Sports Officials' Decision-Making Biases

Larkin, Paul; Kittel, Aden; Cunningham, Ian

Abstract

For officials, decision-making is one of the most important performance skills by which their success is measured. While it is their objective to make accurate and fair decisions, in many cases external factors such as players, coaches and supporters may try and influence the officials to make decisions in their favour, thus creating a potential bias. The following chapter outlines some of the most prevalent biases on official’s decision-making, and outlines a strategy for sporting organisations to tackle the influence of these biases on the decision-making process. A case study is presented to highlight a potential methodology for understanding decision-making bias through off-field training and testing.

Citation

Larkin, P., Kittel, A., & Cunningham, I. (2025). Sports Officials' Decision-Making Biases. In T. Webb, D. J. Hancock, P. Phillips, & J. K. Tingle (Eds.), Managing and Developing Sports Officials (152-162). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003370987-17

• Online Publication Date: Aug 1, 2024
• Publication Date: 2025
• Deposit Date: Dec 30, 2024
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 152-162
• Book Title: Managing and Developing Sports Officials
• Chapter Number: 14
• ISBN: 9781032442037, 9781032442020
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003370987-17