Entrapment of Success: The Effects of Regulatory Focus on Investments in Continuance commitments
Date Issued
2015
Date
2015
Author(s)
Teng, I-Han
Abstract
A classic case of irrational decision-making in West is the tendency to escalate prior commitments. However, past research on escalation of commitment showed some inconsistencies between Easterners and Westerns, and the problems still remain unclear for a long time. The main purpose of study 1 was to examine the escalation of commitment in Taiwan, and the results suggest that Taiwanese, unlike Westerns who escalate their commitments on prior failing decisions, tend to allocate more resources on prior effective decisions, entrapped in success. According to cross-cultural research on regulatory focus motivation, Easterners with interdependent self-construal tend to have stronger prevention focus motivation and Westerns with independent self-construal tend to have stronger promotion focus motivation, and Study 2 concerned the effects of regulatory focus motivation on investment decision when decision makers had higher personal responsibility. The results indicated that there is an interaction effect between regulatory focus and investment decision, and individuals primed with prevention focus invested more in continuance commitments on successful decision rather than failing decision. Besides, individuals primed with prevention focus tended to invest more in positive consequence and those with promotion focus had more positive anticipation. Finally, limitations and suggestions for further research were discussed.
Subjects
Escalation of commitment
Entrapment of success
Regulatory focus
Investment in positive consequence
Investment in commitment
Positive Anticipation of decision consequence
Type
thesis
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