium size enterprises
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD2340.8 Small and Medium-sized businesses, artisans, handcrafts, trades H Social Sciences > HF Commerce > HF5001 Business
Divisions:	Schools and Research Institutes > School of Business, Computing and Social Sciences
Research Priority Areas:	Applied Business & Technology
Depositing User:	Anne Pengelly
Date Deposited:	24 Jul 2017 11:25
Last Modified:	14 Mar 2024 15:00
URI:	https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/4794

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