Managers regularly make decisions under conditions of incomplete information and uncertainty, which renders them vulnerable to cognitive biases. These biases lead to systematic errors that negatively affect strategic, financial, and operational decisions. The purpose of this article is to identify the key cognitive biases of managers, analyze their consequences for enterprises, and propose contemporary tools to mitigate their adverse effects. An analysis of academic literature in behavioral economics and strategic management was conducted, synthesizing insights regarding common managerial biases (overoptimism, anchoring, confirmation bias, status quo bias, among others) and strategies for overcoming them. It is established that managerial overconfidence often results in inflated forecasts and underestimated risks; anchoring ties managerial decisions excessively to initial information, thus limiting the objective analysis of alternatives; confirmation bias leads to disregarding critical signals that threaten project implementation; and the status quo bias fosters resistance to innovations. To overcome these biases, the implementation of specialized debiasing methods is recommended, such as premortem analysis, assigning a “devil’s advocate”, choice architecture adjustments (nudging), establishing behavioral departments, and applying dual interventions. The integrated application of these approaches enhances decision-making effectiveness. Based on the analysis of scientific sources, these methods have been generalized and systematized into an integrated framework of managerial and behavioral tools for strategic management practice. The findings and recommendations provided in this article can assist managers in reducing the impact of cognitive biases, thereby improving enterprise competitiveness within volatile market environments.
Kremena et al. (Sun,) studied this question.