Escalating commitment to information system projects: Findings from two simulated experiments

Information and Management

Volumn 40, Issue 8, 2003, Pages 781-798

  Sabherwal, Rajiv ^a   Sein, Maung K ^b   Marakas, George M ^c  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI ST LOUIS   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF AGDER   (Norway)

^c INDIANA UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Escalation; Experimental design; IS implementation; Organizational commitment; Project management; Runaway projects; Simulation; Systems development methodologies

Indexed keywords

COMPUTER SIMULATION; COMPUTER SYSTEMS; PROJECT MANAGEMENT; RESOURCE ALLOCATION; SOCIAL ASPECTS; SOFTWARE ENGINEERING;

ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT;

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY;

EID: 0042031116     PISSN: 03787206     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/S0378-7206(02)00104-0     Document Type: Article

References (60)

1. Asbrand D. Uncharted waters pose risk of runaway projects. InfoWorld. 15(26):1993;67.
2. A. Bandura, Social Learning Theory, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1977.
3. Bargh J.A. Attention and automaticity in the processing of self-relevant information. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 43:1982;425-436.
4. Bateman T.S., Zeithaml C.P. The psychological context of strategic decisions: a model and convergent experimental findings. Strategic Management Journal. 10:1989;59-74.
5. Bowen M.G. The escalation phenomenon reconsidered: decision dilemmas or decision errors. Academy of Management Review. 12(1):1987;52-66.
6. Boynton A.C., Zmud R.W. Information technology planning in the 1990's: directions for practice and research. MIS Quarterly. 11(1):1987;59-71.
7. Brockner J. The escalation of commitment to a failing course of action: toward theoretical progress. Academy of Management Review. 17(1):1992;39-61.
8. Brockner J., Rubin J.Z., Lang E. Face-saving and entrapment. Journal of Applied Experimental Psychology. 17:1981;68-79.
9. Brockner J., Nathanson S., Friend A., Harbeck J., Samuelson C., Houster R., Bazerm-man M.H., Rubin M.H. The role of modeling processes in the "knee deep in the big muddy" phenomenon. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance. 33:1984;77-99.
10. Chi T., Fan D. Cognitive limitations and investment "Myopia" Decision Sciences. 28(1):1997;27-58.
11. J. Cohen, Cohen, Applied Multiple Regression/Correlation Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ, 1975.
12. M. Davis, Bobko, Contextual effects on escalation processes in public sector decision-making, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 37 (1986) 121-138.
13. H. Drummond, Escalation in Decision-making: The Tragedy of Taurus, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1996.
14. Eisenhardt K.M. Agency theory: an assessment and review. Academy of Management Review. 14(1):1989;57-74.
15. Ewusi-Mensah K., Przasnyski Z.H. On information systems project abandonment: an exploratory study of organizational practices. MIS Quarterly. 15(1):1991;67-88.
16. Festinger L. A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations. 7:1954;117-140.
17. L. Festinger, A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, Row, Peterson, Evanston, IL, 1957.
18. Fox F., Staw B.M. The trapped administrator: the effects of job insecurity and policy resistance upon commitment to a course of action. Administrative Science Quarterly. 24:1979;449-471.
19. R.D. Galliers, Information systems planning in the United Kingdom and Australia: a comparison of current practice, in: P.I. Zorkoczy (Ed.), Oxford Surveys in Information Technology, vol. 4, 1987, pp. 223-255.
20. Garland H. Throwing good money after bad: the effect of sunk costs on the decision to escalate commitment to an ongoing project. Journal of Applied Psychology. 75:1990;728-731.
21. Ghosh D., Ray M.R. Risk, ambiguity, and decision choice: some additional evidence. Decision Sciences. 28(1):1997;81-104.
22. Ginzberg M.J. Key recurrent issues in the mis-implementation process. MIS Quarterly. 5(2):1981;47-59.
23. E. Goffman, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Doubleday-Anchor, New York, 1959.
24. Grover V. From business reengineering to business process change management: a longitudinal study of trends and practices. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management. 46(1):1999;36-46.
25. V. Grover, A.L. Lederer, R. Sabherwal, Recognizing the politics of MIS, Information and Management (1988) 145-156.
26. Harrison P.D., Harrell A. Impact of "adverse selection" on managers' project evaluation decisions. Academy of Management Journal. 36(3):1993;635-643.
27. Haunschild P.R., Davis-Blake A., Fichman M. Managerial overcommitment in corporate acquisition processes. Organization Science. 5(4):1994;528-540.
28. Jarvenpaa S.L., Ives B. Executive involvement and participation in the management of information technology. MIS Quarterly. 15(2):1991;205-227.
29. Johnston H.R., Carrico S.R. Developing capabilities to use information strategically. MIS Quarterly. 12(1):1988;37-48.
30. Kahneman D., Tversky A. Prospect theory: an analysis of decisions under risk. Econometrica. 47:1979;263-291.
31. Kahneman D., Tversky A. The psychology of preferences. Scientific American. 246:1982;160-173.
32. Keil M. Pulling the plug: software project management and the problem of project escalation. MIS Quarterly. 19(4):1995;421-448.
33. C.A. Kiesler, The Psychology of Commitment: Experiments Linking Behavior to Belief, Academic Press, New York, 1971.
34. A. LaPlante, Scope grope, Computerworld (1995).
35. Lee D.Y. The impact of poor performance on risk-taking attitudes: a longitudinal study with a pls causal modeling approach. Decision Sciences. 28(1):1997;59-80.
36. Lyytinen K. Different perspectives on information systems: problems and solutions. ACM Computing Surveys. 19(1):1987;5-46.
37. Montealegre R., Keil M. De-escalating information technology projects: lessons from the denver international airport. MIS Quarterly. 24(3):2000;417-448.
38. M.A. Neale, Systematic deviations from rationality in negotiator behavior, Academy of Management Proceedings, 1983, pp. 144-148.
39. Newman M., Sabherwal R. Determinants of commitment to information systems development: a longitudinal investigation. MIS Quarterly. 20(1):1996;23-54.
40. Rai A., Al-Hindi H. The effects of development process modeling and task uncertainty on development quality performance. Information and Management. 37(6):2000;335-346.
41. Reich B.H., Benbasat I. An empirical investigation of factors influencing the success of customer-oriented strategic systems. Information Systems Research. 1(3):1990;325-347.
42. Ross J., Staw B.M. Expo 86: an escalation prototype. Administrative Science Quarterly. 31:1986;274-297.
43. Ross J., Staw B.M. Organizational escalation and exit: lessons from the shoreham nuclear plant. Academy of Management Journal. 36(4):1993;701-732.
44. J. Rothfeder, It's Late, Costly, Incompetent - But Try Firing a Computer System, Business Week, 7 November 1988, pp. 164-165.
45. Rubin J.Z., Brockner J. Factors affecting entrapment in waiting situations: the rosencrantz and guildenstein effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 31:1975;1054-1063.
46. Sabherwal R., Elam J. Overcoming the problems in information systems development by building and sustaining commitment. Accounting Management and Information Technologies. 5(3/4):1995;283-309.
47. Sabherwal R., King W.R. Decision processes for developing strategic applications of information systems: a contingency approach. Decision Sciences. 23(4):1992;917-943.
48. G.R. Salancik, Commitment and the control of organizational behavior and belief, in: B. Staw, G.R. Salancik (Eds.), New Directions in Organizational Behavior, St. Clair Press, Chicago, IL, 1977, pp. 1-54.
49. Sengupta K., Abdel-Hamid T.K., Bosley M. Coping with staffing delays in software project management: an experimental investigation. IEEE Transactions on Systemsand Cybernetics (Part A). 29(1):1999;77-91.
50. Shenhar A.J. From theory to practice: toward a typology of project-management styles. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management. 45(1):1998;33-48.
51. Staw B.M. Knee-deep in the big muddy: a study of escalating commitment to a chosen course of action. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance. 16:1976;27-44.
52. Staw B.M. The escalation of commitment to a course of action. Academy of Management Review. 6(4):1981;577-587.
53. Staw B.M., Ross J. Commitment to a policy decision: a multi-theoretical perspective. Administrative Science Quarterly. 23:1978;40-64.
54. B.M. Staw, J. Ross, Understanding escalation situations: antecedents, prototypes, and solutions, in: B.M. Staw, L.L. Cummings (Eds.), Research in Organizational Behavior, vol. 9, JAI Press, Greenwich, CT, 1987, pp. 39-78.
55. E.B. Swanson, Information System Implementation: Bridging the Gap between Design and Utilization, Irwin, Homewood, IL, 1988.
56. A.I. Teger, Too Much Invested to Quit, Pergamon, New York, 1980.
57. V. Vroom, Work and Motivation, Wiley, New York, 1964.
58. Weill P., Olson M.H. Managing investments in IT: mini case examples and implications. MIS Quarterly. 13(1):1989;3-17.
59. Whyte G. Escalating commitment to a course of action: a reinterpretation. Academy of Management Review. 11(2):1986;311-321.
60. Whyte G. Decision fiascoes: why they occur and how to prevent them. Academy of Management Executive. 5(3):1991;23-31.