Escalation of Commitment to an Ineffective Course of Action: The Effect of Feedback Having Negative Implications for Self-Identity

Brockner, Joel; Houser, Robert F.; Birnbaum, Gregg; Lloyd, Kathy; Deitcher, Janet; Nathanson, Sinaia; Rubin, Jeffrey Z.

doi:10.2307/2392768

Cited by 104 publications

(83 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…They were then informed that they could switch to another judgment task or could continue the same task. Escalation of commitment was manifested as the extent to which they continued to keep investing in the same judgment task they had chosen at the outset (see Brockner et al, 1986 for a similar laboratory setting).…”

Section: Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the emotional aspects of escalation of commitment: The role of negative affect.

Wong¹,

Yik²,

Kwong³

2006

Journal of Applied Psychology

127

123

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Despite the importance of understanding the emotional aspects of organizational decision-making, prior research has paid scant attention to the role of emotion in escalation of commitment. This paper attempts to fill this gap by examining the relationship between negative affect and escalation of commitment. Results showed that regardless of whether negative affect was measured as a dispositional trait (Neuroticism) in Studies 1 and 2 or as a transient mood state in Study 3, it was negatively correlated with escalation tendency when one was personally responsible for a prior decision. This pattern of results is consistent with the predictions derived from the coping perspective, suggesting that people seek to escape from the unpleasant emotions that are associated with escalation situations. Emotion and Escalation 3 Understanding the Emotional Aspects of Escalation of Commitment: The Role of Negative AffectResearch on organizational decision-making has demonstrated that individuals exhibit strong tendencies to be locked into losing courses of action (see Brockner, 1992;Staw, 1997, for reviews).Over the past three decades, a large body of research studying the psychology of this so-called "escalation of commitment" phenomenon has focused primarily on its cognitive determinants, including self-justification

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Section: Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the emotional aspects of escalation of commitment: The role of negative affect.

Wong¹,

Yik²,

Kwong³

2006

Journal of Applied Psychology

127

123

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Reactance theory in IS and decision-making literature is under-used, but it has been mentioned as a possible explanation of individual adjustment to information driven technologies [49]. Within the management literature, reactance theory has been used in studies of scarce goods [50], used in studying entrapment [51], and proposed as a possible response to phantom alternatives in decision-making [52].…”

Section: Operant and Reactance Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Increasing Personal Value Congruence in Computerized Decision Support Using System Feedback

Hosack

Paradice

2014

Axioms

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Abstract:The Theory of Universals in Values (TUV), a reliable and validated conceptualization of personal values used in psychology, is used to examine the effect of system feedback delivered by a Decision Support System (DSS) on personal values. The results indicate that value-based decision-making behavior can be influenced by DSS feedback to address value congruence in decision-making. User behavior was shown to follow the outcomes expected by operant theory when feedback was supportive and to follow the outcomes of reactance theory when feedback was challenging. This result suggests that practitioners and Information System (IS) researchers should consider user values when designing computerized decision feedback to adjust a system's design such that the potential user backlash is avoided or congruence between organizational and personal values is achieved.

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“…Research shows that "if organizational culture is one that: a. makes people unwilling to admit failure or b. values consistency in behavior, then it is more likely that decision makers may even stick with their bad decisions for more than rationally required (Brockner et al, 1986)." When this happens "projects take a life of their own thereby eating up more resources and delivering no real value (Warne and Hart, 1996;Keil et al, 2000;Hall, 2003)."…”

Section: Escalatory Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

De-Escalating the It-Projects

Kundi

Nawaz

Shah

2007

JISTEM

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Escalation stickins with an ailing project beyond rational justifications. This happens because in the face of negative feedback, decision makers are strangled between whether to stick with or quit the dying project. Environmental uncertainty has been identified as the root cause of the escalatory behavior. This uncertainty emanates from several sources relating to individual, group, organization and broader environmental factors. This paper argues the premise that effective communication can help create an environment whereby workforce can develop an organized action thereby distributing the responsibility across the whole workforce and not the individuals -leading to the possible reduction of escalatory behavior in IT projects.

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Escalation of Commitment to an Ineffective Course of Action: The Effect of Feedback Having Negative Implications for Self-Identity

Cited by 104 publications

References 11 publications

Understanding the emotional aspects of escalation of commitment: The role of negative affect.

Understanding the emotional aspects of escalation of commitment: The role of negative affect.

Increasing Personal Value Congruence in Computerized Decision Support Using System Feedback

De-Escalating the It-Projects

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