Works
- Knee-Deep in the Big Muddy: A Study of Escalating Commitment to a Chosen Course of Action, Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 1976
- The Escalation of Commitment to a Course of Action, Academy of Management Review, 1981
In Tactics of Organizational Politics
Ideas
Escalation of commitment. In a simulated investment decision, business students committed the most additional money to a previously chosen course of action when they were personally responsible for its negative results. Staw interpreted this as self-justification: people invest more to show the original decision was right, and setbacks can start a cycle of further commitment.
What it explains
Staw explains why sponsors of a failing initiative often push harder instead of stopping, and why the person who made a decision is the worst-placed to review it. It follows that tying people publicly to a course of action makes them more likely to stay with it.