Work Motivation and Operational Risk Assessment: A New Direction for Organizational Behavior Studies
The present study introduces motivation theories into operational risk analysis, exploring a new direction for organizational behavior studies in the risk management field. In particular, it identifies and analyzes one specific type of operational risk: motivational risk. The study asserts that organizations can never know exactly what their employees' work motivations are. Based on motivation theories, individuals are motivated to do their jobs; therefore, employees' work behavior may differ from what organizations expect due to the latter's uncertainty about the former's motivation. Employees' unexpected behaviors may be harmful to a business, leading to financial losses. This study proposes the motivational risk framework (MRF) to assess motivational risk. This theoretical framework will not only improve assessment of operational risk caused by employees, but it will also illustrate how behavior studies can be integrated into risk analysis.