A cross-cultural study of the relationship between decision making and tolerance for uncertainty in Russian and Azerbaijani students

Abstract

In the current paper, we present the results of the comparisons of the average values of and patterns of interrelationships between variables of tolerance-intolerance for uncertainty and decision making strategies (vigilance, back-passing, procrastination, hypervigilance) in Russian and Azerbaijani students. We report on the successful verification of the four-factor structure of the Melbourne Decision Making Questionnaire in the sample of students from Azerbaijan. The cross-cultural comparison of student samples has not established any differences in the manifestation of the productive decision making style – Vigilance – or its interrelationships with tolerance for uncertainty. However, we established differences in the preference of Moscow and Baku students of unproductive decision making styles (back-passing, procrastination, hypervigilance), gender differences and specific interconnections of Melbourne Decision Making Questionnaire scales with attitude to uncertainty. We also show that the most productive decision making style – vigilance – is associated with academic achievement in Russian students.