TEMPORAL COMPRESSION AND COGNITIVE LOAD IN MANAGERIAL DECISION MAKING A PSYCHOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK FOR SEQUENTIAL CHOICE AND PRIORITY DISTORTION
Keywords:
Keywords: managerial decision-making; time pressure; cognitive load; sequential choice; decision fatigue; temporal framing; priority distortion; intertemporal decision-makingAbstract
Abstract. Managers rarely make isolated decisions. They work through sequences of choices
while deadlines, interruptions, information volume, and competing priorities compress the time
available for deliberation. This conceptual article introduces temporal compression as a managementpsychology construct describing the combined effect of objective time scarcity, perceived time
pressure, decision density, and cognitive load on managerial choice. The paper distinguishes temporal
compression from the stronger and empirically contested claim that repeated choice inevitably produces
decision fatigue. Research shows that time pressure can narrow information search, alter decision rules,
heighten anxiety, and change risk processing; however, recent large-scale evidence also cautions
against assuming a universal deterioration of decision quality across a decision sequence
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