Decision-makers often struggle to terminate unsuccessful new product
development (NPD) projects, so that escalating commitment occurs.
Although research shows that rational and intuitive decision-making
styles (DMS) as well as a decision-maker’s affective state determines
the performance of NPD decisions, little is known about their influences
on escalating commitment. By applying the affect infusion model in an
experimental study, we investigate how a decision-maker’s affective
state influence their escalating commitment by focusing on their use of a
rational and an intuitive DMS. Our findings, based on 366 respondents,
show that a rational DMS is unable to reduce commitment escalation.
Surprisingly, an intuitive DMS is able to reduce a decision-maker’s
commitment in the case of a positive affect, whereas a rational DMS
increases their commitment in the case of a negative affect. Thus, our
interdisciplinary research on affect and decision-making extends and
contributes to research into decision-making during the NPD process as
well as into escalating commitment.