Escalation research: Providing new frontiers for applying behavior analysis to organizational behavior

Decision fiascoes such as escalation of commitment, the tendency of decisio n makers to "throw good money after bad," can have serious consequences for organizations and are therefore of great interest in applied research. Thi s paper discusses the use of behavior analysis in organizational behavior r esearch on escalation. Among the most significant aspects of behavior-analy tic research on escalation is that it has indicated that both the patterns of outcomes that decision makers have experienced for past decisions and th e patterns of responses that they make are critical for understanding escal ation. This research has also stimulated the refinement of methods by resea rchers to better assess decision making and the role reinforcement plays in it. Finally, behavior-analytic escalation research has not only indicated the utility of reinforcement principles for predicting more complex human b ehavior but has also suggested some additional areas for future exploration of decision making using behavior analysis.