What explains managers’ escalating behaviors in a failing NPD project? The impact of managerial perceptions of opportunities and threats in a stage-gate process
基于行为决策理论和承诺升级文献，通过实验和访谈研究128位和12位管理者，发现管理者对外部环境机会和业务威胁的感知显著影响其在失败的新产品开发项目中升级投资的决策，且这种影响取决于创新过程的阶段。
Drawing on recent advancement in behavioral decision-making theory and the escalation-of-commitment literature, we examine how managers’ perceptions of threats and opportunities in the external environment may shape their decision to escalate investment in a failing new product development (NPD) project. We test our theoretical model with two studies: first, a behavioral decision-making experimental study with a sample of 128 managers; and, second, an interview study with 12 managers. Our results show that managers’ perceptions of environmental opportunities and business threats significantly shape their decision to escalate commitment and that the impact of such managerial perceptions on escalating tendency is contingent on the stage of the innovation process.