2022/06/08 by Ravshanbek Khodzhimatov, Khodzhimatov, Ravshanbek, Stephan Leitner +3 · 1 citation
Business, Management and Accounting · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · #Business Strategy and Innovation #Complex Systems and Time Series Analysis #FOS: Economics and business #General Economics (econ.GN)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2206.03786
openalex publication_date 2022/06/08 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Multi-unit organizations such as retail chains are interested in the diffusion of best practices throughout all divisions. However, the strict guidelines or incentive schemes may not always be effective in promoting the replication of a practice. In this paper we analyze how the individual belief systems, namely the desire of individuals to conform, may be used to spread knowledge between departments. We develop an agent-based simulation of an organization with different network structures between divisions through which the knowledge is shared, and observe the resulting synchrony. We find that the effect of network structures on the diffusion of knowledge depends on the interdependencies between divisions, and that peer-to-peer exchange of information is more effective in reaching synchrony than unilateral sharing of knowledge from one division. Moreover, we find that centralized network structures lead to lower performance in organizations.