Neuroeconomics And The Firm

‘Do people with high testosterone levels make decisions the same way as people with lower testosterone? Do men change their behavior when a pretty woman enters the office? Do women change their behavior when a handsome man enters the office? Do men and women affect each other within the firm to the detriment or the benefit of the firm? In some ways, the questions this edited volume addresses are questions that we are all familiar with and have asked for many years. It suggests looking for answers in places that that we have never thought of before. Some of the chapters will surprise you with their ingenious, simple answers and propositions; some will perhaps make you feel awkward with their straight-forward way of presenting what we all suspected but felt uncomfortable to talk about.’
– From the foreword by David B. Audretsch

‘This volume brings together leading researchers from a variety of fields to investigate the concept of the firm from new perspectives arising from neuroeconomics. The traditional theory of the firm has focused on the strategic, operational and resource management objectives of the firm as an organization. This timely and informative book explores new horizons in the biology of human decision-making and behavior, including uncertainty, entrepreneurship and ethics as it affects the functioning of the organization. The fascinating chapters cover a wide range of research fields, drawing on both the conscious and the unconscious mind, and how common hormonal cycles in the female and testosterone variations in the male affect each other in the workplace and its affect on the firm as an organization. The topics of entrepreneurship and the recent global financial crisis are discussed from the perspective of hormonal forces and the implications of those forces in the future. It is an enlightening selection of articles that scholars, students, business leaders, and managers will find a valuable read.’
– Vernon L. Smith, 2002 Nobel Laureate in Economics

The ideal firm has been studied over several centuries, yet little is known about what makes one successful and another fail. This pioneering book brings together leading researchers investigating the concept of the firm from a neuroscientific perspective.

From the viewpoint of economics, the firm's purpose is to maximize shareholders' wealth; resources are commodities, each with its particular supply and demand curve that can be manipulated by the firm to its own benefit. Traditionally, the firm is focused on the strategic, operational and resource management objectives. The editors instead suggest that the objective of the firm is equal to the objectives of its workers. The definition and function of risk in decision-making, ethics, trust and the global financial crisis are all discussed. They are analyzed from the perspective of human bio-physiology, using scanning and hormonal analysis tools, with a focus on the implications for the bottom line of the firm.

With experimental as well as theoretical and applied contributions, this book will benefit scholars and students of economics, business management, finance, organizational behavior, entrepreneurship, psychology, neuroscience and law. Practitioners of management, entrepreneurship and law firms will also find this book to be a captivating read.

Contents:

Foreword
David B. Audretsch

Introduction
Angela A. Stanton, Mellani Day and Isabell M. Welpe

PART I: THE BLACK BOX
1. Neuroeconomics of Environmental Uncertainty and the Theory of the Firm
Helen Pushkarskaya, Michael Smithson, Xun Liu and Jane E. Joseph

2. Risk and Ambiguity: Entrepreneurial Research from the Perspective of Economics
Angela A. Stanton and Isabell M. Welpe

3. What You Think Is Not What You Think: Unconsciousness and Entrepreneurial Behavior
Eden S. Blair

PART II: TRUST, GREED AND THE BLACK BOX
4. Using Brains to Create Trust: A Manager’s Toolbox
Paul J. Zak and Amos Nadler

5. The New Millennium’s First Global Financial Crisis: The Neuroeconomics of Greed, Self-interest, Deception, False Trust, Overconfidence and Risk Perception
Donald T. Wargo, Norman A. Baglini and Katherine A. Nelson

PART III: INSIDE THE BLACK BOX: DECISIONS BY HORMONES
6. In the Words of Larry Summers: Gender Stereotypes and Implicit Beliefs in Negotiations
Laura J. Kray, Connson C. Locke and Michael P. Haselhuhn

7. Ovulatory Shifts in Women’s Social Motives and Behaviors: Implications for Corporate Organizations
Kristina M. Durante and Gad Saad

8. Hormonal Influence on Male Decision-making: Implications for Organizational Management
Angela A. Stanton

9. Dopamine, Expected Utility and Decision-making in the Firm
Donald T. Wargo, Norman A. Baglini and Katherine A. Nelson

PART VI: ENTREPRENEURIAL PROPENSITY
10. An Economic and Neuroscientific Comparison of Strategic Decision-making
Theresa Michl and Stefan Taing

11. Mapping Neurological Drivers to Entrepreneurial Proclivity
Robert Smith

12. Embodied Entrepreneurship: A Sensory Theory of Value
Frédéric Basso, Laurent Guillou and Olivier Oullier

PART V: ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND ETHICS
13. What Neuroeconomics Informs Us About Making Real-World Ethical Decisions in Organizations
Donald T. Wargo, Norman A. Baglini and Katherine A. Nelson

14. Culture, Cognition and Conflict: How Neuroscience Can Help to Explain Cultural Differences in Negotiation and Conflict Management
John F. McCarthy, Carl A. Scheraga and Donald E. Gibson

15. Brain and Human Behavior in Organizations: A Field of Neuro-Organizational Behavior
Constant D. Beugré

Index

http://www.angelastanton.com/
http://www.neuroeconomicstudies.org/
http://www.strategie.wi.tum.de