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Objetivo: O objetivo deste estudo é analisar a influência do efeito sunk cost no processo de tomada de decisão dos estudantes de graduação em Administração e Ciências Contábeis da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte. Metodologia: A amostra do estudo compreende 655 estudantes, sendo 347 do curso de Ciências Contábeis e 308 do curso de Administração. O levantamento de dados foi realizado por meio da aplicação de questionários estruturados elaborados com base nos estudos de Arkes e Blumer (1985), Rover, Wuerges, Tomazzia e Borba (2009) e Silva e Domingos (2010). Após tabulados, os dados foram analisados por meio da estatística descritiva, bem como foi realizado o teste U de Mann-Whitney para verificar se existem diferenças entre as respostas dos acadêmicos de Ciências Contábeis e Administração. Resultados: Os principais resultados sugerem que o montante de custo perdido pode influenciar na ocorrência do efeito sunk cost, sendo esta evidência percebida por meio dos valores das médias, tendo em vista que a redução do montante do custo perdido é inversamente proporcional à disposição média dos respondentes em continuar investindo no curso de ação. Além de identificar que os sunk costs são levados em consideração no processo de tomada de decisão por parte dos discentes investigados, verifica-se que não há diferença estatisticamente significante entre as medianas dos respondentes no que tange às questões que permitem identificar a suscetibilidade ao efeito custo irrecuperável no contexto de decisão empresarial. Contribuições do Estudo: O estudo contribui ao sinalizar que os futuros profissionais de Administração e Contabilidade são suscetíveis ao efeito sunk cost, o que pode implicar em um report de informações contábeis viesadas por parte dos futuros contadores, bem como tomadas de decisões viesadas por futuros administradores. Adicionalmente, contrapõe evidências anteriores que sugerem que os agentes de diferentes áreas de conhecimento reagem de forma diferente à presença de custos irrecuperáveis.

Purpose: The objective of this paper was to analyze the influence of the sunk cost effect in the decision-making process of Accounting and Business Administration undergraduate students of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte. Methodology: The sample comprised 655 students, of which 347 were from the Accounting program and 308 from a Business Administration program. Data were collected through the application of structured questionnaires, based on the studies of Arkes and Blumer (1985), Rover, Wuerges, Tomazzia and Borba (2009) and Silva and Domingos (2010). After tabulation, the data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, as well as a Mann-Whitney U test to verify if there are differences between the answers of the Accounting and Business Administration students. Results: The main results suggest that the amount of sunk cost can influence the occurrence of the sunk cost effect, and this evidence is perceived through the mean values, considering that the reduction of the amount of sunk cost is inversely proportional to the average disposition of the respondents in continue investing in the course of action. In addition, to identify that the investigated students take the sunk costs into consideration in the decision-making process, it is verified that there is no statistically significant difference between the medians of the respondents with regard to the questions that allow identifying the susceptibility to the sunk cost effect in the context of business decision-making. Contributions of the Study: The study contributes to signal that the future professionals of Administration and Accounting are susceptible to the sunk cost effect, which can imply in a report of biased accounting information by future accountants, as well as biased decisions by future administrators. Furthermore, these results contrast previous evidence that suggests that agents from different areas of knowledge react differently to the presence of sunk costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The objective of this paper was to analyze the influence of the sunk cost effect in the decision-making process of Accounting and Business Administration undergraduate students of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte. Methodology: The sample comprised 655 students, of which 347 were from the Accounting program and 308 from a Business Administration program. Data were collected through the application of structured questionnaires, based on the studies of Arkes and Blumer (1985), Rover, Wuerges, Tomazzia and Borba (2009) and Silva and Domingos (2010). After tabulation, the data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, as well as a Mann-Whitney U test to verify if there are differences between the answers of the Accounting and Business Administration students. Results: The main results suggest that the amount of sunk cost can influence the occurrence of the sunk cost effect, and this evidence is perceived through the mean values, considering that the reduction of the amount of sunk cost is inversely proportional to the average disposition of the respondents in continue investing in the course of action. In addition, to identify that the investigated students take the sunk costs into consideration in the decision-making process, it is verified that there is no statistically significant difference between the medians of the respondents with regard to the questions that allow identifying the susceptibility to the sunk cost effect in the context of business decision-making. Contributions of the Study: The study contributes to signal that the future professionals of Administration and Accounting are susceptible to the sunk cost effect, which can imply in a report of biased accounting information by future accountants, as well as biased decisions by future administrators. Furthermore, these results contrast previous evidence that suggests that agents from different areas of knowledge react differently to the presence of sunk costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]