Behavioral Operations in Multi-agent Settings and Humanitarian Operations

Abstract

Supply chain systems are characterized by complex interaction of multiple actors within an environment that allows both continuous communication and easy tracking of goods. Behavioral studies in operations management have focused on understanding the decision-making processes that explain subjects’ behaviors. These studies have shown how subjects’ decisions lead to inefficiencies and instabilities, and they have provided mechanisms to reduce such biases. However, decision-makers’ behavior and potential improvement mechanisms have not been extended to the humanitarian context. In humanitarian operations, organizations face multiple operational and strategic challenges because the performance of the system is strongly conditioned by the behavior of decision-makers and their interactions with other agents. This chapter provides an initial approach to extend traditional behavioral results to the humanitarian sector.