Information Network Flows and Social and Economic Outcomes: Models, Prediction, and Regulation

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This research project is a three-part program that examines how the structure and dynamic of information flows-as well as the information technologies that facilitate and modify these processes-impact the productivity, performance, and more broadly, the behaviour, of individuals and organizations. First, the research will map the flow of information in real organizations over time and will combine economic theories of production with social network theory to estimate the effects of information propagation on the performance and productivity of individuals and organizations. Second, the project will develop general models of information diffusion and of behaviour in large-scale networked settings using a number of data sets relating to real organizations as well as online social networks. Third, the research will develop methods for improving or otherwise regulating information networks. This work will advance economic theory about information worker production, operations theory relating to resource allocation methods in organizations, sociological theory concerning the propagation of information in social networks, indirect mechanism design in large-scale environments, and statistical methods to model and forecast outcomes in information networks. The central goals of the project are: 1) to estimate and enhance the productivity of information workers, 2) to model, measure and improve organizational performance and our ability to forecast organizational behaviours, and 3) to improve performance-related intervention strategies in information-networked environments. The proposed activities are designed to have broad impact for science, engineering, education, and society. Our understanding of information worker productivity is increasingly paramount to economic growth. Developing robust, practical intervention strategies for regulating the behaviour of networked systems is important in domains ranging from organizational design to epidemiology to viral marketing. The project's emphasis on modeling and forecasting organizational performance will have important implications for how enterprises are organized and how resources within them are allocated.