Leader Tolerance of Ambiguity: Implications for Follower Performance Outcomes in High and Low Ambiguous Work Situations

Individuals high in tolerance of ambiguity (TOA) are comfortable with, desire, and strive to manage ambiguous situations. We predicted leader TOA would be associated with better follower performance outcomes, depending on the level (Study 1) and nature (Study 2) of follower role ambiguity. Data were collected from employees (Study 1, n = 423) and managerial employees (Study 2, n = 326) who rated their leader on three facets of TOA and provided self-reports of their own performance outcomes. Positive implications of leader TOA for follower learning goal orientation and job performance (Study 1) were most pronounced when followers perceived low role ambiguity and, in the prediction of situational coping (Study 2), when ambiguous work situations were categorized as challenges (unexpected events requiring problem-solving) compared to hindrances. Findings have theoretical implications for understanding when TOA in leaders is optimal and have practical relevance for leaders seeking to adapt to the situational needs of their followers.

Mixed emotions and credence service use: insights from at-risk gamblers

Purpose This paper aims to explore the power of appeals based on fear mixed with challenge co-designed with vulnerable consumers in motivating the use of credence services. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative phase (Study 1), comprising focus groups of self-identified at-risk gamblers, revealed a series of conceptual themes for advertising stimuli that were then tested empirically (Study 2) on the likelihood to use credence services in a gambling context. Individual characteristics such as tolerance of ambiguity were also tested for their potential moderating influence. Findings In comparison to appeals based on single emotions, fear mixed with the challenge has a significantly stronger impact on intentions to use credence services in at-risk gamblers. Findings confirm the indirect positive impact of fear mixed with the challenge via sequential mediators of involvement with advertising and attitude towards credence service advertising. The moderating role of tolerance of ambiguity on credence service use intentions was confirmed. Originality/value The potential of a fear mixed with challenge appeal to motivate vulnerable consumers to seek credence services has not been investigated to date. The findings contribute to both the transformative service research and advertising literature streams by providing valuable insights into promotional campaigns aimed at vulnerable consumers such as at-risk gamblers.

Tolerance of Ambiguity: Negotiating Religion and Sustaining the Lingsar Festival and Its Performing Arts in Lombok, Indonesia

Multiple forces vie to control the narratives of the Lingsar festival, a major annual event initiated about 350 years ago that uniquely brings together the indigenous Muslim Sasak and the migrant Hindu Balinese on Lombok, an island east of Bali in Indonesia. This attention to the festival is not surprising because governments, political and religious figures, commercial interests, and tourist industries compete to define and benefit from such events worldwide. Since 1983, I have noticed a variety of changes in religious beliefs, ritual personnel and protocol, interreligious relationships, sociocultural identities, founding narratives, and performing arts over time. Once, this festival featured beliefs and performing arts that were localized, neither truly Hindu nor Islamic, and ingrained into the natural, ancestralized environment. However, the festival had to Islamize and Sasakize (that is, become more Sasak) to retain relevance among the Sasak, and had to Hinduize and Balinize to remain relevant among the Balinese. Despite these changes and increasing pressures from reformist organizations, the festival continues; in fact, it has grown in popularity and, by 2019, attracted up to 50,000 people. A tolerance of ambiguity—allowing for changing and contradictory artistic narratives, multiple ritual positions and interpretations, new positionings of interreligious relationships, and deviation from public rhetoric—has been crucial to maintain the Lingsar festival into the 21st century.

Exploring predictors of translation performance

The study reported on examined the question of whether translators’ cognitive faculties might be able to predict their performance on a translation task. Research on individual cognitive differences in translation has been a new issue in the realm of Translation Studies. However, the majority of previous studies have targeted single cognitive faculties for the purpose of investigation and we therefore know little about how sets of cognitive faculties can affect the process of translation from one language into another. In this study, three individual cognitive differences were targeted: emotional intelligence (EI), tolerance of ambiguity (TA), and working memory (WM). For the purposes of the study, 54 Iranian MA students of Translation Studies were sampled as participants. The participants completed measures of their EI, TA, and WM. In addition, they were requested to translate an excerpt from English (Source Language) into Persian (Target Language). The results of multiple regression analysis indicated that the regression model, incorporating EI, TA, and WM as its predictors, was able to predict a significant amount of variance in participants’ translation performance. Of the three predictors, the contributions of TA and WM to the total variance in the participants’ translation scores were statistically significant, while the contribution of EI to the total variance was not. The findings of the study have some implications for research and practice in the field of Translation Studies.

The right to educational academic freedom in the context of modern pandemic threats

The article focuses on human rights violations during the current pandemic of 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated a number of significant threats, including the right to education and the right to academic freedom of education at both the primary and higher professional levels. Discrimination in this area should be considered a primary shortcoming. In particular, this is due to problems in terms of content, method and fair assessment of the task, and the very real danger that some subjects of the educational process will be disadvantaged due to certain background, indirect phenomena. It is stated that after the COVID-19 pandemic, public authorities will have a new function, namely to be responsible for ensuring the right to education by encouraging schools and institutions to adapt their teaching and learning to new circumstances, supporting them in this matter and developing a framework to support educational services in areas particularly affected by the economic and social pandemic. It has been proved that tolerance of ambiguity, autonomous learning skills and analytical and critical thinking are some of the competencies in the model that can help students adapt to the uncertainties of current and future crises constructively and innovatively, avoiding pitfalls and radicalization, leading to violence or authoritarianism. Unused opportunities also play an important role. The information society on children's digital lives over the last decade has focused primarily on their safety and security in the digital environment, rather than to expand their capabilities through education or the acquisition of competencies for active participation in the digital society.

THE PERSONALITY AND MOTIVATION OF “QUANTS”: THE MATH GENIUSES OF WALL STREET

A relatively small sample of experts ([Formula: see text]) working within the quantitative financial area completed two questionnaires measuring their personality and values. This study set out to determine how personality and motivation/work values predict subjective work success and organizational fit using the High Potential Traits Inventory (HPTI) and the Work Value Questionnaire (WVQ). Compared to the population norms, the “Quants” were higher on Curiosity and Conscientiousness but lower on Tolerance of Ambiguity and Risk-Taking Approach. The “Quants” scored higher than population norms on one facet of intrinsic motivation and all three of the extrinsic motivation. The results demonstrated that Conscientiousness and Intrinsic Motivation were both significant predictors of subjective work success. The results are discussed in terms of how to select, manage and promote “Quants”. Implications and limitations are discussed.