Funded by the Austrian ScienceFund (FWF) 2009 - 2012

Project Description

Status Quo: In the last decade e-business has gained momentum in many domains and its importance is still growing. While in many B2B and B2C markets electronic support tools are widely applied, the task of negotiating the final contract remained unsupported and negotiations are still conducted via e-mail. Electronic negotiation support systems (eNS) have not yet experienced their forecast break-through.

State of the Art: Based on different support approaches, system designers implement different features. These features influence the negotiation process, which in turn shapes the final negotiation outcome. However, current eNS are missing facet of actual negotiation processes or influence negotiations in a way that is perceived by users as disturbance rather than as support.

Research Objectives: First, the impact of different support features of eNS on negotiation processes and outcomes has to be investigated. Building on the evidence from literature and the results of additional experiments we strive to develop design guidelines for effective eNS, considering socio-emotional, analytical, and technological aspects. The final objective is to create a design for a new and adaptive 'best-of' system by further developing existing systems based on our findings.

Method: eNS following different support philosophies (e.g. Negoisst and Negotiator Assistant) will be integrated and examined in empirical experiments. These studies focus on the influence of support features on negotiation processes and outcomes along various dimensions.

Publications

• E. Kiesling, Gettinger J. R., Stummer C. and R. Vetschera (2011): An experimental comparison of two interactive visualization methods for multi-criteria portfolio selection, in: A. Salo, J. Keisler, and A. Morton (Eds): Advances in Portfolio Decision Analysis: Improved Methods for Resource Allocation, Springer, New York, in press.
• Filzmoser M., Rios J., Strecker S. and R. Vetschera (2010): The impact of analytical support and preference determination on consistency in e-negotiations - A new method and preliminary results, International Journal of Information Technology and Decision Making, 9(5), pp. 673-694.
• Filzmoser M. (2010): Automated vs. human negotiation, International Journal of Artificial Intelligence 4(10), pp. 64-77.
• Koeszegi, S. and R. Vetschera (2010): Language and Process, in: Kilgour, M. & Eden, C. (Eds): Handbook on Group Decision and Negotiation, pp. 121-138.
• Braumann, E.; Prveden, O.; Saleem, S.; Xu, Y., Koeszegi, S.T. (2010): The Effect of Emoticons in Synchronous and Asynchronous e- Negotiations, in: G-J de Vreede (Ed): Proceedings of the 11th Group Decision & Negotiation Conference (GDN 2010) in Delft, the Netherlands, University of Nebraska, Omaha, pp. 113-115.
• Paradis N., Gettinger J. R., Lai H., Surboeck M., and T. Wachowicz (2010): E-negotiations via Inspire 2.0: The system, users, management and projects, in: G-J de Vreede (Ed): Proceedings of the 11th Group Decision & Negotiation Conference (GDN 2010) in Delft, the Netherlands, University of Nebraska, Omaha, pp. 155-159.
• Gettinger J. R., Filzmoser M., Wachowicz T., and S. Wu (2010): Do they agree once more? An analysis of the factors that influence agreement in the post-settlement phase, in: G-J de Vreede (Ed): Proceedings of the 11th Group Decision & Negotiation Conference (GDN 2010) in Delft, the Netherlands, University of Nebraska, Omaha, pp. 160-163.
• Druckman D., Koeszegi S. T., Schoop M., van der Wijst P., Vetschera R., Dannemann A., Duckek K., Filzmoser M., Gettinger J. R., Mitterhofer R., and A. Reiser (2010): Acceptance and evaluation of automated mediation in e-negotiation, in: G-J de Vreede (Ed): Proceedings of the 11th Group Decision & Negotiation Conference (GDN 2010) in Delft, the Netherlands, University of Nebraska, Omaha, pp. 289-292.
• Vetschera R., Filzmoser M., and R. Mitterhofer (2010): Analytical concession advisor technology, in: G-J de Vreede (Ed): Proceedings of the 11th Group Decision & Negotiation Conference (GDN 2010) in Delft, the Netherlands, University of Nebraska, Omaha, pp. 293-294.
• Vetschera R., Gettinger J., Kiesling E., and C. Stummer (2010): Visualization methods for multi-criteria portfolio selection: An empirical study. Proceedings of the 15th IFIP WG 8.3 International Conference on Decision Support Systems (DSS 2010), Lisbon, pp. 1-9.
• Koeszegi S., Filzmoser M., Gettinger J. and R. Vetschera (2009): Perspectives on electronic negotiation support, in: Kilgour D. and Q. Wang (Eds): Proceedings of the international conference on group decision and negotiation (GDN) 2009, Toronto Canada, pp. 105-107
• Gettinger J. and S. Koeszegi (2009): What are you looking for? – Information presentation in electronic negotiation support, in: Kilgour D. and Q. Wang (Eds): Proceedings of the international conference on group decision and negotiation (GDN) 2009, Toronto, Canada, pp. 71-73
• Gettinger J., Koeszegi S., and M. Schoop (2009): Shall we dance? The effect of negotiation graphs on negotiation processes, under review
• Gettinger J. and S. Koeszegi (2009): Systematic analysis of graphical support in electronic negotiation support, working paper

Participants

• Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Sabine T. Köszegi
• Univ.-Ass. Mag. Michael Filzmoser PhD
• Mag. Johannes R. Gettinger
• Mag. Ronald Mitterhofer

Related Dissertations

• Filzmoser M. (2009): Simulation of Automated Negotiation, unpublished dissertation, University of Vienna (Abstract (PDF))
• Gettinger J.: Information Presentation in eNS (working title), in progress, TU Wien (Abstract (PDF))
• Mitterhofer R.: e-Mediation (working title), in progress, TU Wien

Related Diploma & Master Theses

• Brandmayr Thomas: Interaction between behavioral and economic support (details on the master thesis)
• Okruch Roman: The impact of electronic mediation on e-negotiation processes & outcomes (details on the master thesis)

Related Material

• NSWAN-system Pilot eNS
• Teaching: VU International Negotiations