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

The underlying mechanism between compulsory citizenship behaviors and employee innovative work behaviors and knowledge sharing: A moderated mediation model

Purpose

This paper draws on conservation of resources theory to advance the literature on extra-role performance behaviors among academics, particularly innovative work behaviors and knowledge sharing, through the lens of work stressors.

Methods

We develop a moderated-mediated model based on multi-source, multi-timed, and multi-level data from a sample of 207 academics and 137 direct supervisors in five higher education institutions in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Findings

Results show that academics' compulsory citizenship behaviors positively influence negative affectivity, which, in turn, negatively impacts academics' innovative work behavior and knowledge sharing. The detrimental effect of compulsory citizenship behaviors on negative affectivity is then positively moderated by passive leadership, which amplifies this relationship. The combined effect of compulsory citizenship behaviors and negative affectivity exerted on innovative work behavior and knowledge sharing are magnified amid the elevated presence of passive leadership, while gender does not significantly influence this association.

Originality

This is a pioneering study in the context of UAE to look into the counterproductive impact of CCB on employee innovative work behaviors and knowledge sharing.

Implications

Pertinent theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

Exploring the determinants of reinvestment decisions: Sense of personal responsibility, preferences, and loss framing

Two potentially costly errors are common in sequential investment decisions: sticking too long to a failing course of action (escalation of commitment), and abandoning a successful course of action prematurely. Past research has mostly focused on escalation of commitment, and identified three critical determinants: personal responsibility, preferences for prior decisions, and decision framing. We demonstrate in three studies using an incentivized poker inspired task that these determinants of escalation reliably lead decision makers to keep investing even when real money is on the line. We observed in Experiments 1, 2 and 3 that reinvestments were more likely when decision makers were personally responsible for prior decisions. This likelihood was also increased when the decision makers had indicated a preference for initial investments (Experiments 2 and 3), and when outcomes were framed in terms of losses as compared to gains (Experiment 3). Both types of decision errors - escalation of commitment and prematurely abandoning a course of action - could be traced to the same set of determinants. Being personally responsible for prior decisions, having a preference for the initial investment, and loss framing did increase escalation, whereas lacking personal responsibility, having no preference for the initial investment, and gain framing increased the likelihood of prematurely opting out. Finally, personal responsibility had a negative effect on decision quality, as decision-makers were still more likely to reinvest when they were personally responsible for prior decisions, than when prior decisions were assigned optimally by an algorithm (Experiments 2 and 3).

PATH ANALYSIS ON ESCALATION OF COMMITMENT OF INVESTORS IN DIFFERENT PROJECT SCENARIOS OF PPPS

In public-private partnerships (PPPs), escalation of commitment (EOC) of investors often occurs when receiving negative feedback, leading to a great waste of resources and not conducive to the sustainable development of PPPs. The degree of project completion and decision-making responsibilities of investors with different conscientiousness and neuroticism may affect subsequent resource allocation and further influence their escalation behaviour. Thus, through scenario simulation, this paper constructs path analysis to illustrate the formation mechanism of EOC by investors with diverse conscientiousness and neuroticism in different degrees of decision-making responsibilities and project completion, in which confidence in completing the projects may present a mediating effect. The empirical results show that completion degree and decision-making responsibilities both positively affect investors’ EOC and that the interaction is significant. The impact mechanism of conscientiousness and neuroticism on EOC varies in different project scenarios. Then, some targeted recommendations are proposed to curb EOC. The findings provide scientific evidence for governments to conduct effective governance of EOC in PPPs.

Cyberloafing to Escape From the “Devil”: Investigating the Impact of Abusive Supervision From the Third-Party Perspective

Purpose

Previous studies on cyberloafing focus on individual and organization factors, ignoring the situation of employes as the event observers. Drawing on affective events theory (AET), the present study proposed a theoretical model for the relationships among peer abusive supervision, negative affectivity, cyberloafing, and hostile attribute bias, which aims to bridge the above research gap.

Methodology

Multiwave data of 355 employes from 8 service-oriented companies in Southwest China supported our model. Time-lag method and critical incident techniques were introduced during the data collection stage. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and bootstrapping method were employed for hypothesis test.

Findings

The empirical results indicated that peer abusive supervision was positively related to third party’s cyberloafing, and the third party’s negative affectivity plays a mediating role among the above relationships. In addition, the third party’s hostile attribution bias moderated the mediating role of third party’s negative affectivity. Specifically, the effect of peer abusive supervision on third party’s negative affectivity and the mediating effect of this negative affectivity were stronger when the third party’s hostile attribution bias was higher.

Originality

Drawing on AET, the current study constructed a process model of third party’s cyberloafing reactions to peer abusive supervision, which helps explain the affective mechanism and the boundary conditions of the above “events-affectivity-behavior” path. Our model is a positive response to previous scholars’ calls for research of abusive supervision from multiple perspectives. Meanwhile, the current study explored the antecedent variable of cyberloafing from the perspective of event observers, which provides a theoretical basis for follow-up-related research. Thirdly, this study further expanded the theoretical boundaries of AET.

Work-Family Conflict, Emotional Responses, Workplace Deviance, and Well-Being among Construction Professionals: A Sequential Mediation Model

Given the dynamic, complex, and highly demanding project environment, construction professionals are particularly likely to experience a high level of work-family conflict. Taking an emotional resource perspective and on the basis of affective events theory, this study tested negative affect and emotional exhaustion as sequential mediators between two directions of work-family conflict and workplace well-being or deviance behavior. The theoretical model was examined using data collected at two time points from 143 construction professionals through regression analysis and bootstrapping. The results indicate that work-family conflict was positively related to deviant behavior and negatively related to workplace well-being. The findings demonstrate that the mediation effects of emotional exhaustion between work-family conflict and workplace well-being or deviant behavior were significant and that the sequential mediating effects of negative affect and emotional exhaustion in the relationship between work-family conflict and workplace well-being or deviant behavior were significant. Moreover, different impacts of work interference with family and family interference with work on job-related attitudes and behavior were observed. These findings highlight the importance of emotional experience to understand the negative impact of work-family conflict in the temporary project context.

Mindfulness and decision making: sunk costs or escalation of commitment?

Mindfulness is related to a number of positive health outcomes, such as decreased stress, anxiety and improved physical functioning. Recent studies have found that mindfulness is related to a range of cognitive outcomes, including better decision making. In one example, higher trait mindfulness and brief mindfulness inductions are associated with resistance to the influence of sunk costs, where mindful individuals were more willing to discontinue a costly, but disadvantageous, course of action. However, some previous studies examining mindfulness and sunk costs have methodological limitations which make it difficult to determine if mindfulness is specifically related to sensitivity to the sunk cost bias, or rather than to a general willingness to continue an unprofitable course of action (independent of the level of prior investment). The present study extends previous work by replicating the finding that trait mindfulness is positively related to resistance to the effects of sunk costs and also demonstrates that mindfulness is related to reduced escalation of commitment, an individual's willingness to continue their commitment to an unprofitable course of action through the further investment of resources or time. Overall, trait mindfulness was most consistently related to reduced escalation of commitment, whereas the relationship between trait mindfulness and resistance to the effects of sunk costs was less consistently observed.

Decision Inertia in Critical Incidents

Abstract. When presented with competing options, critical incident decision makers often struggle to commit to a choice (in particular when all options appear to yield negative consequences). Despite being motivated to take action in disasters, terrorism, major investigations, and complex political interventions, decision makers can become inert, looping between phases of situation assessment, option generation, and option evaluation. This “looping” is functionally redundant when it persists until they have lost the opportunity to take action. We define this as “decision inertia”: the result of a process of (redundant) deliberation over possible options and in the absence of any further useful information. In the context of critical incidents (political, security, military, law enforcement) we have discovered that rather than disengaging and avoiding difficult choices, decision makers are acutely aware of the negative consequences that might arise if they failed to decide (i.e., the incident would escalate). The sensitization to possible future outcomes leads to intense deliberation over possible choices and their consequences and, ultimately, can result in a failure to take any action in time (or at all). We (i) discuss decision inertia as a novel psychological process of redundant deliberation during crises; (ii) define the concept and discuss the emerging studies in support of our tentative hypotheses regarding how the cognitively active process of deliberation can result in complete behavioral inactivity; and (iii) suggest recommendations and interventions for combatting inertia.

THE INTERACTION OF INTUITION AND RATIONALITY DURING ESCALATED NPD DECISIONS: AN INVESTIGATION OF DECISION-MAKERS’ AFFECTIVE STATES

Decision-makers often struggle to terminate unsuccessful new product development (NPD) projects, so that escalating commitment occurs. Although research shows that rational and intuitive decision-making styles (DMS) as well as a decision-maker’s affective state determines the performance of NPD decisions, little is known about their influences on escalating commitment. By applying the affect infusion model in an experimental study, we investigate how a decision-maker’s affective state influence their escalating commitment by focusing on their use of a rational and an intuitive DMS. Our findings, based on 366 respondents, show that a rational DMS is unable to reduce commitment escalation. Surprisingly, an intuitive DMS is able to reduce a decision-maker’s commitment in the case of a positive affect, whereas a rational DMS increases their commitment in the case of a negative affect. Thus, our interdisciplinary research on affect and decision-making extends and contributes to research into decision-making during the NPD process as well as into escalating commitment.

The feeling of throwing good money after bad: The role of affective reaction in the sunk-cost fallacy

Continuing investing in a failing plan (i.e., the sunk-cost fallacy) is a common error that people are inclined to make when making decisions. It is impossible to get resources back that already have been invested. Hence, economic theory implies that decision makers' decisions should only be guided by future gains and losses. According to the literature, the sunk-cost fallacy is driven by negative affect. Previous studies focused on negative incidental affect. We investigated, in contrast, whether the sunk-cost fallacy is caused by integral affect elicited by the specific decision context. Study 1 demonstrated a positive relationship between affective reaction and the sunk-cost fallacy. Study 2 replicated the finding in Study 1 in a within-subjects design, and demonstrated a full mediation of type of scenario (invest vs. non-invest) on the sunk-cost effect, mediated by integral affective reaction. A mediation using a within-subjects design additionally demonstrated that the effect is mediated by integral emotional responses experienced in relation to each scenario, and not by incidental emotional states that are unrelated to the scenarios. Study 3 replicated findings in the previous studies, and demonstrated that the relation between the sunk-cost fallacy and affect is moderated by justification. Participants who justified their decision were more resistant to the sunk-cost fallacy, and showed less negative affect elicited by the scenarios, than participants who did not justify their decision. Study 4 provided supporting evidence for our hypothesis by hindering conscious deliberation, and promoting reliance on affect, via cognitive load. The results showed that the relation between affect and the sunk-cost fallacy was stronger for participants under high cognitive load, than under low-load. The paper discussed how this research leads to new ways to protect against the sunk-cost fallacy in the discussion.

The Role of Social Media in Accelerating the Process of Acculturation to the Global Consumer Culture

This article highlights the role of social media in the context of global consumer culture by showing consumers' perceptions regarding social influence, social networks, cultural novelty and economic rewards. If focuses on the mediating role of social media in the acculturation to the global consumer culture (AGCC). This article develops and tests a conceptual model integrating new antecedents of AGCC. Based on the 322 answers to an online survey targeting international students and consumers, smart PLS software and structural equation modelling are applied to assess the causal relationships among the constructs. The findings show that (1) social network, social influence, cultural novelty and economic rewards significantly accelerate the process of acculturation and that (2) social media plays a mediating role on social networks, cultural novelty and trust. This article offers a substantial contribution to related theory by developing and testing a social media-based model that provides a more comprehensive view of the process of AGCC.

The Reciprocal Relationships Between Escalation, Anger, and Confidence in Investment Decisions Over Time

Research on escalation of commitment has predominantly been studied in the context of a single decision without consideration for the psychological consequences of escalating. This study sought to examine (a) the extent to which people escalate their commitment to a failing course of action in a sequential decision-making task, (b) confidence and anger as psychological consequences of escalation of commitment, and (c) the reciprocal relationship between escalation of commitment and confidence and anger. Participants were 110 undergraduate students who completed a series of investment decisions regarding a failing endeavor. Results revealed that although a high proportion of individuals escalate through all decisions, the extent to which they escalated decreased with each decision as they were less willing to invest money in the project. Furthermore, as participants escalated, confidence in one's decision decreased and anger increased. Lastly, the analyses revealed that the relationship between escalation and confidence is reciprocal. Escalation was negatively associated with confidence, and confidence predicted escalation in the subsequent decision. These results highlight the importance of considering both the determinants and psychological consequences of escalation of commitment.

When Action-Inaction Framing Leads to Higher Escalation of Commitment: A New Inaction-Effect Perspective on the Sunk-Cost Fallacy

Escalation of commitment to a failing course of action occurs in the presence of (a) sunk costs, (b) negative feedback that things are deviating from expectations, and (c) a decision between escalation and de-escalation. Most of the literature to date has focused on sunk costs, yet we offer a new perspective on the classic escalation-of-commitment phenomenon by focusing on the impact of negative feedback. On the basis of the inaction-effect bias, we theorized that negative feedback results in the tendency to take action, regardless of what that action may be. In four experiments, we demonstrated that people facing escalation-decision situations were indeed action oriented and that framing escalation as action and de-escalation as inaction resulted in a stronger tendency to escalate than framing de-escalation as action and escalation as inaction (mini-meta-analysis effect d = 0.37, 95% confidence interval = [0.21, 0.53]).

Unlearning established organizational routines – Part I

Purpose

The purpose of this two-part paper is to develop a process model of unlearning established organizational routines. The model traces the interactions among three unlearning sub-processes: ostensive aspects of initial destabilization of an established routine; performative aspects of ongoing discarding-from-use of old behaviors and experimenting with new ones; and ostensive aspects of eventual release of prior understandings and development of new ones.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper draws on evidence from psychology and cognitive science to explain the mechanisms underlying organizational processes of unlearning embedded routines.

Findings

The proposed model contributes to enriching current understanding of unlearning organizational routines without contradicting it. Consistent with prior understanding, destabilizing an old routine may lead to discarding it, and further discarding-from-use is likely required for continued destabilization of embedded routines. Again, consistent with prior understanding, experimenting with new behaviors may be a desired outcome of unlearning an old routine, and ongoing experimentation is likely required to sustain unlearning embedded routines.

Originality/value

The organizational unlearning literature provides many examples of organizational members relinquishing old routines to then make new learning possible and also provides little insight into the processes by which this occurs. The paper addresses this gap by modeling the mutually reinforcing nature of three unlearning sub-processes.

What were they thinking? Reducing sunk-cost bias in a life-span sample

We tested interventions to reduce "sunk-cost bias," the tendency to continue investing in failing plans even when those plans have soured and are no longer rewarding. We showed members of a national U.S. life-span panel a hypothetical scenario about a failing plan that was halfway complete. Participants were randomly assigned to an intervention to focus on how to improve the situation, an intervention to focus on thoughts and feelings, or a no-intervention control group. First, we found that the thoughts and feelings intervention reduced sunk-cost bias in decisions about project completion, as compared to the improvement intervention and the no-intervention control. Second, older age was associated with greater willingness to cancel the failing plan across all 3 groups. Third, we found that introspection processes helped to explain the effectiveness of the interventions. Specifically, the larger reduction in sunk-cost bias as observed in the thoughts and feelings intervention (vs. the improvement intervention) was associated with suppression of future-oriented thoughts of eventual success, and with suppression of augmentations of the scenario that could make it seem reasonable to continue the plan. Fourth, we found that introspection processes were related to age differences in decisions. Older people were less likely to mention future-oriented thoughts of eventual success associated with greater willingness to continue the failing plan. We discuss factors to consider when designing interventions for reducing sunk-cost bias. (PsycINFO Database Record

Are We Correcting Correctly?

The formulae for attenuation correction in meta-analysis treat reliabilities as if they were independent of each other. The current study puts this assumption of independence to the test by empirically examining the correlation among predictor and criterion reliability estimates across studies. Interdependence of reliabilities would result in either overestimation or underestimation of population correlations depending on the direction of the relationship between the reliabilities. We conducted two studies to examine the extent to which predictor and criterion reliabilities correlate across studies. Study 1 is based on 628 pairs of reliability estimates from 518 studies published in the Academy of Management Journal and the Journal of Applied Psychology between 2004 and 2011, while Study 2 is based on 564 pairs of reliability estimates from 347 studies included in a meta-analysis on perceived organizational support (POS) and some of its antecedents and outcomes. The findings in both studies show substantial correlations between predictor and criterion reliability coefficients across studies. Our article discusses important implications from these findings for future research and for the future conduct of meta-analyses.

Relationship between Ethnic Identification and Acculturation Attitudes of Immigrants with Level of Their Socio-Economic Adaptation

This article describes the construction and testing of theoretical model of socio-economic adaptation (SEA) of immigrants considering psychological factors as the basic ones. In the analysis of previous studies acculturation attitudes of immigrants were identified as key psychological factors of SEA for the construction of the theoretical model; length of stay in the country and language skills were used as control variables; the characteristics of ethnic identity were used as predictors of acculturation attitudes. We carried out the survey of Russian-speaking immigrants in Belgium for verification of our model. Next we used path analysis for test¬ing of the model on the data obtained. According to the study, we found that (1) acculturation attitudes of immigrants associated to their level of SEA themselves regardless of length of stay in the country and their lan¬guage skills; (2) high level of SEA of immigrants is positively associated with orientation to the host society (integration and assimilation), and negative associated with orientation to their ethnic group (separation); (3) strong ethnic identification may facilitate the orientation of immigrants to their ethnic group and prevent assimilation.

Escalate shamefully, de-escalate angrily or gratefully: the influence of discrete emotions on escalation of commitment

Decision makers often tend to escalate their commitment when faced with a dilemma of whether to continue a losing course of action. Researchers recently began to investigate the influence of discrete emotions on this decision tendency. However, this work has mainly focused on negative emotions and rarely considered positive emotions, to say nothing of comparing the effects of both of them simultaneously. The current study addresses this need by presenting the results of three experiments that examined the effects of four emotions of both positive and negative valences in escalation situations. Experiment 1 investigated the relationships of three trait emotions (hope, shame, and anger) and escalation of commitment. Experiments 2 and 3 examined the effects of three induced emotions (anger, shame, and gratitude) on escalation of commitment in a student sample and an employee sample, respectively. The results revealed that the effects of discrete emotions in escalation situations are mainly due to their associated differences on the appraisal dimension of responsibility that is related to escalation situations rather than their valence. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Debiasing the Mind Through Meditation

In the research reported here, we investigated the debiasing effect of mindfulness meditation on the sunk-cost bias. We conducted four studies (one correlational and three experimental); the results suggest that increased mindfulness reduces the tendency to allow unrecoverable prior costs to influence current decisions. Study 1 served as an initial correlational demonstration of the positive relationship between trait mindfulness and resistance to the sunk-cost bias. Studies 2a and 2b were laboratory experiments examining the effect of a mindfulness-meditation induction on increased resistance to the sunk-cost bias. In Study 3, we examined the mediating mechanisms of temporal focus and negative affect, and we found that the sunk-cost bias was attenuated by drawing one’s temporal focus away from the future and past and by reducing state negative affect, both of which were accomplished through mindfulness meditation.

COMMITMENT AS A CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTOR FOR MANAGING COMPLEX MULTINATIONAL PROJECTS

Commitment from all stakeholders is a critical condition for project success, especially for complex and multinational undertakings that involve intricate networks of resource and power sharing. This paper examines the challenges of building and sustaining commitment in culturally diverse global teams. The results of this field study identify (1) the components of commitment in various stakeholder groups, (2) the drivers and barriers to obtaining and sustaining commitment, and (3) the leadership style most conducive to fostering an organizational environment for high levels of project ownership and commitment to established project objectives. The findings provide an insight into the factors which influence team behavior and performance in complex multinational work environments, and a framework for assessing project leadership and managerial effectiveness. The paper concludes with specific suggestions for enhancing commitment within project organizations, its team members and partners.

Comparing predicted and actual affective responses to process versus outcome: an emotion-as-feedback perspective

One of the conjectures in affective forecasting literature is that people are advised to discount their anticipated emotions because their forecasts are often inaccurate. The present research distinguishes between emotional reactions to process versus those to outcome, and highlights an alternative view that affective misforecasts could indeed be adaptive to goal pursuit. Using an ultimatum game, Study 1 showed that people overpredicted how much they would regret and be disappointed by the amount of effort they exerted, should the outcomes turned out worse than expected; nonetheless, people could accurately predict their emotional responses to unfavorable outcomes per se. In a natural setting of a university examination, Study 2 demonstrated that actual regret and disappointment toward favorable outcomes were more intense than the level people expected, but this discrepancy was not observed in their emotional responses to efforts they had invested. These two distinct patterns of results substantiate the argument that the deviation between predicted and actual emotions is dependent on the referents of the emotional reactions.

Decision-making heuristics and biases across the life span

We outline a contextual and motivational model of judgment and decision-making (JDM) biases across the life span. Our model focuses on abilities and skills that correspond to deliberative, experiential, and affective decision-making processes. We review research that addresses links between JDM biases and these processes as represented by individual differences in specific abilities and skills (e.g., fluid and crystallized intelligence, executive functioning, emotion regulation, personality traits). We focus on two JDM biases-the sunk-cost fallacy (SCF) and the framing effect. We trace the developmental trajectory of each bias from preschool through middle childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, and later adulthood. We conclude that life-span developmental trajectories differ depending on the bias investigated. Existing research suggests relative stability in the framing effect across the life span and decreases in the SCF with age, including in later life. We highlight directions for future research on JDM biases across the life span, emphasizing the need for process-oriented research and research that increases our understanding of JDM biases in people's everyday lives.

Toward a (Pragmatic) Science of Strategic Intervention: Design Propositions for Scenario Planning

An enduring problem confronting design science is the question of how to distil design principles and propositions in contexts where only limited evidence has accrued directly in connection with the design problem at hand. This article illustrates how researchers can address this challenge by recourse to well-established bodies of basic theory and research in the wider social and organizational sciences that suggest robust design options. Adopting this approach, we draw upon the insights of social identity theory, self/social categorization theory and the Five Factor Model of human personality from the field of personality and social psychology to distil a series of propositions to inform the design of scenario planning interventions, centred on team composition and the facilitation process. In so doing, our article exemplifies the benefits of adopting a pragmatic science approach to the design of processes that promote organizational change and development, thus adding to the growing design science movement.

Cognition in Organizations

This article reviews major developments from 2000 to early 2007 in the psychological analysis of cognition in organizations. Our review, the first in this series to survey cognitive theory and research spanning the entire field of industrial and organizational psychology, considers theoretical, empirical, and methodological advances across 10 substantive domains of application. Two major traditions, the human factors and organizational traditions, have dominated cognitively oriented research in this field. Our central message is that the technological and human systems underpinning contemporary organizational forms are evolving in ways that demand greater cooperation among researchers across both traditions. Such cooperation is necessary in order to gain theoretical insights of sufficient depth and complexity to refine the explanation and prediction of behavior in organizations and derive psychologically sound solutions to the unprecedented information-processing burdens confronting the twenty-first century workforce.

An examination of cognition and affect in strategic decision‐making

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to better understand the nature of the decision maker's cognitive‐affective information processing behavior in the context of strategic decision making.

Design/methodology/approach

Reviews of the psychological science, organizational behavior, and strategic management literatures serve as a foundation for the development of a model and a series of research propositions. Propositions and model development lead to a discussion regarding limitations of the current literature, as well as areas for future research that incorporates cognitive‐affective information processing issues in organizational research.

Findings

Organizational homogeneous and heterogeneous behaviors in the organizational adaptation process depend on a strategic decision maker's cognitive‐affective informational interpretation of both internal and external environmental stimuli.

Research limitations/implications

The focus of this article is limited to the individual level of analysis. Further theoretical and empirical research should investigate how the framework could be applied at the team and organizational levels and how it holds under various industrial and/or environmental conditions.

Practical implications

This article informs practicing managers of how their decision‐making behavior is influenced by both cognition and affect when they scan and process their strategic informational environment and, furthermore, how these influence their choice of organizational forms and practices.

Originality/value

Extends theoretical understanding of cognitive‐affective informational processing and its influence on the organizational homogeneous‐heterogeneous adaptation process.