IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/joiaen/v11y2022i1d10.1186_s13731-022-00212-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Balancing the perceptions of NK modelling with critical insights

Author

Listed:
  • Richard J. Arend

    (University of Southern Maine)

Abstract

NK models are agent-based simulations of market evolution generated through new entry and firm innovation, and are often focused on better understanding complex interdependencies in organizational phenomena. We provide a counterpoint to the mostly optimistic descriptions of the advantages and of the requirements for these fitness-landscape-based analyses. We do so by offering a comprehensive list of limitations of that modelling technique as well as a critical analysis of two recent applications of the NK model—one of a theory-testing application and one of a theory-building application. Our analysis reveals that when care is not taken to capture the essential parts of a phenomenon, the NK approach may be unnecessary at best, and misleading at worst. We discuss the implications of these analyses and update past suggestions for future uses of NK simulations in organizational research.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard J. Arend, 2022. "Balancing the perceptions of NK modelling with critical insights," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 1-15, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joiaen:v:11:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1186_s13731-022-00212-9
    DOI: 10.1186/s13731-022-00212-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1186/s13731-022-00212-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1186/s13731-022-00212-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jan W. Rivkin & Nicolaj Siggelkow, 2003. "Balancing Search and Stability: Interdependencies Among Elements of Organizational Design," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(3), pages 290-311, March.
    2. Cha Li & Felipe A. Csaszar, 2019. "Government as Landscape Designer: A Behavioral View of Industrial Policy," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 4(3), pages 175-192, September.
    3. Michael J. Lenox & Scott F. Rockart & Arie Y. Lewin, 2007. "Interdependency, Competition, and Industry Dynamics," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 53(4), pages 599-615, April.
    4. Amit Jain & Bruce Kogut, 2014. "Memory and Organizational Evolvability in a Neutral Landscape," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(2), pages 479-493, April.
    5. Felipe A. Csaszar & Nicolaj Siggelkow, 2010. "How Much to Copy? Determinants of Effective Imitation Breadth," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(3), pages 661-676, June.
    6. Gwendolyn K. Lee & Mishari A. Alnahedh, 2016. "Industries’ Potential for Interdependency and Profitability: A Panel of 135 Industries, 1988–1996," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 1(4), pages 285-308, December.
    7. Friederike Wall, 2016. "Agent-based modeling in managerial science: an illustrative survey and study," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 135-193, January.
    8. Welter, Christopher & Kim, Sungho, 2018. "Effectuation under risk and uncertainty: A simulation model," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 100-116.
    9. John Conlisk, 1996. "Why Bounded Rationality?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 34(2), pages 669-700, June.
    10. Giovanni Gavetti & Constance E. Helfat & Luigi Marengo, 2017. "Searching, Shaping, and the Quest for Superior Performance," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(3), pages 194-209, September.
    11. Daniel A. Levinthal, 1997. "Adaptation on Rugged Landscapes," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 43(7), pages 934-950, July.
    12. Oliver Baumann, 2015. "Models of complex adaptive systems in strategy and organization research," Mind & Society: Cognitive Studies in Economics and Social Sciences, Springer;Fondazione Rosselli, vol. 14(2), pages 169-183, November.
    13. Hart E. Posen & Dirk Martignoni, 2018. "Revisiting the imitation assumption: Why imitation may increase, rather than decrease, performance heterogeneity," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(5), pages 1350-1369, May.
    14. Felipe A. Csaszar, 2018. "A note on how NK landscapes work," Journal of Organization Design, Springer;Organizational Design Community, vol. 7(1), pages 1-6, December.
    15. Ron Adner & Felipe A. Csaszar & Peter B. Zemsky, 2014. "Positioning on a Multiattribute Landscape," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(11), pages 2794-2815, November.
    16. Ganco, Martin, 2017. "NK model as a representation of innovative search," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(10), pages 1783-1800.
    17. Hazhir Rahmandad, 2019. "Interdependence, Complementarity, and Ruggedness of Performance Landscapes," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 4(3), pages 234-249, September.
    18. Michael J. Lenox & Scott F. Rockart & Arie Y. Lewin, 2010. "Does interdependency affect firm and industry profitability? an empirical test," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(2), pages 121-139, February.
    19. Martin, Xavier & Mitchell, Will, 1998. "The influence of local search and performance heuristics on new design introduction in a new product market," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(7-8), pages 753-771, April.
    20. Felipe A. Csaszar & Daniel A. Levinthal, 2016. "Mental representation and the discovery of new strategies," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(10), pages 2031-2049, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xiaohong Xian & Xiang Zhang & Zongyi Zhang & Stavros Sindakis & Sakshi Aggarwal, 2024. "Examining the Impact of Idiosyncratic Risk on Corporate Cash Holdings: Evidence from China," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(2), pages 5151-5173, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cha Li & Felipe A. Csaszar, 2019. "Government as Landscape Designer: A Behavioral View of Industrial Policy," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 4(3), pages 175-192, September.
    2. Mo Chen & Aseem Kaul & Brian Wu, 2019. "Adaptation across multiple landscapes: Relatedness, complexity, and the long run effects of coordination in diversified firms," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(11), pages 1791-1821, November.
    3. Friederike Wall, 2023. "Modeling managerial search behavior based on Simon’s concept of satisficing," Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, Springer, vol. 29(2), pages 265-299, June.
    4. Friederike Wall, 2021. "Modeling Managerial Search Behavior based on Simon's Concept of Satisficing," Papers 2104.14002, arXiv.org, revised May 2021.
    5. Ganco, Martin, 2017. "NK model as a representation of innovative search," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(10), pages 1783-1800.
    6. Felipe A. Csaszar, 2018. "A note on how NK landscapes work," Journal of Organization Design, Springer;Organizational Design Community, vol. 7(1), pages 1-6, December.
    7. Feiz Abadi, Javad & Gligor, David M. & Alibakhshi Motlagh, Somayeh & Srivastava, Raj, 2024. "When and under what conditions ambidextrous supply chains prove effective? Insights from simulation and empirical studies," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    8. Felipe A. Csaszar & Daniel A. Levinthal, 2016. "Mental representation and the discovery of new strategies," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(10), pages 2031-2049, October.
    9. Oliver Baumann, 2015. "Models of complex adaptive systems in strategy and organization research," Mind & Society: Cognitive Studies in Economics and Social Sciences, Springer;Fondazione Rosselli, vol. 14(2), pages 169-183, November.
    10. Jin Xu & Joep Cornelissen, 2023. "Disequilibrium and complexity across scales: a patch-dynamics framework for organizational ecology," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, December.
    11. Puay Khoon Toh & Gautam Ahuja, 2022. "Integration and appropriability: A study of process and product components within a firm's innovation portfolio," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(6), pages 1075-1109, June.
    12. Ron Adner & Felipe A. Csaszar & Peter B. Zemsky, 2014. "Positioning on a Multiattribute Landscape," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(11), pages 2794-2815, November.
    13. Madeline K. Kneeland & Melissa A. Schilling & Barak S. Aharonson, 2020. "Exploring Uncharted Territory: Knowledge Search Processes in the Origination of Outlier Innovation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(3), pages 535-557, May.
    14. Hazhir Rahmandad, 2019. "Interdependence, Complementarity, and Ruggedness of Performance Landscapes," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 4(3), pages 234-249, September.
    15. Dmitry Sharapov & Jan‐Michael Ross, 2023. "Whom should a leader imitate? Using rivalry‐based imitation to manage strategic risk in changing environments," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(1), pages 311-342, January.
    16. Stephan Billinger & Nils Stieglitz & Terry R. Schumacher, 2014. "Search on Rugged Landscapes: An Experimental Study," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(1), pages 93-108, February.
    17. Giovanni Gavetti & Constance E. Helfat & Luigi Marengo, 2017. "Searching, Shaping, and the Quest for Superior Performance," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(3), pages 194-209, September.
    18. Laura J. Kornish & Karl T. Ulrich, 2011. "Opportunity Spaces in Innovation: Empirical Analysis of Large Samples of Ideas," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(1), pages 107-128, January.
    19. Giannoccaro, Ilaria & Galesic, Mirta & Massari, Giovanni Francesco & Barkoczi, Daniel & Carbone, Giuseppe, 2020. "Search behavior of individuals working in teams: A behavioral study on complex landscapes," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 507-516.
    20. Dirk Martignoni & Thomas Keil & Markus Lang, 2020. "Focus in Searching Core–Periphery Structures," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(2), pages 266-286, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    NK models; Organizational science; Theory building; Theory testing; Simulations;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C63 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Computational Techniques
    • C61 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Optimization Techniques; Programming Models; Dynamic Analysis
    • C53 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Forecasting and Prediction Models; Simulation Methods
    • D02 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact
    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
    • C73 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Stochastic and Dynamic Games; Evolutionary Games

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:joiaen:v:11:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1186_s13731-022-00212-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.