It’s Only a Game: Reliability Theory a Better Way to Explain Decision Making in Business Simulation Games


 

Page 107 - Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, volume 41, 2014 

IT’S ONLY A GAME: RELIABILITY THEORY A BETTER WAY TO 

EXPLAIN DECISION MAKING IN BUSINESS SIMULATION GAMES 

 
Christopher M. Scherpereel 

Northern Arizona University, 

Chris.Scherpereel@nau.edu 

ABSTRACT 

 
Educational simulation games are designed to create an 

environment that is characterized by complexity and uncer-

tainty.  As simulation game developers, we expect that the 

players of our games will use rational analysis as the pre-

ferred decision process.  Anecdotal evidence seems to con-

tradict this expectation.  When faced with the complex deci-

sion environment of a simulation most players seem to for-

get the analytical tools they acquired during their educa-

tion and resort instead to adhoc intuition or heuristic pro-

cesses.  It has been suggested that when college students 

play simulation games they use intuition or heuristics ra-

ther than analytical tools because they never really learned 

how to use such tools.  We would like to propose an alter-

native explanation.  In response to the uncertain and com-

plex environment of a simulation game, student teams seek 

a straightforward yet reliable decision-making model.  Be-

cause they are not confident they can correctly apply the 

analytical tools to make the simulation decisions, they ra-

tionally choose to ignore the methods they have learned 

and employ simplifying rules and heuristics.   A behavioral 

theory developed in the economic literature called reliabil-

ity theory suggests that this decision making response 

should not be surprising.  Applying reliability theory to 

business simulation decision making explains much of the 

behavior we see in student simulation team decision mak-

ing behavior and sheds light on the frustration that we of-

ten feel as users of educational simulation games. If relia-

bility theory accurately describes decision making in simu-

lation games, it suggests a number of interesting questions 

we must ask ourselves.  Are simulation games just too com-

plex for students to confidently apply what they have 

learned?  When faced with significant uncertainty and 

complexity, is intuition more valuable than analysis?