The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Organizational Studies

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Reconnecting Nature and Culture: A Model of Social Decision-Making in Innovation


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1 Cesnova, Faculdade de Ciencias Sociais e Humanas, Universidade Nova De Lisboa, Portugal
     

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Social decision-making is the process of consciously or unconsciously choosing between alternative courses of action in social contexts. This process non-linearly connects the past, present, and the unknown future. It is the connection of these different times that allows action to proceed under uncertainty. This is the case since the outcomes of decision-making and subsequent social action are inaccessible to strictly rational calculations. As such, decision-making integrates rational and emotional components. These components are socially and somatically framed. Consequently, the understanding of decision-making processes requires an integrative approach encompassing both dimensions of decision-making that are generally addressed under disciplinary studies. This paper starts by conceptualizing decisionmaking processes and discussing the social and natural sciences' inputs to this conceptualization. An interdisciplinary approach is then mobilized in the design of a rational-emotional model of decision-making. This model is developed for the study of decision-making during innovation development, a complex social change process that is triggered by strategic social decision-making processes. Simultaneously addressing the social and somatic dimensions of decisionmaking, this approach will additionally characterize the connections between them, a layer of complexity that is absent in disciplinary studies. This multi-layer approach should critically contribute to a broad understanding of decision-making processes.

Keywords

Social Decision-making, Rationality, Emotions, Interdisciplinary, Innovation.
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  • Reconnecting Nature and Culture: A Model of Social Decision-Making in Innovation

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Authors

Ana Ferreira
Cesnova, Faculdade de Ciencias Sociais e Humanas, Universidade Nova De Lisboa, Portugal

Abstract


Social decision-making is the process of consciously or unconsciously choosing between alternative courses of action in social contexts. This process non-linearly connects the past, present, and the unknown future. It is the connection of these different times that allows action to proceed under uncertainty. This is the case since the outcomes of decision-making and subsequent social action are inaccessible to strictly rational calculations. As such, decision-making integrates rational and emotional components. These components are socially and somatically framed. Consequently, the understanding of decision-making processes requires an integrative approach encompassing both dimensions of decision-making that are generally addressed under disciplinary studies. This paper starts by conceptualizing decisionmaking processes and discussing the social and natural sciences' inputs to this conceptualization. An interdisciplinary approach is then mobilized in the design of a rational-emotional model of decision-making. This model is developed for the study of decision-making during innovation development, a complex social change process that is triggered by strategic social decision-making processes. Simultaneously addressing the social and somatic dimensions of decisionmaking, this approach will additionally characterize the connections between them, a layer of complexity that is absent in disciplinary studies. This multi-layer approach should critically contribute to a broad understanding of decision-making processes.

Keywords


Social Decision-making, Rationality, Emotions, Interdisciplinary, Innovation.

References