This dissertation provides results of three studies, which examine the utilization of organizational performance measurement systems. Evidence gathered in the first study provides insight into the number of perspectives or components found in the evaluation of an organization's performance and the relative weight placed on those components. The evidence suggests that the number of performance measurement components and their relative composition is situational. Components depend heavily on the strategies selected by the organization. Bottom-line financial measures like return on invested capital and net profit, while perceived as more important than their nonfinancial counterparts, were not part of the extracted components suggesting that they were viewed as outcomes to be achieved by controlling key nonfinancial measures. The second study examines potential cognitive difficulties inherent in the use of performance measurement systems. Results suggest that whether performance was better than target, worse than target, or equal to target does not affect the perceived importance of the measures. Results also suggest an emphasis on historical financial measures and a lack of emphasis on more forward-looking nonfinancial measures. In addition, there is evidence of a halo effect in that an organization's performance on financial measures appears to influence an individual's perception of the organization's performance on nonfinancial measures. The third study uses structural equation modeling and other related procedures to examine the relationships surrounding an executive's use of performance measurement information. Results suggest that a personality characteristic of executives, specifically their intolerance of ambiguity, affects the amount of information perceived to be important in a performance measurement system. The results further suggest that the amount of information perceived to be important affects the evaluation of organizational performance with perceived risk serving as a mediating variable. Overall, these three studies add to our knowledge of organizational performance measurement system utilization by examining the relative weightings of performance measures, the judgmental effects from utilization of performance measurement systems, and the impact of intolerance of ambiguity on the importance of performance measurement data. In addition, this dissertation examines the link between performance measurement data and the perception of risk in the evaluation of organizational performance. / Ph. D.

国立情報学研究所で電子化したコンテンツを使用している。

Times of transition are laden with ambiguity, and the move from high school to college has an additional component of role changes to add to this uncertainty. In the spring and summer of 2020, this transition was disrupted by the changes brought on by the pandemic, affecting social norms, routines, and overall mental health outcomes. For professionals such as counselors and advisors to be able to provide specialized support, it is important to understand emerging adults' experiences at this time and to identify factors that helped them cope with this transition. Understanding the development of coping strategies has direct implications for both therapy and clinical practice which can work together to provide a higher quality of care for the people affected by the stress of major life transitions. In this study, I used a mixed-methods design to understand the experience of emerging adults who graduated high school during the pandemic, and the relation between tolerance for ambiguity and coping strategies, resilience, and psychological impact. / Master of Science / The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on so many of us here in the United States and abroad. This was a time in which so much of what we considered normal was totally disrupted by all of the changes that the pandemic caused. For my thesis I wanted to look at how the pandemic changed the ways that students who were in high school transitioned and moved on to college. I wanted to know what existing factors such as their ability to handle uncertainty impacted this transition and if it ended up being helpful for them. For this project I looked at how a person's ability to handle uncertainty, called tolerance for ambiguity in this study, impacted students abilities to cope with uncertainty, psychological impact of the pandemic, and resiliency overall.

Uncertainty avoidance as a cultural construct has been known to affect worker stress and performance in organizations, but a review of these findings has not been done up until this point. In effort to clarify the relationship between uncertainty avoidance and stress and performance, a comprehensive literature search was performed. Findings from articles on this topic have been presented. In addition, organizational practices for accommodating uncertainty avoidance and other cultural dimensions have been explored. This review shows that uncertainty avoidance appears to be linked to higher stress, while its relationship to performance appears to depend on other factors. Best practices for accommodating uncertainty avoidance tend to include enhanced communication and structure. Ideas for future research on this topic are discussed.

Based on the data obtained, the features of tolerance for ambiguity in adolescents and its relationship with achievement motivation and self-efficacy are demonstrated. / В работе продемонстрированы особенности толерантности к неопределенности старших подростков, взаимосвязь толерантности к неопределенности с мотивацией достижения и самоэффективностью.