Abstract ABSTRACT: This experiment focuses on the interaction between tolerance for ambiguity, a personality variable, and field dependence, a cognitive style variable, and how this interaction moderates the relationship between accounting information and managers' decision confidence. The rationale for this exploratory study stems from the fact that previous studies have not explicitly recognized 'cognitive processes at work' when considering the effects of tolerance for ambiguity. The results show that tolerance for ambiguity alone was associated with no significant effects, but when field dependence was taken into account, the interacting effects on decision confidence were significant. The results also provide some support for the hypothesis that tolerance for ambiguity and field dependence interact to moderate the accounting information/decision confidence relationship.
Ferdinand A. Gul (Sun,) studied this question.