A proposal for an evolutionary model for networks of diffusion of organizational knowledge

Abstract

In this article, we present a theoretical model to simulate the diffusion of knowledge in organisational social networks using an evolutionary approach. Based on the assumption that social networks deriving from processes of collaboration and cooperation between people evolve like living organisms, as described by Charles Darwin in "The Origin of Species", the proposal is to present an evolutionary model for the diffusion of knowledge in organisations, in which individuuals act as knowledge propagators and receivers, depending on their attributes. Each attribute is regarded as a gene, and together they constitute a chromosome. Based on Darwin's theory, the model proposes mechanisms of crossover and mutation among the various agents involved in the process of diffusion of knowledge, over several generations, until a stopping condition is reached. The main contribution of the model is the proposition of a context for the study of network dynamics, using the attributes of agents and the organisational environment as parameters.