Learners' Hierarchical Value Structures in Educational Simulation Games of Supply Chain Management

In the instruction of supply-chain management, the “Beer Game” has been proposed as a valid tool for the demonstration of bullwhip effect for learners. This study has been designed to investigate the cognitive structure of beer game learners' psychological “game attribute – personal consequence – target value” chains. With means-end chains theory as the theoretical basis, through game attributes including roles of supply chain, team work, customizable model variables, operation statement, providing information, and so forth, learners were able to benefit from the consequences including training organizational thinking, improve management performance, experience bullwhip effect, promote cooperation and interaction, inspire competitive mentality, and ultimately, pursue target values such as a sense of accomplishment, self-fulfillment, warm relationships with others, and excitement. The study also found all the subjects emphasized identical game attributes regardless of their prior knowledge of the bullwhip effect or the lack thereof, and the subjects also had identical salient chains.