Overconfidence and career choice

Arbeitspapier

People self-assess their relative ability when making career choices. Thus, confidence in own abilities is likely an important factor for selection into various career paths. In a sample of 711 first-year students we examine whether there are systematic differences in confidence levels across fields of study. We find evidence for selection based on our experimental confidence measure: While Political Science students exhibit the highest confidence levels, students of Humanities range at the other end of the scale. This may have important implications for subsequent earnings and/or professions students select themselves in.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: CeDEx Discussion Paper Series ; No. 2014-15

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Design of Experiments: Laboratory, Individual ; Analysis of Education ; Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
• Subject: overconfidence ; selection ; field of study ; career choice

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Schulz, Jonathan F. ; Thöni, Christian
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): The University of Nottingham, Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics (CeDEx)
• (where): Nottingham
• (when): 2014

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/129807
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET