Action Bias describes the tendency to favour taking action over doing nothing, even when the available evidence does not indicate it is likely to result in a better outcome.
Taking action in response to a problem feels productive and can help you feel like you are restoring a sense of control compared to just allowing events to unfold around you.
It can also be easier to defend afterwards – if the outcome is bad at least you can say you tried to do something about it rather than simply doing nothing. This creates an imbalance where taking action is judged by what you hoped it would achieve compared to judging not taking action which by what might go wrong.
External pressure can strengthen the effect of action bias. During a crisis, customers or senior stakeholders may expect to see a decisive response, and restraint – even when it is the better option – can seem like indecision.
None of this means that taking action is always the wrong option. It just means that the urge to act may be influencing your judgement about whether to doing something rather than exercising restraint is actually the best course of action.
Action Bias Among Elite Soccer Goalkeepers
Analysis of 286 penalty kicks from top leagues and championships worldwide found that, based on the distribution of where penalties were placed, goalkeepers had the greatest chance of making a save by remaining in the centre of the goal.
Despite this, goalkeepers almost always dived either left or right. The researchers argued that this was likely because diving was viewed the expected response, and this meant conceding a goal after staying still felt worse than conceding after diving, because the goalkeeper may feel they failed to make an attempt to save it.
A second study involving 32 top professional goalkeepers supported the idea that diving was considered the normal response to a penalty over staying in the centre. The researchers noted that this tendency was particularly striking because goalkeepers have strong incentives to make the best possible decision and face penalty situations regularly throughout their careers.
Intelligence Consideration
Action bias can push you into recommending a response and fail to sufficiently consider the benefits of waiting out in your assessments. It can also impact collection as well, with agents being tasked to provide further intelligence even when additional information is unlikely to change a decision.
