This paper argues that the positivist approach adopted by many studies into the relationship between customer satisfaction and revenue is limited; the ontology associated with positivism permits surface relationships only to be determined. What is required is a method grounded in a more realistic ontology that allows for a deeper investigation. The paper proposes that system dynamics is one such method. The differences between the positivist approach and a systems approach are expounded, and, though the positivist approach is not completely rejected (on the contrary, it is defended), its limitations, particularly when applied to a social environment, are apparent. In particular, the paper expands on the differences between studies in the natural sciences and those in the social sciences. It is these contrasts that make extremely suspect an effective translation of the methodology applied so successfully to the natural sciences, across to the social environment, and which demands an alternative methodology. This paper presents one such methodology and posits system dynamics clearly within that methodology.

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Date created

• 2005 July 17-2005 July 21

Type

• Document

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• Processing documentation available at: https://wiki.albany.edu/display/SCA/Processing+Ingested+Digital+Files

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• Creative Commons BY-NC-ND Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International

  
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ITEM CONTEXT

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cc5bb0ac12a5b68b26b1583548898dae

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Part of

3c582e6f5cf305ef0030c7471b499022

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23d738ba88f8333bc39725f9cb5bd0b8

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Collection

System Dynamic Society Records

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Collecting area

• This collection is part of the University Archives