Abstract for: Can System Dynamics learn from Social Network Analysis?

This article deals with the analysis of large or complex system dynamics (SD) models, exploring the benefits of a multimethodological approach towards model analysis. To this end, we compare model analysis results achieved by SD and social network analysis (SNA) by deploying SNA techniques on a pertinent example from the SD literature—the world dynamics model. Although SNA is a clearly distinct method from SD—focusing on social actors and their interrelationships—we are going to advocate that SD can indeed learn from SNA, particularly in terms of model structure analysis. Our argumentation follows renowned system dynamicists who acknowledge the potential of SD to synthesize and advance theories in social science both at the conceptual and technical level.