Developing a tolerance of ambiguity questionnaire for the workplace and exploring the role of habits in embracing ambiguity
The purpose of this research was to develop a questionnaire to measure tolerance of ambiguity (TOA) in the workplace and to identify how it relates to specific behaviours in the workplace. The outcome provides a survey that can be used to measure individual’s TOA. Based on this measure, individuals can then identify appropriate ways to enhance their ability to work in ambiguous environments.
Existing measurement tools for TOA are quite general and are often applied to social settings. These scales do not adequately assess TOA in the workplace. To develop a new measure of TOA, a set of 111 items were compiled. These items were either adapted from existing measures of TOA or created for the purposes of this project and worded to reflect ambiguity in a workplace setting. The TOA items were combined with other measures of personality and related constructs to form a large, 228-item questionnaire. Statistical analysis was conducted to test the items and 50 items were included in the final TOA measure. Analysis was also conducted to identify how TOA relates to other constructs such as creativity, leadership and teamwork.
PPRG contacts: Associate Professor Peter O’Connor and Associate Professor Karen Becker