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Anticipating behaviour and responding to the needs of complexity and the problematic issues that they can generate requires modelling to facilitate analysis and diagnosis. Using arguments of anticipation as an imperative for inquiry, the purpose of this paper is to introduce generic modelling for living systems theory, and assigns the number of generic constructs to orders of simplex modelling. An nth simplex order rests in an nth order simplex cybernetic space. A general modelling theory of higher orders of simplexity is given, where each higher order responds to every generic construct involved, the properties of which determining the rules of the complex system being that is represented. Higher orders of simplexity also explain greater degrees of complexity relatively simply, and give rise to the development of new paradigms that are better able to explain perceived complex phenomena.

This is part 1 of three linked papers. Using principles that arise from Schwarz’s living systems set within a framework provided by cultural agency theory, and with a rationale provided by Rosen’s and Dubois’ concepts of anticipation, the papers develops a general modelling theory of simplex orders. It shows that with the development of new higher orders, paradigm shifts can occur that become responsible for new ways of seeing and resolving stubborn problematic issues. The paper is composed of two parts. Part 1 establishes the fundamentals for a theory of modelling associated with cybernetic orders. Using this, part 2 establishes the principles of cybernetic orders using simplex modelling. This will include a general theory of generic modelling. Part 3 extends this, developing a fourth order simplex model, and exploring the potential for higher orders using recursive techniques through cultural agency theory.

Cultural agency theory can be used to generate higher simplex through principles of recursion, and hence to create a potential for the generation of families of new paradigms. The idea of conceptual emergence is also tied to the rise of new paradigms.

The use of higher order simplex models to represent complex situations provides the ability to condense explanation concerning the development of particular system behaviours, and hence simplify the way in which the authors analyse, diagnose and anticipate behaviour in complex situations. Illustration is also given showing how the theory can explain the emergence of new paradigms.

Cultural agency can be used to structure problem issues that may otherwise be problematic, within both a top-down and bottom up approach. It may also be used to assist in establishing behavioural anticipation given an appropriate modelling approach. It may also be used to improve and compress explanation of complex situations.

A new theory of simplex orders arises from the new concept of generic modelling, illustrating cybernetic order. This permits the possibility of improved analysis and diagnosis of problematic situations belonging to complex situations through the use of higher order simplex models, and facilitates improvement in behavioural anticipation.

The current paper focuses on the increasing demand for generic competences both from governments and industries. Despite this fact, there is insufficient awareness and information in education systems on how to equip graduates with appropriate generic competences for the world of work and citizenship. This is even more complicated in online virtual learning programmes where face‐to‐face communication is excluded in the design and implementation of the programme curriculum. The paper seeks to question if it is possible to develop generic competences in an online virtual learning environment.

For this purpose, the research develops a theoretical framework based on the generic competences, learning content, learning support and learning activities. The paper argues that an online virtual learning curriculum design differs from a traditional face‐to‐face classroom environment in terms of learning content, learning activities and nature of learning support. Taking these elements in designing online virtual learning programme would promote acquisition of generic competences among the students.

The research examines possibilities of the online virtual learning platform ALUD (Aprendizaje en Linea de la Universidad de Deusto) at the University of Deusto, Spain, to develop generic competences online. The research demonstrates opportunities of the online virtual learning platform ALUD to develop and practice generic competences among students even without actual and traditional face‐to‐face educational communication.

The paper explores generic competence development through the online virtual learning platform ALUD at the University of Deusto, Spain. It examines possibilities of online education platform of the University of Deusto to produce alignment between what is espoused through the curriculum, what is enacted and how students experience learning through a virtual learning programme in order to develop their generic competences online. The paper argues that the virtual learning platform ALUD provides many opportunities for learners to develop and practise their generic competences even without actual and traditional face‐to‐face educational programmes.

Briefly maps the intellectual terrain of a generic system of enquiry — the metatheory of case study research. Draws a distinction between a generic research design and a methodology: the former is an overarching research plan, the latter refers to data‐generating processes and cognitive procedures for discerning datal patterns. Methodology is an integral part of every generic research design. General systems theory informs the metatheory on the case under study. Describes the armamentarium of case study research: topical loci in case study research; researcher's a priori notions and values; ideology/epistemology interrelations; data‐generating instruments and procedures; cognitive datalpattern processes and characteristics of case study discourse. Delineates the influences of the pragmatic unity of fact and value, the reciprocal relations between knowledge and practice, and the constraints of the researcher's intellectual vision and values. Presents the character and significance of the Heisenberg indeterminacy principle for the epistemology of the social/behavioural sciences.

This chapter offers an anthropological commentary on the work of the Academy of Social Sciences’ Research Ethics Group and the process through which five generic ethical principles for social science research was created. I take an anthropological approach to the subject and, following the structure of Macdonald’s essay Making Research Ethics (2010), I position myself in relation to the process. I discuss various features of the REGs work including the enduring influence of medicine and biomedical research ethics on the ethics and ethics governance of social science research; the absence of philosophers and applied ethicists and their incompatibility with the kind of endeavour pursued by the Research Ethics group; and the antipathy many felt towards the creation of a common code resulting in a preference for generic principles. This chapter offers insight into the work of the Research Ethics Group and the creation of the five ethical principles for social science research, subsequently adopted by the Academy of Social Sciences.

Using a simulated employment negotiation, this experiment examined the relationship between dyad composition, negotiation strategies and levels of joint gain. Three dyad types were created on the basis of social value orientation, proself, prosocial and mixed. A log linear analysis showed that dyads were differentiated on the basis of the strategies associated with high joint gain. We identified a generic path to high joint gain in which all dyads increased priority information and decreased contention. Overlaid on this path, we identified dyad‐specific strategies and strategy sequences associated with high joint gain. Cooperative reciprocity was critical to high joint gain only in prosocial dyads. When dyads contained at least one prosocial negotiator, process management played an important role in determining the level of joint gain. When dyads contained at least one proself negotiator, the sequences associated with high joint gain functioned to divide resources.

This paper is in two parts. The purpose of the first part was to explore the basis for the creation of an agentic ecology theory that could provide a generic multidisciplinary context-free manifold that can be applied to specific domains and contexts. As an element of this, it explored the relationship between agency and its agents (at various foci) and the nature of agency ecologies. It also explored the relationship between viability and sustainability. In this second part, the purpose is to create an agency model that will recognise the analytical and decision-making attributes of the viability–sustainability relationship by centring on the modelling a socioeconomic ecosystem and a social disciplinary species model.

Agency theory will be used to model a generic agency ecology and its environment of subordinate elements – especially those subordinates that can be used as amenities to satisfy the needs to agency development. Part 1 of the paper took a tour of concepts relevant to the representation of ecosystem structures and their application. Part 2 will centre on delivering a schema capable of embracing agency ecology from which applications may derive.

It is shown agency theory is not only a modelling schema but can also provide diagnosis to examine the condition of, or for locating problems within, an agency in its ecosystem environment. This is illustrated within a socioeconomic context.

The paper is conceptual in nature, without any to diagnose any substantive issues within the socio-economic context.

A generalized agency ecology approach is proposed over this two-part paper that is novel through the use of 3rd order cybernetics.

While emotions and feelings arise in the singular personality, they may also develop a normative dimensionality in a plural agency. The authors identify the cybernetic systemic principles of how emotions might be normatively regulated and affect plural agency performance. The purpose of this paper is to develop a generic cultural socio-cognitive trait theory of plural affective agency (the emotional organization), involving interactive cognitive and affective traits, and these play a role within the contexts of Mergers and Acquisitions (M & A).

The authors integrate James Gross’ model of emotion regulation with the earlier work on normative personality in the context of Mindset Agency Theory. The agency is a socio-cognitive entity with attitude, and operates through traits that control thinking and decision making. These traits are epistemically independent and operate on a bipolar scale; with the alternate poles having an auxiliary function to each other – where the traits may take intermediary “balanced” states between the poles.

Processes of affect regulation are supposed to go through three stages: first, identification (affective situation awareness); second, elaboration of affect is constituted through schemas of emotional feeling, which include emotion ideologies generating emotional responses to distinct contextual situations; third, execution: in the operative system primary emotions are assessed through operative intelligence for any adaptive information and the capacity to organize action; and turned into action, i.e. responses, through cultural feeling rules and socio-cultural display rules, conforming to emotion ideologies.

This new theory provides guidance for framing multilevel interaction where smaller collectives (as social systems) are embedded into larger social systems with a culture, an emotional climate and institutions. Thus, it is providing a generic theoretical frame for M & A analyses, where a smaller social unit (the acquired) is to be integrated into a larger social unit (the acquirer).

Understanding interdependencies between cognition and emotion regulation is a prerequisite of managerial intelligence, which is at demand during M & A processes. While managerial intelligence may be grossly defined as the capacity of management to find an appropriate and fruitful balance between action and learning orientation of an organization, its affective equivalent is the capacity of management to find a fruitful balance between established emotion expression and learning alternate forms of emotion expression.

Understanding interdependencies between cognition and emotion is a prerequisite of social, cultural and emotional intelligence. The provided theory can be easily linked with empirical work on the emergence of a cultural climate of fear within societies. Thus, “Affective Agency Theory” also has a bearing for political systems’ analysis, what, however, is beyond the scope of this paper.

The paper builds on the recently developed Mindset Agency Theory, elaborating it through the introduction of the dimension of affect, where cognitive and affective traits interact and become responsible for patterns of behaviour. The model is providing a framework which links emotion expression and emotion regulation with cognitive analysis.

Sustainable public procurement (SPP) lacks common means for its operationalization within legislative latitudes. Through the translation of sustainability indicators (SIs) from CSR and corporate sustainability reporting into the needs of SPP, this paper aims to support the framing process of sustainability in public procurement. This paper does so along with the case of Switzerland.

This paper performs a typological analysis of well-established SIs from CSR reporting to propose a criteria framework for SPP. Second, this paper tests the framework’s usability and feasibility with an expert online survey conducted in the Swiss SPP landscape.

This paper proposes 10 generic criteria to frame the operationalization of SPP. Furthermore, public procurement experts from Switzerland evaluate the SPP framework as useful and feasible.

A limitation of the study can be seen in its deductive approach. Thus, it rather complements recent inductive approaches of SPP type and frame developments than replacing them. Future studies can further refine the understanding and operationalization of sustainability in public procurement.

The generic SPP criteria framework provides a common ground for the operationalization of SPP building on existing sustainability performance measurement knowledge and a frame to operationalize sustainability measurements for public tender processes.

Implementing sustainability in public procurement potentially changes market behaviors globally toward social equality and minimization of climate change impacts. This research aims to support the SPP implementation process.

To the best knowledge, this is the first attempt to directly translate established SIs from sustainability reporting into public procurement to frame SPP and to use existing sustainability measurement knowledge for its operationalization and harmonization.

The systems approach is an exemplar of design science research (DSR), whereby specific designs yield generic knowledge. DSR is increasingly being adopted in logistics and operations management research, but many point to neglect of the human aspects of solutions developed. The authors argue that it is possible to look back at the history of the systems movement to seek precedent for ‘dealing’ with the social components, providing a methodologically pluralistic ‘research design’ framework. Thereby, systems approaches are foundational to providing a design-based ‘science’ to progressing the logistics and supply chain management field, dealing with contemporary topics such as resilience.

The authors undertake a discursive assessment of relevant streams of engineering, social science and systems research, with a conceptual development of how the latter influences supply chain design approaches.

Building on a phenomenological framework, the authors create a generic design science research design (DSRD) that enables researchers to choose and integrate the right tools and methods to address simple, complicated and complex problems, dealing with technological, process and social problems.

The DSRD provides a framework by which to exploit a range of methodological stances to problem solving, including quantitative modelling perspectives and ‘soft’ systems social science approaches. Four substantive gaps are identified for future research – establishing the root cause domain of the problem, how to deal with the hierarchy of systems within systems, establishing appropriate criteria for the solution design and how best to deal with chaotic and disordered systems.

The authors argue that the systems approaches offer methodological pluralism by which a generic DSRD may be applied to enhance supply chain design. The authors show the relevance of the DSRD to supply chain design problems including in reducing supply chain dynamics and enhance resilience. In doing so, the study points towards an integrated perspective and future research agenda for designing resilient supply chains.

This study attempts to formulate an ontological proposition for the intellectual capital (IC) domain. This study is motivated by the debate of contemporary thinking for different IC research streams (IC1‐ostensive versus IC2‐performative) and their different ontological perceptions for IC. The proposed ontological proposition aims to serve the epistemological requirements towards the development of a common accepted generic IC theory.

The formulation of the ontology for the IC domain is based on contemporary tools within the fields of ontology and conceptual modelling. The principal dimensions of the ontology for the IC domain are identified following the directions of the Sowa's generalised theory for ontological frameworks. For each dimension, a generic entity is defined by drawing inferences from disciplines relevant to the contemporary IC inquiry. The relationships between the generic entities are modelled with the semantic representations of General Systems Theory (GST).

This paper provides an answer to the epistemological problem of how to perceive the substance of the IC domain. The derived ontology for the IC domain recognises different IC ontological dimensions that correspond to the IC ontological assumptions of different IC research streams, attempts to associate the IC of an organization with the tangible dimension of the enterprise, and provides conceptual semantics for modelling firm‐specific IC domains under the prism of different epistemological perspectives for IC.

The proposed ontological proposition for the IC domain is an abstract ontology. It might empower researchers with guidelines for systemising the formulation of theoretical propositions and descriptions for their research fields. Yet, as an abstract ontology, it might create difficulty in its practical implementation.

The ontological proposition for the IC domain can contribute towards the debate on the establishment of a common research communicational rationalism within the IC research community for coordinating individual research efforts.