Organizational Fluidity and Sustainable Cooperation

Abstract

We show that fluid organizations display higher levels of cooperation than attainable by groups with either a fixed social structure or lacking one altogether. By moving within the organization, individuals cause restructurings that facilitate cooperation. Computer experiments simulating fluid organizations faced with a social dilemma reveal a myriad of complex cooperative behaviors that result from the interplay between individual strategies and structural changes. Significantly, fluid organizations can display long cycles of sustained cooperation interrupted by short bursts of defection.