The role of the social context in individual behaviour as a channel that connects macro and micro spheres

ARZA, VALERIA

Mexico

Conferencia; GLOBELICS 6th International Conference 2008; 2008

The aim of this essay is to highlight the extent to which macroeconomic conditions affectinvestment behaviour patterns. I am chiefly interested in discussing the behavioural processregarding investment in innovative activities. Three interconnected actors are involved: 1) The firm acting independently, which constitutes the micro level of analysis directly responsible for changes in technological performance. 2) The groups of firms that have certain similar attributes (e.g. similar activities, similar location, similar markets) and therefore tend to react similarly to certain incentives from their environment; which represent the meso level of analysis. 3) The national institutional system to which firms belong, constituting the formal and informal rules of a social environment delimited by a common culture and history. The hypothesis sustained here is that individual decisions are affected by the social environment in which individuals are immersed. Therefore, the discussion focuses on the assumptions and principles that guide micro behaviour.