Using Perspective Taking to De-Escalate Commitment to Software Product Launch Decisions

In software product development settings when things go awry and the original plan loses credibility, managers often choose to honor the originally announced product launch schedule anyway, in effect launching a product that may be seriously compromised in terms of both functionality and reliability. In this study, we draw on the perspective of escalation of commitment to investigate adherence to original product launch schedules despite negative feedback. Specifically, we use the notion of perspective taking to propose a de-escalation tactic. Through a laboratory experiment, we found strong support that taking the perspective of individuals that can be negatively influenced by a product launch can indeed effectively promote de-escalation of commitment. Furthermore, we found that the experiences of anticipated guilt mediate the relationship between perspective taking and de-escalation, and this indirect effect is significantly greater when a decision maker’s personal cost associated with de-escalation is high rather than low

Affect and Decision Making in Troubled Information Technology Projects

IT project failure is an enduring problem which has often been associated with bad news reporting and escalation of commitment. The literature in bad news reporting has focused on identifying factors (e.g., organizational climate of silence) that could influence one’s reporting decision. Similarly, the de-escalation literature has primarily investigated conditions or activities (e.g., changes in top management) which promote de-escalation. Nonetheless, what is missing in our understanding is how affect can influence bad news reporting and de-escalation decisions within IT projects. This represents a significant gap in bad news reporting and de-escalation research, as affect (i.e., mood and emotions) is recognized as a fundamental aspect of human life which strongly influences individual perceptions, judgment, and decision making. The aim of this dissertation to provide new insights regarding how affect can influence bad news reporting decisions and de-escalation of commitment within the context of troubled IT projects

Attribution Bias and Overconfidence in Escalation of Commitment: The Role of Desire to Rectify Past Outcomes

Escalation of commitment is the voluntary continuation of investing resources into what appears to be a failing course of action whose outcome is uncertain. Investigation into the escalation of commitment phenomenon is important to organizations because such behavior could result in grave economic loss. This research investigates two cognitive biases that we posit lead to IT escalation of commitment, namely, attribution bias and overconfidence in an escalation decision, as well as desire to rectify past outcomes (DRPO) for its potential role as a mediator. To test our research model, 160 IT managers participated in a web-based role-playing experiment. Attribution was manipulated at two levels (internal and external), creating two treatment conditions. We posited that the participants assigned to the internal attribution condition would escalate their commitment to the failing IT project to a greater extent than participants assigned to the external attribution condition; that individuals that have a high, versus low, level of overconfidence would have a greater tendency to escalate; and that DRPO would mediate the effects of attribution and overconfidence on escalation of commitment. Attribution bias was significant at the .1 level, but in the opposite direction of what was hypothesized; overconfidence showed a significant main effect on escalation. The effect of attribution bias on escalation was significantly mediated by DRPO, but the effect of overconfidence on escalation was not mediated by DRPO. Implications of these findings for both research and practice are discussed

The Role of Evaluability Bias and the Fairness Effect in the Escalation of Commitment to Troubled Software Product Development Projects

New software product development entails considerable risks. One significant risk is that decision makers can become overly committed to troubled software product development projects (i.e., escalation of commitment). While prior research has identified factors that promote escalation in information technology projects, there has been little attempt to leverage the context of software product development, which can include evaluating attributes of a software product under development and weighing a personal financial reward tied to a successful product launch. In this study, we conducted two experiments to investigate how evaluability bias concerning software attributes and the fairness effect that arises from the relative amount of a personal financial reward influence the escalation of commitment to troubled software product development projects. Our findings suggest that the escalation of commitment to troubled software product development projects is influenced by both evaluability bias, which affects the perceived attractiveness of a software product under development, and the fairness effect, which influences the perceived attractiveness of a personal financial reward tied to a successful product launch. This study contributes to both the information systems literature and the escalation literature by providing novel theoretical explanations as to why escalation occurs in the context of new software product developmen

The Dynamics of International Market Withdrawal

This study focuses on the decision-making process of international market withdrawal within the scope of international market portfolio management. A comparative study of eight withdrawal cases in four multinational firms results in a six-phased decision-making model that is driven by threat-rigidity behavior, failure-induced learning and political dynamics. Two types of international market withdrawal are identified. On the one hand, a tactical withdrawal is the outcome of threat-rigidity and exploitative learning at the level of executive management. A strategic withdrawal, on the other hand, is characterized by a process of failure-induced exploratory learning initiated by middle level challengers. In contrast to a tactical withdrawal, which remains an isolated decision and does not interfere with other international ventures of the business unit, a strategic withdrawal turns out to be a germ of strategic (re)orientation of the business unit’s entire international market portfolio. Whether a market withdrawal turns out to be tactical or strategic ultimately depends on the autonomy, the amount and the relevance of challengers’ market and business knowledge.Economics ;

Building an Ethical Small Group (Chapter 9 of Meeting the Ethical Challenges of Leadership)

This chapter examines ethical leadership in the small-group context. To help create groups that brighten rather than darken the lives of participants, leaders must foster individual ethical accountability among group members, ensure ethical group interaction, avoid moral pitfalls, and establish ethical relationships with other groups. In his metaphor of the leader\u27s light or shadow, Parker Palmer emphasizes that leaders shape the settings or contexts around them. According to Palmer, leaders are people who have an unusual degree of power to create the conditions under which other people must live and move and have their being, conditions that can either be as illuminating as heaven or as shadowy as hell. 1 In this final section of the text, I\u27ll describe some of the ways we can create conditions that illuminate the lives of followers in small-group, organizational, global, and crisis settings. Shedding light means both resisting and exerting influence. We must fend off pressures to engage in unethical behavior while actively seeking to create healthier moral environments

Why IT-Projects Fail: A Meta-Analysis of the Construct ‘Escalating Commitment’ in Information Systems Research

Escalating commitment refers to situations where decision makers tend to persist with failing courses of action by committing themselves more and more to the course of action as they invest further resources even when they face substantial negative feedback (Brockner, 1992; Newman & Sabherwal, 1996). This article examines the phenomenon of escalating commitment in the domain of information systems by i) systematically conducting a literature review where 23 triggers for escalating commitment in IS were identified. The results of the literature review yield that the main research in this field clearly focuses on studying the phenomenon in the context of it-projects but also on the upcoming research field of online services such as online-auctions. On the other hand ii) we conducted a meta-analysis with the aim of quantifying the power of the phenomenon under discussion based on the literature identified in the first part of our study. The computed overall effect size turned out to be significantly different from zero, but had to be put under reservation after testing the population for homogeneity

An Investigation of the Relationships between Goals and Software Project Escalation: Insights from Goal Setting and Goal Orientation Theories

Escalation of commitment is manifested as a behavior in which an individual resists withdrawing from a failing course of action despite negative feedback, and it is an enduring problem that occurs in a variety of situations, including R&D investment decisions and software project overruns. To date, a variety of theoretical explanations have been offered as to what causes escalation of commitment, including personal responsibility, the sunk cost effect, and the completion effect. Nonetheless, what is missing in our understanding is the role that goals can play in escalation situations. This represents a significant gap in escalation research, as goals are a fundamental element driving many human behaviors. Further, escalation researchers recently suggested that escalation behavior can be understood as an activity that is directed by goals. Therefore, this dissertation aims to generate insights regarding the impact of goals on escalation of commitment by drawing on goal setting and goal orientation theories. This dissertation consists of four essays each of which involves one or more studies