Neural Correlates of Decision Escalation

Abstract

Escalation of commitment is observed in many software projects. It refers to the decision to continue investing resources in a problematic project, influenced by time delay or cost overrun already. This phenomenon of commitment escalation is an interesting and important issue in both academic research and management practice. Past literature has reported a substantial amount of research findings based on observations or self-reported lab experiments. Several theories have been reported. The objective of this study was to supplement past behavioural findings with neuroscience evidences collected from an fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) experiment that was designed to explore brain activations associated with two theoretical lens: self-responsibility and framing effects. Our research questions are : (1) Can we find neural correlates associated with escalation behavior? (2) Do self-responsibility and framing effects modulate brain activations associated with escalation behavior?