PHILOSOPHICAL ISSUES IN CONTEMPORARY MANAGEMENT

The course aims to provide students with the knowledge and theoretical tools to critically analyze the epistemological, methodological and ontological assumptions of some of the most recent economic theories and in particular of the connections between economics, psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy. In this regard, a historical-theoretical investigation of some key notions used in economics will be addressed. Some indications will also be given regarding a philosophical approach to management.

The course aims to provide a theoretical understanding of the lexicon involved in some issues concerning the interweaving between economics, psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy.

No prerequisites are required

The course is divided in four parts.
The first part is devoted to providing an overview of the main questions concerning contemporary economic theories regarding the behaviour of economic agents. Thaler's Nudge theory, Daniel Kahneman's cognitive approach to behavioral economics, neuroeconomics and neuromarketing, and Akerlof's theory of identity in economic organizations will be the primary references. Some issues concerning the use of Big Data in economics will also be addressed.
In the second part, the course will glimpse at the history of the relation between psychology and economics. In particular, we shall refer to Bentham, Edgeworth, Jevons, Marshall, Pareto, and try to outline the epistemological movement from a sensation based economics to a choice based economics.
In the third part the course will face with Behaviorism in Psychology and Economics, and more specifically on the transition from pragmatist psychological theory of “organic circuit” to classic behaviorism. In this regard, we will focus on the main aspects of John Watson’s behaviorism, and its application to Samuelson and Little's "revealed preference theory" of the consumer and Amartya Sen's criticism of this theory.
The fourth part of the course will focus on the relationship between philosophy and management and the role of an integrated perspective in the social construction of identities, preferences and economic choices of individuals.

Nudge Theory and Ecological Rationality:
- Mongin, P., Cozic, M., “Rethinking Nudges”, (HEC Paris Research Paper No. ECO/SCD-2014-1067, 2014) (pdf)
- Hansen, P. G. (2016), “The Definition of Nudge and Libertarian Paternalism: Does the Hand Fit the Glove?”, European Journal of Risk Regulation, Vol. 7, Issue 1, pp. 155-174 (pdf)
- Gigerenzer, G. (2015), “On the Supposed Evidence for Libertarian Paternalism”, in Review of Philosophy and Psychology 6, pp. 361-383. (pdf)
- Sunstein, C.R. (2015), “Nudges, Agency, and Abstraction: A Reply to Critics”, in Review of Philosophy and Psychology 6, pp. 511-529. (pdf)

Behavioral Economics:
- Tversky, A., Kahneman, D. (1981). “The Framing of Decisions and the Psychology of Choice”, Science, New Series, Vol. 211, No. 4481. (Jan. 30, 1981), 453-458. (pdf)
- Kahneman D.E., Wakker, P., Sarin, R. (1997), “Back to Bentham? Exploration of Experienced Utility”. Quarterly Journal of Economics 112, 375-405. (pdf)
- Mullainathan, S., Thaler, R. H. (2000) “Behavioral Economics” (Working Paper 7948), National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge MA, October 2000 (pdf)
- Rubinstein, A. (2006). “Discussion of ‘Behavioral Economics’” (pdf).

Neuroeconomics and Neuromarketing:
- Fumagalli, F. (2016). “Five theses on neuroeconomics”. Journal of Economic Methodology, 23, 1, 77-96 (pdf)
- Morin, C. (2011), “Neuromarketing: The New Science of Consumer Behavior”, in Society, Volume 48, Issue 2, pp. 131-135. (pdf)
- Breiter, H.C. et al. (2015). “Redefining neuromarketing as an integrated science of influence”, in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, Volume 8, Article 1073. (pdf)
- Baggio, G. (2016), “Sympathy and Empathy: G. H. Mead and the Pragmatist Basis of (Neuro)economics”, in R. Madzia, M. Jung (eds.), Pragmatism and Embodied Cognitive Science: From Bodily Interaction to Symbolic Articulation, de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston, pp. 185-210 (pdf).

Big Data and Economy:
- Pence, H.E. (2015), “What Is Big Data and Why Is It Important?”, in J. Educational Technology Systems, Vol. 43(2), pp. 159-171 (pdf).
- Baretçu, M.T. (2017), “Big Data Analytics for Marketing Revolution”, in Journal of Media Critiques [JMC], Vol.3, pp. 163-171 (pdf).
- Martin, K.E. (2015), “Ethical Issues in the Big Data Industry”, in MIS Quarterly Executive, 14, 2, pp. 67-85 (pdf).
- Someh, I.A., Breidbach, C.F., Davern, M., Shanks, G. (2016), “Ethical Implications of Big Data Analytics, Twenty-Fourth European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS), İstanbul, Turkey (pdf).

Identity Economics:
- Akerlof, G.A., Kranton, R.E. (2000). “Economics and Identity”. The Quarterly Journal of Economics CXV/2000/3, 715-753. (pdf)

Economics and Psychology:
- Bruni, L and Sugden, R. (2007). “The Road Not Taken: How Psychology Was Removed From Economics, and How It Might Be Brought Back”. The Economic Journal, 117, 146-173. (pdf)
- Watson, J. (1913). “Psychology as the Behaviorist views it”. Psychological Review 2/20, pp. 158-177. (pdf)
- Samuelson P.A. (1948). “Consumption Theory in Terms of Revealed Preference”. Economica, New Series, 15 (60), 243-253. (pdf)
- Sen A. (1973). “Behaviour and the Concept of Preference”, Economica, New Series, 40 (59), 241-259. (pdf)

Philosophy of Management:
-Hellmann, K-U. (2010), The Ethical Consequences of Brand Management: A System-theoretical Approach, in Peter Koslowski (ed.), Elements of a Philosophy of Management and Organization, Springer, pp. 165-180. (pdf)
-Koslowski, P. (2010), The Philosophy of Management: Philosophy as a Challenge to Business, Management as a Challenge to Philosophy, in Peter Koslowski (ed.), Elements of a Philosophy of Management and Organization, Springer, pp. 3-18. (pdf)

Verbal examination to check students' knowledge

Traditional lessons and cooperative learning

English

N.B. Students who can not attend the course are expected to select and study three texts from the list below:

Nudge Theory and Ecological Rationality:
- Mata, R., Pachur, T., von Helversen, B., Hertwig, R., Rieskamp, J., Schooler, L. (2012), “Ecological rationality: a framework for understanding and aiding the aging decision maker”, in Frontiers in Neuroscience, Volume 6. (Available in pdf)
- Smith, D. V. & Delgado, M.R. (2015), “Social nudges: utility conferred from others”, in Nature Neuroscience, Vol. 18, pp. 791-792.
- Felsen G. & Reiner, P.B. (2015), “What can Neuroscience Contribute to the Debate Over Nudging?”, in Review of Philosophy and Psychology 6, pp. 469-479. (pdf)
- Sugden, R. (2017). “Do people really want to be nudged towards healthy lifestyles?”. In Int. Rev. Econ., 64, pp. 113-123. (pdf)
- Sugden, R. (2018). “‘Better off, as judged by themselves’: a reply to Cass Sunstein”. In Int. Rev. Econ., 65, pp. 9-13. (pdf)
- Sunstein, C.R. (2018). “‘Better off, as judged by themselves’: a comment on evaluating nudges”. In Int. Rev. Econ., 65, pp. 1-8. (pdf)

Behavioral Economics:
- Loewenstein, G. (1999). “Experimental Economics from the Vantage-Point of Behavioural Economics”. The Economic Journal, Vol. 109, No. 453, F25-F34.
- Ariely, D. (Dis)Honesty: The Truth About Life, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yJmP1Yzb5c
- Ariely, D. (2008), Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions, HarperCollins Publishers, New York.

Neuroeconomics and Neuromarketing:
- Camerer, C., Loewenstein, G. & Prelec, D. (2005). “Neuroeconomics: How Neuroscience Can Inform Economics”. Journal of Economic Literature XLIII, 9-64.
- Berns, G.S., Moore, S.E. (2012), “A neural predictor of cultural popularity”, in Journal of Consumer Psychology 22, pp. 154-160 (Available in pdf)
- Ruanguttamanun, C. (2014), “Neuromarketing: I put myself into a fmri scanner and realized that I love Louis Vuitton ads”, in Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 148 pp. 211-218
- Koelsch, S. Fritz, T., Cramon, D.Y.V., Mller, K., Friederici, A.D. (2006), “Investigating emotion with music: An fmri study”, in Human Brain Mapping, 27 (3), pp. 239-250
- Quarto, T., et al. (2017), “Interaction between DRD2 variation and sound environment on mood and emotion-related brain activity”, in Neuroscience, Volume 341, 26, pp. 9-17

Big Data:
- Puaschunder, J.M. (2017), “Nudging in The Digital Big Data Era”, in European Journal of Economics, Law and Politics, Vol.4, No.4, pp. 18-23 (Available in pdf)
- Schroeder, R. (2016), “Big data business models: Challenges and Opportunities”, in Cogent Social Sciences, 2, pp. 1-15.
- Muhammad, U.S., Zahir, M.K., Weerakkody, I.V. (2017), “Critical analysis of Big Data challenges and analytical methods”, in Journal of Business Research, Volume 70, pp. 263-286.

Economics and Psychology:
- Little, I. M. D. (1949). “A Reformulation of the Theory of Consumer’s Behaviour”. In Oxford Economic Papers 1, 90-99.
- Camerer, C. & Fehr, E. (2006). “When Does ‘Economic Man’ Dominate Social Behavior?”. Science 311, 47-52.

Philosophy of Management:
- Krijnen, C. (2010), Values and the Limits of Economic Rationality: Critical Remarks, on ‘Economic Imperialism’, in Peter Koslowski (ed.), Elements of a Philosophy of Management and Organization, Springer, pp. 111-136.

oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development