Description
Legacy systems, using obsolete technologies, which are costly to maintain and which constrain users abound. Yet these systems persist and decision makers continue to allocate them resources despite better alternatives. Our research focuses on why such declining systems are not retired or replaced despite evidence that they have outlived their utility. IS research has studied such escalation of commitment but in the context of failing Information Systems Development (ISD) projects. While on the surface declining systems and failing ISD projects seem similar, important contextual differences imply that extant theorizing for failing projects is insufficient to understand the factors influencing persistence with declining systems. Our research contextualizes and extends escalation of commitment research to (a) understand factors influencing persistence with declining systems, and (b) extend the boundaries of current theory beyond the ISD context by redefining antecedents and hypothesizing their effects at later system lifecycle stages.
Recommended Citation
Mallampalli, Venkata and Karahanna, Elena, "Why Don’t Systems Die? An Escalation of Commitment Perspective" (2017). AMCIS 2017 Proceedings. 9.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2017/ITProjMgmt/Presentations/9
Why Don’t Systems Die? An Escalation of Commitment Perspective
Legacy systems, using obsolete technologies, which are costly to maintain and which constrain users abound. Yet these systems persist and decision makers continue to allocate them resources despite better alternatives. Our research focuses on why such declining systems are not retired or replaced despite evidence that they have outlived their utility. IS research has studied such escalation of commitment but in the context of failing Information Systems Development (ISD) projects. While on the surface declining systems and failing ISD projects seem similar, important contextual differences imply that extant theorizing for failing projects is insufficient to understand the factors influencing persistence with declining systems. Our research contextualizes and extends escalation of commitment research to (a) understand factors influencing persistence with declining systems, and (b) extend the boundaries of current theory beyond the ISD context by redefining antecedents and hypothesizing their effects at later system lifecycle stages.