Do IPL teams escalate commitment for costly players? When do player status and reputation matter?

Abstract

This study examines the impact of individual-level factors on organisations' escalation of commitment (EOC) using self-justification theory and institutional perspective. We use the Cox proportional hazard model on Indian Premier League (IPL) players’ data from 2008 to 2019 to test the proposed hypotheses. We find that player sunk cost (salary paid), reputation, and high status are positively related to the IPL team's EOC (player survival in the same team) for the particular player. Results show that player reputation and high status positively moderate the relationship between player level sunk cost and the IPL team's EOC for the particular player.