TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………………………………………… 7
1.1 Research Aims and Objectives …………………………………………………………………………….. 8
1.2 Research Questions and Hypotheses …………………………………………………………………….. 8
1.2.1 Research Sub-questions: ……………………………………………………………………………….. 9
1.2.2 Hypotheses………………………………………………………………………………………………… 10
1.3 Dissertation Roadmap ………………………………………………………………………………………. 10
1.4 Major Contributions of Research ……………………………………………………………………….. 11
CHAPTER 2 – LITERATURE REVIEW …………………………………………………………………….. 13
2.1 Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 13
2.2 Prospect Theory……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 13
2.3 Behavioural Finance …………………………………………………………………………………………. 16
2.4 Sunk-Cost Effect/Fallacy ………………………………………………………………………………….. 16
2.4.1 Factors Affecting Sunk-Cost ……………………………………………………………………….. 17
2.5 Overconfidence Bias ………………………………………………………………………………………… 18
2.6 Regret Aversion……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 19
2.7 Mental Accounting Heuristic …………………………………………………………………………….. 20
2.8 Hindsight Bias …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 21
2.9 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 22
CHAPTER 3 – RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND METHODS ……………………………….. 24
3.1. Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 24
3.2 Research Design ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 25
3.2.1 Research Philosophy…………………………………………………………………………………… 26
3.2.3 Research Approach …………………………………………………………………………………….. 27
3.2.4 Research Strategy ………………………………………………………………………………………. 29
3.2.5 Time Horizon …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 30
3.3 Sampling Size and Selecting Respondents ………………………………………………………….. 32
3.4 Research Ethics ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 32
3.5 Possible Research Limitations and Scope ……………………………………………………………. 33
CHAPTER 4 – DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS …………………………………………………… 34
4.1 Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 34
4.2 Quantitative Analysis and Research Findings ………………………………………………………. 34
4.2.1 Optimism and Overconfidence Bias ……………………………………………………………… 37
4.2.2 Long-term Investors, Fixed Assets and Other Variables ………………………………….. 39
4.2.3 Irish Investors and the Sunk-Cost Fallacy/Effect ……………………………………………. 39
4.2.4 Risk-taking for Gains and Losses …………………………………………………………………. 40
4.2.5 Investors and Regret Aversion …………………………………………………………………….. 42
4.2.6 Decision Making and Mental Accounting ……………………………………………………… 44
4.3 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 45
CHAPTER 5 – DISCUSSION ……………………………………………………………………………………. 46
5.1 Research Question and Interpretation …………………………………………………………………. 46
5.1.2 Possible Reasons and Implications for the Sunk Cost Effect ……………………………. 46
5.2 Research Sub-questions and Interpretation ………………………………………………………….. 47
5.3 Research Hypotheses………………………………………………………………………………………… 51
CHAPTER 6 – CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ………………………………….. 52
6.1 Conclusions …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 52
6.2 Recommendations ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 53
CHAPTER 7 – REFLECTION …………………………………………………………………………………… 54
BIBLIOGRAPHY …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 58
APPENDIX I …………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 62