Ambiguous Research Articles

“Ethnic Cleansing”: An Analysis of Conceptual and Empirical Ambiguity

Abstract Despite significant scholarly disagreement about its definition, core meaning, and corresponding cases, ethnic cleansing has escaped careful conceptual examination. This article identifies five key areas of conceptual confusion that undermine the integrity and utility of the concept. These include discrepancies over the core meaning of ethnic cleansing; tension between ethnic cleansing as a practice and a policy; the lack of boundedness between ethnic cleansing and other related concepts; the universe of cases that belong together; and disparate subtype classification criteria. This conceptual confusion undermines effective comparative analysis and, in turn, our understanding of the causes of ethnic cleansing and associated policy recommendations. The solution is to abandon the social science usage of ethnic cleansing in favor of alternative concepts defined by the distinct intent of the perpetrator(s): massacre (to annihilate), mass expulsion (to remove), coercive assimilation (to eliminate a unique cultural identity), and control (to subjugate). This eliminates ambiguity, improves theoretical precision, and opens a promising new research agenda.

“Dear Manager, now I know what you expect”: Examining availability ambiguity in two studies

In the present study, we introduce the concept of availability ambiguity and propose that it extends our understanding of the consequences of availability expectations after hours beyond the absolute level perceived by employees. Thus, we investigated how the level and ambiguity of supervisors’ availability expectations contribute to ICT communication satisfaction, detachment, work-home interference, and exhaustion. Furthermore, we test the effectiveness of a training for supervisors aimed at encouraging them to be transparent about their availability expectations by making explicit agreements with their team. In cross-sectional Study 1, data from 235 individuals showed that availability ambiguity predicted detachment and work-home interference beyond the effect of availability expectations. This finding underscores the need for clear agreements, which was addressed in an intervention tested in the two-wave Study 2. Results from 62 subordinates at T1 and 33 at T2 belonging to 17 different supervisors who participated in the training indicated an increase in explicit agreements and a decrease in availability ambiguity, but no decrease in levels of availability expectations or emotional exhaustion and no increase in ICT communication satisfaction, detachment, or work-life balance. Taken together, our studies show that the ambiguity of availability expectations is a unique stressor that needs to be and can be targeted.

A systematic framework of creative metacognition.

Creative cognition does not just involve cognitive processes in direct service of the main task objective (e.g., idea generation), but also metacognitive processes that monitor and regulate cognition adaptively (e.g., evaluation of ideas and task performance, or development and selection of task strategies). Although metacognition is vital for creative performance, relevant work is sparse, which may be partly due to persistent ambiguities in the theoretical conceptualization of creative metacognition. Therefore, this article proposes a systematic framework of creative metacognition (CMC), which builds on recent advancements in metacognition theory and extends them to meet the specifics of creative cognition. The CMC framework consists of two dynamic components-monitoring and control-and a more static component of metacognitive knowledge, each subsuming metacognitive processes applying to the level of task, performance, and responses. We describe the presumed function of these metacognitive components in the creative process, present evidence in support of each, and discuss their association with related constructs, such as creative self-beliefs. We further highlight the dynamic interplay of metacognitive processes across task performance and identify promising avenues for future research.

Unjustified aggression in early childhood education: A systematic, narrative and conceptual review of the current scientific literature

Unjustified aggression in early childhood education has received less scientific attention due to the methodological and ethical difficulties involved in working with children. This limitation has generated a degree of conceptual ambiguity, due to the methodological and procedural diversity employed by researchers. The aim of this study is to provide a systematic review on unjustified aggression and victimization in the classroom in early childhood over the last decade. Following the guidelines set by Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA), a total of 3905 articles published between 2011 and 2021 were reviewed, which were narrowed down to a final sample of 52 papers that met the inclusion criteria. The results indicated a low scientific production, in which the existing research comes almost exclusively from developed countries, where 57.70 % were carried out with samples of less than 250 participants. A total of 67.31 % of these studies have used teachers' reports to obtain the information, victimization does not feature highly in these studies, and there are few longitudinal studies in this respect. The results are discussed in relation to both the need to reconceptualize the construct and the need to standardize the methodology to obtain more robust data on this interpersonal classroom dynamic in early childhood.

Business Models as Complex Nonlinear Systems: Providing a Conceptual Framework for Growth and Innovation

For a long time, researchers and practitioners have implicitly drawn from the notion of complexity and complex systems to better explain business model dynamics. However, for analytical tractability, the nonlinear nature of the construct has never been explicitly acknowledged. To date, the business model construct is still investigated according to the classical method of enquiry of Newtonian legacy.
 This study conducts a comparative analysis between complex nonlinear systems and business models, providing a new and interesting perspective to understand the construct.
 The value of directly addressing the construct’s nonlinear dynamic is twofold.
 First, it will try to resolve the conceptual ambiguity that has traditionally surrounded the discipline of business model and business model innovation by providing a new method to study the construct.
 Also, by linking the business models’ qualities (emergent properties, feedback loops, interdependency of its components, sensitivity to initial conditions and notion of equilibrium) under the umbrella of complexity theory, this paper hopes to resolve the disconnect in the current research effort and to encourage further dialogue and studies on the subject of business model and complexity science.

Transnational Propaganda and National Media Cultures in Weimar Political Thought

Abstract This contribution analyses the discourse on propaganda during the Weimar Republic as a medium of transnational self-positioning and identity construction. The perception of mass media modernism in the 1920s was deeply shaped by the world war, and the concept of ‘propaganda’ dominated reflection on it. Early reviews of the propaganda war revolved around the question of how Germany could regain its former world-power status through propaganda. Two transnational propaganda campaigns are examined in closer detail: the German struggle against the Versailles ‘war-guilt clause’ and the fight against the Allied occupation of the Ruhr. They illustrate how exaggerated expectations of the power of propaganda were accompanied by conceptual ambiguities and inconsistencies. One important reason for this simultaneity was that Germans discussed propaganda in the light of national media cultures and constructed it as alien to the German nature. Many authors distinguished supposedly genuinely German values such as ‘truthfulness’, decency and profundity from the values of other national cultures, simultaneously complaining that Germany was struggling harder in the field of propaganda than other countries because of this deep-seated disposition. Such national auto-stereotypes extended into the scholarly study of propaganda, making it difficult to conceptualize it as a phenomenon of modern mass communication. The Germans’ ambivalent relationship to propaganda was also evident in politics: while the Weimar governments displayed uneasiness towards propaganda, the Nazi movement called for its unscrupulous use. In this way, the Nazis not only prepared for the destruction of democracy, but also stood for a different understanding of ‘Germanness’.

A virtuous cycle of co-production: Reflections from a community priority-setting exercise.

Co-production is gaining increasing recognition as a good way of facilitating collaboration among different stakeholders, including members of the public. However, it remains an ambiguous concept as there is no definitive or universal model of co-production or clarity on what constitutes a good co-production approach. This paper draws on the reflections of the academic researchers, practitioners and public advisors involved in co-producing a priority-setting exercise. The exercise was conducted by the Primary and Community Health Services (PCHS) Theme of the National Institute for Health and Care Research Applied Research Collaboration for Kent, Surrey and Sussex (NIHR ARC KSS). We collected data through written and verbal reflections from seven collaborators involved in the PCHS priority-setting exercise. We used Gibbs' model of reflection to guide the data collection. We then analysed the data through an inductive, reflexive thematic analysis. A common thread through our reflections was the concept of 'sharing'. Although co-production is inherently shared, we used the virtuous cycle to illustrate a sequence of sharing concepts during the research cycle, which provides the underpinnings of positive co-production outcomes. We identified six themes to denote the iterative process of a shared approach within the virtuous cycle: shared values, shared understanding, shared power, shared responsibilities, shared ownershipand positive outcomes. Our results present a virtuous cycle of co-production, which furthers the conceptual underpinnings of co-production. Through our reflections, we propose that positive co-production outcomes require foundations of shared values and a shared understanding of co-production as a concept. These foundations facilitate a process of shared power, shared responsibilitiesand shared ownership. We argue that when these elements are present in a co-production exercise, there is a greater potential for implementable outcomes in the communities in which the research serves and the empowerment of collaborators involved in the co-production process. Three members of the public who are public advisors in the NIHR ARC KSS were involved in the priority-setting exercise that informed this paper. The public advisors were involved in the design of the priority-setting exercise and supported participants' recruitment. They also co-facilitated the focus groups during data collection and were involved in the data analysis, interpretation and preparation of the priority-setting report. For this current manuscript, two of them are co-authors. They provided reflections and contributed to the writing and reviewing of this manuscript.

Farewell to genre: Plot, meaning, and eudaemonic paths in social narratives

Narratives, it has been argued, serve to represent, explain, transform, and even constitute the social world. However, efforts to apply narrative theory to the social world have become mired in conceptual ambiguity. The culprit of much of this confusion is the notion of genre, which, as a formal property of social narratives, has become hopelessly confused. Instead, when the study of the social world turns to the formal elements of plot structure, I argue that the analysis of how a protagonist’s state of well-being is emplotted is a far more helpful analytic frame. To this end, I delineate a typology of narratives based on what I call their eudaemonic path (the Greek term eudaemonia capturing the concept of ‘well-being’ more fully than the term happiness) and conclude that eudaemonic paths provide explanatory insight regarding the content that is selected for and omitted from particular social narratives. And it is on this more certain foundation – rather than the slippery footing of so-called genre – that the formal elements of narrative can be said to influence social action and cultural change.

Polarisation, identity and affect - conceptualising affective polarisation in multi-party systems

This paper aims to contribute to the nascent field of research on affective polarisation in liberal democracies by reflecting on the conceptual ambiguities as well as potentials inherent in the concept. Based on a systematic, critical review of 78 articles, I discuss three main ambiguities in the current literature on affective polarisation in multi-party democracies. Those concern firstly, the object of dislike; secondly, the nature of dislike; and thirdly, how to make sense of the concept of “polarisation” in the context of affective polarisation. I then propose to use the existing ambiguities as a basis to work towards a more nuanced conceptualisation of affective polarisation which allows us to distinguish it from neighbouring concepts and to further differentiate between different constellations and degrees of affective polarisation. I conclude by arguing in favour of taking a broader approach to studying affective polarisation than done so far, and by suggesting some directions for future research.

Sustainability and professional sales: a review and future research agenda

Sustainability has become a consideration for every firm operating in today’s business landscape. Scholars are tasked with uncovering bridges and barriers to successfully implement sustainability strategies, and the academic community has largely responded. However, while sustainability research has proliferated across business disciplines, it is conspicuously missing from professional selling and sales management. This is partly due to conceptual ambiguity, but also because sustainability generally involves firm-level policies and programs, and therefore domains like consumer behavior, marketing strategy, and supply chain management have occupied the space. This is problematic because while executives develop sustainability strategies, the sales force is responsible for conveying those priorities to external stakeholders. Therefore, the goals of our manuscript are to: 1) organize and refine the definition of sustainability in a professional selling context, 2) review relevant literature that examines sustainability in that context, 3) explore emergent themes from this review that 4) reveal gaps in our understanding, and 5) present a research agenda for sales scholars to bridge these gaps and advance our understanding of the role of sustainability in sales and vice versa.

Impact of globalization processes on strategic planning of enterprises

Purpose. To study the uncertainty of globalization influences on strategic planning (SP). To identify peculiarities of SP for enterprises of Ukraine. To develop methods for evaluating the SP effectiveness in conditions of uncertainty and changes in the level of uncertainty in parameter sequences for relevant forecasting. Methodology. The study used the following methods: critical analysis – to identify the peculiarities of SP in Ukraine; mathematical formalization – to evaluate the efficiency of SP; method of comparing the first derivatives – for the current assessment of the rate of change in economic indicators and their approximation to the target values of SP; analysis and synthesis – to establish the uncertainty levels of the input and outputs sequences of each of the parameters of globalization. Findings. It is stated that different vectors of globalization influences cause formation of a complex “competitive landscape”, which increases the uncertainty of SP. Stratification of requirements for formation of strategic plans and opportunities which they allow implementing is proposed, as well as stratification of indicators of globalization influence. The factors of globalization influence on the formation of uncertainty in the activities of Ukrainian enterprises are studied and the peculiarities of this influence on the SP process are indicated. Originality. An assessment of the level of approximation of the actual and target results of enterprise’s activity is proposed as an indicator of SP effectiveness. A comparison of first derivatives of the efficiency indicator was used to reduce the uncertainty in estimating the rates of dynamic approximation of the actual and forecast results. A method of ordering heterogeneous sequences is proposed for a relevant assessment of the change in the level of uncertainty in parameter sequences. Practical value. The proposed approach reduces conceptual SP ambiguity. The developed method for assessing the uncertainty of globalization effects on SP and identifying the SP peculiarities in conditions of uncertainty will increase SP relevance for Ukrainian enterprises.

Conceptualising social licence to operate

In the 25 years since its inception, the concept of social licence to operate (SLO) has become widely used within both industry and academia. Despite this, there is no agreement as to what SLO is and what is required to achieve it. This conceptual ambiguity results in organisations struggling to understand how to achieve SLO and leaves many cynical about its use. Through literature review, this paper brings together existing conceptualisations of social licence to operate, presenting an explanatory model for how individuals form SLO judgements. We highlight four key stages in the formation of an SLO judgement: the assimilation of information by the individual; the formation of perceptions about the project; the application of cognitive processes to these perceptions; and the formation of legitimacy, trust, and overall SLO judgements. Next, we highlight the role of actions as the link between SLO judgements and operational outcomes. We note that where individuals’ negative SLO judgements are supressed, or they lack power over organisations, they will not have an impact on operations, causing an uncoupling of SLO judgements and operational outcomes. This uncoupling can also occur if operations are halted for non-SLO related reasons. This model represents a greater level of detail as to the process by which individuals form SLO judgements than previous conceptualisations, thus providing a clearer understanding of how the components of an SLO interact with each other.

Fixing the meaning of floating signifier: Discourses and network analysis in the bioeconomy policy processes in Argentina and Uruguay

The concept of bioeconomy has spread globally as a floating signifier leading to multiple policies and strategies. As an ambiguous concept, bioeconomy policy agendas at national levels draw on a variety of discourses and visions later reshaped by the particular political and social contexts of each country or region. From the broad boundaries of the overarching bioeconomy meta-discourse, local dominant discourses emerge, created and transformed by international and national social actors in the frame of power relations displaying discursive struggles. Analyzing this body of social dimensions, particularly from less studied Global South countries, can contribute to a critical comprehension of ongoing bioeconomy policy processes and the relationship between international regimes and domestic policies. In recent years, efforts to develop bioeconomy and forest-based bioeconomy strategies and related policy-making were observed in Argentina and Uruguay, two neighbouring countries with analogous forest sector development. Against this background, our study aims to explore these ongoing forest-based bioeconomy policy processes. In order to do so, discourse analysis tools were used to identify current dominant visions regarding bioeconomy. Additionally, the main social agents dealing with and promoting forest-based bioeconomy as well as discourse coalitions were identified with social network analysis techniques. Our findings revealed generally scarce activity of bioeconomy policy debate in media, conducted by a narrow number of legitimatized actors, namely the private sector and interest groups in Argentina and government agencies and TNCs in Uruguay. Local promoters and dominant visions mirror pre-existing narratives and experiences excluding alternative visions. Uruguay's forest-based bioeconomy aims to mirror European experiences, while the Argentinian is embedded in the national agricultural bioeconomy discourse. As bioeconomy operates as a floating signifier, political demands are articulated to a particular meaningful configuration partially fixing bioeconomy's meaning. In this process, central actors exert structural power, indicated by their discourse network centrality as a parameter of their social capital, but also hegemonize bioeconomy excluding alternative actors and their visions.

A Conceptual Analysis of What it Means to Decolonize the Curriculum

The concept of decoloniality has been subject to wide-ranging debates among academics and students alike. These discussions have often looked at the issue from a subjective stance, narrowing its meaning down to interpretation based on individuals’ backgrounds and contexts. Consequently, the understanding of decoloniality as it relates to university curricula has remained fragmented, leading to inconsistencies in how it is put into practice. This study, therefore, seeks to address this gap by unpacking the conceptual ambiguity surrounding what it means to decolonize the curricula in university classrooms. Hence, this study intends to deconstruct the decoloniality of the curriculum as it relates to the pedagogical disposition of the classroom in universities using decolonial theory as the basis of argument. The study answers questions about the assumptions of decoloniality suitable to understand the decoloniality of the curriculum. This conceptual analysis is located within a transformative worldview as a lens and employs conceptual analysis as a tool to make sense of the argument deductively from the decolonial premises. The study argues that decolonizing the curriculum is beyond any personal, contextual, historical, and environmental subjectification, and should instead be viewed as advocacy to challenge existing power dynamics towards incorporating traditionally overlooked or excluded ways of doing. Therefore, it is essential to understand “decolonizing the curriculum” from the process of knowing, empowering the disempowered, self-determination, and an anti-oppressive perspective.

Conceptual Ambiguity in Religion-Morality Relationship

Bu çalışmamızda din ile ahlak arasındaki ilişkinin zorunlu bir ilişki olup olmadığının değerlendirilmesi amaçlanmıştır. Öncelikle sebep-sonuç ilişkisi bakımından din ile ahlak arasında mantıksal bir ilişkinin varlığı ele alınmıştır. Bu bağlamda, “Bir kişi A dinine inanıyorsa, o kişi (o dinin ahlaki öğretileri çerçevesinde) ahlaklı olur.” önermesinden yola çıkılarak, bu önerme kullanılarak oluşturulacak şartlı kıyasların geçerlilik durumları incelenmiştir. Böylece, ahlaklı olmanın, davranış düzeyinde değil, kişilik düzeyinde ele alındığı durumlarda özellikle semavi dinler açısından ne denli hayati bir öneme sahip olduğu ortaya konulmuştur. Ahlakın temellerinin neler olabileceğine kısaca değinilmiş, ayrıca bir ahlaki öğretinin en temel kavramlarından sayılabilecek “ödev” ya da “niyet” ve “fayda” ya da “sonuç” ödev ahlakı ve faydacılık açısından incelenmiş ve din-ahlak ilişkisi bağlamında bu kavramların nasıl anlaşılması gerektiği irdelenmiştir. Bir ahlak sistemi içerisindeki amaç ve sonuç gibi kavramların yer değiştirmesi ya da muğlaklaşmasının doğurabileceği menfi sonuçlar tahlil edilmiş ve konuyla ilgili örneklere yer verilmiştir. Daha sonra, aynı sorunların din-ahlak ilişkisi çerçevesinde var olup olmadığı da örneklerle ele alınmıştır. Sonuç olarak, tüm ahlak sistemlerinde olduğu gibi din kaynaklı ahlak sistemlerinin de temel yapı taşlarının kavramlar olduğu kanaati paylaşılmış ve bu kavramların farklı yorumlanmasının ahlak sistemi açısından büyük bir tehdit oluşturduğuna işaret edilmiştir.

Understanding decentralized autonomous organizations from the inside

Blockchain technology is argued to drastically change the way we operate within an organizational context, with decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) representing a first manifestation of this ongoing trend. DAOs are characterized by an online community that builds the organization’s backbone by providing knowledge and human resources in a transparent, virtual manner, as well as the use of blockchain technology to coordinate their endeavor. Nevertheless, current research highlights the conceptual ambiguity of this emerging phenomenon, leading to potential issues for practitioners and researchers. To provide further clarity on the phenomenon, we study DAOs through the perspective of their members with a two-staged approach by combining elements of a netnographic approach and structural topic modeling. Our findings highlight several contextual features surrounding DAOs, such as their members’ underlying beliefs and views, helping to embed DAOs in existing research streams.

MSV: a modular structural variant caller that reveals nested and complex rearrangements by unifying breakends inferred directly from reads

Structural variant (SV) calling belongs to the standard tools of modern bioinformatics for identifying and describing alterations in genomes. Initially, this work presents several complex genomic rearrangements that reveal conceptual ambiguities inherent to the representation via basic SV. We contextualize these ambiguities theoretically as well as practically and propose a graph-based approach for resolving them. For various yeast genomes, we practically compute adjacency matrices of our graph model and demonstrate that they provide highly accurate descriptions of one genome in terms of another. An open-source prototype implementation of our approach is available under the MIT license at https://github.com/ITBE-Lab/MA.

Conceptual and moral ambiguities of deepfakes: a decidedly old turn

Conceptual and moral ambiguities of deepfakes: a decidedly old turn

Concept mapping in tourism: a case study of visitor attitudes

ABSTRACT Concept maps are effective tools designed to summarise prior knowledge by capturing the organisation of key concepts. While common in various areas of research, the value of concept mapping for articulating future trends and directions within and across tourism knowledge (sub)domains is under-explored. Consequently, this short commentary develops a relational concept map of research on visitor attitudes to tourism to stimulate discourse on the benefits and limitations of concept mapping in tourism. The benefits and limitations of concept mapping for articulating progress and trends in tourism knowledge (sub)domains are presented. Future research should critically assess the potency of visual techniques for mitigating conceptual ambiguity in tourism knowledge (sub)domains.

Assessing displacement in a tight housing market: findings from Berlin

Displacement from one’s home is a contested issue, not only in actual urban politics but also in urban research. Empirical studies rely on rather different notions of displacement, which makes a coherent picture of the phenomenon difficult to obtain. In this article, we first deal with the conceptual ambiguities in the debate on displacement so as to carve out an empirically viable definition of direct displacement that focuses on the decision-making process before a relocation. We then present and discuss our own empirical findings on displacement. Finally, we reflect on possible conclusions one could draw from these findings in relation to housing policy. Our empirical results come from a survey we conducted of more than 2,000 tenants who had recently moved from their homes in Berlin, Germany. We found that more than 15% of the respondents had experienced direct displacement. A rent increase after refurbishment or the selling of the property proved to be the most common triggers of displacement. Addressing these particular issues therefore appears to be critical to curbing displacement in tight housing markets.