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When success breeds failure: the role of self‐efficacy in escalating commitment to a losing course of action
Author(s) -
Whyte Glen,
Saks Alan M.,
Hook Sterling
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal of organizational behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.938
H-Index - 177
eISSN - 1099-1379
pISSN - 0894-3796
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-1379(199709)18:5<415::aid-job813>3.0.co;2-g
Subject(s) - self efficacy , psychology , irrational number , escalation of commitment , action (physics) , social psychology , physics , geometry , mathematics , quantum mechanics
The search for individual differences relevant to behavior in escalation situations has met with little success. Continuing the search, this study investigated self‐efficacy judgments as a potentially important individual difference in escalating commitment to a losing course of action. Predictions derived from self‐efficacy theory suggest that self‐percepts of high efficacy would exacerbate the economically irrational escalation bias whereas self‐percepts of low efficacy would diminish it. These predictions were consistently supported in this laboratory study where business students responded to decision dilemmas in which funds had been committed to a failing course of action. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are drawn for the escalation and self‐efficacy literatures. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.