Internalities and Their Applicability for Organizational Practices

The economic concept of externalities was introduced to the field of behavior analysis (BA) by Biglan (2009). Since then, practitioners of BA have been able to apply this economic concept to behavior analytic theory, and create strategies to improve organizational practices. A similar economic concept to the externality is the internality, a cost imposed on an individual that is not taken into account when the person consumes the good or service. This paper will introduce the concept of internalities and discuss how it can be integrated into existing behavior analytic literature. Practices that produce "organizational internalities" will be analyzed using meta and macrocontingencies, with a discussion on how positive internalities can be promoted by an organization's leadership. It will conclude with a discussion on how strategies regarding Organizational Behavior Management and Behavioral Systems Analysis can use the concept of organizational internalities to mitigate the negative outcomes of internalities, while simultaneously promoting positive outcomes of internalities.