Bakgrund: Begreppet förväntningsgap kan beskrivas såsom skillnaden mellan vad revisorer förväntas leverera och vad revisorer i praktiken levererar. Förväntningsgapet ses som ett problem för revisorer eftersom ju större förväntningsgapet är, desto lägre tillförlitlighet, vinstmöjlighet och anseende tillskrivs revisorers arbete. Vikten av att minska gapet har betonats och det menas att kunskapen hos allmänheten måste öka. Trots det omfattande regelverk som revisorer har att förhålla sig till samt förekomsten av standarder med ett starkt fokus på etik, har revisorers moraliska kompass blivit ifrågasatt till följd av ett flertal företagsskandaler. Vad intressenter har för förväntningar angående hur revisorer skall få handla och förhålla sig utifrån regelverket och de yrkesetiska standarderna, har föga belysts under begreppet förväntningsgapet. Det har diskuterats huruvida förväntningsgapet verkligen är ett problem och om det ens har någon praktisk betydelse om det finns en förståelse från omgivningen om vad revisorer gör eller inte. Utifrån detta väcks frågan om det finns en annan dimension av förväntningsgapet som gör att det bristande förtroendet för branschen och den ifrågasatta moraliska kompassen är befogad. Syfte: Syftet med vår undersökning är att beskriva revisorers uppfattning om revisorers handlande och förhållningssätt samt deras uppfattning om intressenters förväntningar angående hur revisorer skall få handla och förhålla sig. Vidare är syftet att jämföra uppfattningarna med regelverk och branschetiska standarder och med hjälp av normativa etikteorier samt rollteori bidra med en djupare förståelse av förväntningsgapet. Metod: Studien utgår från en kvalitativ ansats. Det insamlade materialet samlades in via semistrukturerade intervjuer med nio stycken auktoriserade revisorer. Slutsatser: Utifrån revisorers uppfattningar visar resultatet att det föreligger ett förväntningsgap, dock inte ur alla aspekter. Det existerar ett kunskapsgap. Resultatet visar även att det förekommer ett utvecklingsgap sett till en del klienter samt från politiskt håll. Det föreligger inte något markant prestationsgap ur ett etiskt perspektiv, dock uttrycks det kritik från revisorerna mot regelverket. / Background: The concept of the expectation gap can be described as the distinction between what auditors are expected to do and what they really do. The expectation gap is seen as a problem for auditors because the greater the gap of expectations is, the lower the reliability, profitability and reputation are attributed to the work of auditors. The importance of reducing the gap has been emphasized and many believes that the knowledge of the public must increase. Despite the extensive regulations that auditors must deal with and the existence of standards with a strong focus on ethics, the auditors’ moral compass has been questioned because of numerous corporate scandals. What kind of expectations stakeholders have regarding how auditors should be able to act and behave on the basis of the regulations and professional ethical standards, has not been elucidated under the concept of the expectation gap. It has been discussed whether the expectation gap really is a problem and even if it has any practical significance if there is an understanding from the environment about what auditors do or do not do. Based on this, the question is raised if there is another dimension of the expectation gap that justifies the lack of confidence in the industry and the contested moral compass. Purpose: The purpose of our survey is to describe auditors' perceptions on auditors' actions and attitudes, as well as their perceptions of stakeholders' expectations regarding how auditors should be able to act and behave. Furthermore, the purpose is to compare these perceptions with the current regulations and the ethical standards and with the help of normative ethics theories and role theory contribute to a deeper understanding of the expectation gap. Method: The survey is based on a qualitative approach. The collected material was gathered through semi-structured interviews with nine authorized auditors. Conclusions: Based on the auditors’ opinions, empirical evidence shows that there is an expectation gap, but not in all aspects. There is a knowledge gap. The result shows that there is also an evolution gap regarding some clients as well as from a political point of view. There is not a major performance gap from an ethical perspective, however, criticism is expressed by the auditors against the regulations.

The Expectation confirmation model (ECM) is commonly employed to investigate technological advances and customer satisfaction with chatbots. However, customer satisfaction is a multifaceted concept intertwined with emotions and subjective perceptions, comprehending customer satisfaction fully can therefore be challenging. Consequently, the purpose of this exploratory study was to develop and refine the concept of customer satisfaction by answering the research question: How does the integration of underlying factors to the Expectation Confirmation Model (ECM) affect customer satisfaction with chatbot services?. The study incorporated underlying factors such as anthropomorphic behavior, brand perception, trust and word of mouth, which were integrated into the existing components of the ECM. Through a unique research approach involving 20 semi-structured interviews and observations, this study captured and reflected on the subjective impressions and emotions of customers while using chatbots. An array of findings are presented, such as the importance of distinguishing between usability and problem-solving efficiency of chatbots performance, the emphasis on accurate answers over human-like characteristics for chatbots, and the impact of experience, familiarity and age on customer satisfaction with chatbots. In conclusion, this study advocates for further qualitative research to explore  the potential impact of other underlying factors' on customer satisfaction for ECM.

The purpose of this study was to clarify and document the member perspective of leadership networks in terms of how members’ attitudes toward, and underlying reasons for participating in, leadership networks can be explained. This purpose was fulfilled by asking and answering the questions of how member attitudes toward, and underlying reasons for participating in, leadership networks can be explained. The study was conducted via a pre-research study of one network organization as well as interviews with two other network organizations. In total, the study investigated three network organizations, including 19 respondents, 13 for the survey and six for the interviews. It was concluded in both the pre-research as well as the main research, that expectations from the members’ perspective had a tendency toward organizational outcomes in the pre-consumption phase, and that the expectations on the network were mainly focused on individual outcomes in the post-consumption phase. The study also demonstrates that there are factors outside of the study’s analytical framework, such as the network position, the ego network structure and the whole network structure, that affect the network outcomes, and thus potentially the explanation for the members’ attitudes toward, and underlying reasons for participating in, leadership networks.

In Natural Language Processing (NLP), speech and text are parsed and generated with language models and parser models, and translated with translation models. Each model contains a set of numerical parameters which are found by applying a suitable training algorithm to a set of training data. Many such training algorithms are instances of the Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm. In [BSV15], a generic EM algorithm for NLP is described. This work presents a particular speech model, the Hidden Markov model, and its standard training algorithm, the Baum-Welch algorithm. It is then shown that the Baum-Welch algorithm is an instance of the generic EM algorithm introduced by [BSV15], from which follows that all statements about the generic EM algorithm also apply to the Baum-Welch algorithm, especially its correctness and convergence properties.

The aspect of the audit expectation gap continues to be an issue and detrimental to the auditing profession especially as auditors and the public continues to hold different beliefs about the auditors’ duties and responsibilities, and the messages conveyed by audit reports. This phenomenon has long been investigated in several Western and Asian countries with numerous studies that empirically confirmed the existence of this phenomenon between auditors and non-auditors (audit stakeholders). However, it appears paradoxical that only few studies have been conducted empirically in establishing the existence of this gap, in Sub-Saharan Africa, especially in the public sector. Meaning, there is a dearth of research regarding an AEG in the public sector. Besides, regarding The Gambia, it appears that no study has ever been conducted to establish the existence of an AEG.  Hence, this thesis aims to investigate the existence of AEG in The Gambia public sector from the viewpoints of public auditors and non-auditing professionals to establish the existence and nature of the audit expectations gap and how this phenomenon can be bridged to uphold the credibility of the auditing profession. A purposive sampling was used to select 13 participants with a structured interview data collection approach. The results of the study shows that the non-auditing professionals perceived ‘detection and prevention of fraud and corruption’, and ‘assurance on the effectiveness of internal controls’ to include auditors’ roles and responsibilities, and faithfully expect them to perform these tasks; and also associate absolute assurance to audit opinions, thus resulting in naive or an unreasonable expectations gap.

E-learning is something that has grown very fast for many years as today's technology is constantly evolving and gives us new opportunities. E-learning enables distance education in many ways and does this regardless of time and space. It represents a large part of today's education and therefore quality is important. If distance studies are facilitated properly, it gives students the opportunity to effectively balance their private life together with their studies. Although it simplifies education for many, it comes with its own difficulties and challenges. This can be a big factor as to why distance studies have a higher dropout rate than regular campus studies. In this thesis, the areas course design, interaction and the teacher’s impact are investigated to examine student satisfaction in distance education. In previous findings, these areas were highlighted as crucial factors for student satisfaction. With the expectationconfirmation theory as a base, a qualitative method, consisting of interviews with distance students at Linnaeus University was conducted. The collected data was transcribed and analyzed with the use of themes and codes. The results show that interaction is something that is hard to achieve at a distance. The universities should promote student interaction as it is something the students struggle with, suggestively through "icebreaker" exercises. The interaction between teacher-students is something that was valued high, but depending on how well the course was structured, the teacher-student interaction was not needed as much. Teachers should avoid scattered communication as this turned out to have a negative impact on the student satisfaction. The teacher was shown to be important in different ways, where their pedagogical ability and the ability to handle and share information through digital tools was shown to be very impactful. The course design was found to affect the students' satisfaction the most. Structure and availability of all relevant material and segments of a course proved to be extremely important, this gives the student the opportunity to plan their studies. To improve and naturally include interaction amongst students, discussion proved to be an important segment of a course. / E-lärande har under åren vuxit i ett mycket högt tempo. Dagens teknik utvecklas ständigt och ger oss nya möjligheter att genomföra saker på. E-lärande möjliggör distansutbildning på många sätt, oavsett tid och rum. Det representerar en stor del av dagens forskning inom utbildning och därför har kvalitén blivit viktigare. Om distansstudier genomförs ordentligt ger det studenter möjlighet att effektivt balansera deras privat liv tillsammans med studier. Även om det förenklar utbildning för många så kommer det med sina egna svårigheter och utmaningar. Detta kan vara en faktor till varför fler distansstudenter väljer att hoppa av sina studier jämfört med de som studerar på campus. I den här studien granskas områdena kursdesign, interaktion och lärarens påverkan för att undersöka studenters nöjdhet vid distansstudier. I tidigare forskning framhölls dessa områden som avgörande för studenternas nöjdhet. Med expectation-confirmation teorin som bas genomfördes en kvalitativ metod, bestående av intervjuer med distansstudenter vid Linnéuniversitetet. Den insamlade informationen transkriberades och analyserades med hjälp av teman och koder. Resultaten visar att interaktion är något som är svårt att uppnå vid distansstudier. Universiteten bör främja interaktion eftersom det är något som studenterna kämpar med, suggestivt genom övningar som “bryter isen”. Interaktionen mellan lärare och studenter är något som värderades högt. Beroende på hur väl en kurs är strukturerad så är behovet av interaktion mellan studenter och lärare inte lika högt. Lärare bör undvika spridd kommunikation eftersom det visade sig ha en negativ inverkan på studenternas tillfredsställelse. Läraren visade sig vara viktig på olika sätt, där deras pedagogiska förmåga och förmågan att hantera och dela information genom digitala verktyg visade sig vara högt värderade. Det visade sig att kursdesignen påverkade studenternas tillfredsställelse mest. Struktur och tillgänglighet av allt relevant material visade sig vara oerhört viktigt, vilket ger studenten möjlighet att planera sina studier. För att förbättra och naturligt inkludera interaktion mellan studenter visade sig diskussion vara ett viktigt segment av en kurs.

L'inférence bayésienne répond aux questions clés de la perception, comme par exemple : "Que faut-il que je crois étant donné ce que j'ai perçu ?". Elle est donc par conséquent une riche source de modèles pour les sciences cognitives et les neurosciences (Knill et Richards, 1996). Cette thèse de doctorat explore deux modèles bayésiens. Dans le premier, nous explorons un problème de codage efficace, et répondons à la question de comment représenter au mieux une information probabiliste dans des neurones pas parfaitement fiables. Nous innovons par rapport à l'état de l'art en modélisant une information d'entrée finie dans notre modèle. Nous explorons ensuite un nouveau modèle d'observateur optimal pour la localisation d'une source sonore grâce à l’écart temporel interaural, alors que les modèles actuels sont purement phénoménologiques. Enfin, nous explorons les propriétés de l'algorithme d'inférence approximée "Expectation Propagation", qui est très prometteur à la fois pour des applications en apprentissage automatique et pour la modélisation de populations neuronales, mais qui est aussi actuellement très mal compris. / Bayesian inference answers key questions of perception such as: "What should I believe given what I have perceived ?". As such, it is a rich source of models for cognitive science and neuroscience (Knill and Richards, 1996). This PhD manuscript explores two such models. We first investigate an efficient coding problem, asking the question of how to best represent probabilistic information in unrealiable neurons. We innovate compared to older such models by introducing limited input information in our own. We then explore a brand new ideal observer model of localization of sounds using the Interaural Time Difference cue, when current models are purely descriptive models of the electrophysiology. Finally, we explore the properties of the Expectation Propagation approximate-inference algorithm, which offers great potential for both practical machine-learning applications and neuronal population models, but is currently very poorly understood.

As increasing emphasis is being placed on student college and career readiness, instructional approaches seek to develop content and skill proficiency. I gathered student perspectives on teacher expectations and instructional opportunities in core content classes in order to determine if expectation bias influences college readiness preparation in the classroom. Student academic self-concept and college readiness were examined alongside beliefs about teacher expectations and instructional opportunities in a conceptual framework for student perceptions. In this qualitative study, I utilized four focus groups of high school students from two cohorts to analyze perceptions across students from mostly on-level core classes and those from mostly advanced core classes. Findings showed students held high expectations of their own current and future performance, as well as perceived teachers generally hold high expectations, though this was shown through the development of relational capacity rather than instructional opportunities to develop college readiness skills or connect to students' future ambitions. The results of the study provide insight to educators seeking to create stronger connections for students between current educational experiences and future postsecondary opportunities.

The aim of this research was to identify where the expectation gap of IT competencies lies, between accountancy trainees, SAICA and employers. Existing findings and empirical research findings from this study were compared to the prescribed competencies of the professional body, SAICA, to identify where the gap lies and to suggest possible action plans to overcome it. The findings of this study suggest that the availability of technology and IT at schools is limited. Employers identified an overall expectation gap where trainees are not able to apply the basic IT competencies that should have been acquired at university to the practical working environment. The data collected also identified that IT competencies are not being taught at the same level at different universities through the different responses of students, lecturers and trainees, which leads to inconsistent exposure of accountancy trainees to IT prior to their traineeship. As IT competencies have a significant impact on the every-day working life of such a trainee, employers and SAICA expect that students would have obtained basic IT competencies before the start of their traineeship. / MCom (Accountancy)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2015

The aim of this research was to identify where the expectation gap of IT competencies lies, between accountancy trainees, SAICA and employers. Existing findings and empirical research findings from this study were compared to the prescribed competencies of the professional body, SAICA, to identify where the gap lies and to suggest possible action plans to overcome it. The findings of this study suggest that the availability of technology and IT at schools is limited. Employers identified an overall expectation gap where trainees are not able to apply the basic IT competencies that should have been acquired at university to the practical working environment. The data collected also identified that IT competencies are not being taught at the same level at different universities through the different responses of students, lecturers and trainees, which leads to inconsistent exposure of accountancy trainees to IT prior to their traineeship. As IT competencies have a significant impact on the every-day working life of such a trainee, employers and SAICA expect that students would have obtained basic IT competencies before the start of their traineeship. / MCom (Accountancy)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2015