A New Role for Management of the Social Sciences in an Age of Complexity

A particular scientific world view has become dominant, influential and successful in modern sciences today. Science and technology have transformed the way we view ourselves, our societies and our place in the cosmos. However, just as science and technology seem to be at the peak of their power, unexpected problems are disrupting the sciences from within. This reflects a deeper and more serious problem regarding scientific inquiry. Science is being held back by old assumptions that have become dogmas, the biggest of which is that science already knows all the answers, and only the details need to be worked out. A transformational paradigm shift is required from a mechanistic world view to an organic world view to better address the challenges of the new millenium.

Trust and cooperation in buyer–seller relationships and networks. The co-evolution of structural balance and trust in iterated PD games

Our study has two aims: to elaborate theoretical frameworks and introduce social mechanisms of spontaneous co-operation in repeated buyer-seller relationships and to formulate hypotheses which can be empirically tested. The basis of our chain of ideas is the simple two-person Prisoner’s Dilemma game. On the one hand, its repeated variation can be applicable for the distinction of the analytical types of trust (iteration trust, strategy trust) in co-operations. On the other hand, it provides a chance to reveal those dyadic sympathy-antipathy relations, which make us understand the evolution of trust. Then we introduce the analysis of the more complicated (more than two-person) buyer-seller relationship. Firstly, we outline the possible role of the structural balancing mechanisms in forming trust in three-person buyer-seller relationships. Secondly, we put forward hypotheses to explain complex buyer-seller networks. In our research project we try to theoretically combine some of the simple concepts of game theory with certain ideas of the social-structural balance theory. Finally, it is followed by a short summary.