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Purpose — The purpose of this study is to examine whether conflict management styles are able to predict actual behaviors in business negotiation in two different countries. Design/methodology/approach — Subjects were recruited from both Canada and China to participate in a laboratory study. Three simulated business negotiations were used for participants to negotiate deals in both countries in order to compare the validity of conflict management styles in predicting negotiation behaviors. Findings — This study shows that conflict management styles are valid predictors of actual negotiation behaviors in Canada, but not in China. The results also show that Chinese people use a more avoiding approach and demonstrate a higher level of integrativeness during business negotiation simulations, while Canadians use a more compromising approach and show a higher level of distributiveness. Practical implications — Practical implications of the findings are discussed in terms of the usefulness of self-reported conflict management styles for negotiation researchers and practitioners in training seminars and in terms of the effectiveness of first offer as one negotiation strategy to achieve better negotiation outcomes. Originality/value — This study is particularly pertinent, given that the relationship between conflict management styles and actual behaviors in negotiation receives little attention and that even less attention is given to this relationship in a cross-cultural context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]