IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pdn/dispap/182.html

Technology-Supported Decision-Making under Uncertainty: Evidence from VAR in the German Bundesliga

Author

Listed:
  • Liana Bomm

    (Paderborn University)

  • Bernd Frick

    (Paderborn University)

Abstract

This study examines how technology-assisted systems affect decision-making under uncertainty, using Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology in professional football as an empirical setting. Drawing on career concern arguments and Social Information Processing theory, we analyze whether VAR improves referee performance by functioning as a cognitive support mechanism. Using data from 4,284 Bundesliga matches between 2010/11 and 2023/24, we examine official Kicker grades as a multidimensional performance measure. The results show that VAR significantly improves referee performance, with the largest gains occurring when VAR is available but does not intervene. Performance differences across VAR situations decline over time, consistent with adaptation processes, while heterogeneity across referees remains limited. Overall, the findings suggest that VAR improves performance by enhancing ex-ante decision-making through additional informational support. From an organizational perspective, VAR can be understood as a specialized staff unit within a line-and-staff structure, challenging a principal-agent view of technology-assisted systems as monitoring devices.

Suggested Citation

  • Liana Bomm & Bernd Frick, 2026. "Technology-Supported Decision-Making under Uncertainty: Evidence from VAR in the German Bundesliga," Working Papers Dissertations 182, Paderborn University, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:pdn:dispap:182
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://groups.uni-paderborn.de/wp-wiwi/RePEc/pdf/dispap/DP182.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • D23 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Organizational Behavior; Transaction Costs; Property Rights
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism
    • M15 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - IT Management

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pdn:dispap:182. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: WP-WiWi-Info (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fwpadde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.