A Cross-Cultural Study on Escalation of Commitment Behavior in Software Projects

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. Management Information Systems Research Center, University of Minnesota is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to MIS Quarterly. AbstractOne of the most challenging decisions that a manager must confront is whether to continue or abandon a troubled project. Published studies suggest that failing software projects are often allowed to continue for too long before appropriate management action is taken to discontinue or redirect the efforts. The level of sunk cost associated with such projects has been offered as one explanation for this escalation of commitment behavior. What prior studies fail to consideris how concepts from risk-taking theory (such as risk propensity and risk perception) affect decision makers' willingness to continue a project under MIS Quarterly Vol. 24 No. 2, pp. 299-325/June 2000 299 This content downloaded from 172.12.137.157 on Thu, 11 Sep 2014 17:23:05 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Keil et al./Culture & Escalation of Commitment conditions of sunk cost. To better understand factors that may cause decision makers to continue such projects, this study examines the level of sunk cost together with the risk propensity and risk perception of decision makers. These factors are assessed for cross-cultural robustness using matching laboratory experiments carried out in three cultures (Finland, the Netherlands, and Singapore).With a wider set of explanatory factors than prior studies, we could account for a higher amount of variance in decision makers' willingness to continue a project. The level of sunk cost and the risk perception of decision makers contributed significantly to their willingness to continue a project. Moreover, the risk propensity of decision makers was inversely related to risk perception. This inverse relationship was significantly stronger in Singapore (a low uncertainty avoidance culture) than in Finland and the Netherlands (high uncertainty avoidance cultures). These results reveal that some factors behind decision makers'willingness to continue a project are consistent across cultures while others may be culture-sensitive.Implications of these results for further research and practice are discussed.

Mature and Emerging Organic Markets: Modelling Consumer Attitude and Behaviour With Partial Least Square Approach

“…Small deviations from normality were observed in only few cases. Therefore, the classical parametric approach proposed by Keil et al 83 to test for significant differences in path estimates between heterogeneous groups was used. T-value > 2.58:_ significant difference at 0.01 level; T-value > 1.96: significant difference at 0.05 level; T-value > 1.64: significant difference at 0.10 level.…”

The relevance of shopper logistics for consumers of store-based retail formats

“…items behind the construct, to improve, for example, store accessibility, store layout, arrangement of categories and products in-store, display of prices in-store, and store check-out procedures. (Fornell and Larcker, 1981;Baggozzi and Yi, 1988); since different units of measurement were used the values were converted into zscores for modelling purposes Sources: (a), Reinartz and Kumar, 1999;, Tang et al, 2001; (c) (d), Eastlick and Feinberg, 1999; (e), Baker et al, 2002;(f), Tang et al, 2001; (g), Rhee and Bell, 2002; (h), Baker et al, 2002;(i), Eastlick and Feinberg, 1999;(j), Teller et al, 2006;(k), Eastlick and Feinberg, 1999;, Baker et al, 2002;, Bell et al, 1998;Pashigian, 2003;Kotzab and Teller, 2005; (n), Kotzab and Teller, 2005;(o), Teller et al, 2006; Figure 1: Conceptual model Notions: Sample size n=603; t-values calculated by applying a bootstrapping procedure with 1,000 sub-samples (Chin, 1998) Caption: µ, moderator; ߚ క , single effect (µ, 0);standardised regression coefficient; ߚ ఓ , effect of µ;ߚ ఓ ,క , effect of interaction terms (moderating effect);t(df), tvalue(degrees of freedom); † , significance level p<.1; * , significance level p<.05; ** , significance level p<.01; *** , significance level p<.001; ns , significance level p>.1; sm, supermarket; hm, hypermarket; ds, discount store; onf, on foot; trans, means of transport used; I , measurement of interaction effect based on the notions of Chin et al (2003); II , measurement of interaction effect (multi group comparison) based on the notions of Keil et al (2000); III , based on the item scale proposed by Babin et al (1994), 12 items operationalising hedonic shopping orientation, Cronbach α, .936;…”

“…Finally, we measured the significance of interaction effects of all proposed moderating variables on an interval scale level (µ 1 -µ 5 ) based on the two-step approach as described by groups comparisons as proposed by Keil et al (2000).…”

Motivation and Entrepreneurial Cognition

“…Self-justification theory is largely based on Festinger's (1957) theory of cognitive dissonance and argues that "individuals will bias their attitudes on a task in a positive direction so as to justify their previous behavior" (Staw 1981: 579). Thus, people frequently decide to continue with a course of action because they want to demonstrate to themselves (psychological selfjustification) and to other people (social self-justification) their rationality and competence (Keil et al 2000b). …”