This thesis aims to understand the risks faced by organizations operating in Northern Sweden when making decisions about digitalization. Through empirical analysis and discussion, the study investigates the influence of hindsight bias on risk perception and the decision-making process. The findings indicate that there is an arguable elevated level of hindsight bias is observed among all participants, with varying intentions behind this bias. One specific case highlights the influence of external decision-makers and the implications of their expertise. While an organization is acting in good faith by seeking advice from individuals of expertise as external decision-makers, who prioritize utility-maximizing choices, it exposes the organization to potential non-perceivable risks. The study reveals that individuals tend to overlook the risks associated with digitalization until they face tangible implications. However, the perception of risks is not artificially altered by expertise level, but rather triggered by occurrences. Moreover, the study identifies a pattern of elevated levels of hindsight bias, primarily in terms of foreseeability, coupled with a motivation for self-esteem. This pattern emphasizes the lack of communication regarding digitalization risks, which contributes to overconfidence and myopia in the decision-making process. The empirical analysis supports the notion that positive perceptions of digitalization and a failure to acknowledge possible implications result in individuals overseeing risks. Consequently, organizations in Northern Sweden run the risk of overconfidence and oversight if they fail to question the basis of their digitalization decisions or the motives and biases of their employees involved in the decision-making process.  In conclusion, this thesis reveals that the risks faced by organizations operating in Northern Sweden when making decisions about digitalization include a failure to perceive digitalization risks due to preconceived positive perceptions, which affects both employees and decision-makers, concluded from a two-perspective investigation. This behavior puts organizations at risk of overconfidence, particularly in the context of hindsight bias. Finally, the study responds to a research question inquired by past research and confirms that overconfidence reduces the availability of risks in the case of Northern Sweden.

This study is about one of the most revolutionary developments in Denmark's metal industry in recent times. Ongoing digitalization and automation, paralleled with the transition to CO2-neutral production is not only changing work procedures but also disrupting industrial relations. As industrial relations are defined by the underlying power dynamics between labor market parties, these relations might also have changed. Since the 80s, unions have been forced to retreat. The discourse is that digitalized automation and decarbonization will lead to increased employment and that the labor-value of production, over time, will remain the same. Contradicting this is the fact (Barradas 2019) that the labor-value of production is decreasing while the employer's share of profit increasing. Despite digitalized automation and the transition to environmentally sustainable production allegedly leading to increased employment, industrial relations are being affected due to the labor-value of production is decreasing. This study is conducted in conjunction with “BARMETAL” (2022), a project financed by the European Union (EU) regarding the digitalization and automation as well as decarbonization of the European automotive industry. As the automotive industry is non-existent in Denmark, this study focuses on manufacturers in the metal industry. The extent of our engagement with the automotive industry is that one company analyzed is a supplier of catalysts to the automotive industry.  This research is conducted as a qualitative study including interviews and literature analysis. The participating companies  revealed minimal engagement in the transition to environmental sustainability, with the primary emphasis placed on the adoption of digital automation. This study is about one of the most revolutionary developments in Denmark's metal industry in recent times. Ongoing digitalization and automation, paralleled with the transition to CO2-neutral production is not only changing work procedures but also disrupting industrial relations. As industrial relations are defined by the underlying power dynamics between labor market parties, these relations might also have changed. Since the 80s, unions have been forced to retreat. The discourse is that digitalized automation and decarbonization will lead to increased employment and that the labor-value of production, over time, will remain the same. Contradicting this is the fact (Barradas 2019) that the labor-value of production is decreasing while the employer's share of profit increasing. Despite digitalized automation and the transition to environmentally sustainable production allegedly leading to increased employment, industrial relations are being affected due to the labor-value of production is decreasing. This study is conducted in conjunction with “BARMETAL” (2022), a project financed by the European Union (EU) regarding the digitalization and automation as well as decarbonization of the European automotive industry. As the automotive industry is non-existent in Denmark, this study focuses on manufacturers in the metal industry. The extent of our engagement with the automotive industry is that one company analyzed is a supplier of catalysts to the automotive industry.  This research is conducted as a qualitative study including interviews and literature analysis. The participating companies revealed minimal engagement in the transition to environmental sustainability, with the primary emphasis placed on the adoption of digital automation.

The purpose of this thesis is to shed light on the experiences of social workers in relation tothe increased digitalization of the work in social income support. The literature presented inthe study discusses the digitalization of modern working life and what factors so far have beendiscernible as negative for social secretaries. Whether increased digitalization in socialservices is something positive or negative is discussed by, among other things, applyingMcDonald's theory and Lean theory. This is to form an idea of whether digitalization is apromoting nuance of the work of social secretaries or a new entry point for increased stressand workload.

Digitization has changed a lot in the area of leadership and relationships. The aim of the study is thus to examine how digitalization has changed the leadership and the relationship with the employees of municipal managers. Municipal managers constitute a specific group andt herefore became an interesting phenomenon. In the study, 18 municipal managers were interviewed, through semi-structured digital interviews. The sample for the study is municipal managers who are active in peripheral municipalities to Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. The results show that digitization has affected leadership in different ways. If there are differences in the leader-member exchange, it is difficult to decipher, however, it has been possible to discern that there are differences in how the exchange takes place. The results show that digital meetings have given a feeling of one-way communication, the dialogue disappears, which is also linked to the leader-member exchange. The digital changeover has had different impressions on the respondents, but the majority have testified that the changeover worked surprisingly well. The leadership style has become more trust-based and many of the respondent’s book significantly more reconciliation meetings with their employees. The results of the interviews show that there are various challenges in the leadership of the respondents, much depending on personality traits. If there has been a shift in focus between the leader and the employee, the result has shown that it is shared. In the leadermember exchange perspective, communication and accessibility have been two centralconcepts.

ABSTRACT This master thesis examined the impact of digitalization on the speed of internationalization and explores the various foreign market entry options for a company that would like to expand from a developed market to an emerging market as part of its internationalization.  The case study analyzed in this paper is Arctic Space Technologies, a unique satellite operator company offering an all-in-one solution for sustainable satellite data handling and processing. The firm’s founders have a niche market (satellite operators) and have established business in Sweden and would like to enter an emerging market (South Africa). The firm can be classified under the high-tech industry and the study obtained valuable information that could be useful to other similar firms. The nature of technology for adoption is easily transferable for such firms regardless of geographical location. Digitalization is instrumental in facilitating earlier and faster internationalization through digitalized knowledge, network creation and decision-making processes (Coviello et al., 2017). The digitalization of new foreign market development helps such firms to efficiently identify new market opportunities in global markets and with this approach, they save resources while developing the most attractive markets (Neubert, 2018a). Qualitative research was applied through a company case study, where primary interviews and a survey were used to collect data. A case study was employed to further understand and practically apply adaptations a firm can make to increase its chances of success in a foreign market environment. The researcher also obtained information from desktop and literature review. The study findings suggested that business networking, business models, culture and geographical distance, market size are key factors that influence the choice of foreign market entry mode for a high-tech firm internationalization process from a developed market to an emerging market. In addition, the main challenges faced by born-global firm in entering an emerging market includes, lack of financial resources, management transitions and lack of proper market information for the internationalization process. The firm may need to identify information related to the market size, competitors, financial costs and entry barriers of the emerging market.  The study insight was that despite the born global firms’ nature of technology enabling faster adoption in terms of digitalization being instrumental in facilitating their internationalization process through the digitalized knowledge, network creation and decision-making processes, they still face the challenges of entry into unfamiliar emerging markets. The researcher identified the institutional voids faced, liability of foreignness and noted that it would be crucial for the firm to conduct a proper environmental analysis. This may include political and legal forces, economic forces, social-cultural forces and technological forces.  Arctic Space Technologies may need to create relevant business networks and the study identified that the ideal foreign market entry mode would be Joint venture/Partnership.  Since the South African government is keen on foreign investors/entrepreneurs entering into their market through partnership with a local business entity. The firm could establish a good network with South African National Space Agency (SANSA) and other space firms in the country. SANSA is keen on fostering international partnerships to enable unlock opportunities for the national space sector.   Further studies could investigate the time frames for high-tech firms internationalization processes. Further research is needed to analyze connections between software firms’ business models and selected entry modes by using a quantitative research method. The study could also be extended to other emerging countries in Africa and new business opportunities in the global markets for high-tech firms especially with the changing dynamics of international business in the wake of the current pandemic.

Syftet med studien var att utifrån ett socialkonstruktionistiskt perspektiv på barn och teknik redogöra för och diskutera kring digitala verktygens användning i förskolan samt digitala verktygen och digitaliseringens påverkan på förskollärares förhållningssätt till lek och lärande. Detta gjordes utifrån både kvalitativa intervjuer med två förskollärare över Zoom och Microsoft Teams samt enkäter över e-mail med tre förskollärare där datan analyserades, tematiserades ochpresenterades utifrån den tematiska analysmodellen. Resultaten i studien visade på förskollärares positiva förhållningssätt till digitala verktyg samtverktygen som en värdefull resurs i vardagen, både för förskollärare i sitt arbete för att uppnå läroplanens mål genom exempelvis dokumentation samt för barn både i lek- och lärprocesser. Trots detta betraktades den pedagogiska användningen av digitala verktyg i förskolan som utmanande och oklart där synen på verktygen som “barnvakt” samt bristen på pedagogiska applikationer är bidragande faktorer. Det fanns även en syn på digitala verktygens och digitaliseringens påverkan som negativ där den digitala leken ansågs ta för stor plats i jämförelse med den klassiska leken och hämna barns sociala utveckling. Slutsatsen att dra utifrån resultatet är att den pedagogiska användningen av digitala verktyg i förskolan är inadekvat och digital kompetensutveckling hos förskollärare krävs för att kunna tillvarata verktygens fulla pedagogiska potential.

The importance of entrepreneurship for economic growth and development is a well-known factor in the world. In which high technology startup firms are playing an important role in introducing innovative and advanced technologies. However, due to inherent difficulties in nature, they face major challenges such as acquiring sufficient investments. Especially for high-tech startups founded and located in non-main cities facing the issue compared to main cities. As a result, the firms tend to move out from the non-main city or region to main cities or abroad seeking investments.  Such trends directly affect negatively in the regional economic development goals and plans. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to address such tendencies by focusing on the Luleå city in Northern Sweden, investigating the ways of attracting local and global investors through social networks, for high technology startup firms in non-main cities, and identify the possibility of use digitalization to support to overcome the geographical distances to retain them within the region.  This empirical study is exploratory in nature and used qualitative methodology with an inductive research approach. In order to collect the data, the research performed expert interviews by interviewing top management in high-tech startups, incubators, and science parks in two cities (i.e. Luleå and Stockholm) from two regions in Sweden. To perform in-depth semi-structured interviews, an interview guide was used and analyzed the gathered data using the pattern matching method.  As the findings of this study, selected social networks for this study; multilevel and multiplex networks are modified, and presented in the context of high-tech startup ecosystems to attract and expand the investor networks out of geographical boundaries. The use of such networks is based on the amount of investment required, purpose, and aim of the high-tech startup firm. A six steps model has been introduced to Incubators to assist their high-tech startups through investor attractions. Further, the study has identified, to a certain level digital tools are useful to minimize geographical distances but physical meetings are to move forward and continue with strong relationships as physical meetings are non-replaceable with any other modes.  Suggestions and recommendations were provided mainly to high-tech startups, incubators, and science parks in Luleå as well as some recommendations for the Luleå kommun or Norrbotten region. These recommendations were provided focusing on Luleå but could also be used by the same high-tech startup business ecosystem players in other non-main cities in the world where necessary to expand their networks to assist high-tech startup companies to achieve regional development. Finally, managerial implications and theoretical implications have been presented at the end of the study.

In the context of digital transformation in the cultural and heritage sector, many museums are undergoing digital- ization. This qualitative study explores the digitalization status in the selected cases, underpins the decisions behind their digitalization practices, and identifies the factors that affect the decisions. The Swedish National Museum, Hallwhyska Museum, and Gävle Museum are selected as the bounded cases for this study. Applying the Digital Curation Lifecycle Model, this study conceptualizes the process mapping for digitalization projects; employing the attribution theory, this study identifies the internal and external factors affecting digitalization decisions.  As a multiple case study with a qualitative perspective, the data is collected through multiple sources, includ- ing interview data and web content retrieved from the selected museum’s websites. Following the research tradi- tion of organizational attribution, this study first collects and examines the digitalization practices of the selected museums; with the assistance of the lifecycle model, the practices are dismantled into a list of actions to concep- tualize the process mapping for digitalization projects and to identify the critical decisions at each stage; and then based on the interview data and the empirical evidence, this study identifies the factors affecting the decisions with the theoretical support of organizational attribution theory.  This study’s outcome brings insights into the institutional aspect of performing digitalization activities, thus contributing empirical evidence to future research in this field. The findings of this study indicate that the attribu- tion of museums’ digitalization decisions is complicated and can be affected by multiple factors and can be mul- tiple attributed. By reflecting on the process mapping and attribution process, this study tries to underscore the importance of contextuality and underpin the emerging trend in museums’ digitalization practices.

Tourism plays a crucial role in driving economic growth and regional development for countries worldwide as well as spurring economic growth in counties within regions. This thesis delves into the unexplored potential of two Swedish counties, Halland and Kalmar, as tourist destinations. Focusing on their degree of digitalization and digitization, we conduct a comprehensive comparative analysis to understand the current state of tourism and identify opportunities for sustainable growth within digitalization. All hotels in both of the counties were studied and compared to see how present they were online on third party booking sites.  The thesis has used secondary data from official tourism statistics sites simultaneously as well as combining them with gathered data from all of the different hotels own websites as well as third party sites used for booking. By examining the two key factors of presence online and package deals we evaluate potential room for improvement for the respective county.  Our findings show that there are several similarities between Halland and Kalmar when it comes to the degree of digitalization and how the regions offer package deals on a broad spectrum. There seems however to be room for improvement for both counties when analyzed to what the literature states. Hotels in Halland have a larger presence online than the hotels in Kalmar, when looking at how many guest nights per hotel the county has, Hallad comes out on top by a large margin. We argue that because of the larger online presence of hotels in Halland they achieve to attract more tourists than Kalmar, despite having fewer hotels in total.  To increase growth in the hospitality industry this thesis proposes a few actionable recommendations for both counties. Implementing more package deals and diversifying the contents of these package deals and focusing more on the digital marketing platforms that are readily available for every business in the hospitality business.  This thesis contributes to a deeper insight into how business owners should act to increase their odds of success as well as how policymakers might help business in their region to develop further. This thesis also gives stakeholders a way of measuring the online presence of hotels and by extension then a way of comparing presence online.

The purpose of this thesis is to highlight the experiences of social workers regarding the ongoing impact of digitalization on the administration of economic assistance within social services. The literature presented discusses how digitalization influences social workers and clients in the current workplace. Additionally, the study analyzes factors that have proven  particularly demanding for social workers in relation to digitization. The discourse regarding whether or not increased digitalization within social service is beneficial or detrimental is further explored by applying theories such as Lean and New Public Management (NPM), along with the theoretical concept of transparency.  The effects of digitalization on economic assistance introduce characteristics and conditions that align well with these two theoretical perspectives. The implementation of NPM and Lean has notably influenced working methods in the public sector, leading to the establishment of new standards and approaches in the field. Through the application of these theories, the thesis aims to formulate an opinion on whether digitalization constitutes a positive transformation in the nuanced tasks of social workers or if it represents a new challenge and increased workload. The thesis seeks to analyze and comprehend the role of digitization as either a facilitating factor for the work of social workers or as a new aspect that adds to the workload within the organization.