Editing Uncertainty avoidance (section)

==Applications==
===Business===

David S. Baker and Kerry D. Carson performed a study to evaluate uncertainty avoidance among field sales personnel. They selected 155 subjects from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. Their research pointed towards individuals using both attachment and avoidance to lower their uncertainty avoidance in the workplace. People who were high on uncertainty avoidance and those low on it behaved differently. Sales personnel who were low on uncertainty avoidance saw no need to attach with their team or adapt to their environment, but those high on it used both avoidance and attachment to deal with situations. Those who reported moderate levels of uncertainty avoidance preferred to use adaptation rather than attachment when needed. <ref>{{cite journal|last1=Baker|first1=David|last2=Carson|first2=Kerry|title=The Two Faces of Uncertainty Avoidance: Attachment and Adaptation|journal=Journal of Behavioral & Applied Management|date=1975|volume=12|issue=2|pages=128–141|url=http://ibam.com/pubs/jbam/articles/vol12/No2/3%20-%20Baker%20and%20Carson.pdf}}</ref> 

In a study conducted by Nelson O. Ndubisi, Naresh K. Malhotra, Dilber Ulas, and Gibson C. Ndubisi it was found that customer loyalty is less in countries with low uncertainty avoidance. Additionally, it can be inferred from the study that customer trust is higher in countries with high uncertainty avoidance.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Ndubisi|first1=Nelson Oly|last2=Malhotra|first2=Naresh K.|last3=Ulas|first3=Dilber|last4=Ndubisi|first4=Gibson C.|title=Examining Uncertainty Avoidance, Relationship Quality, and Customer Loyalty in Two Cultures|journal=Journal of International Consumer Marketing|date=October 2012|volume=24|issue=5|pages=320–337|doi=10.1080/08961530.2012.741477|s2cid=143389337}}</ref>

It is also believed that the uncertainty avoidance index (UAI) has a significant effect on consumers' acceptance of unfamiliar brands in the retail market. Brand familiarity, celebrity endorsement, and cultural differences all have an effect on determining an individual's UAI. Eliane Karsaklian has studied the effect UAI has on consumers' attitudes towards familiar and unfamiliar brands in different cultures (specifically American and French). She concludes that uncertainty avoidance has a deep role in shaping consumers' attitudes towards brands.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Karsaklian|first1=Eliane|title=When The Packaging Tells More About The Unfamiliar Brands: A Cross-Cultural Research With American and French Consumers|url=http://www.anzmac2010.org/proceedings/pdf/anzmac10Final00136.pdf|website=ANZMAC 2010|access-date=10 December 2017}}</ref> However, the claim that UAI (or any other dimension) has an "effect" is inconsistent with Hofstede's acknowledgement in his reply to Brendan McSweeney (Human Relations, 55.11 - 2002)  that "dimensions do not exist" and therefore cannot be causal i.e. they cannot have effects. Like many studies, Karsaklian analysis confuses correlation with causation.

Hofstede concluded that people in high uncertainty avoidance societies may avoid changing jobs. Whereas, people in low uncertainty avoidance societies may feel more at ease with changing jobs.<ref name="TenMinutes" /><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hofstede |first1=Geert |title=Dimensionalizing Cultures: The Hofstede Model in Context |journal=Online Readings in Psychology and Culture |date=1 December 2011 |volume=2 |issue=1 |doi=10.9707/2307-0919.1014|doi-access=free }}</ref>

===Politics===

In politics, cultures with high uncertainty avoidance citizens tend to have low interest in politics and citizen protests are repressed. This is because political unrest would bring about changes which the majority would not be comfortable with. There also tends to be many laws with laws being more specific as to avoid any uncertainty in the interpretation and to guide which behavior is acceptable.
On the other side of the spectrum in cultures with low uncertainty avoidance citizens tend to be very interested in politics as it serves as a tool for change. Protests are accepted as another tool for change and laws are general.<ref>{{cite web|title=Uncertainty Avoidance|url=http://www.clearlycultural.com/geert-hofstede-cultural-dimensions/uncertainty-avoidance-index/|work=Make Sense of Cross Cultural Communication|access-date=17 June 2013}}</ref>

===Crime===
In 2005 Robert M. Wiedenhaefer conducted a study on the factors contributing to terrorism. Wiedenhaefer concluded that uncertainty avoidance has a high association with terrorism. He asserted through his analysis that uncertainty avoidance is the strongest predictor in such crimes.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wiedenhaefer|first1=Robert|title=Ethnopsychological factors associated with terrorism|date=2006}}</ref>

Ellen Giebels, Miriam Oostinga, Paul Taylor, and Joanna Curtis conducted a study in February 2017 on the impact between police-civilian interactions. They hypothesized that a clear and more communicative style of interaction would be used by high uncertainty avoidance negotiators. Their study supported this hypothesis. In addition, they found that uncertainty avoidance highly influences interactions between said individuals.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Giebels|first1=Ellen|last2=Oostinga|first2=Miriam S. D.|last3=Taylor|first3=Paul J.|last4=Curtis|first4=Joanna L.|title=The cultural dimension of uncertainty avoidance impacts police–civilian interaction.|journal=Law and Human Behavior|volume=41|issue=1|pages=93–102|doi=10.1037/lhb0000227|pmid=27936827|language=en-uS|year=2017|s2cid=4374488|url=https://research.utwente.nl/en/publications/the-cultural-dimension-of-uncertainty-avoidance-impacts-policecivilian-interaction(f3fc47d5-dfa4-44cf-b2e2-1b2b47eb583b).html}}</ref>

===Education===

In cultures with high uncertainty avoidance, teachers are viewed as having all the answers and learning is structured. In cultures with low uncertainty avoidance, teachers are not necessarily viewed as all knowing and the learning is open minded with less focus on facts.<ref>{{cite web|last=Tidwell|first=Charles|title=Hofstede: Uncertainty Avoidance|url=http://www.andrews.edu/~tidwell/bsad560/HofstedeUncertainityAvoidance.html|access-date=20 June 2013}}</ref>

=== Nursing ===
In the study of ''Transformational Leadership, Creative Self-Efficacy, Trust in Supervisor, Uncertainty Avoidance, and Innovative Work Behavior of Nurses'' done by Bilal Afsar and Mariam Masood in Mansehra, Pakistan, there were two groups of nurses to see how the relationship among transformational leadership relate to their work behaviors in [[self-efficacy]], trust in superiors, and uncertainty avoidance. The first study hypothesized that there is a correlation between transformational leadership, trust, and uncertainty avoidance that takes a toll on the successfulness or effectiveness of their work behavior. The second study hypothesized that the correlation between transformational leadership, trust, and uncertainty avoidance is due to self-efficacy. With a strong and effective transformational leader, leader that finds a change that needs to be done and makes the change following a specific path with the help of members in the group, providing them with what is necessary to work with; makes their work behavior more successful when nurses have a high level of trust and uncertainty avoidance.<ref name="Afsar2018">{{Cite journal|last1=Afsar|first1=Bilal|last2=Masood|first2=Mariam|date=2018|title=Transformational Leadership, Creative Self-Efficacy, Trust in Supervisor, Uncertainty Avoidance, and Innovative Work Behavior of Nurses|journal=The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science|language=en|volume=54|issue=1|pages=36–61|doi=10.1177/0021886317711891|s2cid=148852338 |issn=0021-8863|doi-access=free}}</ref>

The nurses from Study 1 were from public sector hospitals where they were allowed to test out new ideas without the fear of losing their job. They were allowed to take risks in their job location. Employees with high uncertainty avoidance deal with uncertainty through the use of rules and regulations that are set in place. Transformational leaders assist their employees or people below them to take their risks with the correct research and knowledge prior to taking them. These employees with high UA are more open to their transformational leaders. The nurses from Study 2 were from private sector hospitals where they were allowed to do the same as Study 1. Both studies turned out to have the same conclusion, where there were high levels of trust and uncertainty avoidance, transformational leadership had a higher relationship with innovative behavior. Also, creative [[self-efficacy]] did have a correlation among transformational leadership, trust, and uncertainty avoidance. Although, it was discovered that transformational leadership was only useful when there was high levels of trust and high uncertainty avoidance. The leadership wouldn't work if there was a high level of trust and low uncertainty avoidance or the opposite. <ref name="Afsar2018" />