Referees' Decision-making and Player Gender: The Moderating Role of the Type of Situation

The influence of player gender on referees’ decision-making was examined in 30 handball matches played at the highest regional level. The results indicated that referees make more lenient decisions toward male players when administering sporting sanctions, but more severe decisions toward male players when administering disciplinary sanctions, depending on whether or not the players were able to succeed in their action despite the foul. The findings are congruent with the hypothesis that referees use player gender as a judgmental heuristic. We suggest that further experimental studies examining the effects of referee gender and level of expertise, and of level of competition are needed to better understand the extent and limits of referees’ use of player gender as a decision-making heuristic