DOCTORAL DISSERTATION RESEARCH IN DRMS Collective Response to Scarcity: How the Resource Environment Shapes Social Networks

一个组织的成败取决于它有效处理信息的能力。有效的信息处理需要人们自己获取信息并相互沟通。人们选择何时与谁进行沟通，从而产生的沟通模式直接影响到信息在组织中传播的速度，以及信息的有效性。这些流程和因素对于应对资源环境中的因果冲击或危机的组织尤其重要（例如，面临2008年住房市场崩溃的金融行为者，面临COVID-19大流行的所有公民）。本博士论文研究改进基金（DDRIG）探讨了人们对资源环境变化的反应所产生的通信网络。我们采用实验方法和基于智能体的建模来研究资源可用性和通信网络结构之间的因果关系。我们的首要假设是，当资源变得越来越稀缺时，人们与更少的交流伙伴联系，并增加他们与每个伙伴的交流频率。因此，由于资源稀缺，社交网络的规模将缩小，联系将变得更加紧密。相反的交流模式发生在物质丰富的时候。我们还评估了这些集体沟通策略在应对资源冲击时的适应性效果，以得出有助于设计和管理组织应对危机的结论。这项调查的结果将帮助我们理解和预测环境冲击（如经济衰退或流行病）如何影响组织有效管理信息的能力。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The success or failure of an organization hinges on its ability to effectively process information. Effective information processing requires people to acquire information themselves and to communicate with one another. The communication patterns that emerge from people’s choices about when, and with whom, to communicate have direct consequences for the speed at which information moves around an organization, and the validity of that information. These processes and factors are especially important for organizations responding to causal shocks or crises in their resource environments (e.g., financial actors facing the 2008 Housing Market Crash, all citizens facing the COVID-19 Pandemic).This Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (DDRIG) explores the communication networks that emerge among people reacting to changes in their resource environment. We apply an experimental method plus agent-based modeling to zero-in on the causal relationship between resource availability and communication network structure. Our overarching hypothesis is that when resources become increasingly scarce, people connect with fewer communication partners, and increase their rate of communication with each partner. Thus, social networks will shrink in size and become more densely connected in response to resource scarcity. The reverse pattern of communication occurs in times of abundance. We also assess the adaptive efficacy of these collective communication strategies in response to resource shocks to draw conclusions that will be helpful in designing and managing organizational responses to crises. The results of this investigation will help us understand, and anticipate, the way environmental shocks – like an economic recession or pandemic – affect an organization’s ability to effectively manage information.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.