The Validity of Simulation Models in Organizational Science: From Model Realism to Purpose

Simulation models are widely applied to address fundamental and practical issues in organization science. Yet, simulation modeling in organization science continues to raise questions of validity. In this paper, we argue that simulation validity is a balance of three elements: the question or purpose, the experimental design, and the simulation model. Simple models which address the question are preferred. Non-simple, imbalanced simulations are not only inefficient but can lead to poor answers. The validity approach is compared with well-known validity criteria in social science. Finally we apply the approach to a number of simulation studies in organization science, beginning with Cyert's simulations. They were pioneering and are examples of well designed simulations.