Seniority and Decision‐Making Performance in Critical Facilities Management: A Single‐Round Delphi‐Calibrated Simulation Approach

ABSTRACT This exploratory study examines how professional seniority relates to decision‐making performance in critical facilities management (CFM), focusing on stage‐level variation in response quality and operational response time during critical incidents. A sequential multi‐phase design was adopted. A single‐round Delphi‐calibrated expert assessment ( n = 14) was used to construct an expert‐informed exploratory benchmark for sequential decision alignment across six operational stages. This was followed by a controlled simulation ( n = 41) in which participants responded to a standardized server‐room overheating scenario characterized by uncertainty, time pressure, and incomplete information. Performance was evaluated using response time and two complementary indicators: strict alignment with the expert‐informed benchmark and a continuous metric based on normalized distance from the calibrated decision reference structure. The results showed substantial stage‐level variation in performance quality, with the diagnostic stage presenting the greatest divergence from the expert‐informed benchmark. More experienced participants were descriptively faster, although exploratory analyses suggested limited association between response time and benchmark alignment. No consistent differences in overall performance quality were observed between experience groups. Additional exploratory findings indicated that domain‐specific technical exposure may contribute to closer alignment with expert‐informed decisions among less‐experienced professionals. The findings should be interpreted within the constraints of an exploratory single‐scenario simulation design. The use of a single‐round Delphi‐calibrated procedure, subgroup imbalance, and group‐based comparisons limits causal inference and external generalizability. Even so, the study contributes methodologically by integrating simulation‐based assessment with a continuous benchmark‐alignment metric capable of preserving stage sensitivity and capturing partial decision proximity in complex socio‐technical operational environments.