IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jbecon/v90y2020i5d10.1007_s11573-020-00987-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Information load in escalation situations: combustive agent or counteractive measure?

Author

Listed:
  • Peter Gordon Roetzel

    (Technische Hochschule Aschaffenburg
    University of Stuttgart)

  • Burkhard Pedell

    (University of Stuttgart)

  • Daniel Groninger

    (University of Stuttgart)

Abstract

This experimental study analyzes how a key factor, information load, influences decision making in escalation situations, i.e., in situations in which decision makers reinvest further resources in a losing course of action, even when accounting information indicates that the project is performing poorly and should be discontinued. This study synthesizes prior escalation research with information overload and investigates how different levels of information load influence the escalation of commitment. Our findings reveal a U-shaped effect of information load: When decision makers face negative feedback, a higher information load mitigates the escalation tendency up to a certain point. However, beyond this point, more information reinforces the escalation tendency. Moreover, we find that the type of feedback affects self-justification, and we find a negative and significant interaction between information load and self-justification in negative-feedback cases. Thus, studies investigating escalation of commitment should control for self-justification and information load when utilizing high levels of information load. Finally, in the positive-feedback condition, higher information load encourages decision makers to continue promising courses of action, i.e., increases decision-making performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Gordon Roetzel & Burkhard Pedell & Daniel Groninger, 2020. "Information load in escalation situations: combustive agent or counteractive measure?," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 90(5), pages 757-786, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jbecon:v:90:y:2020:i:5:d:10.1007_s11573-020-00987-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s11573-020-00987-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11573-020-00987-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11573-020-00987-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. List, John A. & Mason, Charles F., 2011. "Are CEOs expected utility maximizers?," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 162(1), pages 114-123, May.
    2. Axel K‐D. Schulz & Mandy M. Cheng, 2002. "Persistence in capital budgeting reinvestment decisions – personal responsibility antecedent and information asymmetry moderator: A note," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 42(1), pages 73-86, March.
    3. Chewning, Eugene Jr & Harrell, Adrian M., 1990. "The effect of information load on decision makers' cue utilization levels and decision quality in a financial distress decision task," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 15(6), pages 527-542.
    4. Bragger, Jennifer DeNicolis & Bragger, Donald & Hantula, Donald A. & Kirnan, Jean, 1998. "Hyteresis and Uncertainty: The Effect of Uncertainty on Delays to Exit Decisions," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 74(3), pages 229-253, June.
    5. David J Sharp & Stephen B Salter, 1997. "Project Escalation and Sunk Costs: A test of the International Generalizability of Agency and Prospect Theories," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 28(1), pages 101-121, March.
    6. Kathryn Kadous & Lisa M. Sedor, 2004. "The Efficacy of Third†Party Consultation in Preventing Managerial Escalation of Commitment: The Role of Mental Representations," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(1), pages 55-82, March.
    7. Schulz-Hardt, Stefan & Thurow-Kröning, Birgit & Frey, Dieter, 2009. "Preference-based escalation: A new interpretation for the responsibility effect in escalating commitment and entrapment," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 108(2), pages 175-186, March.
    8. Chenhall, Robert & Morris, Deigan, 1991. "The effect of cognitive style and sponsorship bias on the treatment of opportunity costs in resource allocation decisions," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 27-46.
    9. Harrell, Adrian & Harrison, Paul, 1994. "An incentive to shirk, privately held information, and managers' project evaluation decisions," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 19(7), pages 569-577, October.
    10. Peter Gordon Roetzel, 2019. "Information overload in the information age: a review of the literature from business administration, business psychology, and related disciplines with a bibliometric approach and framework developmen," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 12(2), pages 479-522, December.
    11. Kanodia, C & Bushman, R & Dickhaut, J, 1989. "Escalation Errors And The Sunk Cost Effect - An Explanation Based On Reputation And Information Asymmetries," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 59-77.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wolfgang Breuer & Jannis Bischof & Christian Hofmann & Jochen Hundsdoerfer & Hans-Ulrich Küpper & Marko Sarstedt & Philipp Schreck & Tim Weitzel & Peter Witt, 2023. "Recent developments in Business Economics," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 93(6), pages 989-1013, August.
    2. Maren Hartmann & Barbara E. Weißenberger, 2024. "Information overload research in accounting: a systematic review of the literature," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 74(3), pages 1619-1667, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Matthias Mahlendorf, 2015. "Allowance for failure: reducing dysfunctional behavior by innovating accountability practices," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 19(3), pages 655-686, August.
    2. Duxbury, Darren, 2012. "Sunk costs and sunk benefits: A re-examination of re-investment decisions," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 144-156.
    3. Roodhooft, Filip & Warlop, Luk, 1999. "On the role of sunk costs and asset specificity in outsourcing decisions: a research note," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 363-369, May.
    4. Kathryn Kadous & Lisa M. Sedor, 2004. "The Efficacy of Third†Party Consultation in Preventing Managerial Escalation of Commitment: The Role of Mental Representations," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(1), pages 55-82, March.
    5. Salter, Stephen B. & Sharp, David J. & Chen, Yasheng, 2013. "The moderating effects of national culture on escalation of commitment," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 161-169.
    6. Salter, Stephen B. & Sharp, David J., 2001. "Agency effects and escalation of commitment: do small national culture differences matter?," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 33-45, February.
    7. Cheng-Li Huang & Bao-Guang Chang, 2010. "The Effects of Managers’ Moral Philosophy on Project Decision Under Agency Problem Conditions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 94(4), pages 595-611, July.
    8. Alejandro Montecinos‐Pearce & Pablo Rodrigo & Ignacio J. Duran, 2020. "When is escalation of commitment unstoppable in group settings? An iterative economic modeling approach to unveil the dark side of group decision‐making," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(8), pages 1387-1402, December.
    9. Booth, Peter & Schulz, Axel K. -D., 2004. "The impact of an ethical environment on managers' project evaluation judgments under agency problem conditions," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 29(5-6), pages 473-488.
    10. C. Chang & Sin-Hui Yen, 2007. "The Effects of Moral Development and Adverse Selection Conditions on Managers’ Project Continuance Decisions: A Study in the Pacific-Rim Region," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 76(3), pages 347-360, December.
    11. Flavius-Andrei GUINEA, 2016. "Study regarding the impact of cultural factors on management accounting systems," The Audit Financiar journal, Chamber of Financial Auditors of Romania, vol. 14(144), pages 1359-1359.
    12. Mandy M Cheng & Habib Mahama, 2011. "The impact of capital proposal guidelines and perceived preparer biases on reviewers’ investment evaluation decisions," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 36(3), pages 349-370, December.
    13. Cheng-Li Huang & Ju-Lan Tsai, 2015. "Managerial Morality and Philanthropic Decision-Making: A Test of an Agency Model," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(4), pages 795-811, December.
    14. Rutledge, Robert W. & Karim, Khondkar E., 1999. "The influence of self-interest and ethical considerations on managers' evaluation judgments," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 173-184, April.
    15. Martens, Nikolai & Orzen, Henrik, 2021. "Escalating commitment to a failing course of action — A re-examination," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    16. Yigitbasioglu, Ogan M. & Velcu, Oana, 2012. "A review of dashboards in performance management: Implications for design and research," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 41-59.
    17. Marietta Peytcheva & Peter R. Gillett, 2012. "Auditor perceptions of prior involvement and reputation threats as antecedents of quality threatening audit behavior," Managerial Auditing Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 27(9), pages 796-820, October.
    18. Schultze, Thomas & Schulz-Hardt, Stefan, 2015. "The impact of biased information and corresponding meta-information on escalating commitment," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 108-119.
    19. He Tingting, 2021. "Comparing Money and Time Donation: What Do Experiments Tell Us?," Marketing of Scientific and Research Organizations, Sciendo, vol. 41(3), pages 65-94, September.
    20. Stocks, Morris H. & Harrell, Adrian, 1995. "The impact of an increase in accounting information level on the judgment quality of individuals and groups," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 20(7-8), pages 685-700.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Escalation of commitment; Experimental research; Information load; Responsibility; Self-justification;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • D80 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - General
    • M20 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Economics - - - General
    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jbecon:v:90:y:2020:i:5:d:10.1007_s11573-020-00987-x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.