The objective of this thesis is to discuss the influence of national culture in leadership within military organizations and also to explore the effectiveness of a specific leadership model in a multinational context. Developmental leadership (DL) is a model used by the Swedish Armed Forces (SAF) since 2003. However, the aim is not to answer the question of if a certain leadership model has an effect or not and therefore legitimize or discard the use of it. It rather raises the question of why this leadership model has been chosen to become such an integral part of an organization. This thesis analyzes DL by classifying its components using Hofstede’s theory of cultural dimensions as a basis and compares the results with Sweden’s cultural dimensions to find a correlation. The results show a high correlation between DL and Sweden, but DL does not correlate with Belgium’s cultural dimensions. Sweden’s characteristics are also complemented by empirical data collected for the purpose of this thesis. According to this interview study with Swedish officers, even though DL is not consciously applied to their leadership styles, it coincides with the characteristics of their vision of an ideal leader. Moreover, DL consists of components that are suitable foundations for an effective multinational leadership.

The main aim of this work is to analyze the impact of corporate culture on customer satisfaction and propose recommendations for change. In the first part of the thesis is the theory of corporate culture and customer satisfaction. In the practical part, I conducted a questionnaire survey using questionnaires VSM 1994 and 2013 and TBSD. With this questionnaire survey I defined the cultural dimension of employees in company. The same survey was carried out among customers. I conducted survey focused on customer satisfaction with the services of the company. Following these questionnaires were suggested possible changes and improvements that a company can take to improve its corporate culture.

CSR, Corporate Social Responsibility, is growingly being adopted in Brazilian companies and other organizations. The literature about the phenomenon suggests that in Brazil, like in many developing countries, the nature of CSR is strongly based on philanthropic culture for historical, political, and social reasons. Another explanation is the weak institutional framework, practically forcing non-governmental actors such as the private sector to take responsibility over social issues. This study aims to explore and analyze the values and culture behind CSR decisions and practices in Brazil. The method used is qualitative, a descriptive content analysis, interpreting the GIFE Census 2014 with Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, and the World Values Survey 2014 of Brazil. The study findings show a strong tradition of collectivism, hierarchies, and power distance, the claimed institutional weakness, but also some cross-sectoral alignment of CSR practices. In CSR decisions, companies and corporate organizations seem economically more effective, but socially less inclusive. Individual and community organizations, and quite extensively also family organizations practice larger stakeholder inclusion, yet are more bureaucratic in their operations. Stakeholder participation could be described partly superficial and quite philanthropic, seen in the nature of social investments and activities. Values and culture can be combined to the decisions and practices of all management formats, but probably for different reasons. International influence is visible through the presence of MNCs, but also as a part of individual and community organizations through stakeholder activism and investments.

Girls’ withdrawal from school is posing a major challenge to female literacy in Afghanistan. The aim of this research was to examine the influence of Afghan traditions and cultural norms on girls’ school withdrawal by parents or guardians in Khinjan District of Baghlan Province. To achieve this aim the accounts of 12 mothers with daughters pulled out of school were obtained through semi-structured interviews and analyzed via the theoretical lens of Existentialist Feminism and Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Model. The findings suggest that in order to address the problem of girls’ withdrawal from school in Khinjan, the informal communication networks that reinforce the tendency of parents/guardians, especially male ones, to withdraw the girls from school should be influenced by communication channels in the district. Grounded on Paulo Freire’s concept of dialogue for liberation, it is recommended that credible members in the community should initiate and engage in a transforming dialogue about education of girls, with Khinjanis.

The Master Thesis analyses the unified corporate culture and its impacts on the international company T.P.C.A. where employees of three different cultures cooperate together. The concept of culture and national culture together with cultural standards and dimensions is described in the theoretical part of the thesis. Last but not least, there is defined the concept of the corporate culture, its elements and some basic typologies. The practical part analyses specifics of the corporate culture of Toyota Peugeot Citroen Automobile with the special focus on the communication and visualization practices. The last chapter of the thesis deals with expatriation and shows the impact of an international company on the tourism industry.

The following study seek to examine how professionals within different organizations in Sweden work to deal with cases where Nigerian women have been forced into human trafficking through juju-rituals. The aim of the study is to examine how professionals relate to women’s beliefs, what opportunities women have for overcoming this spiritual control, and what strategies professionals use to try to undermine the spiritual control. The following study seeks to answer these questions through qualitative data based on five semi-structured interviews with professionals working in non-governmental organizations (NGOs), asylum agencies or as regional-coordinators. The result of the study indicate that the professionals constantly balance between efficiency and humanity in terms of trying to challenge Nigerian women’s perceived spiritual control. The professionals often perceive that there is a limit to how much the women’s beliefs can be called into dispute. Forcing Nigerian women to renounce their juju-faith is considered as a violation of women’s religious freedom.   Furthermore, the result of the study indicates that how professionals relate to Nigerian women’s fear of juju may differ depending on occupational category. The result indicates that law enforcement authorities are more likely to explain the link between human trafficking and the use of juju as brainwash, while other NGOs strive to develop a deeper understanding of Nigerian women’s fear of juju’s subsequent effects. In conclusion, the study's findings show that the professionals claim that Nigerian women have different capabilities for dealing with the situation they are in. That the professionals want the women themselves to be agents in their religious lives indicate a respect for women's right to practice their religion, even if their choices are not an effective solution to their problems.

Research questions                How do different cultural perceptions of sustainability affect the consumer behavior towards EVs? Purpose:                                         To inductively explore some different perceptions of sustainability in comparison between Sweden, Germany, United Emirates, and Saudi Arabia, as well as to investigate how these perceptions influence consumer behavior towards the EV industry with Tesla leading the way. Method:                                           This research was conducted with an exploratory qualitative approach. The empirical data was obtained through online interviewing using WhatsApp. Findings were thematically analyzed.  Conclusion:                                 The focus of this exploratory study is to gain a deeper knowledge and understanding the different perceptions of sustainability and investigate the factors behind the related consumer behavior to be taken into consideration when perceiving sustainability development in business. The comparison between Sweden, Germany, United Emirates, and Saudi Arabia sheds light on how these differences contribute to a better understanding for the EV marketing in general and Tesla in particular.

All countries have their own national culture, with their own norms, beliefs, attitudes, and values. Every organisation in the world also has their own organisational culture, just like any other social group. Because of the increased globalization throughout the world, more companies are becoming multinational corporations. This means that they go through a market entry process when they enter a foreign market. This can lead to their already established organisational culture being affected by the national culture in the foreign country. The effect of national culture on organisations is a well-researched area. However, the research on how the organisational culture is affected by national culture as an organisation goes through international market entry leaves much to be discovered.  The purpose of this thesis was to investigate how, and if the organisational culture of Swedish organisations is affected by national culture when they establish themselves on the United States market. It was also investigated how Hofstede’s five dimensions of culture can aid in the explanation of the potential organisational culture change, and if the index scores of the five dimensions for Sweden and the United States correspond to the differences later indicated by our research. The effect of leadership and market entry strategy on the organisational culture was also investigated. The qualitative data collection in this thesis comes from semi-structured interviews with companies who help Swedish companies in their market entry process, managers of Swedish companies who have established themselves on the United States market, and one human resource manager within a Swedish company which has moved to the United States. This data lays the basis for the results of this study, and we identify themes relevant to the purpose and research question of this study.  The conclusion of this thesis shows that the organisational culture of all the companies we have interviewed has been influenced by national culture to some extent. The factors which are identified to have had the largest impact on the organisational culture of these companies are market entry strategy, leadership, and the newly found themes; culture-carriers and laws and legislation. It is also concluded how Hofstede’s five cultural dimensions within organisational culture are affected by the national culture.  In the conclusion of this thesis, the importance of the cultural knowledge and awareness of the factors which influence organisational culture possessed by managers is emphasised. Practical and theoretical implications are also provided both for organisations and future research.

Earlier studies have focused on the relationship between negative attitudes towards AI and collective culture of the country (country of origin). These differences may be because of sizeable differences in the power distance index (PDI) on the population level between different countries. We investigated the relationship between power distance index (PDI) of individuals; and their attitudes towards AI through a survey of participants from two countries, India and Sweden, where there are large differences in PDI on the population level. Results of the correlation test showed that power distance correlates positively with negative attitudes towards interactions with AI and the social influence of AI i.e. higher PDI means more of a negative attitude towards AI. However, power distance correlates positively to the acceptance of AI in a workplace environment, i.e. higher PDI means higher acceptance of AI in the workplace. The latter result was contradictory to our expectations and contradicted an earlier study [8], wherein high PDI showed hindrance in acceptance of the technology at workplace.

The objective of this project is to examine the differences between Moroccan and American students with regards to the cultural influences that led them to pursue an engineering degree. Annually since 2015, a partnership between a university in Morocco and MSU allows senior engineering Moroccan students to study at MSU to obtain their graduate degree in aerospace or mechanical engineering. The roughly equal gender representation in most Moroccan cohorts prompted our research question: “How do students from Morocco and the United States describe the cultural reasons that factored into their choice to pursue an engineering degree?” This exploratory qualitative study is guided by the combined frameworks of Hofstede’s Cultural Dimension (HCD) and Expectancy-Value Theory (EVT). The influence of expectancy, family/social structure, and value are evaluated using EVT and cultural factors are evaluated through HCD. We conducted two phases of semi-structured interviews with senior and graduate Moroccan and American students. This study resulted in the modification of the EVT model to include the three constructs of Collectivism, Religion, and Power Distance Index. It also revealed how EVT’s task values manifest differently across cultures. Results indicate that cultural differences manifest primarily through the “Collectivist” mentality among Moroccans, explaining the gender participation difference between Moroccan and American engineering students.