Abstract
This paper investigates the use of fast-and-frugal heuristics by financial analysts operating under conditions of uncertainty and time pressure. Our study adopts a sociological lens to explore the broader organisational and institutional functions of heuristic-based decision-making. Drawing on interviews with 32 buy-side and sell-side analysts in the Irish financial services sector, we identify interrelated forms of heuristics focussed on individual/collective and screening/procedural decisions. Informed by Stones’ strong structuration theory (SST), our findings demonstrate that heuristics act as internalised resources that support analyst decision-making. Specifically, these rules contribute to processes of signification (shared meanings and interpretive frameworks), legitimation (norms and expectations), and domination (capacity to act), while also fostering a sense of ontological security among practitioners. By situating heuristic use within a strong structuration theory framework, we illustrate that heuristics are not merely cognitively efficient shortcuts, but socially meaningful practices that sustain and reproduce professional actions under conditions of uncertainty.