Economic Behavior of Consumption of the Management Students of a Brazilian University

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the economic behavior of consumers with knowledge in management. To this end, a field survey was carried out, using as instrument a questionnaire from the assumptions of the endowment effect (THALER, 1980), the theory of perspective (KAHNEMAN; TVERSKI, 1979) and bounded rationality (SIMON, 1983). The sample consisted of students from the management area of a Brazilian university, with some knowledge of finance, considering the suggestion of Kahneman and Tversky (1984), believe there is a possibility of different behavior by prior knowledge, in the sense of the value and function usefulness of the assets. The results obtained and analyzed using content analysis and descriptive statistics at a time confirm what advocates the theory of perspective and the endowment effect, as in the self-control analysis of the cases, the pre commitment, the sunk costs, the purchase of radio for women and issues related to gains and losses. Another time confirm the differential behavioral expectations of the public, as in dealing with travel packages, cutting the lawn, for women, the attitude towards the bottle of wine and the purchase of radio for men. The research confirms that the current theory of perspective continues despite the effects expected by the greater access to knowledge and technological advances, reducing the information asymmetry (AKERLOF, 1970; STIGLITZ, 2000) and improving the perception of reality for decision-making.

Keywords

• Economic behavior
• Theory perspective
• Consumers
• Gains and Losses