Turn theoretical ideas about decision making into testable, real‑world insights. This excerpt outlines a path to connect how individuals decide with how organizations behave, using simulation as a method to test and refine theories. It presents a postulate of invariance between individual and organizational decision processes as a way to translate findings across levels.
The discussion frames a practical approach: build a model from a theory, translate it into a computer‑readable form, run simulations, and compare results with actual decision makers. It also addresses how to judge whether a model matches observed behavior, and why numerical measures alone aren’t enough. The aim is a coherent, empirical theory of organizational behavior that researchers can test and refine.
- Learn how a theory of individual decision making can inform organizational theories.
- See how simulation can generate empirical predictions and reveal model strengths and limits.
- Understand challenges in evaluating model fit, including when to rely on qualitative judgment versus statistics.
- Explore how invariance between decision processes across levels can guide hypothesis testing.
Ideal for readers of scholarly work on organizational theory and the methodology of social science research.