The Moderating Effect of Time Pressure on the Relationship between Cognitive Biases and Information Processing in the Singaporean Workplace

This paper investigates the moderating role of time pressure on the relationships between three prominent cognitive biases, Overconfidence Bias (OB), Herding Bias (HB), and Decision Avoidance Bias (AB), and two stages of workplace decision-making: Evaluating Information (EI) and Searching Information (SI). Building from the theoretical foundation established by Ohms (2025h) and the significant research gaps noted by Ohms (2025i), this study uses a cross-sectional, mono-quantitative survey methodology (Ohms (2025g) of 365 employees in Singapore. Additionally, Ohms (2025a) documented the data validation and preliminary analysis, which provided a concrete basis for more complex analyses. Hence, this paper builds upon the analysis of direct effects reported by Ohms (2025b, 2025c) and applies the specific methodological procedures for moderation detailed by Ohms (2025e). Results from multiple regression with robust standard errors show that time pressure does not significantly moderate the strong effects of overconfidence and herding biases on either stage of information processing. However, time pressure moderates the relationship between decision avoidance and information evaluation by weakening the negative impact of avoidance. These results contribute to behavioural economics and provide helpful information for organisational decision-making in the Singaporean workplace by emphasising the selective nature of time pressure as a contextual stressor.