Can PROMOD Prevent the Escalation of Commitment?: The Effect of a Group Facilitation Technique on an Investment Decision

In the present study, the escalation of commitment was examined, i.e. the tendency to invest too much in projects, when to decide at a second time about a further investment in the same project. Many such investment decisions are actually made in groups. Thus, the group processes can be responsible for the escalation of commitment, because social influences often are more relevant for group decisions than informational aspects, which impedes rational decision making. A method to improve group decisions and performance is the group facilitation technique PROMOD. The experimental results support the presumption that PROMOD can also prevent the escalation of commitment by eliminating social influences within the group.