Student Number : 0063608J - MSc(Eng) dissertation - School of Electrical and Information Engineering - Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment / “You can see the computer age everywhere except in the productivity statistics”. This offhand remark by Robert Solow, the Nobel prize-winning economist [1] has stimulated many other economists to conduct more rigorous analyses on the impact of information technology on productivity. The research presented in this dissertation has been conducted on a large telecommunications utility. An important business process of the utility, that of collecting information on its geographically dispersed network assets, was automated using mobile computing and wireless technologies. The research compared this newly developed automated process with the current, manual, process of sourcing the field network asset data using paper-based templates, and capturing the data manually from the templates. The results of the pilot for this automated business process were encouraging and demonstrated an improvement of over 50% in the productivity of the data collection process, and its integrity. An important aspect of the research outlined in this dissertation was to design and implement the mobile computer-based electronic data collection prototype to minimise user obstruction to the technology deployed. The prototype was tested for technology acceptance by the targeted field workers. This test also proved successful. The research demonstrated that an improvement in productivity of over 50% was achievable from a well-considered investment in information technology. The results from the research also pointed the way for the deployment of this data collection solution in other utilities, e.g. electricity distribution, water reticulation, and municipalities. Through user prototype tests and a cultural intervention process on the targeted users (field workers), the research also demonstrated how the automated business process can be geared for use by low-skilled field workers, so important to improve productivity in developing economies such as those in Africa.

Bakgrund: Långvarig smärta innebär stora negativa konsekvenser för samhället i form av ökade sjukskrivningstal och mindre delaktighet i samhället. Patienter med neuropatisk smärta upplever att de inte får den hjälp de önskar. Hälso- och sjukvården har ett ansvar att stödja dess patienter till att uppnå upplevd hälsa trots lidande och sjukdom. Syfte: Att beskriva patienters upplevelser av att leva med neuropatisk smärta. Metod: Litteraturöversikt där datamaterialet består av tio kvalitativa artiklar ur ett patientperspektiv. Resultat: Resultatet visas i två huvudteman; neuropatisk smärta, en ständig kamp i vardagen och bemötande i hälso- och sjukvården samt fem underteman; acceptansens betydelse för hantering av smärta, inverkan på relationer, inverkan på dagliga aktiviteter, vårdens bristande kunskap och förståelse,  vägen till smärtlindring , en utmaning. Resultatet visar att neuropatiska smärtan påverkar många delar av livet. Upplevelser av negativa konsekvenser både inom arbetslivet, familjelivet och sociala aktiviteter. För att uppnå livskvalitet krävs acceptans av smärtan. Konklusion: Patienter med neuropatisk smärta bör förstås i ett helhetsperspektiv och utifrån den komplexa smärtupplevelsen de har. Hälso- och sjukvården har stora möjligheter till förbättringsarbete för att bemöta dessa patienter och bidra till en ökad livskvalitet. Detta kan ske genom ett aktivt och intresserat lyssnade för att få en förståelse för patientens livssituation.

Title: Robot or Human? The Marketing Phenomenon of Virtual Influencers: A Case Study About Virtual Influencers’ Parasocial Interaction on Instagram. Purpose: As it is already established that human influencers can create parasocial interaction with their followers, the purpose of this study is to explore parasocial interaction with virtual influencers through their perceived source credibility. Research Questions: How are consumers responding to interaction with virtual influencers on Instagram? What factors in source credibility facilitate parasocial interaction between the actors?  Method: This case study has conducted semi-structured interviews with Swedish consumers along with information collected on two virtual fashion influencers: LilMiquela and Noonoouri. Before the interviews, a pretest in interacting with the virtual influencers on Instagram was conducted. Afterwards, the transcripts have been analyzed in accordance to the presented operationalization and led to subcategories found to be relevant for the facilitation of PSI.  Conclusion: It was shown that consumers responded better to interaction with humanlike virtual influencers regarding their appearance and lifelike activities. Although, consumers also perceive their appearance and behavior as unpleasant and unrealistic when being too close to reality. Their perceived humanness affected the level of attractiveness, similarity and trustworthiness. As such, these are the factors that affect the degree of source credibility and thus facilitate PSI with them. Virtual influencers stand in front of a problem with both authenticity and transparency, as they are created and owned by companies. This has implications for their overall attractiveness, as authenticity is shown to be important for consumers on Instagram. However, lack of authenticity and transparency mostly implicates the trustworthiness of them, as the communicator is unknown. Virtual influencers are perceived to have a superior ability of being available online and personal in interaction. Therefore, it is shown to have a positive effect on the facilitation of PSI as it increases their attractiveness. However, it also indicates that they are controlled by a company which has a negative effect as it decreases the trustworthiness of them. To conclude, consumers’ virtual robot acceptance is proposed to be a precursor for developing PSI with virtual influencers in conjunction with the three factors in source credibility: trustworthiness, attractiveness and similarity.

Background: A continuously growing urban population leads to congested urban areas. As a result, people are wasting time being stuck in traffic. One way of solving this problem is to use the air for moving people. Thus, companies all over the globe are working extensively on approaches for Urban Air Mobility such as air taxis. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is the identification of key determinants influencing the acceptance of air taxis from a potential user perspective. Thereby, the thesis develops the Urban Air Mobility Acceptance Model (UAMAM) as an extension of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Method: An explanatory online survey was conducted to test the hypotheses in the proposed UAMAM. Data from 321 respondents living in cities larger than one million inhabitants representing the potential target group was collected. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS SEM) was used to assess the measurement model in terms of validity and reliability and the structural model in terms of hypotheses testing and strength of relationships between proposed variables. Further, a multigroup analysis has been examined to identify significant differences among groups. Conclusion: The results show that the attitude, which is strongly influenced by the perceived usefulness, as well as subjective norm, travel cost and the personal innovativeness are key determinants affecting the users’ behavioral intention to use air taxis. Further, moderating effects of age on the relation between time saving and behavioral intention as well as on the relation between personal innovativeness and behavioral intention were identified. Additionally, moderating effects of occupational status on the relation between travel cost and behavioral intention were found.

Abstract Background: Around 45% of Swedish consumers canceled their online purchase in 2018, due to too high delivery fees and issues concerning payments. This research is focusing on e-payments by utilizing the Technology Acceptance Model 3 and its determinants perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, and how they contribute to the e-payment method decision. Additionally, the relevance of online trust and online security are examined in relation to purchasing cancellations due to trust and security issues in e-payment methods.   Purpose: The purpose of this research paper is to understand how Swedish millennial consumers’ perceptions of online security and online trust of e-payment methods effect on online purchasing cancellation. Furthermore, this paper examines how perceptions of usefulness and ease of use contribute as determinants in choosing between e-payment methods according to Swedish millennial consumers.   Method: The research is carried out in a qualitative manner by conducting a series of semi-structured face-to-face interviews. Fifteen Swedish millennials contributed to the empirical study. The gathered primary data is analyzed and then presented in chapter 4 and connected to the existing literature in chapter 5.   Conclusion: For the Swedish millennials, both online trust and online security are perceived as important determinants when evaluating whether or not the e-payment method could be used. When choosing between different e-payment methods, perceived ease of use seemed to be more important. Additionally, the decisions are made based on which e-payment method is secure, trustworthy, and easy to use. The presence of those determinants also increases perceived usefulness. When making purchases online domestically it appears that perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness weight heavier. While trust and security are given more importance if the purchase is made from a foreign website.

I studien undersöks vilka faktorer som påverkar företags anpassning till m-payment. Mobiltelefonen är tätt sammanlänkad med människan i dagens samhälle. I Sydostasien sker en stor del av betalningar redan med mobiltelefonen. Mobile payment (m-payment) förväntas kunna öka integreringen av fler fenomen än bara betalningstjänster – kundrabatter och kundlojalitet är exempel på det som har nämnts i tidigare forskning. Tidigare forskning är emellertid mestadels inriktad på konsumenter, och därför riktar denna studie in sig på företag. Med hjälp av en enkät med utgångspunkt i Technology Acceptance model samt Diffusion of Innovations model undersöks ett urval om 134 företag med 32 svarande. Svaren kodades sedan i en logistisk regressionsmodell samt en kompletterande faktoranalys. Ingen av variablerna i modellen uppvisar statistisk signifikans vilket gör att resultaten från studien inte förklarar vad som påverkar företagens anpassning till m-payment. Storleken på urvalet kan nämnas som en av huvudförklaringarna till avsaknaden av signifikans. En liknande studie med ett större urval föreslås därför i framtida forskning.

Background: The market of mHealth has been growing steadily over last years, but in China, the market is not very mature, and the low level of popularity negative impact on the development. But it should be noted that the market has great potential with positive development background, the policy support by government, the widely used of smartphone and the Internet and especially the huge demand of mHealth in China.   Purpose: The purpose of the study was to reveals Chinese mHealth industry, to measure and understand the relationship between different factors that influencing the acceptance of mHealth apps in the case of Chinese users.   Method: This study was based on the UTAUT2 Model and a quantitative methodology was followed. The author excluded price value and habit from the original UTAUT and added privacy and security factor. A primary data collection was conducted through a questionnaire in this research. Suitable respondents were those individuals who needed healthcare services, and due to the budget and time limitation, a convenience sampling technique was used.   Conclusion:       The findings show that social influence makes the strongest contribution to explaining users’ acceptance of mHealth app in China. The whole ranking of the factors (from strong to weak) is social influence > privacy and security > facilitating condition > performance expectancy. And except privacy and security, other factors are all positively affect the acceptance of Chinese mHealth app users. Organisations can use these findings to improve the design of mHealth apps in the future.

Today, advances in the technological sector spurs invention toward new heights. What can be achieved today was just decades ago science fiction. Recent years, augmented reality has emerged which is explained by Kipper & Rampolla (2012, p. 1) as a technology that combines the real world with virtual objects which creates a supplement to reality. With its ability to strengthen the impressions of reality by weaving the physical and the digital world together, enables it to be used in various settings. The retail industry has been struggling as of late, with e-commerce flourishing on one hand but contrastingly classic brick-and-mortar stores foreclosing by the thousands. Thus, a technology that has the ability to combine these two channels would thus act as a mitigating force enabling customers to virtually try on their clothes or make furniture digitally appear in their living room. There are numerous possibilities with this technology, given that it can be used in different industries as well with examples from the marketing and gaming industries as the most prominent. What is evident is its ability to interact and engage, making it a usable tool for many activities. Thus, through this thesis we study if augmented reality can affect consumer engagement, and if so which attributes of it has significant positive relationships with the dimensions of consumer engagement. In this thesis, we first provide a framework in which to measure augmented reality in general settings quantitatively, through the use of attributes. These attributes consist of; Interactivity, Playfulness (Escapism & Enjoyment), Service Excellence, Aesthetics, Ease of Use and Perceived Usefulness. We then hypothesize the attributes relationship with two dimensions of consumer engagement identified by Hollebeek et al. (2014); Affection and Cognitive Processing. However, Ease of Use and Service Excellence were not tested in this thesis, as a result of unsatisfactory loadings in the factor analysis. Through an online survey, 79 useful responses were collected and used in testing the hypotheses. Significant positive relationships were found for all tested attributes and Affection, and further significant positive relationships were found between Aesthetics and Perceived Usefulness with Cognitive Processing. It is our belief that this thesis further develops and solidify the current work with consumer engagement quantitively by validating the use of a known framework. Further, it adds to the literature by adopting a general definition of the concept of consumer engagement. This thesis also adds to quantitative work with augmented reality by creating and using a framework in which to study the attributes of augmented reality in a general setting, which has not been done previously. For practitioners, this thesis provides insight into which attributes of augmented reality systems should be emphasized in order to maximize consumer engagement. The thesis ends in suggestions for future research, where we call upon further testing on consumer engagement across different contexts with the use of Hollebeek et al.’s (2014) framework. Such work could lead to a universally accepted quantitative scale for measuring consumer engagement. Lastly, adopting the framework for augmented reality presented in this thesis and applying it to further contexts could yield valuable results, and further tests on Ease of Use and Service Excellence to validate their importance for consumer engagement would be of utmost interest.

The Nordic countries share common interests to digitize services in the health care sector from which their eHealth strategies are a proof of. Sweden has specifically put effort on the global scheme by setting a goal of being the best in eHealth by 2025. As one of the main goals of the strategies is increasing patient empowerment, perspective of the health care professionals in this digital shift has yet remained less noticed and the concrete effects on them is still scarcely studied. This study focuses on providing the aspect of the health care professionals and how they have perceived and experienced the digital tools and eHealth services affecting their work and what attitudes they themselves have as users.                                This study utilized the mixed method approach and was done in collaboration with the Digga Halland project which aims towards enhancing health care workers’ digital competences and conditions to utilize eHealth. Previously collected baseline survey data from health care professionals in different municipalities in the Halland region was analysed and five health care professionals were recruited for in-depth, phenomenological interviews.             The results of this research indicate that the use of digital tools and services is common among health care professionals at work and outside work and the workers consider their digital competence rather good. However, the interview respondents presented varying attitudes towards digital services and eHealth depending on whether the services were evaluated from a professional role or outside work role when the professionals used the services themselves. Also, the current professional position guided whether the digital shift and eHealth were experienced more positively or negatively.

A maciez é um importante atributo de qualidade para os consumidores de carne. No entanto, não há dados específicos do impacto da maciez da carne ovina de Santa Inês sobre a percepção dos consumidores brasileiros. Portanto, o objetivo foi verificar a avaliação do consumidor de carne ovina apresentando diferentes forças de cisalhamento. Foram utilizados oito cordeiros da raça Santa Inês, que receberam a mesma dieta de terminação. Estes animais tinham 5 a 6 meses de idade e pesavam de 30 a 35 kg quando foram abatidos e suas meias carcaças foram utilizadas para obtenção de 16 amostras de Longissimus dorsi (LD). Estas foram distribuídas aleatoriamente entre quatro diferentes processamentos pós-abate (PA). Os LD usados para a obtenção da Carne Endurecida (CE) foram retirados logo após o abate (0h) e as amostras para os demais tratamentos foram retiradas na desossa às 24h PA. O tratamento para CE consistia em embalar o LD e mergulhá-lo em água a 0° C por duas horas, e logo após congelá-la. Para a obtenção da Carne Fresca (CF), o LD foi retirado na desossa (24h PA), embalado e congelado. E alguns dos bifes obtidos às 24 horas foram embalados a vácuo e maturados a 1°C durante três ou sete dias, que compõem a condição de Carne Maturada (CM) pós-morte, CM3 e CM7, respectivamente. Os principais dados obtidos foram de comprimento do sarcômero (CS), força de cisalhamento (FC), índice de fragmentação miofibrilar (IFM), bem como a aceitação de maciez, suculência e qualidade global por parte de 50 consumidores não treinados, usando escala hedônica de nove pontos. O CS foi de 1,44 &mu;m para CE, significativamente (p<0,05) mais curto que observado para CF, CM3 e CM7, que não diferiram entre si, com valores de 1,84, 1,89, 1,85 &mu;m (SEM=0,09), respectivamente. A CE alcançou FC média de 7,2 kgf, significativamente (P<0,05) mais alta que os três valores similares de 3,3, 3,1, 2,4 (SEM=0,44) observados para CF, CM3 e CM7, respectivamente. Quanto à IFM, os processos pós-abate tiveram diferença entre CE e CM7 (p<0,05), com IFM de 76,2 e 130,5, enquanto a CF e CM3 não diferiram entre os processos com valores de 97,9; 115,6; (SEM= 11,41), respectivamente. As amostras de CE receberam pontuação significativamente mais baixa (P<0,01) para todos os quesitos avaliados na análise sensorial, sendo textura 5,43, suculência 6,51 e qualidade global 5,92, os demais tratamentos tiveram notas acima de 7 para todas as características, mas não diferiram entre si (P<0,01). Os consumidores foram capazes de perceber e avaliaram negativamente a maciez da carne de cordeiro que apresentou alta força de cisalhamento quando comparada com carnes com valores que as caracterizariam como macias. As avaliações de suculência e qualidade global acompanharam a percepção da maciez. Concluiu-se que os consumidores percebem e avaliam negativamente carne de cordeiro com alto valor de força de cisalhamento. No entanto, os dados obtidos não foram capazes de elucidar impacto de diferenças menores na força de cisalhamento entre amostras duras e macias sobre a aceitação do consumidor não treinado. / Tenderness is an important meat quality trait for consumers. However, there is no specific data in the impact of Santa Inês lamb meat tenderness on Brazilian consumers perception. Therefore, objective was to verify the consumer evaluation of lamb meat with different shear force. We used eight Santa Inês lambs that were fed the same diet. These animals of 5 to 6 months of age and weighing 30 to 35 Kg were slaughtered and their half carcasses were used to obtain 16 samples of Longissimus dorsi (LD). These were randomly assigned among four diferent post-slaughter (PS) managements. The LD used for obtaining Toughened Meat (TM) were removed immediately after slaughter (0h ps) and samples for the other managements were obtained from boning at 24h PS. The samples from TM consisted in wrapping excised LD in plastic bag and dipping it into water bath with ice at 0°C for two hours, followed by freezing. Fresh Meat (FM) was obtained from LD removed at boning (24 hours postmortem), followed by wrapping and freezing. And some of steaks obtained at 24 hours were vaccumm packaged and aged at 1 °C for three or seven days, which compose the aging (A) postmortem, A3 and A7, respectively. The sarcomere length (SL), shear force (SF), myofibrillar fragmentation index (MFI), as well as sensory analysis of tenderness, juiciness and overall quality acceptance by 50 not trained consumers using hedonic scale of nine points, were obtained. The SL was 1.44 &mu;m for TM, significantly (P<0.05) shorter than the other treatments. The values of 1.84, 1.89, 1.85 (SEM=0,09) &mu;m for FM, A3 and A7, respectively, didn\'t differ and are values normally reported for post-rigor lamb meat. MT reached an average 7.2 kgf for SF, significantly (P <0.05) higher than 3.3, 3.1, 2.4 (SEM= 0,44) observed for FM, A7 and A3, respectively. As for the MFI, post-slaughter processes had difference between TM and A7 (P<0.05), with IFM 76.2 and 130.5, while FM and A3 did not differ between cases with values 97.9; 115.6; (SEM = 11.41), respectively. Samples from TM received the lowest scores (P<0.01) for all items assessed in sensory analysis, and texture 5.43, juiciness 6.51 and overall quality 5.92, the other treatments were notes above 7 for all traits, but not significantly different (P<0.01). Consumers were able to understand and evaluate negatively the tenderness of lamb that showed high shear force compared to meat with values at low levels, which characterize as tender. It was concluded that consumers will perceive and evaluate negatively lamb meat with high shear force value. However, the results are not conclusive whether smaller differences between tough and tender meat would still have impact on not trained consumer acceptance.