Public Administration Perspective

Applying the Content Analysis Approach in Presenting a Model for Consequences of Leaders' Ambiguity Tolerance

Document Type : Research Article (with qualitative approaches)

Authors

1 Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran. Iran

2 Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Purpose:  The present study aims to identify the consequences of leaders' ambiguity tolerance and design a comprehensive model of these consequences.
Design/ methodology/ approach:   This research has been done with a qualitative approach which is the content analysis method. The statistical population of study includes academic experts and executive experts of the Ministry of Petroleum who have experience in decision making and management in the condition of uncertainty. The statistical sample of study was nineteen people. The sampling was purposeful and performed by snowball method. Data were collected through interviews with experts. For data analysis, three-step Attride-Stirling coding and theme network analysis method were used.
Research Findings:  After analyzing the data, the consequences of leaders' ambiguity tolerance were categorized into two comprehensive themes, individual and organizational consequences. Findings showed that individual consequences (cognitive, psychological and functional) along with organizational consequences (human resources, process, market and finance) provide a strong incentive for organizations to pay serious attention to the leaders' ambiguity tolerance and their attempt to improve it.
Limitations & Consequences:  The study has been done in the Petroleum industry that has specific characteristics. So the generalization of results to other areas is challenging.
Practical Consequences:  The model of leaders' Ambiguity Tolerance helps to better explain the importance and necessity of leaders' ambiguity tolerance.
Innovation or value of the Article: what this article adds to the research in this field is identifying the consequences of leaders' Ambiguity Tolerance and providing a model of them.




Paper Type: Research Article

Keywords

  1. Abedi Jafari, H., Taslimi, M. S., Faghihi, A. & Sheikhzadeh, M. (2011). "Theme Analysis and Theme Network: A Simple and Efficient Method for Explaining Patterns in Qualitative Data". Quarterly Journal of Strategic Management Thought, 5(2), 151-198. (in Persian).
  2. Antoncic, B. )2009). "The entrepreneur’s general personality traits and technological development. Proceedings of World Academy of Science". Engineering and Technology, 41, 236-241.
  3. Arlitsch, K. (2016). "Tolerating Ambiguity: Leadership Lessons from Off-Road Motorcycling". Journal of Library Administration, 56(1).
  4. Babaei, M. B. (2018). "Guidance and leadership from the perspective of the Qur'an and its strategies". Islamic Management Quarterly, 26(1), 61-105. (in Persian).
  5. N., Herold, D.M. & Ashford. S. J. (1990). "The effects of tolerance for ambiguity on feedback-seeking behavior". Journal of Occupational Psychology, 63, 343-348.
  6. Bornemisza, A. (2013). "Creativity and Psychological Safety: A proposed model on the links between psychological safety, ambiguity tolerance, playfulness and creativity". Magister thesis, Lund University, department of psychology.
  7. Bors, D. A., Gruman. J. A. & Shukla, S. )2010(. "Measuring tolerance of ambiguity: Item polarity, dimensionality, and criterion validity". European Review of Applied Psychology, 60(4), 239–245.
  8. Braun, V. & Clarke, V. (2006). "Using Thematic analysis in psychology". Qualitative research in psychology, 3(2).
  9. Budner, S. N. (1962). "Intolerance of ambiguity as a personality variable". Journal of Personality, 30(1), 29-50.
  10. Chaturvedula, S, Raghuraman, S. & Murthy, R. (2017). "Impact of Tolerance of Ambiguity on Job Performance, Creativity and Decision-making Styles: A study on Indian Software professionals". International Journal for innovative research in multidisciplinary field, 3(3).
  11. Cook, C.W. & Hunsaker, P. L. (2001). "Management and Organizational Behaviour". 3rd ed, McGraw-Hill Companies, Maidenhead.
  12. Fewster, & O’Connor, P. (2017). "Embracing Ambiguity in the Workplace". Change 2020 & QUT Business School, 1-15.
  13. Furnham, A. & Ribchester, T. (1995). "Tolerance of ambiguity: A review of the concept, its measurement and applications". Current Psychology, 14(3), 179-199.
  14. Furnham, A. & Marks, J. (2013). "Tolerance of Ambiguity: A Review of the Recent Literature".  Psychology, 9, 717-728.
  15. Haj Karimi, A. A., Rezaian, A., Hadizadeh, A. & Bonyadi Naeini, A. (2011). "Designing a model of competencies of human resource managers in the public sector in Iran". Public Administration Perspective (PAP) , 2(4), 23-43. (in Persian).
  16. Hancock, J. & Mattick, k. (2020). "Tolerance of ambiguity and psychological well‐being in medical training: A systematic review". Medical Education, 54(2), 125–137.
  17. Herman, L, Stevens, M. J.1., Bird, A., Mendenhall, M. & Oddou, G. (2010). "The Tolerance for Ambiguity Scale: Towards a more refined measure for international management research". International Journal of Intercultural Relations. 34, 58–65.
  18. Hillen, M. A., Gutheil, C. M., Strout, T. D., Smets, E. M. & Han, P. K. J. (2017). "Tolerance of uncertainty: Conceptual analysis, integrative model, and implications for Healthcare". Social Science & Medicine, 180, 62-75.
  19. Jessani, Z. & Harris, P. (2018). "Personality, politics, and denial: Tolerance of ambiguity, political orientation and disbelief in climate change". Personality and Individual Differences, 131, 121-123.
  20. Judge, T. A., Thoresen, C. J., Pucik, V. & Welbourne, T. M. (1999). "Managerial coping with organizational change: a dispositional perspective". Journal of Applied Psychology, 84 (1), 107–22.
  21. Katsaros, K. & Nicolaidis, C. (2011). "Tolerance of Ambiguity and Emotional Attitudes in a Changing Business Environment". Journal of Strategy and Management, 4(1), 44-61.
  22. Katsaros, K. & Nicolaidis, C. S. (2012). "Personal traits, emotions and attitudes in the workplace: their effect on managers, tolerance of ambiguity". Psychologist- Manger Journal, 15, 37-55.
  23. Khanifar, H. & Moslemi, N. (2016). "Fundamentals Qualitative research methods: new and practical approach". Tehran: Negahedanesh Publication. (in Persian).
  24. Kok, J. & Heuvel, S. (2019). "Leading in a VUCA World Integrating Leadership, Discernment and Spirituality". Switzerland: springer. ISBN 978-3-319-98884-9. (eBook).
  25. Lamberton , B., Fedorowicz, , Saeed, J. & Roohani,  S. J. (2005). "Tolerance for Ambiguity and IT Competency among Accountants". Journal of Information Systems, 19(1), 75-95.
  26. Lane, M. S. & Klenke, K. (2004). "The Ambiguity Tolerance Interface: A Modified Social Cognitive Model for Leading Under Uncertainty". Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, 10(3), 69-81.
  27. Lannello, , Mottini, A., Tirelli,  S., Riva, S. & Antonietti, A. (2017). "Ambiguity and uncertainty tolerance, need for cognition, and their association with stress. A study among Italian practicing physicians". Medical Education Online, 22(1), 1270009.
  28. Lauriola, M., Foschi, R., Mosca, O. & Weller, J. (2015). "Attitude Toward Ambiguity: Empirically Robust Factors in Self-Report Personality Scales". Assessment, 1 –21.
  29. Liu, CH. (2015). "Relevant Researches on Tolerance of Ambiguity". Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 5(9), 1874-1882
  30. Litman, J. A. (2010). "Relationships between measures of I- and D- type curiosity, ambiguity tolerance, and need for closure: an initial test of the wanting- liking model of information- seeking". Personality and Individual Differences, 48, 397- 402.
  31. Maghbouli, , Nakhostin-Ansar, A. & Shayestefar, M. (2021). "Ambiguity tolerance among medical students and its relationship with personality and participation in the mentoring program: A cross-sectional study". Journal of Annals of Medicine and Surgery, 62, 425-430.
  32. Mack, O., Khare, A., Krämer, A. & Burgartz, T. (2016). "Managing in a VUCA World". Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London, ISBN 978-3-319-16889-0. (eBook).
  33. McLain, D. L. (1993). "The MSTAT-1: A new measure of an individual¢s tolerance for ambiguity". Educational and Psychological Measurement, 53, 183–189.
  34. Mclain, D.L., Kefallonitis, E. & Armani, K. (2015). "Ambiguity tolerance in organizations: Ambiguity tolerance, definitional clarification and perspectives on future research". Frontiers in Psychology, 6. 344.
  35. Mele, D. (2010). "Practical wisdom in managerial decision making". Journal of Management Development, 29 (7/8), 637-645.
  36. Manteghi, M. (2012). "Explaining the decision model based on Islamic teachings with emphasis on decision-making based on insight". Ph.D. Thesis, Imam Khomeini Educational and Research Institute. (in Persian).
  37. Mataji Nimvari1, F., Jamshidi. M. & Rezaeian, A. (2021). "Presenting the model for rumor management at Islamic Azad University". Public Administration Perspective (PAP), 12(3), 15-31. (in Persian).
  38. Moradi, M. & Hafizi, P. (2015). "The role of emotion control and ambiguity tolerance in wise decision making". Quarterly Journal of Organizational Behavior Studies, 4, 1-29. (in Persian).
  39. Neill, S. & Rose, G. M. (2007). "Achieving adaptive ends through equivocality: A study of organizational antecedents and consequences". Journal of Business Research, 60, 305–313.
  40. Norton, M. & Zoghi, B. B. (2021). "Exploring the Role of Ambiguity Tolerance in an Engineering proffessional’s identity as a leader". Asse annual conference, 26-29 July.
  41. Omar, K. h. M. (2016). "Ambiguity: A Critical Factor that affect Leadership". Human Resource Management Research, 6(3),73-81.
  42. Pathak, R. D., Chauhan, V. S., Dhar, U. & Gramberg, B. V. (2009). "Managerial Effectiveness as a Function of Culture and Tolerance of Ambiguity: A Cross-cultural Study of India and Fiji". International Employment Relations Review, 15(1), 73-90.
  43. Rezaeian, A. (1996). "The first condition". Management Knowledge Quarterly, 33-34, 2-3. (in Persian).
  44. Saadat, V., Ghlichlee, B., Rezaeian, A. & Tabarsa, G. A. (2021). "Tolerance of ambiguity, The key competence of leaders". The First International Conference on Management Laboratory and Innovative Approaches in Management and Economics, Tehran, https://civilica.com/ doc / 1347805. (in Persian).
  45. Sherrill, W. W. (2001). "Tolerance of Ambiguity among MD/MBA Students: Implications for Management Potential". Continuing Education in the Health Professions, 21, 117–122.
  46. Spencer, L. & Spencer, S. M. (1993). "Competence at work: models for superior performance". New York: John Wiley and Sons.
  47. Stoycheva, K. (2010). "Tolerance for ambiguity, creativity, and personality". Bulgarian Journal of Psychology, 1-4, 178-188.
  48. Teoh, H. Y. & Foo, S. L. (1997). "Moderating effects of tolerance for ambiguity and risk-taking propensity on the role conflict-perceived performance relationship: Evidence from Singaporean entrepreneurs". Journal of Business Venturing, 12, 67–81.
  49. Titt, R. (2021). "Investigating the attitude towards ambiguity: Inter individual differences in automatic activations of evaluations of ambiguity". advisor: René Ziegler.
  50. Treglown, L., Rae, I. M. & Furnham, A. (2020). "What Drives Ambition? Personality, Self-Perceived Leadership Potential, and the Desire to Be Your Own Boss". Psychology, 11, 624-635.
  51. Tsirikas, A. N., Katsaros, K. K. &Nicolaidis, C. S. (2012). "Knowledge management, tolerance of ambiguity and productivity: Evidence from the Greek public sector". Employee Relations, 34 (4), 344 – 359.
  52. Tymula, A., Rosenberg Belmakerb, L., Royc, A., Rudermanb, L., Mansonb, K., Glimchera, P., Levyb, I. (2012). "Adolescents’ risk-taking behavior is driven by tolerance to ambiguity". PNAS, 109(42) ,17135–17140.
  53. Vives, M. L. & FeldmanHall, O. (2018). "Tolerance to ambiguous uncertainty predicts prosocial behavior". Nature Communications, 9 (1) , 2156.
  54. Weisbrod, E. (2009). "The role of affect and tolerance of ambiguity in ethical decision making, Advances in Accounting". Incorporating Advances in International Accounting, 25, 57–63.
  55. Westerberg, M., Singh, J. & Hackner, E. (1997). "Does the CEO matter?". Scandinavian Journal of Management, 13, 251-270. doi:10.1016/S0956-5221(97)00011-0.
  56. Wittenberg, K. J. & Norcross, J.C. (2001). "Practitioner perfectionism: relationship to ambiguity tolerance and work satisfaction". J Clin Psychol, 57(12), 154350.
  57. Yurtsever, G. (2000). "Ethical beliefs and tolerance of ambiguity". Social Behavior and Personality, 28(2), 141-148.
  58. Yurtsever, G. (2001). "Tolerance of Ambiguity, Information, and Negotiation". Psychological Reports, 89, 57-64.
  59. Yurtsever, G. (2008). "Negotiators’profit predicted by cognitive reappraisal, suppression of emotions, misrepresentation of information and tolerance of ambiguity". Perceptualand motor skills, 106, 590-608.
  60. Zenasni, F., Besancon, M. & Lubart, T. (2008). "Creativity and tolerance of ambiguity: an empirical study". Journal of Creative Behavior, 42, 61-73.
  61. Zolghadr, A. (2017). "The effect of state anxiety on risky decision making in ambiguous and clear situations due to the role of ambiguity tolerance". Master Thesis, Zanjan University, Faculty of Humanities. (in Persian).
Public Administration Perspective
Volume 13, Issue 3 - Serial Number 51
2022
Pages 15-34