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Science 13 October 1989:
Vol. 246. no. 4927, pp. 216 - 220
DOI: 10.1126/science.246.4927.216
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Articles

Understanding Behavior in Escalation Situations

BARRY M. STAW 1 and JERRY ROSS 2

1 School of Business Administration, University of California at Berkeley, CA 94720.
2 Institute Européen d'Administration des Affaires, Fountainebleau, France.

Everyday observation reveals that both individuals and organizations often become overly committed to losing courses of action; in a sense, throwing good money after bad. More than 10 years of research on this escalation problem shows that persistence is associated with at least four major clases of determinants: project, psychological, social, and organizational variables. The influence of these four sets of variables evolves over time, forming a dynamic model of behavior in escalation situations.


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