1 ESKALASI DAN DE-ESKALASI KOMITMEN PADA INDIVIDU YANG BERKARAKTER INTERNAL LOCUS OF CONTROL DALAM KASUS INVESTASI BERTAHAP Endah Suwarni (Politeknik Negeri Malang) Bambang Subroto (Fakultas Ekonomi Universitas Brawijaya Malang) Gugus Irianto (Fakultas Ekonomi Universitas Brawijaya Malang) ABSTRACT This study is the test whether escalation of commitment at individual has the character of internal locus of control will be bigger than individual has the character of external locus of control if getting the negative information and escalation of commitment at individual has the character of internal locus of control can be mitigated by the information of future benefit of alternative investment. Research conducted by using controlled laboratory experiment approach with gradually investment case that was adapted from experiment designed Ghost (1997). Sixty subjects were participation in experiment is the student at six semester of Accounting Study Program – Politeknik Negeri Malang. Experiment applies 2 x 2 factorial designs (negative information of investment performance and information of future benefit of alternative investment) and (external locus of control and internal locus of control). Escalation of commitment variable is investment decision, whereas internal-external locus of control was measured by using Rotter’s instrument (1966). Hypothesis testing by using one-way ANOVA (F-Test) and the treatment effect tested by using post hoc test with scheffe method. Experiment result expresses that escalation of commitment on individual has internal locus of control was bigger than individual has external locus of control, when they got the negative information and escalation of commitment at individual has internal locus of control can be mitigated by the information of future benefit of alternative investment. Keywords: escalation and de-escalation of commitment, internal-external locus of control, gradually investment 1. Pendahuluan Dalam setiap pengambilan keputusan investasi pada umumnya mendasarkan pada pertimbangan yang rasional. Namun banyak bukti empiris dalam serangkaian tindakan pengambilan keputusan investasi yang menunjukkan bahwa pembuat keputusan cenderung untuk melanjutkan proyek investasi walaupun terdapat bukti proyek investasi sebelumnya ternyata tidak menguntungkan (Ghosh, 1997). Fenomena perilaku demikian oleh berbagai peneliti, diungkapkan dalam berbagai istilah: escalation (Ross dan Staw, 1986), entrapment (Brockner et al. 1986), sunk cost (Staw dan Hoang, 1995), concord fallacy (Arkes dan Ayton, 1999); persistence (Shulz dan Chang, 2002); dan decision error (Bowen, 1987). Berbagai penjelasan penyebab terjadinya eskalasi juga diungkap oleh berbagai peneliti, antara lain karena: pengaruh informasi negatif dan individu yang bertanggung jawab (Shuclz dan Chang, 2002), pengaruh sunk cost (Staw dan Hoang, 1995; Arkes dan Hutzel, 2000). Tinjauan kembali (review) teori tentang eskalasi komitmen yang dilakukan oleh Staw (1981) mengungkapkan bahwa, fenomena eskalasi komitmen dapat dijelaskan dengan self-justification theory (Staw, 1981). Menurut Brockner (1992), self- justification theory memang merupakan penjelasan terbaik tentang fenomena eskalasi komitmen, tetapi