It is a matter of definition.
Normally, $z^a$ with $a \in \mathbb Z$ _can_ be defined as a single-valued function without drawbacks, so we do so; it is not defined as $\exp(a \log z)$ but as $z \cdot \dots \cdot z$ $a$ times. (or if $a$ is negative $\frac 1z \cdot \dots \cdot \frac 1z$ $a$ times)
Instead, $z^a$ with $a \in \mathbb R - \mathbb Z$ admits multiple values; in particular, if $a = m/n$ it has $n$ distinct values, while if $a$ is irrational then it has infinite multiple values. (This comes of course from the fact that the complex logarithm is a polydrome function)
There is no ambiguity though, because if $a \in \mathbb Z$ we have that $\exp(a \log z) = z^a$ (as defined above); in particular $\exp(a \log z)$ admits a single value.