This thesis is a case study of software project escalation and termination. According to domestic and international literature, software projects often faces escalation phenomenon. Therefore, this thesis studied three cases of information-system development from two different areas. The first two cases are about A and B natural gas companies¡¦geographic information system. Company A¡¦s geographic information system lasted for eight years and ended with termination. Company B¡¦s geographic information system lasted for ten years. During these years, company B had changed three different software solution providers, but the project is still pending until today. The third case is about Company C¡¦s ERP system development. The project was initiated in December of 2002 after signing the contract. It was targeted to finish in 2004. Until July, 2007, this project is not completely finished yet. From the above three cases, the causes of software project escalation and termination were investigated. What leads to the escalation of software project? Why is the software project terminated? What is the root cause? This research integrated the theoretical framework of project escalation and termination from literature. The framework addresses four key factors of escalation: (1) Project factor (2) Psychological factor (3) Social factor (4) Organizational factor (Staw and Ross, 1987); and also two key factors for termination: (1) Economic factor and management factor behind it (2) Technical factor and management factor behind it(Ewusi-Mensah and Przasnyski, 1991). Based on these factors, this study finds out affecting elements behind those factors,and then verifies and modifies the research framework. Finally, this thesis brings up conclusion and suggestions, hoping to provide managers with some advices when developing a new software project, in order to minimize the loss caused by escalation and termination.

The ability to use force by police officers is one of their defining features. Police officers have a monopoly on the legitimate use of coercive force in the United States. A police officer’s decision to use force in an encounter depends on the behavior of both officer and citizen in an officer-citizen encounter. Each party interacts with, and responds to, the other over the course of the encounter, with each behavior and subsequent response drawing the encounter closer to its ultimate conclusion. As representatives of government, police officers have perhaps greater control in steering the interaction towards or away from a forceful conclusion. Using various techniques, police officers often can de-escalate an officer-citizen encounter before use of force is required. These techniques include things such as explaining the purpose of the interaction, keeping a respectful and safe distance from citizens, providing an introduction to citizens, exhibiting a calm and controlled demeanor, speaking directly and concisely, repeating important information, engaging in active listening, and clearly explaining the consequences of the offenders actions. The current study utilizes police officer body camera footage to examine if and how these eight officer de-escalation practices predict whether or not officers’ resort to using force in an officer-citizen encounter. Furthermore, the eight techniques are divided into proactive and reactive techniques in order to test whether a specific set of de-escalation techniques are more effective than another.

This dissertation provides an overview of the history of intercollegiate athletics through the lens of escalation of commitment theory, a framework that has been used primarily in business and public policy literature. The dissertation is comprised of three case studies that reflect the direction that different college or universities have chosen to take regarding their athletic programs. This dissertation explores the literature regarding escalation of commitment and its impact on college athletics. Contributing to the paper is a focus on the financial contributions colleges and universities continue to make in their athletic programs despite evidence that these resources are not being rewarded. The papers hypothesizes that both external and internal pressures play a key role in the investments that college and universities are making in their Division I athletic programs.

Thesis advisor: Michael G. Pratt / Persistence, continuing effort in the face of challenges over time, can have clear benefits for creativity. At the same time, abandonment, stopping effort toward a course of action, is often necessary to help creators move forward towards their best ideas. Creative workers, and the organizations that employ them, thus face a dilemma between forces for persistence and forces for abandonment in developing ideas and projects, what I refer to as the persistence dilemma. Existing theory provides some clues about this dilemma (e.g. theories of motivation or escalation of commitment), but a lack of holistic theorizing leaves many questions outstanding. Through a longitudinal qualitative study of four organizations, I set out to explore how creative workers managed the persistence dilemma. I found that the organizational context shaped how project teams responded to the dilemma. Teams within the startups I studied managed the dilemma with a process focused on commitment. Leaders helped team members transform the ambivalence that resulted from the dilemma into commitment to the organizations core project. Teams in the established organization, by contrast, managed the dilemma with a process focused on balance. The organization focused on balancing forces for abandonment and forces for persistence since both were perceived as necessary and beneficial in their own way. My work has implications for understanding the persistence dilemma, as well as for theories of creativity more generally. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: Management and Organization.

The diffusion of sales force automation (SFA) systems has enabled a far more systematic approach to sales force management. This opens new avenues for the academic study of the industrial selling process as well: new arenas for investigation, new windows into salesperson behavior, and new methodological pitfalls. The purpose of this dissertation is to develop a better understanding of SFA from an academic perspective, and then apply these insights to resolve gaps in our understanding of how sales forces behave and how they might be better managed. To do this, three areas of analysis are explored: methodological, behavioral, and theoretical.

Research investigating the underlying causes and factors involved in violence and aggression has suggested there is a tendency for aggression to escalate as a means to justify prior aggression. In addition, past research has also examined the effect of perceived similarity towards the target of aggression on intensity and escalation of aggression. This study looked at the relationship between initial level of aggression and the escalation of aggression and at perceived similarity to the target of aggression as a possible factor influencing this escalation. Individuals engaging in severe initial aggression who experience higher perceived similarity to their targets of aggression should be more prone to justifying their actions and so might escalate more. To examine this, subjects could administer any of 10 levels of negative reinforcement (insults) to a learner for incorrect responses. Half of the subjects were required to practice this procedure with a mild and half with a severe insult. Results indicated that an effect of perceived similarity emerged, with individuals using less severe insults when perceived similarity to the learner was high. Contrary to predictions, high-perceived similarity to the learner stemmed escalation for participants insulting the learner with a severe insult initially. Moreover, participants who insulted with a mild insult initially escalated in their aggression when perceived similarity was high. In addition, an interaction effect of gender and perceived similarity was found, with men engaging in more severe subsequent aggression than women when perceived similarity to the target of aggression is high. The limitations, further directions, and implications of this study are discussed.

Like adolescents, young adults are at risk of initiating tobacco use and escalating to daily use and tobacco dependence. However, not every young adult who uses cigarettes intermittently becomes tobacco dependent, and the time-course of those who transition to daily use varies widely. Individual differences likely contribute to the variability observed in patterns of tobacco use. This dissertation uses a multi-modal research approach to examine dimensions of impulsivity and alcohol use that are associated with vulnerability for escalation of cigarette smoking, and whether alcohol’s effects on behavioral disinhibition impact cigarette consumption. Study 1 investigated the associations between dimensions of trait impulsivity, alcohol use, and smoking behavior in a cross-sectional sample of young adults who varied in frequency of cigarette smoking. Study 2 expanded on the results of Study 1 by examining the separate and combined effects of impulsivity and alcohol use on escalation of tobacco use in a longitudinal study of young adults in their first three years of college to determine whether alcohol use and dimensions of impulsivity influenced trajectories of smoking behavior, and whether alcohol use and behavioral impulsivity changed across time as a function of tobacco use trajectories. Study 3 utilized a randomized, within-subject, placebo controlled design to examine whether alcohol-induced impairments in behavioral inhibition mediated the relationship between acute alcohol administration and ad-libitum cigarette consumption. Results from studies 1 and 2 indicated that alcohol use was associated with smoking frequency, and that dimensions of impulsivity (i.e. sensation seeking, lack of premeditation, and urgency) differentiated smoking groups. Study 3 found that acute alcohol increased smoking behavior, but alcohol impairment of inhibitory control did not mediate the relationship between alcohol and smoking consumption. Taken together, the results of these studies demonstrate that alcohol use and impulsivity play a significant role in tobacco use escalation, though more research is needed to determine the mechanism(s) that drive alcohol-induced increases in cigarette consumption.

由於關稅調升是一個具普遍性且常見於世界各地的關稅結構現象，以及海洋漁業資源蘊藏量日益耗竭亦為一個具有急迫性的國際性重要議題，同時又經由觀察得知上述二者之間具有顯著關聯性但至今尚無任何人從事研究過，因此本文建立一個四階段賽局模型，勾勒出一個兼具有簡單貿易模型以及漁場資源模型的架構，在僅有出口國漁民得以在漁場進行漁撈作業的假設之下，探討進口國政府在制訂不同的關稅級距之時，對該國的社會福利水準影響性以及對漁場之資源蘊藏量的影響性分別為何。此外，亦在給定範圍內的最適均衡狀態之下，探討當漁場的外生漁業生物、經濟參數變動時，對進口國的福利水準衝擊性分別為何。 由本文研究得知，當進口國政府所訂定的關稅級距增加時，該國福利水準變化情形將會先遞增至最高點後才逐步遞減，所以在追求進口國福利水準極大化的前提下將可求得最適關稅級距。其次，當進口國政府所制訂的關稅級距增加時，將形成漁場之魚生物資源存量逐漸增加，於此得知，關稅級距增加將會造成海洋生物資源蘊藏量提升之保育效果。再著，能使進口國福利水準達到極大化的最適關稅級距與可使漁業海洋資源保育效果達到極大化的關稅級距其兩者並不相同。因此，當進口國政府欲訂定出最適關稅級距時，需要權衡考量該國福利水準極大化與海洋生物資源蘊藏量之保育，其二者之間的取捨。所以，進口國政府應該如何選擇關稅級距，須端視該國政策目標而定。最後，當漁場的外生漁業參數如內生成長率、環境承載量以及捕獲係數增加時，將使進口國福利水準增加，此三項參數與進口國福利水準之間的關聯性為正相關；然而當漁獲努力投入量的單位成本增加時，將造成進口國福利水準降低，其二者的關聯性則為負相關。

Previous studies have shown the continuation of a failing project occurs in many aspects of business and government, and that the commitment to and continuation of a previous decision can even apply to waiting on a bus, attending a play and mountain climbing. The continuation of a failing project or decision has also been called escalation of commitment. Several theories have been suggested to explain the reasons managers continue failing or doubtful projects. Among those theories are Agency Theory, Self-Justification Theory, Prospect Theory, Approach Avoidance Theory, Self-Efficacy Theory and National Culture Theory. This study incorporates Agency Theory, Approach Avoidance Theory and Self-Justification Theory to explain the effects of an alternative investment, magnitude of loss and monitoring on the likelihood of continuing a project. The experimental design of the study was a 2 (presence of an alternative investment: yes or no) x 2 (monitoring: low or high) x 3 (magnitude of loss: low, medium or high) between-subjects factorial design. Likelihood of continuing a project was measured in two ways: first, dichotomously (either "yes" the subjects continued the project, or "no" they did not) and second, on a 0-100 continuous scale. Data were analyzed using an analysis of variance for both dependent variables, as well as a priori contrasts to make planned comparisons. As predicted, main effects were found for the presence of an alternative investment and magnitude of loss. However, no significant effect was found for monitoring. It was also hypothesized that the combination of the presence of an alternative investment, "high" monitoring and "high" magnitude of loss would be enough of a psychological deterrent to cause decision makers to stop the project, even though it was 90% complete. However, this prediction was not validated. Interestingly, though, the combination of the presence of an alternative investment, "high" magnitude of loss and "low" monitoring was enough to cause decision makers to stop the project at a level significantly less than by chance for the continuous dependent variable, and marginally significant less than by chance for the dichotomous dependent variable. Most importantly, these findings suggest for the first time that decision makers are willing to stop a project even though it is 90% complete.

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