The social sciences, especially economics, management, and organizational science, are experiencing a tremendous renewed interest for their epistemological and methodological statutes, as witnessed by the many books and specialized journals established during the last two decades.

Relational Methodologies and Epistemology in Economics and Management Sciences identifies and presents the four main network-based methodologies including network analysis, Boolean network simulation modeling, artificial neural network simulation modeling, and agent-based simulation modeling in addition to their conceptual-epistemological implications and concrete applications within the social and natural sciences. Featuring a critical assessment of relational methodologies and their practical applications, this timely publication is ideal for use by corporate R&D departments, researchers, theorists, and graduate-level students.

Coverage:

The many academic areas covered in this publication include, but are not limited to:

Agent-Based Modeling
Economics
Inter-Organizational Networks
Management Science
Network Analysis
Neural Networks
Simulation Modeling

Reviews & Statements

Biggiero, Angelini, Bassevi, Carbonara, Mastrogiorgio, Pessa, Sevi, and Valente present readers with an examination of the four main network-based methodologies and their applications within the social and natural sciences. Over the book’s fourteen chapters, the authors cover Boolean network simulation modeling, agent-based simulation modeling, network analysis, and artificial neural network simulation modeling.

– ProtoView Reviews

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Editor/Author Biographies

Lucio Biggiero is Coordinator of the MEFORM Unit (Formal and Computational Methods for Research and Experimentation in Natural and Social Sciences) at CIRPS, and member of various scientific associations and wrote papers on several journals, and contributed to various books into the fields of economics and management sciences. His main interests are in the following fields: innovation diffusion in inter-firm networks and in industrial clusters; knowledge creation and transfer in R&D collaboration networks; local development and regional systems; international trade and global production networks; (inter-)organizational design theory and methods; coordination theory; socio-cognitive aspects of organizational behaviour; behavioural theory of decision making and cognitive bias; organizational consequences of computer-mediated communication; methodology and epistemology of economics and management sciences. He applies the following main methodologies: economic and social network analysis; dynamic network analysis; agent-based simulation models; statistical and multivariate data analysis; structural equation modelling; outranking methods in multi-criteria decision making.

Pier Paolo Angelini is Visiting Lecturer at University of L’Aquila and member of the MEFORM Unit (Formal and Computational Methods for Research and Experimentation in Natural and Social Sciences) at CIRPS. He earned a PhD in Applied Research in Social Sciences at Sapienza University of Rome with a dissertation on inter-organizational relations in the European Aerospace sector. His research interests are in the following fields: knowledge creation and transfer in R&D collaboration networks, sustainable development, research policies, and industrial policies. His main methodological competencies are in Social Network Analysis (in particular longitudinal models and exponential random graph models), and standard social research methods and techniques.

Mario Basevi has a Master Degree in Sociology and PhD in Social Science Research. He is a sociologist with extensive experience in data analysis and field research, he works for Italian Institute of Statistics (ISTAT). Demography, economy, network analysis and simulation models are his primary interests. He has worked as researcher and adjunct professor for the Universities of Rome, Pisa and l’Aquila and as researcher and methodological supervisor for private research agencies. In ISTAT he has worked as demographic and economic research supervisor in Milan and now he is working on census population survey.

Nunzia Carbonara is Associate Professor of Management Engineering at the Polytechnic of Bari, Italy. She received the PhD in Engineering of Advanced Production Systems in 2000 from Polytechnic of Bari. Her current research interests include local development, innovation processes, supply chain management and risks management in public private partnerships. She is involved in many national and international research projects and associations and she is author of papers published on national and international journals and conference proceedings.

Antonio Mastrogiorgio is currently member of the MEFORM Unit (Formal and Computational Methods for Research and Experimentation in Natural and Social Sciences) at CIRPS. He held a PhD in Management from University of Bologna in 2010. He was visiting scholar at Carnegie Mellon University and at Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research. His research interests deal with heuristic decision-making, organizational theory and design, organizational behaviour and complexity.

Eliano Pessa holds both a graduate and a postgraduate degree in Physics. After working at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” as associated professor of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence, actually he is full professor of General Psychology and Cognitive Modelling at the University of Pavia. In the latter university he has already been Chair of Psychology Department and of Inter-departmental Center for Cognitive Science. From long time he is member of the managing committee of the Italian Association for Systems Research. His research activities deal with Complex Systems, Computational Neuroscience, Theoretical Physics, Cognitive Science, Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Science. In particular, he gave a number of contributions to the theory of phase transitions and emergence processes as well as to a number of foundational problems of Quantum Field Theory. Among the applications of his theoretical achievements it is possible to mention, within the context of Cognitive Science, the building of a theory of consciousness, and of a model of depressive disorder. He is author or co-author of 10 books and of a number of papers on international journals. Moreover he acted as editor of a number of volumes collecting contributions to complexity science as well as referee for a number of international journals, ranging from International Journal of General Systems, Cognitive Neurodynamics, and Visual Cognition to International Journal of Theoretical Physics, Physics Essays, Cognitive Processing..

Enrico Sevi has been a young researcher at University of L’Aquila and at LIUC University of Castellanza. He works at the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and he is involved in the reconstruction processes after the earthquake of 2009. He earned his PhD in Information Systems Management at Luiss University of Rome in 2006 and he taught Organization, Human Resource Management, Knowledge Management and Organizational Behavior at University of L’Aquila and he took a module at the Master in Human Resources Management of Luiss Business School. He published papers in the Journal of Modelling in Management and Computer Modeling Organization and Theory. His main research activities deal with the development and analysis of agent based simulation models. In his works this methodology is applied to many fields: inter-organizational network, organization theory and design, decision theories, and cognitive aspects of teamwork and firms interaction.

Marco Valente earned a degree in Statistics and Economics in Rome, and studied in Manchester and Aalborg, where he completed a PhD in Economics in 2000. He is currently an Associate Professor at the University of L’Aquila, where he teaches Microeconomics to undergraduate students and Industrial Economics in the Master program. He also teaches regularly agent-based computational models in several European graduate programs. For more than 20 years he used innovative computational models as a means to study economic phenomena, ranging from micro-economic issues (consumer theory, complexity and organizational theory), industrial economics (market dynamics, technological innovation and environmental economics) and macroeconomic phenomena (growth and structural change). Besides his contributions to Evolutionary Economic theory, Prof. Valente developed both methodological and technical tools aimed at promoting the rigorous use of agent-based simulation models.

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