Tim Herglotz
The dissertation

Negotiating Trust at a Distance: Virtual Complex B2B Negotiations in post-COVID Europe

A Doctor of Business Administration dissertation by Tim Herglotz,Business School Netherlands. Under examination. This page carries the abstract, the current status, and how to cite the work.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic forced an abrupt shift from in-person to virtual negotiation, and in European B2B markets that shift has hardened into the new norm. Large, complex negotiations were traditionally conducted face to face; whether virtual formats can sustain the same trust, relational depth, and outcome quality remained an open question, and academic research, particularly on the European context, is limited. This study examines how virtual and hybrid formats affect trust-building, strategy, and business outcomes in large, complex B2B negotiations.

Adopting an interpretivist–pragmatist stance, the study draws on semi-structured interviews with sixteen senior executives and negotiation professionals across Europe, an examination of three AI models under the same protocol, and reflexive thematic analysis. The findings show that virtual negotiation increases efficiency and accessibility but constrains non-verbal communication, rapport, and cultural alignment. Trust formation shifts from affective to cognitive foundations: preparation quality, transparency, behavioural consistency, and digital communication competence become the primary signals of trustworthiness. Artificial intelligence emerges as a cognitive multiplier in preparation, and deliberately sequenced hybrid interaction outperforms purely virtual or purely in-person approaches.

These findings are integrated into the Business Negotiation Framework: a practical, theoretically grounded model for conducting large, complex deals, developed for the European context and applicable globally.

Keywords

Virtual negotiations · Trust building · Post-COVID Europe · Digital communication · Negotiation strategy · Hybrid negotiations · Cultural dynamics · Artificial intelligence · Business Negotiation Framework

Status

The dissertation is under examination and not yet published. A repository link and DOI will be added here on deposit. Until then, requests to read the work are handled throughcorrespondence.

On this site
METHODThe research design in full: philosophy, evidence base, analysis, and its limits.
EVIDAnonymised participant testimony from the sixteen interviews, grouped by theme.
LIBThe reading behind the research: the core bibliography of the dissertation.
JOINFurther interviews and organisational collaboration, now that the doctoral sample is closed.
Cite

Herglotz, T. (2026) Negotiating Trust at a Distance: Virtual Complex B2B Negotiations in post-COVID Europe. DBA thesis (under examination), Business School Netherlands. Available at: https://timherglotz.com/thesis/

BibTeX
@unpublished{herglotz2026trust,
  author = {Herglotz, Tim},
  title  = {{Negotiating Trust at a Distance: Virtual Complex B2B Negotiations in post-COVID Europe}},
  school = {Business School Netherlands},
  note   = {DBA thesis, under examination},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://timherglotz.com/thesis/}
}