Telling people they might lose motivates more than telling them they might win, research shows‎

Athletes say they hate to lose more than they love to win. New research finds the same sentiment is shared in organizations. A Virginia Tech researcher and his colleagues discovered that when managers frame work problems as a potential loss, employees are more likely to take action than when those problems are framed as potential gains. The research also revealed that when the potential loss impacts a larger group, employees are more likely to take action in the form of speaking up to a supervisor in hopes of finding a solution. The findings were recently published in the Journal of Applied Psychology.