Who is Best at Mediating a Social Conflict? Comparing Robots, Screens and Humans
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Who is Best at Mediating a Social Conflict? Comparing Robots, Screens and Humans Daniel Druckman1,2,3 · Lin Adrian4 · Malene Flensborg Damholdt5 · Michael Filzmoser6 · Sabine T. Koszegi6 · Johanna Seibt5 · Christina Vestergaard5 Accepted: 27 October 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract The impacts of various mediation platforms on negotiation outcomes and perceptions are compared in this article. The mediator platforms contrasted were a (teleoperated) Telenoid robot, a human, and a computer screen. All of these platforms used the same script for process diagnosis, analysis, and advice on how to resolve an impasse in a simulated high-tech company de-merger negotiation. A fourth experimental condition consisted of a no-mediation control. More agreements and more integrative agreements were attained by the robotic platform than by the other types of mediator platforms and the control. Mediation via the Telenoid robot also produced more non-structured agreements, which consisted of decisions made outside of the scenario options. Negotiators in this condition had more positive perceptions of the mediation experience, were more satisfied with the outcome, and thought that the mediator’s advice was more useful. Indirect analyses showed that the outcomes mediated the effects of the conditions on perceived satisfaction. Implications of the findings are discussed in terms of responses to novelty, which include creative and divergent modes of thinking. Keywords Divergent thinking · Electronic mediation · Integrative agreements · Novelty · Representative negotiations · Telenoid robots
This article is dedicated to the memory of Gregory Kersten, editor par excellence, frontier e negotiation scholar, teacher and mentor, and humanitarian. * Daniel Druckman [email protected] Extended author information available on the last page of the article
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1 Introduction Advances in the technologies of electronic communication have facilitated conversations and collaborations. Rapid developments over the past three decades have revolutionized the scope and rapidity of written, oral, and visual communication. The positive and negative effects of new technologies of telecommunication on human behavior and relationships are intensely discussed (Williams and Rice 2016). Whether telecommunication with physical stand-ins or proxies such as “communication robots” amplifies effects is a focal research task in the new area of human–robot interaction (HRI) (Seibt and Vestergaard 2018). The mediation experiment reported in this article was motivated by the advent of new interactive technologies and suggestive findings from early research on their impacts. [See the review of these technologies by Druckman and Koszegi (2017) and Damholdt et al. (2019).] Taking advantage of recent advances in technologies, we discerned an opportunity to let the research lines on e-mediation (Druckman et al. 2014) and human–robot interaction (see Goodrich and Schultz 2007) cross in new ways. Focusing on mediation effectiven
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