Draft:Mindset agency theory
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Mindset Agency Theory (MAT) is an interdisciplinary framework for modelling the cognitive, affective and behavioural dispositions—labelled mindsets—of social agents such as individuals, organisations and cultures.[1] Developed by systems theorist Maurice Yolles and organisational-psychology scholar Gerhard Fink, MAT extends earlier autonomous and cultural variants of agency theory by adding three orthogonal trait dimensions—cognitive, figurative and operative—derived from second-order cybernetics and trait psychology. The framework has been cited in systems-theory research on viable organisations.[2]
Concept
[edit]MAT depicts every agent as a viable system characterised by three bipolar axes:[3]
- Cognitive orientation – information-processing and sense-making style
- Figurative orientation – values, norms and self-conception
- Operative orientation – preferred decision and action patterns
Combining positive and negative poles on each axis yields eight extremal mindset archetypes, analogous to those in the Sagiv–Schwartz value framework.[4]
Mathematical model
[edit]MAT formalises personality as
where , and are vectors on the cognitive, figurative and operative dimensions. Recursive feedback between these vectors is proposed to maintain internal coherence and support adaptation.[1]
Applications
[edit]- Organisational diagnosis – a 2024 study applies MAT to distinguish idiosyncratic from generic agency patterns in multicultural enterprises.[5]
- Marketing research – MAT has been used to frame value co-creation as recursive dialogue among “living-system” market actors.[6]
- Psychological profiling – MAT helps differentiate normal and pathological identity configurations.[7]
Critique
[edit]Independent systems scholars have questioned MAT’s empirical tractability and accessibility, noting its meta-theoretical abstraction,[2] while proponents argue that it is intended primarily as a generative modelling schema rather than a predictive metric.[1]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Yolles, Maurice; Fink, Gerhard (2021). A Configuration Approach to Mindset Agency Theory: A Formative Trait Psychology with Affect, Cognition and Behaviour. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-83332-8.
{{cite book}}: Check|isbn=value: checksum (help) - ^ a b Espejo, Raúl; Reyes, Angel (2011). Organisational Systems: Managing Complexity with the Viable System Model. Springer. pp. 178–180. ISBN 978-3-642-11603-2.
- ^ Yolles, Maurice; Fink, Gerhard (2015). "Exploring Mindset Agency Theory". Kybernetes. 44 (3): 350–373. doi:10.1108/K-03-2014-0049.
- ^ Di Fatta, Davide; Yolles, Maurice (2017). "Diagram of the eight mindset types". Kybernetes. 46 (8): 1281–1302. doi:10.1108/K-04-2017-0123.
- ^ Yolles, Maurice; Rautakivi, Tomi (2024). "Diagnosing Complex Organisations with Diverse Cultures – Part 1". Systems. 12 (1): 8. doi:10.3390/systems12010008.
- ^ Dominici, Gandolfo; Yolles, Maurice (2016). "Decoding the XXI-century marketing shift: an agency-theory framework". Systems. 4 (4): 35. doi:10.3390/systems4040035.
- ^ Di Fatta, Davide; Yolles, Maurice (2017). "Modelling identity types through agency: Part 2". Kybernetes. 46 (8): 1303–1321. doi:10.1108/K-11-2016-0316.
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