Correlates Of Ambiguity Research Articles

Understanding the Sport Event Volunteer Experience: An Investigation of Role Ambiguity and Its Correlates

The present study tested a theoretical model of the correlates of role ambiguity of major sport event volunteers. The sample consisted of 328 volunteers involved with the 2012 Ontario Summer Games. Participants completed an online questionnaire post-Games that included measures of role ambiguity, role difficulty, training, supervision, effort, performance, role satisfaction, overall satisfaction with the Games, and future volunteer intentions. The findings provide support for a multidimensional model of role ambiguity, consisting of performance outcome ambiguity and means-ends/scope ambiguity in this context. A final model indicated that perceived effective supervision was inversely associated with both dimensions of ambiguity, and they differentially predicted role effort, performance, and role satisfaction. Role performance and role satisfaction predicted overall satisfaction with the Games experience, which was significantly associated with future intentions to volunteer. Implications for sport event volunteer management and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Effects of representational distance between meanings on the neural correlates of semantic ambiguity

Psycholinguistic research demonstrates that representational distance between meanings influences recognition of ambiguous words. Our goal was to investigate whether the neural correlates of ambiguity are also modulated by representational distance as a function of syntactic similarity (i.e., grammatical class) and meaning dominance. In an event-related fMRI experiment, participants completed a visual lexical decision task that included balanced and unbalanced noun–noun and noun–verb homonyms, unambiguous words, and nonwords. Syntactic similarity effects were observed in left inferior frontal regions, with greater activation for noun–verb than noun–noun homonyms. Meaning dominance effects were observed in left middle and superior temporal regions, with greater activation for balanced than unbalanced homonyms. These findings indicate that the behavioral cost associated with processing ambiguous word meanings, modulated by syntactic similarity and meaning dominance, is reflected in the neural systems underlying ambiguity processing, as frontal and temporal regions are recruited by increased competition as a function of representational distance.

The social environment and illness uncertainty in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Illness uncertainty is associated with worse outcomes in patients with chronic health conditions. Research on social factors associated with uncertainty has focused on the beneficial role of social support. The goal of this study was to develop a more nuanced understanding of the social factors that are associated with uncertainty. Four hundred sixty-two individuals with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD)-associated chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) completed a mailed questionnaire. Measures of the social environment included general family functioning, perceived criticism from family members, whether the participant had family members with AATD or COPD, and participation in support groups. Uncertainty was measured using the Mishel Uncertainty in Illness Scale including subscales for ambiguity (uncertainty about physical cues and symptoms) and complexity (uncertainty about treatment and the medical system). Hierarchical regression was used to identify social correlates of ambiguity and complexity while adjusting for demographic and medical characteristics and psychological distress. Perceived criticism was associated with more complexity (b = 0.21, SE = 0.09, p = 0.015) and ambiguity (b = 0.40, SE = 0.12, p = 0.001). Having a family member with AATD or COPD was associated with more ambiguity (b = 3.28, SE = 1.00, p = 0.001). Participation in support groups was associated with less ambiguity. Individuals who attended three or more support groups in the prior year reported less ambiguity than individuals who had not attended any (b = -3.31, SE = 1.29, p = 0.010). The social environment is complex and encompasses more than social support. Multiple aspects of the social environment are associated with uncertainty, including perceived criticism, having a family member with a similar illness, and participation in support groups.

Tolerating Ambiguity

Many models of word recognition predict a lexical ambiguity disadvantage in semantic categorization tasks (SCTs). However, recent evidence suggests that an ambiguity disadvantage in SCT results from a bias in the decision-making phase of the task and not in the meaning-activation phase: Behavioral effects of ambiguity disappear when these decision biases are controlled (Pexman, Hino, & Lupker, 2004). The current study used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the neural correlates of ambiguity in a task that produced no behavioral ambiguity effect (i.e., SCT with a well-defined decision category). Twenty healthy adults participated. Results showed that despite producing no behavioral effect of ambiguity, ambiguous words were associated with the recruitment of cortical structures implicated in top-down modulation of noisy activity (e.g., left inferior frontal gyrus) when compared to unambiguous words. These results are interpreted as evidence that multiple meanings are activated for ambiguous words in SCT.

Information control, role perceptions, and work outcomes of boundary-spanning frontline managers

Previous research demonstrates the destructive consequences of role stress for the work outcomes of employees occupying boundary-spanning positions. Most studies examine the behavior and performance of industrial salespeople. In contrast, limited evidence exists regarding the antecedents and consequences of role stress in service organizations. This article helps fill this notable gap by investigating the correlates of role ambiguity in the context of frontline managers in banking institutions. The article offers a conceptual model and an empirical test using data gathered from 316 bank branch managers. The study findings reveal that information control is an effective mechanism for reducing role ambiguity. The results also indicate that role ambiguity negatively affects job performance and job satisfaction, intrinsic motivation positively relates to job satisfaction, and bank managers' job performance enhances branch effectiveness. The article concludes with a discussion of study implications and suggestions for future research in the field.

In the Eye of the Beholder: Internally Driven Uncertainty of Danger Recruits the Amygdala and Dorsomedial Prefrontal Cortex

Interpretation of emotional context is a pivotal aspect of understanding social situations. A critical component of this process is assessment of danger levels in the surrounding, which may have a direct effect on the organism's survival. The limbic system has been implicated in mediating this assessment. In situations of uncertainty, the evaluation process may also call for greater involvement of prefrontal cortex for decision-making and planning of an appropriate behavioral response. In the following study, morphed face images depicting emotional expressions were used to examine brain correlates of subjective uncertainty and perceptual ambiguity regarding danger. Fear and neutral expressions of 20 faces were morphed, and each of the face videos was divided into three sequences of equal length representing three levels of objective certainty regarding the expressions neutral, fear, and ambiguous. Sixteen subjects were scanned in a 1.5-T scanner while viewing 60 x 6-sec video sequences and were asked to report their subjective certainty regarding the level of danger surrounding the face on a four-level scale combining definite/maybe and danger/no-danger values. The individual responses were recorded and used as the basis for a "subjective protocol" versus an "objective protocol." Significant activations of the amygdala, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex were observed under the subjective protocol of internally driven uncertainty, but not under objective stimuli-based ambiguity. We suggest that this brain network is involved in generating subjective assessment of social affective cues. This study provides further support to the "relevance detector" theory of the amygdala and implicates its importance to behavior relying heavily on subjective assessment of danger, such as in the security domain context.

Risky Business: Disambiguating Ambiguity-Related Responses in the Brain

Previous functional MRI studies reported neural correlates of risk and ambiguity based on behavioral economic theories. A recent study controlled for uncertainty by adding noise to information of an impending aversive event and demonstrated brain areas that did not track the degree of uncertainty: the activation peaked when the degraded information could be restored by cognitive efforts. In this review, we discuss how the variables defined in economics and cognitive psychology frameworks can be dissociated.

The Neurocognition of Referential Ambiguity in Language Comprehension

AbstractReferential ambiguity arises whenever readers or listeners are unable to select a unique referent for a linguistic expression out of multiple candidates. In the current article, we review a series of neurocognitive experiments from our laboratory that examine the neural correlates of referential ambiguity, and that employ the brain signature of referential ambiguity to derive functional properties of the language comprehension system. The results of our experiments converge to show that referential ambiguity resolution involves making an inference to evaluate the referential candidates. These inferences only take place when both referential candidates are, at least initially, equally plausible antecedents. Whether comprehenders make these anaphoric inferences is strongly context dependent and co‐determined by characteristics of the reader. In addition, readers appear to disregard referential ambiguity when the competing candidates are each semantically incoherent, suggesting that, under certain circumstances, semantic analysis can proceed even when referential analysis has not yielded a unique antecedent. Finally, results from a functional neuroimaging study suggest that whereas the neural systems that deal with referential ambiguity partially overlap with those that deal with referential failure, they show an inverse coupling with the neural systems associated with semantic processing, possibly reflecting the relative contributions of semantic and episodic processing to re‐establish semantic and referential coherence, respectively.

The effects of homonymy and polysemy on lexical access: an MEG study

We examined the neural correlates of semantic ambiguity by measuring changes in MEG recordings during a visual lexical decision task in which the properties of ambiguous words were manipulated. Words that are ambiguous between unrelated meanings (like bark, which can refer to a tree or to a dog) were accessed more slowly than words that have no unrelated meanings (such as cage). In addition, words that have many related senses (e.g., belt, which can be an article of clothing or, closely related in sense, a fan belt used in machinery) were accessed faster than words that have few related senses (e.g., ant). The findings are inconsistent with accounts that posit that both kinds of ambiguity involve separate lexical entries, but instead offer both behavioral and neurophysiological support for separate entry accounts only for homonymy, and a single-entry model of polysemy. The findings also provide neural correlates for a behavioral study of lexical ambiguity that demonstrated that the frequently reported ambiguity advantage in lexical decision tasks is not due to the presence of many unrelated meanings but to the presence of many related senses.

Ethical correlates of role conflict and ambiguity in marketing: The mediating role of cognitive moral development

Researchers in marketing ethics have identified the importance of cognitive moral development (CMD) in marketing ethics models. This study looks at selected correlates of role conflict and role ambiguity in marketing, especially the mediating role of CMD. Of the correlates examined, the results seem to support the existence of statistically significant relationships between CMD and role conflict and ambiguity. Implications for practitioners are provided. For example, the study could have direct implications for management personnel who have the responsibility of hiring ethical people and helping them address any role conflict or ambiguity that may arise from their job.

Work Role Ambiguity, Job Satisfaction, and Job Performance: Meta-Analyses and Review

Formal meta-analytic methods were used to examine studies of two primary correlates of work role ambiguity, (a) job satisfaction (global and intrinsic) and (b) job performance (self- and independently evaluated). 88 studies were examined, 39 of which were included in the meta-analyses. Results suggest role ambiguity is significantly and negatively related to both satisfaction and performance but very weakly to the latter. Also, true variance in correlations exists across studies, suggesting that the effects of role ambiguity vary depending upon other variables. Results are consistent with previous research and suggest that role ambiguity is a valid construct in organizational research and is usually associated with lower job satisfaction. The primary sources used in the meta-analysis are included.

Stress and the union steward's role

AbstractThis paper develops and tests hypotheses concerning some psychological correlates of role ambiguity and role conflict in a population that has not been extensively studied in relation to stress, union stewards. Survey data on role ambiguity and role conflict, the indicators of stress, were collected from 285 stewards at the local union steward meeting, with the stewards perceiving a moderate amount of role ambiguity and perceiving a lesser amount of role conflict. The stewards were also asked about their role expectations, their motivations for remaining a steward, their grievance handling strategies, and their affective commitment toward the union and employer. Each of those four sets of variables was hypothesized to be related to role ambiguity and role conflict and each was influential in explaining variance. As predicted, those stewards who were more motivated to remain stewards for personal reasons had both higher role ambiguity and higher role conflict. Further, the conditions of being more motivated to remain a steward to help the union and employees and having higher union commitment were associated with lower role conflict, but, opposite to the hypotheses, higher role ambiguity.

Role Conflict and Role Ambiguity of Chief Executive Officers in International Joint Ventures

This study examines the organizational and personal correlates of role conflict and role ambiguity of chief executive officers heading international joint ventures. Role conflict was found to be lower when the number of parent firms was higher and when the CEO had spent more years with the organization. Role ambiguity was found to be lower when the CEO had more years of education, when the Power Distance and Masculinity/Femininity gap between parents were lower, and when the Individualism/Collectivism and Uncertainty Avoidance gaps were higher. The implications of these findings for role theory and international management are discussed.

A meta-analysis and conceptual critique of research on role ambiguity and role conflict in work settings

Although role ambiguity and role conflict have been studied extensively in the organizational sciences, there remain numerous empirical discrepancies among the reported research results. Consequently, disagreement exists as to what can be concluded about the role ambiguity and role conflict research. Coupled with this empirical impasse has been a persistent and relatively singular approach to conceptually studying role ambiguity and role conflict. In response to this empirical and conceptual situation, a meta-analysis and a conceptual reevaluation of the role ambiguity and role conflict research were performed. Using the Hunter, Schmidt, and Jackson (1982, Meta-analysis: Cumulating research findings across studies, Beverly Hills, CA: Sage) meta-analysis procedures, this study analyzed 29 correlates of role ambiguity and role conflict. These correlates include ten organizational context variables, five individual characteristics, ten affective reactions, and four behavioral reactions. Meta-analysis procedures were used to measure the strength and consistency of the relationship found between each of the 29 correlates and role ambiguity and role conflict. Meta-analysis was also used to determine where moderator variables should play a critical part in future role ambiguity and role conflict research. Based on the results of the meta-analysis, several empirical summaries and conclusions are presented. Along with these, several conceptual observations and reconceptualizing suggestions are offered. It is concluded that while a great deal is known about role ambiguity and role conflict in the organizational sciences much remains to be learned.

A meta-analysis of the correlates of role conflict and ambiguity.

A meta-analysis of the correlates of role conflict and ambiguity.

A meta-analysis of the correlates of role conflict and ambiguity.

The correlational literature concerning the relationships of role conflict and ambiguity to numerous hypothesized antecedents and consequences is still somewhat unclear after a decade of research Schmidt-Hunter meta-analysis procedures were applied to the results of 43 past studies in an effort to draw valid conclusions about the magnitude and direction of these relationships in the population For some correlates, apparently inconsistent research results could be ascribed largely to statistical artifacts. For other correlates, it seems that moderator research may be needed to explain conflicting results across samples In the last 12 years, there has been a great deal of correlational research on the relationships between perceived role ambiguity and role conflict and a host of hypothesized antecedents (such as tenure, formalization, boundary spanning) and consequences (such as job satisfaction, job involvement, performance, tension, propensity to leave the job). Although nearly all studies have been crosssectional, one laboratory study did find that role conflict caused a host of dysfunctional affective and behavioral outcomes (Manning, Ismail, & Sherwood, 1981) Thus, the consequences of these two types of role stress have potentially important cost implications for organizations. Whereas the costs of turnover and substandard performance are obvious, the true cost of attitudinal variables is just beginning to be understood (Cascio, 1982; Mirvis & Lawler, 1977). Therefore, efforts to obtain a better understanding of role conflict, role ambiguity, and their correlates are certainly justified.