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

Liana Bomm () and Bernd Frick ()
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Liana Bomm: Paderborn University
Bernd Frick: Paderborn University

No 182, Working Papers Dissertations from Paderborn University, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics

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.

Keywords: Decision support systems; Information processing; Monitoring and control; Video Assistant Referee (VAR); Referee performance; Professional football (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D23 D83 L83 M15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31
Date: 2026-07
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