A case for agent-based models in organizational behavior and team research

Abstract

Purpose-This paper aims at introducing agent-based models (ABMs) and reviews some of their features in an attempt to show why they can be useful for organizational behavior research. Design/methodology/approach-The use of simulations has increased substantially in the past ten to fifteen years, but management seems to hold back to the agent-based "revolution". The paper first describes the ABMs, and then discusses some of the issues that usually prevent management scholars from using simulations. Findings-This paper indicates how an agent-based approach can help overcome the hesitations surrounding computer simulations because (a) it makes it relatively easy to model emergent and complex social phenomena, and (b) simulation is made easier by user-friendly software platforms that connect it to the existing research methods. Originality/value-This article describes ABMs in a way that may be attractive to organization scholars, and it depicts the frontiers of a more flexible computational and mathematical approach to organizations, management and teams.

Controlling for false negatives in agent-based models: a review of power analysis in organizational research

“…Management and organizational behavior seem to lag behind this ''new wave'' of simulation research (Secchi 2015;Neumann and Secchi 2016;Fioretti 2013). However, this can be a strength more than a weakness.…”

“…Agent-based simulations are particularly useful in the social sciences for their ability to model complex adaptive systems (e.g., Miller and Page 2007). This makes ''emergence'' one of the main features of these models (e.g., Fioretti 2013;Secchi 2015), sometimes as a result of complexity. This points right at the core of the use of power for this class of models, that is to make sure that the occurrence that results of simulations are mostly affected by random effects is avoided.…”

“…As a technique to model complex adaptive social systems, it has been recently advocated that ABM is particularly well suited to team research (Secchi 2015) and, more broadly, to study organizational behavior (Secchi and Neumann 2016).…”

Team problem solving and motivation under disorganization – an agent-based modeling approach

“…This method is well suited to simulate phenomena in the field of organizational behavior (Lomi and Harrison, 2012;Secchi, 2015) because it allows for capturing emergent phenomena as well as unexpected team behaviors. Additionally, it is flexible in the parameters that can be specified within the model (Gilbert and Terna, 2000;Gilbert, 2008).…”

“…Hence, this study examines changes of motivation when teams engage in problem solving under various levels of disorganization. We use Agent-based modeling (ABM) as it has proven to be an effective tool for studying organizational behavior related problems (Secchi, 2015).…”