Ambiguous Contexts Research Articles

Persistence of the Gender Frame: Gender Perceptions of Ambiguous Chinese and Gender-Neutral American Names in the United States

How do people conduct gender classification in ambiguous contexts? A gender framing perspective suggests the pervasiveness and consequences of using gender in novel contexts, but there is a paucity of knowledge about how people assign a gender to ambiguous targets in interpersonal relations. This study fills in this knowledge gap by investigating how U.S. individuals classify the gender of two types of gender-ambiguous names—Chinese names written in English letters and gender-neutral American names. It also examines how respondents’ gender ideologies and racial stereotypes are associated with their perceptions of gender-ambiguous names. An online survey experiment with 795 U.S. individuals finds that respondents predominantly assign a binary gender (versus neutral or unsure) to both Chinese names (40.8 percent men and 37.4 percent women) and gender-neutral American names (41.1 percent men and 19.4 percent women). Multivariate analyses reveal that respondents with traditional gender ideologies associate a gender-binary perception with gender-neutral American names rather than Chinese names. Meanwhile, respondents who endorse the racialized stereotypes that Chinese people are socially cold and/or generally competent are more likely to perceive Chinese names as men’s names. These findings demonstrate that a gender-binary frame persists in ambiguous contexts, and that the classification outcome is conditional on contextual signals and preexisting cultural beliefs. They also deepen understanding of gender neutrality during social interactions and a gendered nature of racialized stereotypes.

Impact of information technology capabilities on organizational resilience: the mediating role of social capital

Organizational resilience is becoming a priority for enterprises’ survival in volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) contexts. However, few studies have investigated how information technology (IT) capabilities promote organizational resilience. To fill this gap, we draw on the IT capabilities literature and social capital theory to build a theoretical model to investigate the impact of IT capabilities on organizational resilience. The concept of social capital is introduced as a mediating mechanism in the relationship between IT capabilities (i.e., infrastructure capability, human capability, and business spanning capability) and organizational resilience (i.e., reactive and proactive resilience). The model is tested based on 369 Chinese manufacturing enterprises that survived the COVID-19 pandemic. This study confirms the key role of IT capabilities in building organizational resilience and the critical mediating role that social capital exhibits between IT capabilities and organizational resilience. This study has both theoretical and managerial implications for enterprise digital resilience.

Multisensory experiences of affective touch in virtual reality enhance engagement, body ownership, pleasantness, and arousal modulation

When engaging in physical contact, our emotional response hinges not only on the nuanced sensory details and the receptive properties of the skin but also on contextual cues related to the situation and interpersonal dynamics. The consensus is that the nature of the affective interactive experience in social touch is shaped by a combination of ascending, C-tactile (CT) afferents mediated somatosensory information, and modulatory, top-down information. The question we pose here is whether, in the absence of somatosensory input, multisensory cues alone can suffice to create a genuinely pleasant, authentic, and engaging experience in virtual reality. The study aims to explore how affective touch is perceived in immersive virtual environments, considering varied social norms in neutral settings or settings like a physiotherapy room where the touch provider is a healthcare professional. We conducted an experiment with 58 male and female healthy adults, where we employed a within-group counterbalanced design featuring two factors: (a) visuo-tactile affective touch, and (B) visual-only affective touch. Findings, drawn from questionnaires and collected physiological data, shed light on how contextual factors influence implicit engagement, self-reported embodiment, co-presence, as well as the perceived realism and pleasantness of the touch experience. Our findings, in line with the literature, indicate that to experience the advantages of touch in immersive virtual worlds, it is essential to incorporate haptic feedback, as depending solely on visual input may not be adequate for fully realising the optimal benefits of interpersonal touch. Furthermore, in contradiction with our hypothesis, a less ambiguous context (specifically, the physiotherapy room and touch from a physiotherapist) is not linked to heightened touch pleasantness.

Strategic entrepreneurship in VUCA environment: the competing forces of outcome variability

Purpose Scholars have extensively studied the concept of strategic entrepreneurship (SE), shedding light on its antecedents, dynamics and outcomes. However, a notable gap exists in understanding the reliability of its performance implications, which explains the inherent risks as well as the possibility of yielding outliers (instances of exceptionally high or low performance). Addressing this gap, this study aims to present a detailed analysis of the implications of SE for the variance of resulting performance distribution. Design/methodology/approach This conceptual study uses the deductive theory-building approach to dissect the four dimensions of SE (entrepreneurial mindset, entrepreneurial leadership and culture, managing resources strategically and applying creativity and developing innovations) as presented by Ireland et al.’s (2003) model, offering theoretical propositions on how each of them influences the variability of resulting performance distribution. Findings This study demonstrates that the strategic entrepreneurship (SE) dimensions have distinct impacts on the reliability/variability of performance outcomes, acting as boosters or attenuators in the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) context. Originality/value The study uniquely links each component of SE with outcome variability in VUCA environments, thereby shifting the focus from traditional performance metrics to outcome variability. This approach complements the existing body of knowledge on the performance implications of the SE construct by integrating a previously neglected critical perspective on the reliability of resulting performance distribution. These insights allow subsequent investigation of SE’s outcomes, including explaining the likelihood of obtaining positive outlier performance or firm failure.

Exploring the association between neuroticism and negativity bias in evaluative counterconditioning

People high on neuroticism express a negativity bias in attention, memory, and interpretation, giving primacy to negative rather than positive information. Investigating additional forms of negativity bias in neuroticism could provide further insights into the situations where people who score high on neuroticism tend to remain anchored on negative aspects. We examined whether neuroticism is related to negativity bias in evaluative learning. Instruction-based and experience-based counterconditioning are two evaluative learning procedures in which a conditioned stimulus (CS) is related to a positive or a negative unconditioned stimulus (US) in Phase 1 and with a US of the opposite valence in Phase 2. Using these procedures, we obtained partial support for a negativity bias in counterconditioning among people who scored high on neuroticism. Specifically, participants scoring high on negative emotionality altered the CSs ratings more easily from positive to negative than from negative to positive, a pattern observed in instruction-based counterconditioning (Experiment 1) but not in experience-based counterconditioning (Experiment 2). In line with previous findings, we could conclude that people who score high on neuroticism tend to give primacy to emotionally negative information at the expense of positive information, particularly in ambiguous (learning) contexts.

Exploring Ambiguity: Literary Significance of Holocaust Representation in Raymond Federman’s To Whom it May Concern

As a significant literary tool and narrative technique, ambiguity is regarded as one of the most common and striking components of postmodern writing. The obscurity in its definition, context and usage leads researchers and literary critics to take interest in this concept and authors to refer to it frequently as well. In this sense, Raymond Federman’s To Whom It May Concern is one of the novels in which ambiguity, as a narrative technique, emerges overtly. This study tries to define and explain the context of ambiguity which is among the major narrative elements of postmodern literature. Likewise, how it appears in the novel and for what purposes authors apply it will be handled. Moreover, how ambiguity is included in the main elements of novel such as the character, theme, time-space, point of view and plot, what apparent and embedded purposes the author has by applying to narrative ambiguity and its connection with the Holocaust will be scrutinised. On the other hand, whether this ambiguity in narrative is a genuine ambiguity or just a narrative clarity intentionally used by the author to steer the readers toward an intended objective will also be discussed.

An ecological assessment of decision-making under risk and ambiguity through the virtual serious game Kalliste Decision Task

Traditional methods for evaluating decision-making provide valuable insights yet may fall short in capturing the complexity of this cognitive capacity, often providing insufficient for the multifaceted nature of decisions. The Kalliste Decision Task (KDT) is introduced as a comprehensive, ecologically valid tool aimed at bridging this gap, offering a holistic perspective on decision-making. In our study, 81 participants completed KDT alongside established tasks and questionnaires, including the Mixed Gamble Task (MGT), Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), and Stimulating & Instrumental Risk Questionnaire (S&IRQ). They also completed the User Satisfaction Evaluation Questionnaire (USEQ). The results showed excellent usability, with high USEQ scores, highlighting the user-friendliness of KDT. Importantly, KDT outcomes showed significant correlations with classical decision-making variables, shedding light on participants’ risk attitudes (S&IRQ), rule-based decision-making (MGT), and performance in ambiguous contexts (IGT). Moreover, hierarchical clustering analysis of KDT scores categorized participants into three distinct profiles, revealing significant differences between them on classical measures. The findings highlight KDT as a valuable tool for assessing decision-making, addressing limitations of traditional methods, and offering a comprehensive, ecologically valid approach that aligns with the complexity and heterogeneity of real-world decision-making, advancing research and providing insights for understanding and assessing decision-making across multiple domains.

The Future of Warfare in the Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity Context

Abstract The war of the future represents an increasingly difficult concept to model through the implementation of emerging and disruptive technologies in a Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity (VUCA) context. The study of wars is essential in conflict prevention and peace building. In our paper we analyze the determining parameters of the contemporary operational environment against which we estimate possible directions of evolution of this phenomenon. The technological approach to war allows the identification of indicators of the development of emerging and disruptive technologies in an ethical framework and reinforces the strategies of forming a security culture through the mass education of citizens. The results of the research and the conclusions formulated can also constitute priorities for the strategies to strengthen the resilience of the national security and defense infrastructures.

ACEANet: Ambiguous Context Enhanced Attention Network for skin lesion segmentation

Skin lesion segmentation from dermatoscopic images is essential for the diagnosis of skin cancer. However, it is still a challenging task due to the ambiguity of the skin lesions, the irregular shape of the lesions and the presence of various interfering factors. In this paper, we propose a novel Ambiguous Context Enhanced Attention Network (ACEANet) based on the classical encoder-decoder architecture, which is able to accurately and reliably segment a variety of lesions with efficiency. Specifically, a novel Ambiguous Context Enhanced Attention module is embedded in the skip connection to augment the ambiguous boundary information. A Dilated Gated Fusion block is employed in the end of the encoding phase, which effectively reduces the loss of spatial location information due to continuous downsampling. In addition, we propose a novel Cascading Global Context Attention to fuse feature information generated by the encoder with features generated by the decoder of the corresponding layer. In order to verify the effectiveness and advantages of the proposed network, we have performed comparative experiments on ISIC2018 dataset and PH2 dataset. Experiments results demonstrate that the proposed model has superior segmentation performance for skin lesions.

Drygt 100 kronor. Is it a bit more than, a bit less than, or around 100 kronor?

The Swedish adverb drygt is often used as an approximator in expressions like drygt 1 meter, where it means ‘a bit more than’ according to dictionaries and most speakers. Here, we show that drygt is undergoing semantic change and being reinterpreted as meaning ‘around’, ‘about’ or even ‘a bit less than’. To study this ongoing semantic reinterpretation, a questionnaire was circulated, reaching some 2 700 participants. The participants were asked about their linguistic intuitions about drygt: does drygt 100 kronor best correspond to 97 kronor, 97–102 kronor or 102 kronor? The results show that younger speakers are more likely than older to prefer the reinterpretations. The change has gone farthest in the south of Sweden, where half of the young speakers interpret drygt as ‘around’ or ‘a bit less than’. The comments to the questionnaire show that most participants are unaware that interpretations other than their own exist. The study also reveals that in translations of Swedish novels made available as parallel corpora, drygt is often translated into equivalents of ‘around’ or ‘a bit less than’. Furthermore, the Danish and Norwegian equivalents of drygt – godt og vel and drøyt – are undergoing a semantic change similar to that of drygt. We discuss how these findings relate to semantic change in general and argue that the change we observe is due to ambiguous contexts and possibly to speakers having different underlying cognitive representations.

How previous experience shapes future affective subjective ratings: A follow-up study investigating implicit learning and cue ambiguity.

People use their previous experience to predict future affective events. Since we live in ever-changing environments, affective predictions must generalize from past contexts (from which they may be implicitly learned) to new, potentially ambiguous contexts. This study investigated how past (un)certain relationships influence subjective experience following new ambiguous cues, and whether past relationships can be learned implicitly. Two S1-S2 paradigms were employed as learning and test phases in two experiments. S1s were colored circles, S2s negative or neutral affective pictures. Participants (Experiment 1 N = 121, Experiment 2 N = 116) were assigned to the certain (CG) or uncertain group (UG), and they were presented with 100% (CG) or 50% (UG) S1-S2 congruency during an uninstructed (Experiment 1) or implicit (Experiment 2) learning phase. During the test phase both groups were presented with a new 75% S1-S2 paradigm, and ambiguous (Experiment 1) or unambiguous (Experiment 2) S1s. Participants were asked to rate the expected valence of upcoming S2s (expectancy ratings), or their experienced valence and arousal (valence and arousal ratings). In Experiment 1 ambiguous cues elicited less negative expectancy ratings, and less unpleasant valence ratings, independently of prior experience. In Experiment 2, both groups showed similar expectancies, predicting upcoming pictures' valence according to the 75% contingencies of the test phase. Overall, we found that in the presence of ambiguous cues subjective affective experience is dampened, and that implicit previous experience does not emerge at the subjective level by significantly shaping reported affective experience.

COVID-19 Personal Protective Behaviors during Large Social Events: The Value of Behavioral Observations.

Within the context of reopening society in the summer of 2021, as the UK moved away from 'lockdowns', the Government of Wales piloted the return of organized 'mass gatherings' of people at a number of test events. The current study reports behavioral observations that were made at two of the test events to inform this process. The researchers were particularly interested in four key factors: how (1) context within a venue, (2) environmental design, (3) staffing and social norms, and (4) time across an event, affected the personal protective behaviors of social distancing and face-covering use. Data collection was undertaken by trained observers. Adherence to protective behaviors was generally high, but there is clear evidence that these behaviors were shaped in a systematic way by the environment, situational cues, and the passage of time during the events. Some instances of large-scale non-adherence to personal protective behaviors were documented. An analysis within a dual-process framework suggests ways to understand and respond to supporting target health behaviors in groups of people where intervention is deemed valuable, such as in complex or ambiguous contexts. This is one of the first studies to include a 'true' behavioral measure in understanding human responses to COVID-19. It demonstrates that behavioral observations can add precision and granularity to understanding human behavior in complex real-world contexts. Given the significant physical and mental health burden created acutely and chronically by COVID-19, this work has implications for how governments and organizations support target populations in other complex challenges facing us today, such as in sustainability, and healthy lifestyle behaviors. An individual's intentions are not always matched by their actions, and so the findings support a balanced liberal paternalistic approach where system-level changes support appropriate individual-level decisions to engender collective responsibility and action.

Effort Expenditure Increases Risk-Taking for Improbable Rewards.

Previous studies have found that exerting effort can lead people to engage in risk-taking behaviors. While effort can be either cognitive or physical, risk-taking can take place in either a risky context with known outcome probabilities or an ambiguous context with unknown outcome probabilities. The goal of the current research is to investigate how effort type and decision context influence risk-taking after effort exertion. Across three experiments, we find evidence that investing effort increases risk-taking at a short timescale. Importantly, this effect is particularly noticeable when the chance of winning is low, rather than when it is uncertain. Furthermore, the increase in risk-taking happens regardless of whether the effort is cognitive or physical. These findings suggest the existence of a cost-invariant but decision context-variant mechanism for the risk-taking after-effect of effort expenditure, which helps to bring the negative emotions caused by effort exertion back to a state of emotional homeostasis.

Conceptual Framework of the influence of strategic alignment capability (SAC) and VUCA model as moderator in navigation leadership

Purpose: This study intends to investigate the influence of strategic alignment capability (SAC) and volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) as moderator on navigation leadership in private hospitals of healthcare sector in Pakistan. Utilizing ventakraman’s model of strategic alignment capability and volatility-ambiguity theory by Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus, the research hopes to identify the impact of SAC model and VUCA moderator on navigation leadership in healthcare sector in Pakistan. 
 Design/Methodology/Approach: A total of 400 healthcare executives from the healthcare industry will participate in this study by completing an online self-filled questionnaire. The collected data will undergo various statistical analyses, including normality tests, reliability assessments, correlation analyses, and descriptive examinations. These analyses shall be employed to determine the connection between independent variables (strategic alignment capability model) and the dependent variable of navigation leadership along with volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous context as moderator variable.
 Findings: The research paper serves as a conceptual framework of influence of strategic alignment capability and volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous context as moderator on navigation leadership. Healthcare leaders have the potential to significantly enhance their productivity, making valuable contributions to their respective fields in the healthcare profession. The study underlines the significance of addressing these sensitive elements of healthcare sector to enhance the performance in the Pakistan healthcare sector.
 Practical Implications: This study offers valuable insights for healthcare leadership within the developing countries like Pakistan healthcare industry. By recognizing and fostering influence of strategic alignment capability and vuca moderator on navigation leadership in healthcare sector can create an environment where healthcare leaders are more inclined to increase their productivity and positively impact overall healthcare sector success.
 Originality/Value: The originality of this study lies in its application of venkatraman’s model of strategic alignment capability and volatility-ambiguity theory by Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus within the specific context of the Pakistan healthcare industry. By identifying the unique factors influencing strategic alignment capability model in navigation leadership along with vuca moderator in to evaluate and enhance the performance in this industry, this research contributes to a deeper understanding of the relationship between strategic alignment capability and navigation leadership moderating vuca context.

Correction: Marketing agility in volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) contexts: a systematic literature review and future research agenda

Correction: Marketing agility in volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) contexts: a systematic literature review and future research agenda

Intuitionistic fuzzy seasonal variation analysis of marine biotoxin distribution in the Black Sea

It is crucial to establish a seasonal dependence on the levels of marine biotoxins in the Black Sea to impose seasonal prohibitions on the gathering of marine species in this sea and safeguard human health. Fisher’s analysis of variance (ANOVA) is a statistical technique for assessing how various variables affect a collection of data. In some cases, research must be carried out in an uncertain environment, with missing or insufficient data. An approach for solving this imprecision when a data set occurs in an ambiguous context is intuitionistic fuzzy logic, which Atanassov introduced in 1983. Compared to fuzzy data, intuitionistic fuzzy (IF) data also has a hesitation degree. In 2020, we first suggested the one-way (1-D) IFANOVA and the software utility for its performance, combining traditional variational analysis with modeling opportunities of Index Matrices (IMs) and Intuitionistic Fuzzy Sets (IFSs). The current study focuses on 1-D IFANOVA of the distribution of marine biotoxins in the Black Sea by the “season” factor on the IF dataset of the number of marine biotoxins for the period from February 1 to July 31, 2021. We will also compare the findings of 1-D IFANOVA and conventional ANOVA performed on the identical data set.

The determinants of decision time in an ambiguous context

AbstractThis paper builds on the data from a published paper on behaviour under ambiguity (Conte & Hey, 2013)—henceforth C&H—to explore the determinants of decision time. C&H categorized individual subjects as being of one of four types (of decision-maker)—Expected Utility, Smooth Ambiguity, Rank Dependent and Alpha Expected Utility—by using the decisions of the subjects, but did not look at the decision times of the different types. We take as given the categorization identified by C&H, and explore whether the classification can explain the decision times of the subjects. We investigate whether and why different types take a different amount of time to decide. We explore the effects of various features related to (mainly psychological) theories of the process of decision-making—i.e., experience with the task, complexity, closeness to indifference and similarity of the options. Our results show that different types take a similar time to make their decisions on average, but decision times of different types are explained by different features of the decision task. This paper is the first investigating the heterogeneity of decision times based on a classification of subjects into different types in an ambiguous (rather than risky) decision context.

Revisiting Local Government Auditors’ Burnout upon its Stress Dimensions

Purpose: This study aims to ‎determine the effect of three-dimensional stress, known as the roles of stress, to predict ‎the likelihood of occupational stress and burnout complication among local government ‎auditors. Theoretical framework: This study utilized the Conservation of Resource Theory as a theoretical lens to ‎determine the effect of three-dimensional stress, known as the roles of stress, to predict ‎the likelihood of occupational stress and burnout complication among local government ‎auditors. Design/Methodology/Approach: Quantitative non-linear modelling involved three hundred and twenty-six ‎questionnaires from being sent to the regional inspectorate in the Bali area between June - July 2022. Findings: The study successfully proved the significant effect of role ambiguity and role ‎overload as influential factor of auditors’ stress. The study also proves the empirical ‎relationship between auditor stress and burnout. Further, this research concludes that various ‎mediation effects of stress exist between dimensional stress and burnout among auditors. Research, Practical & Social implications: This ‎study is expected to give strategic recommendations for the respectful government agencies ‎to develop better stress-handling techniques. Originality/Value: The influential factor of the role of ambiguity which is significantly elevated job burnout, might become a novelty for this research’s finding, the complication of ambiguity in the context of forming the passive level of stress known as burnout stipulates the profound problems of ambiguity in the auditor context.

Marketing agility in volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) contexts: a systematic literature review and future research agenda

Marketing agility in volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) contexts: a systematic literature review and future research agenda

A Conceptual Framework Of The Influence Of Strategic Alignment Capability (SAC) And VUCA Model As Moderator In Navigation Leadership In Private Hospitals In Healthcare Industry, Pakistan

This study intends to investigate the influence of strategic alignment capability (SAC) and volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) as moderator on navigation leadership in private hospitals of healthcare sector in Pakistan. Utilizing ventakraman’s model of strategic alignment capability and volatility-ambiguity theory by Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus, the research hopes to identify the impact of SAC model and VUCA moderator on navigation leadership in healthcare sector in Pakistan. A total of 400 healthcare executives from the healthcare industry will participate in this study by completing an online self-filled questionnaire. The collected data will undergo various statistical analyses, including normality tests, reliability assessments, correlation analyses, and descriptive examinations. These analyses shall be employed to determine the connection between independent variables (strategic alignment capability model) and the dependent variable of navigation leadership along with volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous context as moderator variable.The research paper serves as a conceptual framework of influence of strategic alignment capability and volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous context as moderator on navigation leadership. Healthcare leaders have the potential to significantly enhance their productivity, making valuable contributions to their respective fields in the healthcare profession. The study underlines the significance of addressing these sensitive elements of healthcare sector to enhance the performance in the Pakistan healthcare sector. This study offers valuable insights for healthcare leadership within the developing countries like Pakistan healthcare industry. By recognizing and fostering influence of strategic alignment capability and vuca moderator on navigation leadership in healthcare sector can create an environment where healthcare leaders are more inclined to increase their productivity and positively impact overall healthcare sector success.The originality of this study lies in its application of venkatraman’s model of strategic alignment capability and volatility-ambiguity theory by Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus within the specific context of the Pakistan healthcare industry. By identifying the unique factors influencing strategic alignment capability model in navigation leadership along with vuca moderator in to evaluate and enhance the performance in this industry, this research contributes to a deeper understanding of the relationship between strategic alignment capability and navigation leadership moderating vuca context.