In a Harvard Business Review article, Jennifer Logg and Catherine Tinsley, both from Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business, discuss how risky behavior spreads through an organization. Their research has identified two key channels by which risk-taking behavior takes hold: social cues and trial-and-error.
Decades of research has made clear the role of peer norms in influencing conduct. People observe others' behavior to determine what is likely to be rewarded and punished — either formally or socially — in their environment. "As any manager knows, employees respond less to what they are told is appropriate behavior and more to what they see others doing in the workplace," Logg and Tinsley wrote.
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