TED Tuesdays: What Really Motivates People to be Honest in Business?

"What are people actually motivated by?" 

Let's start with a stunning statistic: One out of every Seven large public corporations commit fraud every year. (Source: Dyck, Morse, and Zingales (2013), How pervasive is corporate fraud?)

Fraud has become the status quo - it's almost as if we expect corporations to take advantage of customers, shareholders and the government. Continuous news coverage of corporate malfeasance can make us think that we live in a cynical and corrupt world.

But we have to keep something else in mind...
There are 6 out of 7 companies that are doing the right thing, day in and day out.

What motivates positive behavior, and a corporate climate of honesty and accountability? In turn, what creates a toxic corporate environment, and motivates people to dishonesty and lawlessness?

According to Alexander Wagner, "On the one hand, you can appeal to benefit and costs and try to get people to behave according to them. On the other hand, you can select people who have the values and the desirable characteristics that go in line with your organization".

In this TED Talk, Wagner identifies the different theories of motivation, and what are the key factors motivating professionals to be honest in business. Is it because they really want to do the right thing, or perhaps and an economic incentive is the real driver?

Speaker Alexander Wagner  

Alexander Wagner is a thought leader that is fascinated with human behavior. Wagner has taught corporate finance to thousands of eager students and hundreds of motivated executives, and he has helped shape governance systems of companies large and small.

About TED Tuesdays

Much of the success that Business Solution Partners enjoys can be directly attributed to the insatiable drive of our consultants to learn and grow through continuing education. To stay abreast of the latest developments in business and finance, we look to though-leaders, mentors and disruptors that are shaping the future of industry. TED talks are an amazing resource that we want to share with you, our clients and friends. Come back to our blog every Tuesday for another phenomenal video from the world's brightest minds in finance and business.