Ambiguity: Unpacking the “Constant State of Limbo” Characteristic to Digitalized Work in Knowledge Professions

Digitalization is changing the nature of work in knowledge professions in significant ways. One of the oft-observed, yet poorly understood, consequences of work digitalization in this context is increased ambiguity, frequently captured under the notion of blurred boundaries and paradoxes. While the introduction of ICTs is often credited with the potential to bring about ambiguity in a work context, we lack an in-depth understanding of how and why digitalization can introduce ambiguity, and what ambiguity actually means in this context. In this paper, we aim to further our current theorization of ambiguity in ICT-enabled work in knowledge professions. We offer a conceptual clarification of three related issues: (1) why does digitalization introduce ambiguity, (2) what kinds of ambiguities digitalization introduces, and (3) how workers act upon ambiguity.