THE SUNK COST EFFECT ON THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS OF STUDENTS FROM HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS/O efeito Sunk Cost no Processo decisorio dos discentes de Instituicoes de Ensino Superior

The objective of this study was to verify the influence of the sunk cost effect in the decisions, managerial and personal, taken by the students of the Course of Accounting Sciences of the Institutions of Higher Education. The research was characterized as descriptive and survey with a quantitative approach. Questionnaires were applied in five Higher Education Institutions with a course in Accounting, in the face-to-face modality. Data collection, carried out in the months of October and November 2019, was carried out using a questionnaire, adapted from the model of Domingos (2007), Rover et al. (2009) and Segantini et al. (2011) and, as for the data collected, we used the descriptive analysis of the responses and used the chi-square statistical test ([chi square]) to test the significance between the responses obtained. The results found indicated that the differences for the three variables (gender, age group and nature of the institution), in most situations of managerial decision, were not shown to be statistically significant, indicating the presence of isomorphism between the responses. For situations of personal decision and considering the influence of the three variables analyzed, the results were not statistically significant, again indicating the presence of isomorphism between the responses. It was possible to conclude that the value of sunk costs can influence the occurrence of the sunk costs effect, because the measure that decreased the amount of lost cost, the less the willingness of students to continue investing in courses of action. When the decision was turned to the personal context, the students took into account the premise of aversion to waste and a sense of responsibility. Keywords: Sunk Cost Effect; Decision-making process; Higher education institutions. O objetivo deste estudo foi verificar a influencia do efeito sunk cost nas decisoes, gerenciais e pessoais, tomadas pelos discentes do Curso de Ciencias Contabeis das Instituicoes de Ensino Superior. A pesquisa caracterizou-se como descritiva e de levantamento com abordagem quantitativa. Foram aplicados questionarios em cinco Instituicoes de Ensino Superior com curso de Ciencias Contabeis, na modalidade presencial. A coleta de dados, realizada nos meses de outubro e novembro de 2019, foi realizada fazendo uso de um questionario, adaptado do modelo de Domingos (2007), Rover et al. (2009) e Segantini et al. (2011) e, quanto aos dados levantados, utilizou-se a analise descritiva das