The Influence of Loss Aversion on Mountain Bikers’ Behavioral Intentions

Public involvement in management decision making has received increased attention from researchers in recent years. These studies, however, have rarely considered differences in behavior resulting from gains and losses, despite ample evidence that individuals’ behavior is not the same across situations. Individuals are often more sensitive to losses than gains, which research suggests is related to ownership (real or perceived) of the item lost. We present evidence from a within-subjects quasi-experimental design to test whether mountain bikers’ reported intentions differ between gain based and loss based conditions. These data were analyzed using a multi-step repeated measures analysis of variance and repeated measures analysis of covariance. The results suggest that losses are more powerful than gains in motivating public engagement in management decision making. Further, the type of action was also shown to influence behavioral intentions. Additional analyses provide support to the claim that, centrality, used as a proximate measure of ownership, moderates the contextual effects on behavioral intentions. Thus, loss aversion, moderated by ownership, is a plausible explanation of stakeholder involvement.