Abstract for: Testing the impact of risk attitude on the Bullwhip effect

Previous research indicated that behavioral factors might influence the bullwhip effect. This study reports the results of an experiment on the effect of risk attitude on the bullwhip effect, being conducted in the Beer Game. Our results show that risk-averse teams caused a larger bullwhip effect on a supply chain than risk-seeking teams. Further, a comparison of three customer/supplier links in the Beer Game provides evidence that the upstream of the supply chain suffered the most in the risk-averse teams. Our findings emphasize the need for incorporating behavioral factors, in addition to operational causes, for theorizing about supply chain management.