@article{ref1,
title="When action-inaction framing leads to higher escalation of commitment: a new inaction-effect perspective on the sunk-cost fallacy",
journal="Psychological science",
year="2018",
author="Feldman, Gilad and Wong, Kin Fai Ellick",
volume="29",
number="4",
pages="537-548",
abstract="Escalation of commitment to a failing course of action occurs in the presence of (a) sunk costs, (b) negative feedback that things are deviating from expectations, and (c) a decision between escalation and de-escalation. Most of the literature to date has focused on sunk costs, yet we offer a new perspective on the classic escalation-of-commitment phenomenon by focusing on the impact of negative feedback. On the basis of the inaction-effect bias, we theorized that negative feedback results in the tendency to take action, regardless of what that action may be. In four experiments, we demonstrated that people facing escalation-decision situations were indeed action oriented and that framing escalation as action and de-escalation as inaction resulted in a stronger tendency to escalate than framing de-escalation as action and escalation as inaction (mini-meta-analysis effect d = 0.37, 95% confidence interval = [0.21, 0.53]).<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0956-7976",
doi="10.1177/0956797617739368",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797617739368"
}