Metrics of Emergence, Self-Organization, and Complexity for EWOM Research

Abstract

In a recent round table organized by the Santa Fe Institute, the complexity of commerce captured the attention of those interested in understanding how complex systems science can be applicable for settings where consumers and providers interact. Despite the usefulness of applied complexity for commerce-related phenomena, few works have attempted to provide insightful ideas. This mini-review aims at providing a succinct discussion of how the metrics of emergence, self-organization, and complexity might benefit the research agenda of applied complexity and commerce/consumer studies. In particular, the paper argues possible pragmatic ways to understanding the valuable information present in word-of-mouth data found on electronic commerce platforms.

Information Length Analysis of Linear Autonomous Stochastic Processes

“…Equation 10thus proves Equation 7. Substitution of Equations (6) and (7) in Equation (5) thus gives us a joint PDF p(x, t)…”

“…The latter can also be artificially designed to complete an orderly task (guided self-organization) [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]. In order to study and compare the dynamics of different stochastic processes and self-organization, it is valuable to utilize a measurement which is independent of any specifics of a system [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ] (e.g., physical variables, units, dimensions, etc.). This can be achieved by using information theory based on probability density functions (PDFs) and working in terms of information content or information change, e.g., by quantifying the statistical difference between two states [ 12 , 13 , 14 ].…”

Natural Language Use as Bipartite Networks in Psychology

“…Recognizing natural language as a system from which useful information can be extracted offers exciting opportunities for developing theories based on psychological contents with the potential of being an interdisciplinary object of study (Correa, 2020). Such an orientation is fairly welcomed in consumer psychology, where traditional theoretical focus prioritizes psychological processes above psychological contents (Pham, 2013).…”

“…Instead, the mere counting of shared words by topic clusters could help identify subtle semantic differences among topics. In this context, Correa, 2020 has asserted that such subtleties might be observed in recommendations (e.g., a strong recommendation without hesitation on any aspect of the service versus a recommendation accompanied by a warning regarding food variety). Other alternative analyses might focus on evaluating customers' word-of-mouth network differences as a function of commercial brands, restaurant categories, or any other marketing-oriented variable.…”

“…Above and beyond these reasons, an illustration of BNs and how to apply them for the analysis of psycho-linguistic phenomena deserves its own exposition. BNs have strong potential to enrich psychologists' research toolbox and provide a convenient framework for building and testing psychological theories with techniques and concepts developed in the so-called complex systems sciences that are not well-known by psychologists either (Brusco et al, 2019;Correa, 2020). In what follows, the next section defines BNs, summarizes some examples, and provides a generalized pipeline that allows the analysis of natural language.…”