published_or_final_version / Psychology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

In recent years, social networking sites have become a prevailing communication technology in the evolution of the digital era for today’s Internet users (Ipsos Insight 2007). As more and more marketers attempt to harness the power of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) in social networking sites (Williamson 2006), rigorous investigation of determinants that lead to consumers’ engagement in eWOM via the social networks is becoming critical. A central question to answer is what factors influence eWOM behavior in social networking sites and what are the underlying processes of eWOM communications in this new social medium. This study focuses on five social relationship variables: social capital, tie strength, homophily, trust, and consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence that are all related to eWOM behavior in social networking sites. An online survey with a sample drawn from a large southwestern university was conducted to examine predictors of eWOM in social networking sites. Results from a series of multiple regression analyses indicate that certain social relationship variables are significant predictors that relate to social networking site users’ eWOM behavior. Out of the five relationship variables, social capital, homophily, trust, and interpersonal influence were found to significantly relate to users’ engagement in eWOM communications, whereas no effect was found with regard to tie strength. My dissertation research provides a theoretical understanding of consumers’ use of social networking sites as a vehicle for eWOM and contributes to the literature on computer-mediated communication with specific emphasis on online social media. Managerially, findings from this research could provide marketers with valuable information to establish their long-term relationships with consumers and use beneficial eWOM to promote selected brands. In conclusion, examining social relationships in social networking sites could contribute to our understanding of the determinants of consumer engagement in eWOM, which in turn influences the extent and pattern of eWOM and enables companies to deliberate their product diffusion strategies. / text

The focus of this study was to explore how prosodic position and word type affect the phonetic structure and resulting perceptual identification of Korean stops and fricatives. When there is less contextual information, speakers tend to produce clearer speech. For example, consonants at the beginning of prosodic domains, such as syllables, words or phrases, are known to be more clearly articulated and distinguishable than later-occurring consonants. However, it is not yet clear whether the prosodically conditioned realizations of a segment are perceptually distinctive in continuous speech. In addition, there are few studies examining whether the properties of prosodic domain-initial segments are affected by the information content of words (real vs. nonsense words). The acoustic properties of stops and fricatives were compared across IP, PP and Wd-initial positions both in real and nonsense words. It was found that segments in the higher prosodic domain-initial positions showed enhanced durational properties compared to the lower prosodic domain-initial positions. However, the enhancing strategies were different among phonation types. Relative to lenis and aspirated stops, and lenis fricatives, tense stops and fricatives showed less consistent variation as a function of prosodic position and word type. In the perception study, the identification error rates and reaction time for same-spliced CVs were compared to those for cross-spliced CVs. Korean listeners identified the same-spliced CVs more accurately and faster than cross-spliced CVs. In addition, the distinctive acoustic properties of each prosodic domain-initial position were perceptually distinguished by Korean listeners. Due to relatively shorter duration and less distinctive contrast, the target CVs extracted from lower prosodic domain-initial positions caused more confusion in the identification of target segments. In conclusion, this study provides the evidence that speakers modulate their speech clarity depending on information content. By enhancing phonetic properties and phonological contrast, speakers tend to provide perceptual cues for prosodic positions with less contextual information. / text

<p>The purpose of this investigation is mainly to study if pupils have enough knowledge concerning the water cycle and the life of the plants’, and what kinds of household word they have, to discuss pollution within these areas. I also studied how the pupils’ knowledge are holding up against what the course-plans says, since it have come to light by other investigations that knowledge are insufficient within the nature-oriented (No) subject in school.</p><p>The survey has carried out on 28 pupils in a 5th grade, with help of a questionnaire survey. Their teacher has been interviewed and I have studied their local course-plans and also the pupils’ schoolbooks in No.</p><p>The result of the questionnaire survey indicates that the pupils had insufficient knowledge within the areas of plants’ life and pollution, something their teacher had a presentiment about.</p><p>The conclusion is that they need to go out more often in the nature and see how the plants and the environment are affected by different factors. Since the school have a school-forest it should be excellent too use in teaching. This should however be no worry since the school books are following the course-plans goals.</p> / <p>Syftet med denna undersökning är främst att studera om eleverna har tillräckliga kunskaper om vattnets kretslopp och växtfysiologi samt vilka begrepp de har, för att kunna diskutera miljöförstöring inom dessa områden. En jämförelse mellan elevernas kunskaper och vad som står i kursplanerna gjordes då det framkommit genom andras undersökningar att det finns brister inom det naturorienterande (No) ämnet i skolan.</p><p>Undersökningen har genomförts på 28 elever i årskurs 5, med hjälp av en enkätundersökning. Deras lärare har intervjuats och jag har studerat deras lokala kursplaner samt elevernas grundskoleböcker i No.</p><p>I resultaten av enkätundersökningen framkommer att eleverna hade brister inom områden gällande växtens liv och miljöförstörning, vilket även deras lärare hade en föraning om.</p><p>Slutsatsen är att de behöver komma ut mer i naturen och se hur växter och miljön påverkas av olika faktorer. Då skolan har en skolskog, är denna utmärkt att utnyttja. Vidare behöver man inte oroas över elevernas bristande kunskaper eftersom elevernas grundskoleböcker följer kursplanernas mål.</p>

<p>Det finns idag ett väldigt stort urval av återförsäljare som agerar på Internet och dessa kan vid en första anblick te sig väldigt svåra att överskåda för konsumenter inför ett köp. Prisjämförelsesajter finns därför som en konsumentguide som med sina sökfunktioner snabbt hjälper konsumenter att hitta återförsäljare med de billigaste priserna samt även tillhandahåller information om såväl produkter som återförsäljare. Uppsatsen syftar till att studera prisjämförelsesajternas roll i samspelet mellan återförsäljare och konsument på den Internetbaserade marknaden för hemelektronik. Den kvalitativa studien grundas på intervjuer med de två marknadsledande prisjämförelsesajterna, PriceRunner och Prisjakt, samt intervjuer med tre återförsäljare inom detta branschsegment, CDON, Expert och Kameraexperten. Intervjuerna analyseras med hjälp utav en analysmodell där vi kopplat samman flera olika marknadsföringsteorier. Det resultat vi kommit fram till visar på att det nätverk av återförsäljare och konsumenter som prisjämförelsesajterna tillhandahåller har lett till en ökad konsumentmakt men att detta inte behöver ses som negativt för återförsäljarna då dessa har stora konkurrensfördelar att vinna om de sköter sina kundrelationer på ett bra sätt.</p>

<p><p>Denna uppsats har till syfte att utifrån ett konsumentperspektiv undersöka vad som gör mobilmarknadsföring effektiv/ineffektiv som marknadsföringskanal. Författarna besvarar syftet genom att bygga vidare på tidigare forskning som identifierat specifika framgångsfaktorer angående mobilmarknadsföring. Vidare utförs detta genom en enkätundersökning som har till syfte att undersöka om konsumenten uppfattar att dagens sms och mms mobilmarknadsföring uppfyller dessa framgångsfaktorer. Resultatet visar på att den övervägande majoriteten av framgångsfaktorerna inte anses var uppfyllda på ett tillfredställande vis enligt konsumenten. Detta påverkar i sin tur konsumentattityden gentemot mobilmarknadsföring negativt. Trots den allmänt negativa konsumentattityden gentemot mobilmarknadsföring förmår den ändå att skapa stor konsumentuppmärksamhet. Slutligen visar resultatet att mobilmarknadsföring misslyckas med att skapa köpintentioner och wordof-mouth intentioner hos konsumenten. Då skapandet av dessa intentioner är en fundamental del i all marknadsföring anser författarna att mobilmarknadsföring i dagens format inte bör anses vara en effektiv kommunikationskanal.</p></p>

<p>Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka om och hur medverkandet i en organisation som BNI kan hjälpa dess medlemmar att identifiera och etablera relationer. Organisationen erbjuder dess medlemmar en möjlighet att genom en serie av interaktioner med varandra utbyta referenser; genom utnyttjandet av varandras kontaktnätverk. Detta har undersökts genom en kvalitativ studie på BNI Uppsala. Studien består av djupintervjuer med regionsansvarig och fyra medlemmar, en observationsstudie av ett frukostmöte samt studerandet av diverse sekundärdata. Genom vår analys gentemot aktuell teori inom ämnet har vi kunnat påvisa medlemmarna erbjuds en plattform för både sociala och affärsmässiga interaktioner och därigenom etablerandet av relationer med andra aktörer. Medlemmarna hjälper genom konceptet även varandra att identifiera kunder och samarbetspartners utanför BNI:s nätverk.</p> / <p>The purpose of this thesis is to investigate if and how participation in an organization similar to BNI can contribute to identifying and establishing relationships for its members. The organization offers its member a possibility, through a series of interactions to exchange referrals with one another, through the use of each other’s personal networks. This has been investigated through a qualitative study on BNI Uppsala. The study consists of deep interviews with the region manager and four members, an observation study as well as the revision of various secondary data. Through our analysis towards relevant theories within the area, we have been able to show that the members are offered a platform for both social and business-to-business interaction and through that the establishments of relationships. The members also help each other in identifying customers and partners outside of the network of BNI.</p>

<p><strong>Titel:</strong>             Produktplacering i bloggar: <em>En studie kring bloggar som effektiv marknadsföringskanal </em></p><p><strong>Författare:</strong>   Maria Mingo, Mälardalens Högskola</p><p><strong>Kurs:</strong>            Kanditatuppsats i företagsekonomi, marknadsföring, distans</p><p><strong>Nyckelord:</strong>   <em>Blogg, produktplacering, Word of Mouth, effektivitet, påverkan, kommunikationsprocessen, viral marknadsföring, Stealth Marketing, associationer, kreativt medieval, uppmärksammande, bearbetning,</em> <em>konsumentbeteende</em></p><p><strong>Problem:</strong>       Då de privata bloggarna i Sverige på senare tid getts mycket uppmärksamhet i media inte bara för deras växande besöksstatistik utan även för deras, i stor utsträckning, dolda kommersiella intentioner är detta ett fenomen intressant att undersöka utifrån ett marknadsföringsperspektiv.</p><p><strong>Syfte:</strong>            I och med att bloggen är en mediekanal som ständigt växer i antal är syftet med denna uppsats att se vilken funktion bloggen uppfyller som marknadsföringskanal för produktplacering. Studien ämnar ta upp de fördelar som kan nås genom användning av bloggen i kommersiellt syfte utifrån den potentiella påverkan denna typ av produktplacering kan ha på mottagare av budskap introducerade i bloggen. Värdet bloggen innehar som kommunikationskanal kommer att diskuteras utifrån dess vikt för avsändarna av budskapet, det vill säga de annonserande företagen.</p><p><strong>Metod:</strong>         Studien baseras på en sekundärdataanalys av kommunikationsleden som skapas mellan de annonserande företagen, bloggarna och konsumenterna. Områdesrelaterad litteratur och andra marknadsförings- och konsumentbeteendeteorier har bidragit till att kartlägga produktplaceringens potential att nå uppmärksammande och påverkan hos konsumenter.</p><p><strong>Slutsats:</strong>       I studien visas att effektiviteten bloggen kan inneha som marknadsföringskanal, återspeglas i många variabler, bland annat möjligheten att förena reklam med bloggens oberoende innehåll. Produktplacering i rekommendationsform, genom inflytelserika bloggare, kan medföra att informationsspridandet inte upplevs som påträngande och undkommer på så sätt att sållas bort som irrelevant information. Bloggläsare väljer själva blogg att besöka efter egna preferenser, något som tillåter företag att skräddarsy budskap för specifika målgrupper. Då läsarna på detta sätt tillåts att själva sköta spridandet av budskapet genom diverse marknadsföringstekniker, uppnås högre grad av trovärdighet då kongruensen mellan bloggtemat och det introducerade varumärket oftast är hög. Bloggen som kanal möjliggör dessutom skapandet av ömsesidiga relationer mellan företagen, bloggskribenterna och konsumenterna, något som tillåter en närmare och effektivare kommunikation mellan leden och ett starkare associationsschema. Då bloggen tillåter de introducerade budskapen ta tillvara på mediekontexten och framlyftas i den harmoni som skapas sinsemellan, elimineras även stor del av kommunikationsbruset som utgörs av andra faktorer som konkurrerar om konsumenters uppmärksamhet. Att låta bloggen utgöra ett komplement till ett företags ursprungliga kommunikationskanaler kan därför medföra effektiviserad exponering gentemot konsumenten och därigenom öka chansen att konsumenten både uppmärksammar och låter sig påverkas av reklamen.</p> / <p><strong>Title:</strong>             Product Placement in blogs: A study about blogs as an effective marketing channel.<em> </em></p><p><strong>Author:</strong>         Maria Mingo. Malardalen University</p><p><strong>Subject:</strong>        Bachelor Theses in Business Administration, Marketing</p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Keywords:</strong>    <em>Blogs, product placement, Word of Mouth, efficiency, influences, the communication process, creative media-channels, attention, interpretation, consumer behaviour, associations</em></p><p><strong>Problem:</strong>       The private blogs have lately gained a significant share of attention in the Swedish media, not only because of their increasing number of readers but also for their questionable commercial intentions. Therefore this subject is considered to be an interesting phenomena to explore from a marketing perspective.</p><p><strong>Purpose:</strong>       Due to the increasing amount of blogs used in the media, the purpose of this essay has been to detect the function blogs play as a marketing channel for product placement. The study aims to discover the advantages that can be reached through the use of the blog for advertising purposes, through discussing what influence this type of product placement can have on the receivers of the communicated message. The value the blog has as a communication channel will be discussed through its importance for the senders of the message, in other words the advertising companies.</p><p><strong>Method:</strong>       The study is based on a qualitative analysis of the communication flow that is created and established between the advertising companies, the blogs and the consumers. Literature and other theories regarding marketing and consumer behaviour have been used to state the potential that product placement has of reaching the consumers’ attention and affection.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The research has shown that the efficiency a blog   could have as a marketing channel is reflected in many variables, amongst them the possibility of integrating advertising with the independent content of blogs. Product placement, through recommendations given by influential bloggers, could cause the sharing of information not to be interpreted as forced-on advertising and thus avoids to be passed over as irrelevant information. As the consumers themselves choose what blogs to read according to their own preferences, the companies have the possibility to create a message that is highly adapted to the targeted readers. Through allowing the consumers to pass on the message themselves using this Word-of-Mouth technique, a higher level of credibility is achieved and reflected in the congruence between the theme of the blog and the brand that is being inserted into it. Using the blog as a communication channel allows reciprocal relationships to be generated between the advertising companies, the bloggers and the consumers. These relationships facilitate a communication that is closer and more effective and therefore provides greater possibilities of generating associations. A significant part of the communication interference [due to other factors competing for the consumer’s attention] can be eliminated through the harmony, which introducing a message in a suiting media context, brings. Therefore the use of the blog as an additional tool to a company’s usual marketing channels could result in a more effective type of exposure forced upon the client that could help to increase the chances of the consumer paying attention to, or be influenced by, the advertising.</p>

<p>There is an information surplus in the marketplace today and finding marketing resources that are both effective and affordable is difficult. As quantity and price has lost its competitive power and quality and symbolic meaning has become increasingly important, storytelling as a marketing mean can be one concept to apply, especially in the service sector.</p><p>The hospitality industry is one of the largest service sectors, facing fierce competition. Many hotels have a story to share and storytelling is today a buzzword in the industry, but it has not received much attention in the academic world. Therefore, little is known about storytelling from a business administration perspective, more specifically marketing communication, which is our field of interest in this thesis.</p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to study and analyze storytelling and how it is used as marketing communication in the Swedish hospitality industry.</p><p>To fulfill our purpose, a qualitative study with an inductive approach was chosen as suitable. Primary data was gathered through interviews with managers from nine different hotels, which all work actively with storytelling. Theories regarding service marketing, marketing communications, and storytelling helped us to collect appropriate empirical data and also to structure the analysis.</p><p>Storytelling in the hospitality industry is an identity or an image, and the purpose of using storytelling is to be remembered and to mediate a feeling. As a concept, it requires attributes and a certain level of truth is important to remain trustworthy. Furthermore, storytelling facilitates the communication process between the hotels and their customers and it often strengthens customers’ attitudes towards the hotel. Both private and business customers are attracted by stories, but it is easier to communicate the story to large groups during a conference. It is however difficult to mediate the whole concept through marketing communication tools as it is too compound. Storytelling facilitates an integrated marketing communication as it becomes an image and word of mouth is increased due to that people talk about the unexpected.</p>

<p>The aim of this study is to explore the implementation of viral marketing in Politics. We led a case study in order to discover how viral techniques were used to promote candidates running for the 2007 French election. The review of previous research provided learning about the use of new communication methods in electoral campaigns.Nevertheless, they are not specifically devoted to the viral marketing method. At present, theoretical models about this new phenomenon exist only for business sectors. Viral marketing is becoming of greater importance in the promotion of a candidate's brand image. It was interesting to discover how marketing techniques are transferred into the field of politics. Through our theoretical framework we analysed results from our interview with a webmaster who works for the Nicolas Sarkozy's political party. We explained the role of viral marketing in the communication strategy of politicians. Thanks to the focus group, we assessed the impact of viral marketing among French voters. The results show that it generates a word-of-mouth campaign about the candidate's personality which results in a political "Buzz". This high media coverage heavily influences the voters who are highly sensitive to image branding. However, the counterpart of using viral marketing is the lack of control that candidates maintain over their image. For example, the spreading of undesirable videos could harm their credibility. Finally, our study shows that modern politics is appealing for viral marketing in order to shape the political leader's image, which constitutes a determinant factor to influence voters.</p>