Paper: arXiv 2402.18764

Abstract

Investigating the optimal nature of social interactions among actors (e.g., people or firms), who seek to achieve certain mutually-agreed objectives, has been the subject of extensive academic research. Using the relational models theory (describing all social interactions as combinations of four basic sociality ingredients: Communal Sharing, Authority Ranking, Equality Matching, and Market Pricing), the common approach revolves around qualitative arguments for determining sociality configurations most effective in realizing specific purposes, at times supplemented by empirical data. In the current treatment, we formulate this question as a mathematical optimization problem, in order to quantitatively derive the most suitable combination of sociality forms for dyadic actors, which optimizes their mutually-agreed objective. For this purpose, we develop an analytical framework of the (meta)relational models theory, and demonstrate that combining the four sociality forms to define a specific meaningful social situation inevitably prompts an inherent tension among them, codified by a single elementary and universal metarelation. In analogy with financial portfolio management, we subsequently introduce the concept of Social Relations Portfolio (SRP) management, and propose a generalizable methodology capable of quantitatively identifying the efficient SRP, which, in turn, enables effective stakeholder and change management initiatives. As an important illustration, the methodology is applied to the Triple Bottom Line (Profit, People, Planet) paradigm to derive its efficient SRP. This serves as a guide to practitioners for precisely measuring, monitoring, reporting and steering stakeholder and change management efforts concerning Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) within and / or across organizations.

Complexity vs Empirical Score

  • Math Complexity: 6.5/10
  • Empirical Rigor: 1.5/10
  • Quadrant: Lab Rats — theoretically deep, empirically untested

Why this score: The paper introduces a novel mathematical optimization framework with analytical derivations for relational models, but lacks any data, backtests, or implementation details, relying entirely on theoretical modeling.

Research Flowchart

  flowchart TD
  A["Research Goal:<br>Derive optimal sociality configurations<br>for specific objectives"] --> B["Develop Analytical Framework:<br>(Meta)relational Models Theory"]
  B --> C["Define Core Components:<br>4 Basic Sociality Forms (CS, AR, EM, MP)<br>+ 1 Universal Metarelation"]
  C --> D["Formulate Optimization Problem:<br>Maximize Mutually-Agreed Objective<br>Subject to Inherent Tension Constraints"]
  D --> E["Compute Efficient Social Relations Portfolio<br>(SRP) for Dyadic Actors"]
  E --> F["Apply to Triple Bottom Line:<br>Profit, People, Planet"]
  F --> G["Key Outcomes:<br>1. Quantitative SRP Methodology<br>2. Efficient SRP for TBL<br>3. Guide for CSR/ESG Management"]