Agent-Based Modelling, a New Kind of Research

Abstract

We discuss the use of Agent-based Modelling for the development and testing of theories about emergent social phenomena in marketing and the social sciences in general.It addresses both theoretical aspects about the types of phenomena that are suitably addressed with this approach and practical guidelines to help plan and structure the development of a theory about the causes of such a phenomenon in conjunction with a matching ABM. We argue that research about complex social phenomena is still largely fundamental research and therefore an iterative and cyclical development process of both theory and model is to be expected. To better anticipate and manage this process, we provide theoretical and practical guidelines. These may help to identify and structure the domain of candidate explanations for a social phenomenon, and furthermore assist the process of model implementation and subsequent development. The main goal of this paper was to make research on complex social systems more accessible and help anticipate and structure the research process.

Understanding business networks from a mixed network and system ontology position

“…The use of ABM techniques seems promising, and some early attempts at investigating business networks using ABMs exists (e.g. Forkmann et al , 2012; Følgesvold and Prenkert, 2009; Held et al , 2014; Prenkert and Følgesvold, 2014; Schiller et al , 2014; Tate et al , 2013), but more research is needed to develop this nascent yet emerging field.…”

Firm Internationalization from a Network-Centric Complex-Systems Perspective

“…The relevance and value of ABM for the study of social, business and economic systems and networks is now being increasingly recognized (e.g., Altiparmak, Gen, Lin, & Paksoy, 2006;Baldwin, 2011;Chen, Ong, Tan, Zhang, & Li, 2013;Earnest & Wilkinson, 2017;Farmer & Foley, 2009;Garcia & Jager, 2010;Held, Wilkinson, Marks, & Young, 2014;Labarthe, Espinasse, Ferrarini, & Montreuil, 2007;Rand & Rust, 2011;Seibel & Kellam, 2003;Yang & Chandra, 2013), there are special issues of business journals devoted to the topic (e.g. D'Alessandro & Winzar, 2014; Garcia & Jager, 2010Garcia and Jager, 2010D'Alessandro & Winzar, 2014;Garcia & Jager, 2010;Gilbert, Jager, Deffuant, & Adjali, 2007) and a specialized journal Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Systems.…”

The Complexity of Trust in Business Collaborations

“…“ABMs offer a way to model the constellations of entities with their properties and interactions that bring about a social phenomenon. They are tools to capture the essence of a social phenomenon through its driving social mechanisms” (Held et al, 2014, p. 7). Examples include Doloswala (2014), who modelled the deterioration of trust between agents as lying was discovered, Bossomaier et al (2005), who modelled client trust in financial services providers, and Jarratt et al (2014), who incorporated a relational resource in modelling the structure of research networks formed under varying levels of project complexity.…”

“…Examples include Doloswala (2014), who modelled the deterioration of trust between agents as lying was discovered, Bossomaier et al (2005), who modelled client trust in financial services providers, and Jarratt et al (2014), who incorporated a relational resource in modelling the structure of research networks formed under varying levels of project complexity. Unlike statistical modelling that specifies the co-variation of variables, ABMs “captur(e) the causal mechanisms that bring about an aggregate pattern from the bottom-up, modelling explicitly the entities and activities that – according to the theory – cause the phenomenon under investigation” (Held et al, 2014, p. 7).…”