{
  "title": "A struggling project: when should a leader stop defending it?",
  "url": "https://shr.swiss/blog/projet-en-difficulte-quand-un-dirigeant-doit-il-cesser-de-le-defendre-en",
  "language": "en",
  "datePublished": "2026-05-22",
  "publisher": {
    "name": "SHR — Swiss Human Resources",
    "url": "https://shr.swiss",
    "address": "184 route de Saint-Julien, 1228 Plan-les-Ouates, Suisse"
  },
  "summary": "Persistence can express a vision, but it can also protect a past decision. Research on escalation of commitment helps distinguish between these two rationales.",
  "section": "Research",
  "topic": "Executive Leadership",
  "place": {
    "name": "Lucerne",
    "region": "Lucerne",
    "country": "CH"
  },
  "keyPoints": [
    {
      "heading": "1. What the literature establishes",
      "point": "Barry Staw (1976, Organizational Behavior and Human Performance) shows, in a resource-allocation experiment, that personal responsibility for an initial choice can encourage further investment when results turn unfavourable."
    },
    {
      "heading": "2. Why past expenditure still carries weight",
      "point": "Hal Arkes and Catherine Blumer (1985, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes) demonstrate the sunk-cost effect: having already invested money, time or effort can encourage people to continue a course of action."
    },
    {
      "heading": "3. The hasty conclusion: stop whenever results disappoint",
      "point": "These studies do not establish that persistence is irrational."
    },
    {
      "heading": "4. The limitations of the evidence and of project reviews",
      "point": "These classic studies draw in part on experimental situations and decisions more narrowly defined than those facing an organisation."
    },
    {
      "heading": "5. A practical check in Lucerne",
      "point": "In the canton of Lucerne, tourism, hospitality, regional financial services and industrial SMEs provide settings where short decision-making chains and family ownership can closely associate a project with its initiator."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "authors": "Staw",
      "year": "1976",
      "source": "Organizational Behavior and Human Performance"
    },
    {
      "authors": "Blumer",
      "year": "1985",
      "source": "Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes"
    }
  ],
  "wordCount": 434,
  "image": "https://shr.swiss/img/blog-Training-Executive-Leadership-Lucerne-projet-en-difficulte-quand-un-dirigeant-doit-il-cesser-de-le-defendre-en.jpg?v=4",
  "translations": {
    "fr": "https://shr.swiss/blog/projet-en-difficulte-quand-un-dirigeant-doit-il-cesser-de-le-defendre",
    "en": "https://shr.swiss/blog/projet-en-difficulte-quand-un-dirigeant-doit-il-cesser-de-le-defendre-en",
    "de": "https://shr.swiss/blog/projet-en-difficulte-quand-un-dirigeant-doit-il-cesser-de-le-defendre-de",
    "it": "https://shr.swiss/blog/projet-en-difficulte-quand-un-dirigeant-doit-il-cesser-de-le-defendre-it"
  },
  "relatedPages": {
    "programme": "https://shr.swiss/formation-leadership-excellence-lucerne",
    "city": "https://shr.swiss/formations-ville/lucerne",
    "blog": "https://shr.swiss/blog"
  },
  "citationPolicy": "Citation autorisée avec mention « SHR — Swiss Human Resources » et lien vers l'article."
}