User-Cantered Analytics Dashboard Design for Effective Business Management Decisions

Abstract

The widespread use of business analytics dashboards has transformed how managers interpret data and make business decisions. However, many dashboards fail to effectively support decision-making due to usability problems, unclear visualizations, and weak alignment with managerial needs. Unlike traditional Decision Support Systems (DSS) that emphasize model-driven and what-if analysis, analytics dashboards primarily support decision-making through performance monitoring, trend analysis, and data sense-making. This conceptual paper examines how user-centred analytics dashboard design enhances managerial decision effectiveness. Drawing on User-centred Design, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the Information Systems Success Model (ISSM), and Cognitive Load Theory, the study synthesizes prior literature to identify key usability-related design constructs. A conceptual framework is proposed linking dashboard usability, UI/UX design quality, data visualization clarity, and information relevance to managerial decision effectiveness, measured through decision quality, efficiency, confidence, and action ability. This paper contributes by clarifying the role of analytics dashboards as decision support artefacts and offering a theoretically grounded framework to guide future empirical research and practical dashboard design.