If They Can Do It, Why Not Us? Competitors as Reference Points for Justifying Escalation of Commitment
研究竞争市场条件如何影响企业承诺升级倾向，发现大竞争对手的高行动量和小竞争对手的正面业绩会增加升级，而大竞争对手的负面业绩会减少升级。
This study highlights competitive market conditions as an important structural determinant of escalation of commitment. Bridging escalation behavior literature and competitive dynamics research, we argue that reference to certain rivals may enable or disable decision makers to justify continuing investment in an underperforming initiative, thereby influencing a firm's tendency toward escalating commitment. We test our ideas using data on a set of leading companies in the information technology industry and their investment activities in China. Empirical analysis reveals strong evidence that a firm's escalating tendency is increased by larger competitors' high action volume and smaller competitors' positive performance. In contrast to prior research focus on decision makers' persistence irrespective of external cues, we also find that a firm's escalation behavior is decreased by larger rivals' negative performance.