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The Efficacy of Third†Party Consultation in Preventing Managerial Escalation of Commitment: The Role of Mental Representations

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  • KATHRYN KADOUS
  • LISA M. SEDOR

Abstract

Avoiding continued investment in poorly performing projects is an important function of management control systems. However, prior research suggests that managers fail to use accounting information indicating that a project is performing poorly to discontinue it; that is, they escalate commitment to the project. We perform two experiments to investigate the efficacy of a potential control mechanism, third†party consultation, in preventing managerial escalation of commitment. We hypothesize that the information†processing objective (that is, purpose) assigned to consultants influences the mental representations they construct to process and store information, which ultimately influences their recommendations regarding the continuation of a poorly performing project. Results suggest that consultants will not construct mental representations amenable to making high†quality project†continuation recommendations unless they are assigned that specific purpose. Results further suggest that applying additional effort likely will not overcome the adverse effects of having inappropriate mental representations when making project†continuation recommendations. An implication of our study is that third†party consultants likely will not prevent managerial escalation of commitment unless consultants have a specific mandate of making a project†continuation recommendation in mind when they encounter relevant accounting information.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:coacre:v:21:y:2004:i:1:p:55-82
    DOI: 10.1506/R0MH-W9H9-CQJD-1356
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    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. Woods, Jeremy A. & Dalziel, Thomas & Barton, Sidney L., 2012. "Escalation of commitment in private family businesses: The influence of outside board members," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 3(1), pages 18-27.
    5. Popoola, Oluwatoyin Muse Johnson & Ahmad, Ayoib B Che & Abdullah, Zaimah & Idris, Kamil Md & Abu Bakar, Fathiyyah, 2016. "An empirical effect of Fraud Specific Problem Representation on Accountants’ Skills and Fraud Risk Assessment," MPRA Paper 75931, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Jackson, Scott B. & Keune, Timothy M. & Salzsieder, Leigh, 2013. "Debt, equity, and capital investment," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 291-310.
    7. 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.
    8. Nite, Calvin & Hutchinson, Michael & Bouchet, Adrien, 2019. "Toward an institutional theory of escalation of commitment within sport management: A review and future directions," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 571-583.
    9. 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.
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    11. 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.

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