Using Agent Based Simulation and Game Theory Analysis to Study Information Sharing in Organizations The InfoScape

Information sharing in organizations, especially the impact of sharing freely versus not sharing, was studied using game theory and agent based simulation. A game theoretic analysis was performed, and Netlogo simulations were carried out wherein some agents hoarded information while others shared information. As expected, sharing was found to greatly increase the overall amount of information within the organization. Unexpectedly, agents who share acquire more information than hoarders. This is due to the synergy that develops between groups of agents who are sharing with each other. The density of the agents is important-as the density increases, the probability increases that an agent with a large amount of information to share is located nearby. The implications are that organizations should actively encourage information sharing; and agent based simulation was shown to be a useful tool for studying organizational phenomena.