Emojis are pictographs added to messages on social media and websites. Researchers have observed that emojis representing kissing faces are often used to close instant messaging conversations. This has been interpreted as an imitation of cheek kissing, a common behavior in some cultural contexts. We analyze the use of seven types of kissing emojis in three corpora of WhatsApp chats, one from Spain (where cheek kisses in face-to-face interaction are commonplace in many situations), the other from Germany (where kisses are occasionally given), and the third from the German-speaking part of Switzerland (where cheek kisses are a common greeting between relatives and friends). To do so, we systematically categorize and compare the use of a sample of these emojis on WhatsApp. The analysis suggests that there are differences between the three corpora in the use of the kissing emojis. The emoji “face throwing a kiss” is often included in closing messages in the Spanish and Swiss-German data, while in the Federal German corpus kisses do not appear at the end of a conversation; using these emojis in openings is uncommon in all three corpora. This suggests that these emojis can exhibit cultural variation, but they do not clearly mirror face-to-face behavior.

Research questions: How does competition and collaboration between subsidiaries influenceknowledge transfer? What effect does culture have on knowledge transfer?Purpose: This study explores the complex dynamics of knowledge transfer in MNCs, focusing inparticular on the effects of cultural variations and the interaction between competitive and cooperativedynamics among subsidiaries. The study, which is based on an exploratory research methodology,attempts to connect theoretical understandings with real-world consequences for MNC managementtactics.Method: Utilizing a blend of qualitative approaches, including semi-structured interviews andthematic analysis, the study explores the transfer of knowledge within Hitachi Energy, a prominentinternational enterprise that functions in several cultural and geographical environments.Conclusion: The research reveals the opportunities and challenges that come withinformation-sharing procedures by carefully examining subsidiary dynamics and cultural factors.Knowledge transfer inside MNCs is frequently impeded by competitive pressures. However,cooperative efforts, such as joint projects and cross-functional teams, have demonstrated the potentialto alleviate these obstacles and promote cooperation among subsidiaries. The impact of culturaldifferences on communication styles and openness is important, underscoring the significance ofcultural awareness initiatives in enhancing the flow of knowledge.The findings highlight the significance of cultivating cooperative settings and tackling culturaldifferences to promote efficient knowledge transfer and improve global operations. It is suggested thatfurther research be done on the integration of cutting-edge technologies like blockchain and artificialintelligence and that specific training programs be developed to encourage cross-culturalcommunication and cooperation. In the end, this study advances our understanding of the dynamics ofmultinational knowledge and offers useful advice for enhancing cooperation and communicationamongst geographically separated teams

The increase in globalization and trade among larger industrialized countries and smaller developing countries has increased the awareness and need to better communicate risk and hazard information for consumer and manufacturing products. The purpose of this research was to examine cultural differences associated with risk communication and risk perception. The research observed cultural differences in hazard perception associated with color, signal words, and symbols among industry workers from the United States of America and the Republic of Ghana. The research also examined the perception of risk associated with general everyday statements as well as locus of control. A total of 96 industry workers from both the USA and the Republic of Ghana participated in this study (USA = 46, Ghana = 50). Four different hypotheses were tested in this research. The hypotheses that were tested focused on risk perception (21 items) and locus of control (9 items), hazard perception and attention-getting for 6 symbols (carefulness, severity of injury implied, and understanding were also measured for the symbols) and 16 hazard signs. A pair wise comparison was used in one portion of the study in which 120 different signal word and color combination hazard signs were used. A nine-point Likert-type scale was used to evaluate the risk perception items. A four point Likert-type scale was used to measure locus of control. The results from the study concluded that there are significant differences between the two cultures and the way individuals perceive risk, perceive hazards associated symbols, evaluate hazard signs, and locus of control. A total risk perception score as well as individual risk perception scores were calculated for the 21 items using an independent sample t-test. The results for the total risk perception revealed significant differences between the two groups (t (84) = 6.43, p < .0001) with the participants from the USA having an overall higher risk perception with the mean equaling 6.39 and the participants from Ghana equaling 5.28. Significant findings such as those from the risk perception portion of this study as well as other significant findings in this study will contribute to suggested guidelines and implications for safety training in a global work environment. Such guidelines and implications include using the SKULL symbol instead of the MR YUCK symbol to communicate hazard in Ghana and suggesting that the BOLT and ELECTRIC SHOCK symbol can be used interchangeably. / Master of Science

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No description available.

Till denna studie har vårt empiriska material baserats på sex individers utsagor. Vi har valt att göra en kvalitativ intervjustudie för att undersöka individernas upplevelser kring ett fenomen. Val av ämne inspirerades av samhällsdebatten som förs kring flyktingar, asylsökande och immigranter. Det har deltagit sex informanter i studien och de har alla varit bosatta i Sverige i över åtta år. Tre av informanterna som deltagit i studien kom till Sverige som ensamkommande asylsökande och tre kom på grund av anknytning till anhörig.  Studiens mål var att lyssna till informanternas egna upplevelser och utsagor. Baserat på detta blev syftet med studien att förstå hur individer som immigrerat till Sverige upplever integrationen samt vilket stöd som finns att tillgå.  Vi har lutat oss mot tidigare forskning som innefattar begreppen integration och “vi” och “dom”. Vi har även använt oss av begrepp som handlar om vardagsrasism, kultur och tillhörighet. Med hjälp av tidigare forskning och begrepp har vi jämsides med det empiriska materialet analyserat och fått fram resultat. Resultatet visade att integrationen är komplex och att våra informanter har uppfattat detta. Informanterna ser att samhällsstödet har hjälpt dem att bli en del i det svenska samhället. Samtidigt har informanterna stött på olika hinder vad gäller integrationsprocessen. Detta var något som visade sig i form av vardagsrasism, utanförskap,  och anpassning av den nya kulturen. / The empiric data is based on six individuals’ statements. We have chosen to make a qualitative interview study to investigate individuals' experiences of a phenomenon. The selection of study field was inspired by the social debate about refuges, asylum seekers and immigrants. There have participated six informants in the study and they have been resident in Sweden for over 8 years. Three of the informants who participated in the study, came to Sweden as an unaccompanied asylum seeker and three came because of connection to kin. Our goal was to listen to the informants' own life experiences and statements. Based the statements, the purpose of the study was to investigate how people, who have immigrated to Sweden, experiences the integration process and what kind of social support is available for their integration. We have leaned towards previous research, for instance, the concepts of integration and the meaning of "us" and "them". We also used the concept which relates to everyday racism, culture and connection. Using previous research and concepts we have alongside the empirical material analyzed and produced results. The results showed that the integration is complex and that our informants have comprehend the phenomenon. They think that the social support has helped them to become a part of the Swedish society. At the same time the informants encountered various obstacles in terms of everyday racism and the adaptation of the new culture

In recent years the important of leadership in the organization has become an area of interest. Leadership has been noted to impact corporate culture, employee commitment and response and the overall performance of the organization. Given the fact that leadership is such an important part of organizational development and discourse, effective methods for developing effective leadership in the organization are needed. Without definitive methods for leadership development, organizations will not be able to optimize the outcomes of leadership in the organization. Thus, there is a clear impetus to delineate what works best in the context of leadership development. This study used concurrent qualitative and quantitative research to understand better the effect of cross-cultural influences on the leadership development programmes and leadership practices development in a study population consisting of managers and supervisors in the Kuwaiti banking industry. Although Kuwaiti organisations employ many international employees and operate foreign subsidiaries, they have not created leadership development programmes to improve cross-cultural leadership skills for managers. As a result, Kuwaiti managers often rely on traditional transactional methods and an authoritarian style of leadership that may be less effective with employees from different nations and cultural backgrounds. The qualitative phase of the research collected data from Kuwaiti bank managers through interviews while the quantitative phase of the research collected data with survey instrument. The quantitative phase of the study also tested the validity of a conceptual model and hypotheses using structural equation modelling and regression analysis. The research was guided by distributed leadership theory, which considers leadership as a series of interactions between leader and follower with the follower sometimes adopting an informal role as temporary leader. The theory also considers the context in which the leader operates as a critical factor for motivating leadership practise. The testing and validation of the theoretical model in the study led to the acceptance of a new 'Effective Cross Cultural Leadership' (ECL) model. This model describes the relationship between the exogenous or independent variables of cultural differences, training and development in traditional Kuwaiti leadership, cross cultural leadership development programmes and international leadership practises with the endogenous or dependent variables of leadership development programmes and leadership practises development. The testing of the hypotheses of the study showed a statistically significant relationship between the four independent variables and the two dependent variables with exception of the relationship between the independent variable of international leadership practises and the dependant variable of leadership programmes development. The quantitative findings also indicated that demographic variables do not have a moderating effect on the model. The qualitative findings of the study determined that cultural differences between employees and managers influence the managers' leadership behaviours and their understanding of the type of leadership development programmes to improve their cross-cultural leadership skills. Managers with greater experience or knowledge of foreign cultures adopt more flexible leadership practises when leading international teams. The qualitative findings also determined that front office managers are more willing to use participative leadership styles in leadership practises, while back office managers rely on authoritarian leadership styles focusing on tasks in their leadership practises, indicating that the context influences leadership styles and practise. The findings of the study including the development and validation of the Effective Cross-Cultural Leadership (ECL) model contribute to the theoretical and practical knowledge of cross-cultural leadership in Kuwait that can be extended to other Middle Eastern nations. In addition, the study finding extends cross-cultural theory by indicating that international influences both internal and external to the organisation affect leadership styles despite national norms and preferences. These findings implied that Kuwaiti organisations experience significant pressure to adopt some international leadership practises and styles to accommodate the expectations and needs of the many international workers employed in Kuwait. The practical implication of these findings showed that Kuwaiti managers would benefit from leadership training emphasising that no standard or correct approach to leadership exists and that it can be acceptable for leaders to use participative styles when warranted by the situation.

Globalūs pasauliniai pokyčiai skatina visuomenės domėjimąsi ne tik tarpkultūriniais skirtumais, bet ir skirtingų kultūrų tarpusavio sąveikos klausimais. Šio darbo aktualumą lėmė vis didėjantis Lietuvos gyventojų domėjimasis ispanų kultūra. Svarbu ištirti, kaip ispanai adaptuojasi lietuvių kultūroje ir jos visuomeniniame gyvenime, atskleidžiant jų adaptacijos Lietuvoje ypatumus. Išanalizavus mokslinę literatūrą, prieita prie išvados, kad adaptacijos sėkmingumą lemia tokie vidiniai veiksniai kaip individualūs ir asmeniniai individo skirtumai, ir tokie išoriniai veiksniai kaip individo gyvenimo patirtis ir pasirengimas. Atskleidžiant vienos ar kitos strategijos pasireiškimą (Kasatkina), pažymima, kad pagrindiniai veiksniai, nulemiantys vienos ar kitos strategijos pasirinkimą yra etninio tapatumo išlaikymas ir pasitenkinimas pasiektu statusu. Lyginant ispanų ir lietuvių kultūras remiantis Hofstede, Inglehart ir Lewis kultūrų lyginimo dimensijomis, paaiškėjo, kad ispanai yra panašūs į lietuvius šeimos svarbumo kriterijumi: abi kultūros šeimą nurodo kaip vertybę. Padaryta analizė leidžia atskleisti dviejų kultūrų skirtumus. Esminiai skirtumai yra bendravimo būdas, laiko ir erdvės suvokimas, kalbų struktūros. Atlikus kokybinį tyrimą, analizuojant interviu metu surinktą medžiagą, prieita prie išvados, kad ispanų kultūrinės adaptacijos sėkmingumas nepriklauso nuo jų gyvenimo trukmės Lietuvoje. Manytina, kad adaptacijos sėkmingumą veikiau nulemia vidiniai ispanų kultūros atstovų... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Due to increased interest of Spanish language and culture in Lithuania over the last few years, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the Spanish sojourners adaptation in Lithuania. Furthermore, it is important to find out the main obstacles of Spanish culture representatives while communicating with locals, exploring the influence on their adaptation process. On a basis of qualitative research (9 semi – structured interviews) study concerning Spanish Cultural Adaptation in Lithuania has been carried out. The main assumption is that Spanish cultural adaptation is influenced by such internal factors as individual motivation to adapt in a host society, aim of arrival, motivation to learn Lithuanian language and communicate with Lithuanians. The external factors which influence Spanish Adaptation in Lithuania are the difference between climate, acceptance of the host society and barriers of communications with Lithuanians. The research has shown that firstly, Spanish are satisfied with the current reached status in Lithuania. The main reason of that is their fulfilment with occupied positions in a new country. Secondly, all of them maintain their personal identity. Thirdly, Spanish who live more than 10 years in Lithuania are more likely to associate themselves with Lithuanians depending on a place of their living, in Spain they consider to be Spanish and in Lithuania they are Lithuanians. Taking into account, that successful adaptation is defined as the individual... [to full text]

Senast den 17 juni 2016 ska Sverige ha implementerat regleringar kring obliga- torisk byrårotation i nationell rätt vilket då kommer kräva att noterade bolag och finansiella företag roterar revisionsbyrå i huvudregel var 10:e år. Målet från EU:s sida med att införa obligatorisk byrårotation i dess medlemsländer är att regleringen ska ha positiva effekter på revisorns oberoende, revisionskvali- teten och konkurrenssituationen på revisionsmarknaden. Syftet med vår studie är att ge ökad förståelse om hur revisionskvaliteten och revisorns oberoende påverkas av ett införande av obligatorisk byrårotation utifrån den forskning som finns internationellt. Eftersom studier kring obliga- torisk byrårotation ännu har kunnat genomföras i Sverige vill vi också bidra med kunskap om hur väl dessa internationella studier kan appliceras i ett svenskt sammanhang. Studien är baserad på inhämtning av sekundärdata där vi utgått från existe- rande forskning kring obligatorisk byrårotation. Val av vårt tillvägagångssätt kan motiveras med att en stor mängd forskning redan existerar och vi har velat samla in data som är så neutral som möjligt. Vår studie visar att resultaten från internationellt genomförda studier tyder på att revisionskvaliteten sjunker vid ett införande av obligatorisk byrårotation. Forskningen visar även att regleringen kan få en motsatt effekt på marknads- dynamiken än vad som önskas. Majoriteten av forskningen visar också att revi- sorns oberoende inte påverkas vid ett införande av obligatorisk byrårotation. I den del av vår studie som behandlade hur väl internationell forskning skulle kunna tillämpas i Sverige fann vi inga belägg på att skillnaderna mellan de un- dersökta länderna och Sverige skulle vara tillräckligt stora för att kunna ifråga- sätta dess applicerbarhet i ett svenskt sammanhang. / June 17, 2016, is the final date for Sweden to implement the new rules regard- ing mandatory audit firm rotation which will require listed and financial com- panies to change their current audit firm every 10 years. The aim of the intro- duction of mandatory audit firm rotation is that the regulation should have positive effects on the independence of auditors, audit quality and the compet- itive situation within the audit market. The aim of this study is to provide a better understanding of how auditor in- dependence and audit quality is affected by the introduction of the regulation on the basis of the available international research. Since there isn’t any Swe- dish research on the subject, we want to contribute knowledge about how well these international studies can be applied in a Swedish context. The study is based on secondary data which is collected from already existing research on mandatory audit firm rotation. The choice of approach in the study can be justified by the fact that much research already exists on the sub- ject and we wanted the data to be as neutral as possible. Our study shows that the results from international research suggest that audit quality will decrease with the introduction of such regulation and that the regu- lation may have an adverse effect on the dynamic of the audit market. A ma- jority of the research suggests that auditor independence is not affected by the introduction of mandatory audit firm rotation. In the part of our study, which dealt with how well international research is applicable in Sweden, we found no evidence that the difference between the examined countries and Sweden would be large enough to allow us to question the research applicability in a Swedish context.

This thesis explores cultural differences on interactive design features used in websites of South Korea and the United Kingdom from the perspective of both: professional website designers and end-users. It also investigates how the use of interactive design features from different cultures change over time. Four interaction types on websites; User to Interface (U2I), User to Content (U2C), User to Provider (U2P), and User to User (U2U) interactivity, and three interaction types on blogs; Blogger to Interface (B2I), Blogger to Content (B2C) and Blogger to Blogger (B2B) interactivity have been identified. Four cultural dimensions were used for the theoretical base of this study based on which four hypotheses were proposed in relation to the interaction types identified above; (a) High versus Low Context cultures for U2I, (b) High versus Low Uncertainty Avoidance for U2C, (c) High versus Low Power Distance for U2P and (d) Individualism versus Collectivism for U2U interactivity, in order to discover the effects of national cultures on interactivity in websites. We derived our own interactivity dimensions and mapped them to the four interaction types for websites and three for blogs. Interactive design features were derived from interactivity dimensions and examined in our studies. The findings revealed that there have been some changes towards homogeneity in the use of interactive design features on charity websites between South Korea and United Kingdom although there is still evidence of some cultural differences. With regard to end-users’ perspective, the result show that the use of interactive design features of blogs may be influenced by culture but this is only within a certain context. The findings also provide a valuable indication that users interacting within the same blog service can be considered as being shared concerns rather than shared national location, thus create a particular type of community in which bloggers are affected by social influence so they adopt a shared set of value, preferences and style that would indicate almost a common social culture. As a result, the cultural differences derived from their country of origin do not have that much impact.