From a practical angle, our study should help sales managers prepare for intercultural business negotiations.
Whether a cultural moderator would be useful to pursue process-related goals depends on the cultural backgrounds
of the involved parties. A team member with a specific cultural background can leverage integrative or distributive
strategies of that team. In this sense, our study suggests a means to systematically influence the strategies that the
team uses at the bargaining table. On the contrary, if companies adopt a more outcome-related perspective, we
unconditionally recommend equipping seller teams with cultural moderators. Some companies also might consider
process- and outcome-related goals simultaneously; our results suggest that doing so can generate goal conflicts: For
example, if a French (more collectivistic) company engages in business negotiations with a German (less
collectivistic) partner, then a German cultural moderator in the French team would increase the likelihood of reaching
better outcomes, not of using integrative (relationship-building) strategies more frequently. This potential goal
conflict suggests that companies must be cautious and clearly define their goals when relying on a cultural moderator
in intercultural negotiations.