Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/338816 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Citation: 
[Journal:] Businesses [ISSN:] 2673-7116 [Volume:] 5 [Issue:] 3 [Article No.:] 35 [Year:] 2025 [Pages:] 1-31
Publisher: 
MDPI, Basel
Abstract: 
Career decisions are among the most consequential choices individuals make, profoundly shaping their long-term stability and overall life satisfaction. The literature suggests that behavioral biases, specifically overconfidence, herd mentality, social comparison, status quo bias, and optimism bias, can exert considerable influence on these decisions, thereby shaping students' future career trajectories. This study adopts a behavioral perspective to examine how these biases influence career choices within a collectivist social context. A survey of 360 undergraduate and graduate business students was conducted. The collected data were analyzed using an integrated approach that combines Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), enabling the use of both linear and non-linear methods to analyze the relationship between cognitive biases and career choices. Our findings reveal that while all five biases have a measurable impact, status quo bias and social comparison are the dominant factors influencing students' career decisions. These results underscore the need for interventions that foster self-awareness, independent decision-making, and critical thinking. Such insights can guide educators, career counselors, and policymakers in designing programs to mitigate the negative effects of cognitive biases on career decision-making, ultimately enhancing career satisfaction and workforce efficiency.
Subjects: 
behavior economics
behavioral biases
business students
career decision-making
collectivist society
Nepal
PLS-ANN
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Article
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