Cognitive overload and governance failures in managerial dashboards: a qualitative study of how data misleads managerial judgement

Purpose The purpose of this research is to investigate how cognitive, interpretative, governance and integrity issues linked to dashboard-driven decision-making may distort the manager’s judgement. It seeks to identify ways in which these distortions can be countered through interventions based upon human-centric design and governance mechanisms. This research uses the concept of “Visual Authority Bias” as a sensitising lens to examine and mitigate dashboard-induced distortions in managerial judgement. Design/methodology/approach This study involves a qualitative research approach based on the use of key informant interviews in examining the relationship between human cognitive processes and digital performance measurement systems. Primary data were collected via 10 in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted with experienced informants from various professional backgrounds such as HR, procurement, technology and operations. Transcripts from these interviews were analysed based on an inductive thematic analysis to provide an interpretive perspective on cognitive errors committed due to over-reliance on dashboards. Findings The analysis identifies four interrelated pitfalls in dashboard-mediated managerial decision-making: the Context–Data Disconnect, Interpretive Bias and the Black Box Problem, Institutional Failure and Governance Shielding and Data Integrity Failure. Across the interviews, visually authoritative outputs encouraged managers to treat incomplete or flawed metrics as objective accounts of organisational reality, overlook qualitative explanations, rely on heuristics and diffuse accountability. The findings indicate that these problems are socio-technical rather than purely technological. The study therefore proposes deliberate design-level cognitive friction, data validation and cross-functional review to help managers test dashboard outputs before acting on them. Originality/value This paper contributes to research in corporate governance and management control by redirecting focus from the technical optimisation of data to human fallibility in interpreting and using the data. Through the lens of dashboards not only as information management tools but also as mechanisms of accountability, this paper illustrates how data-based governance could go astray. This contribution is made in relation to the nascent discourse of Visual Authority Bias and its effects on decision-making.