The Asymmetric Effect of Strategic Digital Games on Managers’ Cognitive Biases: The Moderating Role of Gender

Hadi  Behmadi; Majid Ashrafi; Jomadoordi  Gorganli davaji; Maryam  Bokharaeian Khorasani

Authors

Hadi Behmadi Department of Financial Engineering, Ali.C., Islamic Azad University, Aliabad Katol, Iran Author https://orcid.org/0009-0001-4492-0752
Majid Ashrafi Department of Accounting, Ali.C., Islamic Azad University, Aliabad Katol, Iran Author https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2299-5208
Jomadoordi Gorganli davaji Department of Accounting, Ali.C., Islamic Azad University, Aliabad Katol, Iran Author https://orcid.org/0009-0006-8019-2058
Maryam Bokharaeian Khorasani Department of Accounting, Ali.C., Islamic Azad University, Aliabad Katol, Iran Author https://orcid.org/0009-0007-0883-1895

Keywords:

strategic digital games, cognitive biases, gender, multigroup analysis, behavioral finance

Abstract

Despite the growing use of digital games as cognitive intervention tools in the financial domain, evidence regarding their effects on the cognitive biases of financial managers remains inconsistent, and the moderating role of gender in this relationship remains unclear. This study aimed to examine the direct effect of engagement with strategic management-oriented digital games on cognitive biases and to investigate the moderating role of gender, using data from 321 managers and financial professionals across industries in Iran. Data were collected using a researcher-developed questionnaire to assess gaming patterns, adapted from the Game Experience Questionnaire (GEQ) and the Cognitive Absorption Experience Scale (CAES) and culturally adapted with a Content Validity Index (CVI) of 0.92 and Content Validity Ratio (CVR) values greater than 0.65, together with the standardized Cognitive Bias Questionnaire developed by Ritika and Kishore (2021). The data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The moderating role of gender was examined through multigroup analysis using a permutation test with 5,000 repetitions in SmartPLS 4. Analysis of the full sample showed that the direct path from gaming patterns to cognitive bias was not statistically significant (β = 0.003, p = .967); however, the multigroup analysis revealed an asymmetric gender pattern. Among women, engagement with these games was significantly associated with reduced cognitive bias (β = −0.264, p = .024), whereas no significant relationship was observed among men (β = 0.125, p = .089), and the difference between the coefficients for the two groups was statistically significant (difference = 0.389, p = .004). Moreover, in the subsidiary models, gaming had a significant positive effect on loss aversion (β = 0.143, p = .031), an effect observed predominantly among men. The findings indicate that the relationship between engagement with strategic digital games and cognitive biases is neither uniform nor universal but is substantially contingent on gender. Women, despite exhibiting higher baseline levels of certain biases such as loss aversion, appear to derive greater bias-reducing benefits from these tools, whereas men show no appreciable change. In addition to extending the theoretical literature on behavioral finance, this gender gap highlights the need to design gender-sensitive cognitive interventions within management development programs and financial literacy education.

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