But the specification that the the alpha protection test should be carried out at FL140 and not less than 10000 feet AGL should have been a big clue that failure was possible and recovery would take a lot of altitude.
Ignore the instructions at your peril.
It is entirely possible to argue that the crew were suckered into conducting a test that they were not qualified to conduct but at the end of the day the buck stops at the left seat.
The pilot error in this case was accepting the task.
Hubris - maybe. Management pressure - maybe. The buck still stops at the left seat.