The effects of feedback equivocality, information availability, and prior decision-making history on escalation and persistence were investigated. Replicating the findings of J.L. Bragger, D.H. Bragger, D.A. Hantula, and J.P. Kirnan (1998), this study found that participants receiving equivocal feedback on their decisions invested more money and invested across more opportunities; those who could purchase information invested fewer resources than did participants who did not have the opportunity to purchase information. There was an inverse linear relationship between the percentage of opportunities in which participants purchased information and the delay to exit decisions and total resources invested. Six weeks earlier, some participants took part in a more profitable investment scenario, and prior experience led to later increased investing when participants were faced with failure, even above that invested in a preceding, succeeding scenario. These results are consistent with an equivocality theory account of escalation.
The purpose of these studies was to extend the benefits of the structured selection interview beyond its psychometric advantages, and to include its potential to mitigate biases against overweight applicants. In the first study, 133 participants witnessed a videotaped interview and were asked to rate the performance of the candidate. Videotapes varied by structured/unstructued interview scripts and average weighdoveweight job applicant. Results confirmed the discrimination bias against overweight interviewees, and supported the possibility that a structured interview moderates this bias. In the second study, 137 participants completed the same task with an additional level of interview structure. Results provided additional support for the predictive power of the highly structured interview, and mixed results for a mildly structured interview.
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