Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-rvbq7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-11T01:09:43.592Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ambiguity tolerance and accurate assessment of self-efficacy in a complex decision task

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Megan L Endres ,
Sanjib Chowdhury  and
Morgan Milner
Megan L Endres
Affiliation:
Department of Management, College of Business, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti MI, USA
Sanjib Chowdhury
Affiliation:
Department of Management, College of Business, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti MI, USA
Morgan Milner
Affiliation:
Department of Management, College of Business, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti MI, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Organizational decision making requires the ability to process ambiguous information while dealing with overload and conflicting requirements. Although researchers agree that ambiguity tolerance is a critical skill for making high-quality complex decisions, few have investigated the effects of ambiguity tolerance on self-efficacy to make complex decisions. In the current experiment, 151 participants were randomly assigned to either a moderate complexity or high complexity decision task. Ambiguity tolerance moderated the relationships between task complexity and self-efficacy, and between task complexity and the accuracy of self-efficacy in predicting future performance. In the highly complex task, individuals with a higher tolerance for ambiguity reported higher self-efficacy and more accurate self-efficacy versus individuals with lower tolerance for ambiguity. In the moderately complex task, tolerance for ambiguity had no effects on self-efficacy or accuracy. Implications for research and practice are presented, along with study limitations.

Keywords

self-efficacyambiguity tolerancetask complexitydecision makingexperimentuncertainty
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , March 2009 , pp. 31 - 46
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, DR and Gerbing, DW (1988) Structural equation modeling in practice: A review and recommended two-step approach, Psychological Bulletin 103: 411–423.Google Scholar
Boeker, W and Karichalil, R (2002) Entrepreneurial transitions: Factors influencing founder departure, Academy of Management Journal 45(4): 818.Google Scholar
Bandura, A (1982) Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency, American Psychologist 37(2): 122–147.Google Scholar
Bandura, A (1986) Social foundations of thought and action, Addison-Wesley, Reading MA.Google Scholar
Bandura, A (1995) Guide for constructing self-efficacy scales, Stanford University, Palo Alto CA.Google Scholar
Bandura, A and Jourden, FJ (1991) Self-regulatory mechanisms governing the impact of social comparison on complex decision making, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 60(6): 941–951.Google Scholar
Bandura, A and Wood, R (1989a) Impact of conceptions of ability on self-regulatory mechanisms and complex decision making, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 56(3): 407–415.Google Scholar
Bandura, A and Wood, R (1989b) Effect of perceived controllability and performance standards on self-regulation of complex decision making, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 56(5): 805–814.Google Scholar
Bauer, TN and Truxillo, DM (2000) Temp-to-permanent employees: A longitudinal study of stress and selection success, Journal of Occupational Health Psychology 5(3): 337–346.Google Scholar
Bowen, J, Qui, Z and Li, Y (1994) Robust tolerance for ambiguity, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 57: 155–165.Google Scholar
Boyd, NG and Vozikis, GS (1994) The influence of self-efficacy on the development of entrepreneurial intentions and actions, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice Summer: 63–77.Google Scholar
Bradley, DE and Roberts, JA (2004) Self-employment and job satisfaction: Investigating the role of self-efficacy depression and seniority, Journal of Small Business Management 42(1): 37–58.Google Scholar
Budner, S (1962) Intolerance of ambiguity as a personality variable, Journal of Personality 30: 29–50.Google Scholar
Cabantous, L (2007) Ambiguity aversion in the field of insurance: Insurers' attitude to imprecise and conflicting probability estimates, Theory and Decision 62: 219–240.Google Scholar
Campbell, JP (1986) Labs fields and straw issues In Locke, EA (Ed) Generalizing from laboratory to field settings, pp. 269–279, Lexington Books: Lexington MA.Google Scholar
Castellan, NJ Jr (1973) Comments on the ‘lens model’ equation and the analysis of multiple-cue judgement tasks, Psychometrika 38(1): 87–100.Google Scholar
Cervone, D, Jiwani, N and Wood, R (1991) Goal setting and the differential influence of self-regulatory processes on complex decision making performance, Journal of Applied Psychology 61(2): 257–266.Google Scholar
Cervone, D and Wood, R (1995) Goals, feedback and the differential influence of self-regulatory processes on cognitively complex performance, Cognitive Therapy and Research 19(5): 519–545.Google Scholar
Chen, CC, Greene, PG and Chick, A (1998) Does entrepreneurial self-efficacy entrepreneurs from managers? Journal of Business Venturing 13: 295–316Google Scholar
Choi, YB (1993) Paradigms and conventions: Uncertainty decision making and entrepreneurship, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor MI.Google Scholar
Cole, ND and Latham, GP (1997) Effects of training in procedural justice on perceptions of disciplinary fairness by unionized employees and disciplinary subject matter experts, Journal of Applied Psychology 82(5): 699–705.Google Scholar
Cronbach, LJ (1951) Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests, Psychometrika 16(3): 297–334.Google Scholar
Dollinger, MJ (1984) Environmental boundary spanning and information processing effects on organizational performance, Academy of Management Journal 27(2): 351–368.Google Scholar
Dollinger, MJ, Golden, PA and Saxton, T (1997) The effect of reputation on the decision to joint venture, Strategic Management Journal 18(2): 127–140.Google Scholar
Dulebohn, JH (2002) An investigation of the determinants of investment risk behavior in employer sponsored retirement plans, Journal of Management 28(1): 3–26.Google Scholar
Earley, PC, Connolly, T and Ekegren, G (1989) Goals strategy development and task performance: Some limits on the efficacy of goal setting, Journal of Applied Psychology 74(1): 24–33.Google Scholar
Einhorn, HJ and Hogarth, RM (1985) Ambiguity and uncertainty in probabilistic inference, Psychological Review 92: 433–461.Google Scholar
Frenkel-Brunswik, E (1949) Intolerance of ambiguity as an emotional and perceptual personality variable, Journal of Personality 18: 108–143.Google Scholar
Frisch, D and Baron, J (1988) Ambiguity and rationality, Journal of Business Decision Making 1: 149–157.Google Scholar
Ghosh, D and Ray, MR (1997) Risk ambiguity and decision choice: Some additional evidence, Decision Sciences 28(1): 81–104.Google Scholar
Gist, ME and Mitchell, TR (1992) Self-efficacy: A theoretical analysis of its determinants and malleability, Academy of Management Review 17(2): 183–211.Google Scholar
Gupta, AK and Govindarajan, V (1984) Business unit strategy managerial characteristics and business unit effectiveness at strategy implementation, Academy of Management Journal 27(1): 25–41.Google Scholar
Greenberg, J (1987) The college sophomore as guinea pig: Setting the record straight, Academy of Management Review 12: 157–159.Google Scholar
Gul, FA (1984) The joint and moderating role of personality and cognitive style on decision making, The Accounting Review 59(2): 264–277.Google Scholar
Hahn, ED (2003) Decision making with uncertain judgments: A stochastic formulation of the analytic hierarchy process, Decision Sciences 34(3): 443–493.Google Scholar
Harvey, N and Fischer, I (2005) Development of experience-based judgment and decision making: The role of outcome feedback, In Betsch, T and Haberstroh, S (Eds) The routines of decision making, pp. 119–137, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah NJ.Google Scholar
Heath, C and Tversky, A (1991) Preference and belief: Ambiguity and competence in choice under uncertainty, Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 4: 5–28.Google Scholar
Hofstede, G (1980) Culture's consequences, Sage, London.Google Scholar
Hornaday, J (1990) Dropping the ‘E’ words from small business research: An alternative typology, Journal of Small Business Management 28: 22–33.Google Scholar
Hu, L and Bentler, PM (1999) Cutoff criteria in fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria and new alternatives, Structural Equation Modeling 6(1): 1–55.Google Scholar
Huber, N (2003) An experiential leadership approach for teaching tolerance for ambiguity, Journal of Education for Business 79(1): 52.Google Scholar
Judge, TA, Thoresen, CJ, Pucik, V and Welbourne, TM (1999) Managerial coping with organizational change: A dispositional perspective, Journal of Applied Psychology 84(1): 107.Google Scholar
Jonassen, DH and Grabowski, BL (1993) Handbook of individual differences learning and instruction, Lawrence Earlbaum Associates, Hillsdale NJ.Google Scholar
Keenan, A (1978) Selection interview performance and intolerance of ambiguity Psychological Reports 116: 59–66.Google Scholar
Keinan, G (1994) Effects of stress and tolerance of ambiguity on magical thinking, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 67(1): 48–55.Google Scholar
Kuhn, KM and Yockey, MD (2003) Variable Pay as Risky Choices: Determinants of the Relative attractiveness of Incentive Plans, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 90: 323–345.Google Scholar
Lane, MS and Klenke, K (2004) The ambiguity tolerance interface: A modified social cognitive model for leading under uncertainty, Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies 10(3): 69–81.Google Scholar
Lewin, A and Stephens, CU (1994) CEO attitudes as determinants of organization design: An integrated model, Organization Studies 15(2): 183–212.Google Scholar
Locke, EA (1986) Generalizing from laboratory to field settings, Lexington Books, Lexington MA.Google Scholar
Markman, GDBaron, RA and Balkin, DB (2005) Are perseverance and self-efficacy costless? Assessing entrepreneurs' regretful thinking, Journal of Organizational Behavior 26(1): 1–19.Google Scholar
McCarthy, BThe impact of the entrepreneur's personality on the strategy-formulation and planning process in SMEs, Irish Journal of Management 24(1): 154.Google Scholar
McCormick, MJ (2001) Self-efficacy and leadership effectiveness: Applying social cognitive theory to leadership, The Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies 8: 22–33.Google Scholar
Millman, Z and Latham, GP (2001) Increasing reemployment through training in verbal self-guidance, In Erez, M, Kleinbeck, U and Thierry, H (Eds) Work motivation in the context of a globalizing economy, pp. 87–97, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: Mahway NJ.Google Scholar
Mitton, DG (1989) The complete entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice 13: 9–19.Google Scholar
Molden, DC and Higgins, ET (2004) Categorization under uncertainty: Resolving vagueness and ambiguity with eager versus vigilant strategies, Social Cognition 22(2): 248–277.Google Scholar
Ortega, DF and Weinstein, K (1988) Cognitive simplicity in the Type A ‘coronary prone’ pattern, Cognitive Therapy and Research 12(1): 81–87.Google Scholar
Pathak, RD, Chanuhan, VS, Dhar, U, Pestonjee, DM and Reddy, N (2002) Effect of personal and situational variables on managerial effectiveness: An empirical study, International Journal of Management 19(1): 27–37.Google Scholar
Pich, MT, Loch, CH and De Meyer, A (2002) On uncertainty ambiguity and complexity in project management, Management Science 48(8): 1008–1023.Google Scholar
Quiñones, MA (1995) Pretraining context effects: Training assignment as feedback, Journal of Applied Psychology 80(2): 226–238.Google Scholar
Robertson, M and Swan, J (2003) ‘Control-what control?’ Culture and ambiguity within a knowledge intensive firm, Journal of Management Studies 40(4): 831–858.Google Scholar
Schere, J (1982) Tolerance of ambiguity as a discriminating variable between entrepreneurs and managers, Proceedings of the Academy of Management, 08, New York.Google Scholar
Schwenk, C (1982) Dialectical inquiry in strategic decision making, Strategic Management Journal 3: 371–373.Google Scholar
Sexton, DL and Bowman, N (1985) The entrepreneur: a capable executive and more, Journal of Business Venturing 1: 129–140.Google Scholar
Stock, J and Cervone, D (1990) Proximal goalsetting and self-regulatory processes, Cognitive Therapy and Research 14(5): 483–498.Google Scholar
Stone, DN (1994) Overconfidence in initial self-efficacy judgments: Effects on decision processes and performance, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 59: 452–474.Google Scholar
Subbotin, V (1996) Outcome feedback effects on under- and overconfident judgments (general knowledge tasks), Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 66(3): 268–276.Google Scholar
Taylor, LA III (1987) Decision quality and commitment within a probabilistic environment, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 39: 203–227.Google Scholar
Taylor, LA III, Cosier, A and Ganster, DC (1992) The positive effects of easy goals on decision quality and risk propensity in an MCPLP Task, Decision Sciences 23: 880–898.Google Scholar
Taylor, LA III, Hall, PD, Cosier, A and Goodwin, VL (1996) Outcome feedback effects on risk propensity in an MCPLP task, Journal of Management 22(2): 299–311.Google Scholar
Teoh, HY and Foo, SL (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(1): 67–81.Google Scholar
Wang, P and Chan, PS (1995) Top management perception of strategic information processing in a turbulent environment, Leadership & Organization Development Journal 16(7): 33–43.Google Scholar
Weick, K (1995) Sensemaking in organizations, Sage, Thousand Oaks CA.Google Scholar
Wood, RE (1986) Task complexity: Definition of the construct, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 37: 60–82.Google Scholar
Wood, RE, Mento, AJ and Locke, EA (1987) Task complexity as a moderator of goal effects: A meta-analysis, Journal of Applied Psychology 72: 416–425.Google Scholar