Abstract: This research examines the effect of success and failure results on consumers’ risk preference. Using different manipulations of success and failure and different measurements of risk preference tendency, five experiments were conducted to demonstrate that a clear success increases consumers’ sense of power, which in turn raises their subsequent risk preference; a clear failure, however, decreases consumers’ sense of power, which in turn reduces their subsequent risk preference. Furthermore, a close result can moderate this effect; that is, the difference between narrow-winners and narrow-losers’ risk preference is weakened. This study further enriches the research about the impact of success or failure on individual’s behavior, and provides suggestions on how to use the results of online and offline competitions to carry out marketing activities.

Key words: winning-losing perception, risk preference, sense of power