THE DEFINITION AND FUNCTION OF DECEPTIVE COMMUNICATION IN A LABOR-MANAGEMENT NEGOTIATION SESSION (LYING, BELIEFS, GENUINE).

Abstract

This study attempts to bring together the fields of communication, business, philosophy and linguistics. This effort is to make known particular behaviors exhibited in a negotiation setting with a focus on understanding why these behaviors are permitted and even embraced. The communicative dimension of these behaviors warrants study within a Speech Communication Department. The primary purpose of this study was to identify the conditions necessary for untrained observers to predict successful deception in labor-management negotiations. A secondary purpose was to discover observers' descriptions most commonly associated with negotiators. The dependent variable was an observer's judgment that deception would succeed in the negotiations context, measured by a 7-point Likert-type scale. The primary set of independent variables were HEARER-BELIEFS of a speaker's intent, the propositional content of the utterance made and the speaker's sincerity, measured by a 7-point Likert-type scale. The secondary set of independent variables were ten (10) plausible characteristics of a negotiator represented as bi-polar adjectives, measured by a 7-point semantic differential scale. The statistical procedures included a three-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Scheffe's Test and a factor analysis. The three-way ANOVA allowed for presentation of the three (3) conditions in combination, permitting maximal detection of interactions. Also, the three-way ANOVA allowed for the introduction of and adjustment for each of the four (4) covariates. A single condition emerged as necessary for observers to predict successful deception in a labor-management negotiation session (content, p < .001). No single configuration of HEARER-BELIEFS was significantly more important in a prediction of successful deception than any other configuration. The quality of genuineness emerged as a primary criterion by which negotiators were described. Union leaders were evaluated by a secondary criterion of motivation. The belief-states of negotiators is far from being thoroughly understood. Research on deceptive communication, sensitive to context, should focus on the process of how humans predict successful deception. A cognitive index of deceptive communicative acts is proposed and a framework for future research is discussed.