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Quantal Theory in Operations Management

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Book cover Decision-making in Humanitarian Operations

Abstract

In recent decades, numerous studies on commercial operations have found that human managers are not perfectly rational and their behavioral preferences influence the performance of operations systems. Thus, efficient operations have to account for innate human or situation-based behavioral preferences for their optimization. In this chapter, we introduce a quantal theory, which provides a descriptive model to consider bounded rationality in analyzing operational decisions, based on the assumption that decision-makers make mistakes in calculating payoffs. We organize the applications of quantal theory in operations management, and show how to properly develop an informative behavioral model to analyze operational problems. Further, we discuss how to accommodate bounded rationality into humanitarian operations.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their guidance and constructive comments. The authors would also like to thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71501004) for its support.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cainiao Smart Logistics Network, Hangzhou, China

    Yefen Chen

  2. Academy of Mathematics and System Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Yanan Song

Authors
  1. Yefen Chen
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  2. Yanan Song
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Management Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia

    Sebastián Villa

  2. Kelley School of Business Indiana University, Bloomington, USA

    Gloria Urrea

  3. School of Management Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá, Colombia

    Jaime Andrés Castañeda

  4. Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

    Erik R. Larsen

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Chen, Y., Song, Y. (2019). Quantal Theory in Operations Management. In: Villa, S., Urrea, G., Castañeda, J.A., Larsen, E.R. (eds) Decision-making in Humanitarian Operations. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91509-8_8

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