The Oxford Handbook of Agent-based Computational Management Science

Abstract Over the past decades, management science has witnessed the advent of a new paradigm that the handbook coins as “Agent-Based Computational Management Science,” which builds on agent-based modelling and agent-based computational technologies. The agent-based paradigm considers economic actors’ heterogeneity as they interact within and across organizations and their environment, and it aims to explain macro patterns emerging from the micro level that agents’ behaviour may induce. These traits make Agent-Based Computational Management Science a promising paradigm for studying open issues in management science. Many fields in management science take particular notice of individuals’ heterogeneity—including leadership styles, cognitive capabilities, or information asymmetries of decision-makers, preferences, or social norms of organizational members, customers, or suppliers. The Oxford Handbook of Agent-Based Computational Management Science provides an ultimate overview of this novel approach in management science and discusses its current state and future opportunities. Particular focus is on adaptive behaviour and dynamics in and across organizations, nonlinearities caused by management practices, and bridging micro and macro levels in organizational analysis. A primary objective is to underline the complementary perspective that the agent-based paradigm may provide to management science. The handbook addresses two purposes of agent-based approaches in management science. First, the agent-based approach contributes to understanding why specific macro patterns evolve. In this regard, the handbook gives an overview of agent-based technologies to advance theory building in management. Second, the handbook provides an overview of agent-based technologies employed for more practical issues in management, as, for example, a normative understanding of systems design.