Using institutional frameworks to conceptualize agent-based models of socio-technical systems

Abstract

Agent-based modeling is a tool that is frequently used to an-alyze socio-technical systems. The high number of interactions between the agents in these models causes complexity. Different methods are re-quired to understand this complexity and interpret the model behavior and outcomes. In this paper, we apply institutional frameworks, that are also used to analyze socio-technical systems, to understand com-plex agent-based models. Applying the frameworks to a case study – the Kauffman model – shows that this approach can be successful in giving structure to agent-based models and their outcomes, which can in turn help to interpret the evolving complexity.