Organizational Loss

Abstract

Similarity between individual and organizational response to loss is documented through literature analysis and case studies in the automobile industry. An identity maintenance and adaptation thesis is developed to explain this similarity and provide a logic for a stage theory of loss. Risk-seeking behavior under loss is also explained. In this paper, I summarize the concept of (individual) response to loss, present auto industry data that provides support for this model at the organizational level, and explain why I think it holds at all social levels.