Isabell M. Welpe

Angela A. Stanton

Mellani Day

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.

Neuroeconomics and the Firm

In economic experiments decisions often differ from game-theoretic predictions. Why are people generous in one-shot ultimatum games with strangers? Is there a benefit to generosity toward strangers? Research on the neural substrates of decisions suggests that some choices are hormone-dependent. By artificially stimulating subjects with neuroactive hormones, we can identify which hormones and brain regions participate in decision-making, to what degree and in what direction. Can a hormone make a person generous while another stingy? In this paper, two laboratory experiments are described using the hormones oxytocin (OT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP). Concentrations of these hormones in the brain continuously change in response to external stimuli. OT enhances trust (Michael Kosfeld et al. 2005b), reduce fear from strangers (C. Sue Carter 1998), and has anti-anxiety effects (Kerstin Uvnäs-Moberg, Maria Peterson 2005). AVP enhances attachment and bonding with kin in monogamous male mammals (Jennifer N. Ferguson et al. 2002) and increases reactive aggression (C. Sue Carter 2007). Dysfunctions of OT and/or AVP reception have been associated with autism (Miranda M. Lim et al. 2005).

Angela A. Stanton

About

Books

Join the club