Semiotics and the Microfoundations of the Individual Decision-Making Logic

Abstract

The framework developed aims to contribute to organizational studies by providing a well-developed analytical prescription for the micro-foundational properties of the behavioural framings in organizations. Charles S. Peirce’s semiotic conception elaborated in his General Theory of Representations renders insights for combining the fabrics of individual representations and the emergent social properties, based on the interaction between institutions, and the competitive environment, and the modes of governance. Supported by the semiotic approach, a deductive analytical model of the individual decision-making logic in organizations is proposed, identifying the contribution of three distinctive phenomenological dimensions: signs (institutions), objects (competitive environment) and interpretants (governance structures). Employing the semiotic approach it is possible to observe the holistic nature of the interaction of these three constitutive aspects for the emergence of individuals’ representations that are key to the decision-making logics in the corporative environment.

Keywords:
Semiotics; Micro-foundations; Decision-Making logics