With increasing globalization comes an increasing number of people communicating in foreign languages when making strategic decisions. We develop a theoretical model in which comprehension constitutes an essential mediator for the effects of using a foreign language on cooperation in global business contexts. To resolve conceptual ambiguities, we separate information processing leading to comprehension from decision-making employing the previously comprehended information. For the first step, we demonstrate how using a foreign language can, depending on individuals’ foreign language proficiencies, trigger both lower and higher comprehension. Variation in comprehension is, as a second step and independent of its cause, negatively associated with individuals’ tendencies to cooperate. Our experimental results support our theorizing. This study provides new micro-foundations for strategic decision-making and discusses unreliable cooperation as a potentially destructive managerial group dynamic within foreign language contexts.

中文翻译：

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全球背景下的战略决策：外语使用对合作的理解效应

随着全球化的发展，制定战略决策时越来越多的人使用外语进行交流。我们开发了一种理论模型，其中理解力构成了在全球商业环境中使用外语对合作产生影响的重要中介。为了解决概念上的歧义，我们将导致理解的信息处理与使用先前理解的信息的决策分开。第一步，我们演示使用外语如何根据个人的外语水平，激发较低和较高的理解力。作为第二步，理解的差异与其原因无关，与个人的合作倾向负相关。我们的实验结果支持我们的理论。