Title: Work motivation and operational risk assessment: a new direction for organisational behaviour studies

Authors: Yundong Huang

Addresses: The Bill Munday School of Business, St. Edward's University, Austin, TX 78739, USA

Abstract: The present study introduces motivation theories into operational risk analysis. It offers a new direction for organisational behaviour studies in the field of risk management. One specific type of operational risk, called motivational risk, is identified and analysed. The study asserts that organisations cannot have specific knowledge of their employees' work motivation. Based on motivation theories, individuals are motivated to do their job. Therefore, employees' work behaviours may be different from the organisation's expected behaviour due to the organisation's uncertainty regarding motivation. In an organisation (a complex system), the unexpected behaviours of employees (components) may lead to a business loss (failure). A theoretical framework is proposed to assess motivational risk, called the motivational risk framework (MRF). This framework improves the assessment of operational risk caused by people; besides, it offers a good example of integrating behaviour studies into risk analysis.

Keywords: risk assessment; motivation; operational risk; motivational risk; organisational behaviour; uncertainty; complex system; work motivation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJRAM.2021.119953

International Journal of Risk Assessment and Management, 2021 Vol.24 No.1, pp.54 - 72

Accepted: 14 Oct 2020
Published online: 04 Jan 2022 *

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