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Abstract: Causal ambiguity concerns the ambiguity of the causality between competences and performance. Most publications on causal ambiguity lack a dynamic approach, and few studies have addressed how ambiguity increases or decreases during the course of time. We argue that causal ambiguity can be divided into three separate dimensions, i.e. socially complex characteristic ambiguity, tacit characteristic ambiguity, and linkage ambiguity. This paper addresses how competences are diffused within an organization and how this affects the three dimensions of causal ambiguity. In course of time competences are likely to be more and more diffused in an organization, from the individual level, to the group level(s), to the organizational level. Also, we propose that when competences are diffused from the level of the individual to the organizational level, tacit characteristic ambiguity and linkage ambiguity are likely to decrease whereas socially complex characteristic ambiguity is likely to increase. The paper is conceptual and we combine causal ambiguity literature with knowledge management theory and organizational learning theory to argue for our three propositions. Also, we discuss various factors that are likely to influence socially complex characteristic ambiguity, tacit characteristic ambiguity, and linkage ambiguity and propose different avenues of future research. For example, the various dimensions of ambiguity is likely to develop differently in mechanic and organic organizations. This paper is the first paper to discuss the relationship between the level of causal ambiguity and the extent to which competencies are diffused throughout an organization. Using organizational learning theory, the paper adds a more dynamic dimension to the causal ambiguity literature.
Keywords: causal ambiguity, organizational learning, knowledge management, tacitness, characteristic ambiguity, linkage ambiguity
1. Introduction
Causal ambiguity refers to the uncertainty that generally surrounds the linkage between the competences of a firm and its performance (Lippman & Rumelt, 1982; Mosakowski, 1997; Reed & DeFillippi, 1990). Since the seminal contribution of Lippman and Rumelt (1982), the concept of causal ambiguity has received increasing attention in strategic management and organization theory research. Contemporary research on causal ambiguity has differentiated between inter-firm and intra-firm causal ambiguity (King, 2007; King & Zeithaml, 2001) by, for example, examining the linkage between ambiguity and managerial perceptions at the intra-firm level (Powell, Lovallo, & Caringal, 2006), how ambiguity influences knowledge transfer in alliances at the...