Barry Staw
Barry M. Staw is the organisational behaviour researcher who ran the 1976 study that named escalation of commitment, "Knee-Deep in the Big Muddy". Two hundred and forty business students allocated research funds in the role of a financial vice-president. Some chose which division to back; others were told which one had been chosen for them. Everyone then watched their division perform badly and was given a second round of money to allocate. The people who had chosen it themselves put the most in.
Who they are
Escalation of commitment is the pattern of putting more resources into a failing course of action that you personally set in motion. The account Staw works from is self-justification, which comes out of Cognitive Dissonance: having backed something publicly, a person defends the decision by continuing to back it, because stopping would mean conceding they were wrong.
Key papers
Staw, B. M. (1976). "Knee-Deep in the Big Muddy: a study of escalating commitment to a chosen course of action", Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 16, 27 to 44. Two hundred and forty business students; authorship of the original decision was the manipulation.
Key ideas
What his design proves is the thing people forget. Same money already spent, different behaviour depending on who chose. That is why escalation of commitment cannot be folded into the sunk cost fallacy, and the sunk cost fallacy cannot be folded into escalation of commitment. The two look alike and behave differently.
Where his account runs out. Self-justification cannot explain the sunk cost cases with no authorship in them at all, and there are plenty, including somebody finishing a series that nobody knows they are watching. The evidence that fills that gap is at Waste Aversion.
Two accounts, each in its place. This site uses self-justification for the cases where somebody chose the failing course, and waste aversion for the plain, ego-free cases. Neither covers the whole ground alone.
Concepts on this site
Escalation of Commitment, his finding
Cognitive Dissonance, the account he works from
Sunk Cost Fallacy, the near neighbour, and not the same thing
Waste Aversion, the rival explanation
Sources
- Staw, B. M. (1976). Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 16, 27 to 44. Read in the vault at Escalation of Commitment.
- Vault record, 2026-09-11, for Why You Finish the Series You Stopped Enjoying.