Looking forward and looking back: integrating completion and sunk-cost effects within an escalation-of-commitment...

Area of Science:

• Behavioral Economics
• Organizational Psychology
• Decision-Making Research

Background:

• Existing theories on commitment escalation present conflicting frameworks.
• Two primary drivers, sunk costs and project completion, are often considered separately.
• Understanding the interplay between these factors is crucial for explaining persistent commitment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the independent and interactive effects of sunk costs and project completion on commitment escalation.
• To propose and test a unified framework integrating these two potential antecedents.
• To examine the specific nature of the relationship, including potential curvilinear influences.

Main Methods:

• Survey methodology involving 340 participants.
• Analysis of decision-maker responses regarding commitment to a chosen course of action.
• Statistical modeling to test proposed relationships and moderation effects.

Main Results:

• A complementary relationship was found between sunk costs and project completion in predicting commitment.
• Sunk costs exhibited a curvilinear influence on the level of commitment.
• A significant interaction between the level of completion and sunk costs supported a moderation model.

Conclusions:

• The study offers a complementary view, integrating sunk costs and project completion as simultaneous pressures.
• These factors exert both independent and interactive influences on commitment escalation.
• Findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of decision-making persistence and escalation.