The functional relationship between sunk costs and the decision to continue investment in a research and development (R&D) project was examined in an experiment with 407 undergraduate business students. Ss read an R&D scenario in which 10%, 30%, 50%, 70%, or 90% of a $10 million budget had been invested. One group of Ss indicated the likelihood of their allocating all remaining funds to finish the project. A second group indicated the likelihood of their allocating the next $1 million to continue the project. A third group indicated the likelihood that the project would be profitable. Strong, linear sunk-cost effects were observed in the fust 1 groups, with no indication that incremental costs played any role in decision making. Nonsignificant results in the 3rd group suggest that the eifects observed in the 1st group were not a function of higher outcome expectations among Ss with higher sunk costs.

We are indebted to Daniel K. Brass and three anonymous reviewers for their guidance during the editorial process and to a host of colleagues for their feedback, conversations, and encouragement over the course of this project. Send correspondence to Cindy Emrich, Krannert Graduate School of Management, Purdue University, 1310 Krannert Building, West Lafayette, IN 47907-131 0; e-mail: cindy~mgmt.purdue.edu.We analyzed two sets of U.S. presidents' speeches to determine whether their propensities to convey images in words were linked to perceptions of their charisma and greatness. As predicted, presidents who engaged in more image-based rhetoric in their inaugural addresses were rated higher in charisma (Study 1). Presidents who engaged in more image-based rhetoric in speeches that historians considered their most significant ones were rated higher in both charisma and greatness (Study 2). Together, these findings suggest that the successful articulation and enactment of a leader's vision may rest on his or her ability to paint followers a verbal picture of what can be accomplished with their help.sThe ability to articulate a compelling vision of a bright future is the sine qua non of charisma and greatness, two key outcomes for leaders. Charisma has been described as a magical ability (Etzioni, 1961), a certain personality characteristic (Weber, 1947), and a powerful aura (Willner, 1984). Though descriptions of charisma abound, there is consensus that charismatic leaders inspire followers "to perform above and beyond the call of duty" (House, Spangler, and Woycke, 1991: 364) by appealing to their emotions and enduring motives rather than by controlling their access to material rewards and resources. Greatness has been described as successful performance (Murray and Blessing, 1983, 1994) and general prestige or reputation (Maranell, 1970). In practice, it has been operationalized quite simply as "performance in office, omitting everything done before or after" (Bailey, 1966: 24). Much is known about charisma and greatness. Less is known, however, about how leaders articulate a vision that is sufficiently compelling to evoke attributions of charisma and greatness among their followers.House and Shamir (1993) examined eight theories of charismatic, visionary, and transformational leadership with the goal of distilling them into a single, overarching theory of charisma. Eleven behavioral dimensions emerged from this examination, but only one-visionary behavior-was represented in all eight theories. Visionary behavior involves the articulation of "an ideological goal ... that emphasizes fundamental values such as beauty, order, honesty, dignity, and human rights" (House and Shamir, 1993: 97). The skillful use of rhetoric is believed to be critical to the charismatic leader's visionary behavior (

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