Dilemmas Within Decisions to Recommit Resources to a Course of Action: An Investigation of the Escalation Phenomenon

The escalation phenomenon refers to situations in which decision makers recommit resources to a previously chosen failed or failing course of action in order to justify prior investments (Staw, 1976, 1981; Brockner & Rubin, 1985). Arguing from the perspective that the literature on escalating commitment may not have investigated truly failed courses of action, it is suggested that the observed"escalation" in those studies might be more parsimoniously explained as a function of the degree of equivocality of the decision context. Accordingly, research was designed to focus on two key elements in the creation or reduction of equivocality: the predictability of feedback pattern, and, the existence (or not) of decision criteria. The following question, therefore, was the focus of this research: What are the effects of equivocality of feedback and a set of decision outcome standards on the recommitment of resources to a course of action?

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Business Administration

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2014

Author dc:creator

• Bowen, Michael George

• Business Administration, Management

Identifier

(UMI)AAI8711774

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/70465