Anger, fear, and escalation of commitment

• Main Authors: TSAI, Ming-Hong, YOUNG, Maia J.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2010
• Subjects: Anger; Fear; Risk perception; Escalation of commitment; Cognition and Perception; Industrial and Organizational Psychology
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/2017; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/3274/viewcontent/Anger__fear__and_escalation_of_commitment.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Two studies examined how discrete emotions influence escalation of commitment. Study 1 demonstrated that anger was associated with more escalation of commitment than fear in a personnel hiring-appraisal context. In addition, it revealed the mediating effect of risk perception; angry compared to fearful individuals perceived lower risk in their initial decision, which in turn increased the tendency to escalate commitment. Study 2 replicated the pattern of results of Study 1 in a financial decision-making situation. Contrary to conclusions drawn from the results of prior research, the current studies suggest that not all negative emotions alleviate escalation of commitment.