Power of nonverbal behavior in online business negotiations: understanding trust, honesty, satisfaction, and beyond

Digital teamwork has become prevalent and is ever since becoming part of the human work- and life-style, globally. But in comparison with face-to-face setting, virtual teams face multifold challenges. To date, scarce empirical research has examined whether team-breaking challenges are associated with limited access to peer nonverbal signals. This study examines whether access to body signals is associated with effective teamwork, and whether limited access provokes key team challenges. We also examine what social-psychological team concepts can be detected from peers' consciously or unconsciously displayed visual cues that cannot be as effectively gained without visual access. 14 dyadic teams of MBA students were examined in an online business negotiation task to reach an authentic commercial deal. Half of the teams negotiated only through voice and text, while the other half had camera access as well. Using an exploratory mixed methods analysis, we identified 12 unique team factors based on nonverbal data. We also found that teams with camera access could build mutual trust more rapidly, detect peer honesty better, and realize agreements on suggestions more accurately. Surprisingly, we also found instances where camera access became stressful and participants reported it as an additional burden. Conclusions and implications are reported at the end.