<p>The co-operative as an economic and social institution has long been recognized for its contribution to economic development as well as its positive effect on local communities. However, over the last decade or so substantial structural changes in the agricultural sector have undermined some of the most prominent North American co-operatives. In some cases, co-ops asked for bankruptcy protection, others ceased operations while some were transformed to for-profit firms. The present study offers three essays that explore the challenges that co-operatives are facing in terms of their relationship with their members in local markets, the decision-making process of their leaders and the co-ops' role in the modern economy.</p> <p>These first two essays are linked by the fact that they both develop models that are about cognitions. Examining cognition offers some new insights to understanding the process behind the decline of agricultural co-ops. In the first essay the model examines consumers' cognitions, while the model in the second essay examines management's cognitions. The essays differ on the agent's ability to change the perceptions that result from those cognitions. Essay One assumes that consumers' perceptions are partially flexible and thus can change over time with some cost; on the other hand, essay Two assumes that beliefs are inflexible due to the high cost of changing them.</p> <p>Essay One examines the relationship between a co-operative and its membership in a local market using an economic psychological approach. More specifically, the essay presents a modified rational-choice model to investigate how cognitive dissonance can influence members' loyalty. The effect of cognitive dissonance is analyzed in a case where a local co-operative operates alongside with an investor-owned firm (IOF) in a market. The model illustrates how cognitive dissonance can give rise to switching costs for those consumers who wish to switch to the IOF. Analytical results demonstrate the effect of these switching costs on equilibrium market shares and discuss how a drop in the dissonance cost because of managerial decisions by the co-op can result in dramatic drops in its market share.</p> <p>Essay Two illustrates how management's mental frame can be incorporated into an economic model and develops a theoretical underpinning for the link between a strong mental frame and the financial difficulties that a firm might experience. The case of the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool with its Project Horizon plan is proposed as an example of a situation where the established mental frame gave rise to a belief regarding future member support that had a significant influence on the decision-making process of the co-op's CEO. The analysis includes a game theoretic model of a duopoly between a co-operative and an IOF, where mental framing is explicitly incorporated into the primitives of the model. Analytical results illustrate how the CEO's belief regarding member commitment can influence decision-making and therefore affect the market share and profits of the firm.</p> <p>Essay Three uses non-parametric econometric techniques to examine the stock price effect of a co-op's acquisition by a publicly-traded IOF. The potential for this study emerged as a result of the takeover of Dairyworld, a dairy co-op, by Saputo, a publicly-traded private corporation. The study uses the prediction-error approach to estimate Saputo's returns after the acquisition as a deviation from its expected returns. A non-parametric bootstrap technique simulates Saputo's stock returns and examines its behavior around the acquisition date. The empirical results are consistent with a number of hypotheses, including the pro-competitive role that co-operatives are believed to have in the economy. The essay also includes a comprehensive discussion regarding the greater financial value that co-ops have for IOFs.</p>

The purpose of this master thesis is to provide a deeper understandingof managerial innovation impact on companies through Corporate SocialResponsibility (CSR). For this objective, IKEA Karlstad was chosen for theempirical part in order to apply the theoretical framework to practicalrelevance. The method used for this thesis was a case study design includingdata collection from literature in different databases: Emerald, BusinessSource Premier, Scopus as well as Google Scholar. Regarding data collection forthe case study, three qualitative questionnaires were also distributed to IKEA:two designed for the local IT and sustainability coordinator Magnus Engstrandand one targeting employees. A quantitative questionnaire was distributed toIKEA employees too. An interview was set up with Magnus Engstrand according tothe unstructured interview guidelines. The theoretical framework focuses notonly on understanding the links between managerial innovation and CSR,managerial and technological innovations but also on the companies’ motivationto implement these actions and their impact on employees, organizations andcommunity. From our analysis of the literature it can be stated that managerialinnovation is stimulated by an internal element of the company. Managerialinnovation helps partly or entirely to develop CSR actions resulting in thecreation of positive value: tangible or intangible; or negative value accordingto value resonance or value dissonance. The case study analysis broughtexamples of how managerial innovation brings value without involvement of anytechnological innovation contradicting certain theories exposed in thetheoretical framework. At IKEA, the three different types of managerialinnovations are management, administrative and organizational innovations whichare used to develop CSR actions and constitute a minor or major part of theirimplementation. The impact of managerial innovation on CSR is translated atIKEA Karlstad as an intangible value for the company and its stakeholders. Thisthesis contributes to a better comprehension of managerial innovation conceptsin general as well as its application in a CSR strategy through concreteexamples. It can also be used as a demonstration of how managerial innovationcan be used to improve the internal and external images as well as employees’welfare and perceptions. Further qualitative research is needed to measure themanner of managerial innovations as well as quantitative studies to generalizeits impact on a larger scale.

<p>The co-operative as an economic and social institution has long been recognized for its contribution to economic development as well as its positive effect on local communities. However, over the last decade or so substantial structural changes in the agricultural sector have undermined some of the most prominent North American co-operatives. In some cases, co-ops asked for bankruptcy protection, others ceased operations while some were transformed to for-profit firms. The present study offers three essays that explore the challenges that co-operatives are facing in terms of their relationship with their members in local markets, the decision-making process of their leaders and the co-ops' role in the modern economy.</p> <p>These first two essays are linked by the fact that they both develop models that are about cognitions. Examining cognition offers some new insights to understanding the process behind the decline of agricultural co-ops. In the first essay the model examines consumers' cognitions, while the model in the second essay examines management's cognitions. The essays differ on the agent's ability to change the perceptions that result from those cognitions. Essay One assumes that consumers' perceptions are partially flexible and thus can change over time with some cost; on the other hand, essay Two assumes that beliefs are inflexible due to the high cost of changing them.</p> <p>Essay One examines the relationship between a co-operative and its membership in a local market using an economic psychological approach. More specifically, the essay presents a modified rational-choice model to investigate how cognitive dissonance can influence members' loyalty. The effect of cognitive dissonance is analyzed in a case where a local co-operative operates alongside with an investor-owned firm (IOF) in a market. The model illustrates how cognitive dissonance can give rise to switching costs for those consumers who wish to switch to the IOF. Analytical results demonstrate the effect of these switching costs on equilibrium market shares and discuss how a drop in the dissonance cost because of managerial decisions by the co-op can result in dramatic drops in its market share.</p> <p>Essay Two illustrates how management's mental frame can be incorporated into an economic model and develops a theoretical underpinning for the link between a strong mental frame and the financial difficulties that a firm might experience. The case of the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool with its Project Horizon plan is proposed as an example of a situation where the established mental frame gave rise to a belief regarding future member support that had a significant influence on the decision-making process of the co-op's CEO. The analysis includes a game theoretic model of a duopoly between a co-operative and an IOF, where mental framing is explicitly incorporated into the primitives of the model. Analytical results illustrate how the CEO's belief regarding member commitment can influence decision-making and therefore affect the market share and profits of the firm.</p> <p>Essay Three uses non-parametric econometric techniques to examine the stock price effect of a co-op's acquisition by a publicly-traded IOF. The potential for this study emerged as a result of the takeover of Dairyworld, a dairy co-op, by Saputo, a publicly-traded private corporation. The study uses the prediction-error approach to estimate Saputo's returns after the acquisition as a deviation from its expected returns. A non-parametric bootstrap technique simulates Saputo's stock returns and examines its behavior around the acquisition date. The empirical results are consistent with a number of hypotheses, including the pro-competitive role that co-operatives are believed to have in the economy. The essay also includes a comprehensive discussion regarding the greater financial value that co-ops have for IOFs.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Kent State University, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Jan. 21, 2010). Advisor: Ralph Lorenz. Keywords: jazz, music, theory, George Macdonald, ballet, harmony, tertian, harmonics analysis, dissonance, consonance, orchestra. Includes bibliographical references (p. 130-140).

The aim of this study was to examine young adult cannabis users’ attitudes towards cannabis and their perception of the normalization of cannabis. The purpose was also to explore how their views of cannabis correspond with norms regarding cannabis. This study is based on interviews with five young adult cannabis users. The theoretical framework is based on Parker’s normalization thesis, Goffman’s notion of stigma, Becker’s definition of outsiders and the definition of social identity developed by Stone. The theory of cognitive dissonance was also used to analyze the empirics. The result shows that the interviewees experience a normalization of cannabis, although a process of stigmatization cannot be disregarded. The result also indicates that the respondent’s views of cannabis do not conform to society. The main conclusions are that cannabis is normalized in certain groups, which creates a discrepancy between the attitudes of cannabis users and Swedish society. The reasons for using cannabis are individual and one recurrent explanation is that the respondents experience less negative consequences of cannabis, compared to the effects of alcohol. These findings are supported by earlier research. In order to develop a constructive dialogue about cannabis, the understanding of these attitudes is important for social work.

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Human Resource personnel as part of their daily jobs provide a service to other employees within a mining industry. These service workers may experience dissonance between their actual feelings and the feelings they are expected to display. For these service workers to be more engaged at work, emotional intelligence and social support is vital. If these factors are not in place, their well-being may be in jeopardy. The objective of this research was to determine the relationship between Emotion Work, Emotional Intelligence, Well-being and Social Support of service workers in a human resource field within a mining industry. A cross-sectional survey design was used. The study population (n = 229) consisted of human resource personnel in the Limpopo and North West Province. The Greek Emotional Intelligence Scale (GEIS), Frankfurt Emotion Work Scales, Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, Oldenburg Burnout Inventory and Social Support Scale, as well as a biographical questionnaire, were used as measuring instruments. Cronbach alpha coefficients, factor analysis, inter-item correlation coefficients, Pearson product moment correlation coefficient and stepwise multiple regression analysis were used to analyse the data. An analysis of the data indicated that correlations between the following constructs are statistically and practically significant. The results show that Positive Display is statistically and positively practically significantly related (medium effect) to Interaction Control. Caring/Empathy is positively practically significantly related to Positive Display (medium effect). Furthermore the Control of Emotions (medium effect) and Emotion Management (large effect) are both positively practically significantly related to Caring/Empathy. Emotional Resilience however is negatively practically significantly related to Caring and Empathy (medium effect). Emotion Expression Recognition is positively practically significantly related to Control of Emotion (medium effect). However, both Exhaustion (medium effect) and Emotional Resilience (medium effect) are negatively practically significantly related to Control of Emotions. Engagement is positively practically significant (medium effect) to Emotion Management. Emotion Resilience (medium effect) positively correlates with Exhaustion while Engagement (medium effect) negatively correlates with Exhaustion. Engagement positively practically correlates with Resilience (medium effect). Social Support of both supervisor and co-workers positively relates to engagement to a medium effect. Principal component analysis performed on the GEIS resulted in a four-factor solution. The first factor was Caring and Empathy, which includes the willingness of an individual to help other people and understand others' feelings. The second factor was Control of Emotion, which is the ability of the individual to control and regulate emotions within themselves and others. Emotion Expression/Recognition, which is the ability of the individual to express and recognise his or her own emotional reactions, was the third factor, and the fourth was Emotion Management, which is the ability of an individual to process emotional information with regard to perception, assimilation, understanding and management of emotions. All four factors correlate with that of the GEIS originally developed by Tsaousis (2007) and accounted for 31% of the total variance in emotional intelligence. A Multiple Regression Analysis with Exhaustion as dependent variable was carried out. The results show that Emotion Work factors accounted for 2% of the total variance and Emotional Intelligence factors for 12% of the total variance. More specifically it seems that the lack of Caring and Empathy and Emotion Management predicted Exhaustion in this regard. However, when Emotional Intelligence factors were entered into the model, an increase of 10% variance was shown of the variance explained in Exhaustion. Emotion Work, Emotional Intelligence and Social Support predicted 14% of the variance explained in the level of Exhaustion by participants. A Multiple Regression analysis with Emotional Resilience as dependent variable was carried out. The results show that Emotion Work factors accounted for 6% of the total variance. More specifically; it seems that Dissonance predicted the level of Emotional Resilience. When Emotional Intelligence factors were entered into the model, an increase of 15% was shown. Caring and Empathy and Control of Emotions predicted Emotional Intelligence the best. Lastly, when Social Support factors were entered into the regression analysis, the variance explained showed an increase of 5%. Support of Family and Others predicted Emotional Resilience the best. In total, Emotion Work, Emotional Intelligence and Social Support factors explained 20% of the variance in Emotional Resilience. A Multiple Regression Analysis with Engagement as dependent variable with Emotion Work factors, Emotional Intelligence factors and Social Support as predictors of Engagement was done. Entry of Emotion Work factors at the first step of the regression analysis did not produce a statistically significant model and only accounted for 1% of the variance. However, when Emotional Intelligence factors were entered in the second step of the analysis, it accounted for approximately 7% of the variance. More specifically, it seems that Caring and Empathy predicted Engagement. When Social Support factors were entered into the third step of the analysis, an increase of 27% was found. All the Social Support factors (Social Support of Family and Others, Supervisors and Co-workers) accounted for 27% of the variance explained in Engagement. Emotion Work, Emotional Intelligence and Social Support predicted 33% of the total variance explained in the level of Engagement. Limitations within the study were identified, and recommendations were made for human resource personnel in a mining industry, as well as for future research. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Human Resource personnel as part of their daily jobs provide a service to other employees within a mining industry. These service workers may experience dissonance between their actual feelings and the feelings they are expected to display. For these service workers to be more engaged at work, emotional intelligence and social support is vital. If these factors are not in place, their well-being may be in jeopardy. The objective of this research was to determine the relationship between Emotion Work, Emotional Intelligence, Well-being and Social Support of service workers in a human resource field within a mining industry. A cross-sectional survey design was used. The study population (n = 229) consisted of human resource personnel in the Limpopo and North West Province. The Greek Emotional Intelligence Scale (GEIS), Frankfurt Emotion Work Scales, Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, Oldenburg Burnout Inventory and Social Support Scale, as well as a biographical questionnaire, were used as measuring instruments. Cronbach alpha coefficients, factor analysis, inter-item correlation coefficients, Pearson product moment correlation coefficient and stepwise multiple regression analysis were used to analyse the data. An analysis of the data indicated that correlations between the following constructs are statistically and practically significant. The results show that Positive Display is statistically and positively practically significantly related (medium effect) to Interaction Control. Caring/Empathy is positively practically significantly related to Positive Display (medium effect). Furthermore the Control of Emotions (medium effect) and Emotion Management (large effect) are both positively practically significantly related to Caring/Empathy. Emotional Resilience however is negatively practically significantly related to Caring and Empathy (medium effect). Emotion Expression Recognition is positively practically significantly related to Control of Emotion (medium effect). However, both Exhaustion (medium effect) and Emotional Resilience (medium effect) are negatively practically significantly related to Control of Emotions. Engagement is positively practically significant (medium effect) to Emotion Management. Emotion Resilience (medium effect) positively correlates with Exhaustion while Engagement (medium effect) negatively correlates with Exhaustion. Engagement positively practically correlates with Resilience (medium effect). Social Support of both supervisor and co-workers positively relates to engagement to a medium effect. Principal component analysis performed on the GEIS resulted in a four-factor solution. The first factor was Caring and Empathy, which includes the willingness of an individual to help other people and understand others' feelings. The second factor was Control of Emotion, which is the ability of the individual to control and regulate emotions within themselves and others. Emotion Expression/Recognition, which is the ability of the individual to express and recognise his or her own emotional reactions, was the third factor, and the fourth was Emotion Management, which is the ability of an individual to process emotional information with regard to perception, assimilation, understanding and management of emotions. All four factors correlate with that of the GEIS originally developed by Tsaousis (2007) and accounted for 31% of the total variance in emotional intelligence. A Multiple Regression Analysis with Exhaustion as dependent variable was carried out. The results show that Emotion Work factors accounted for 2% of the total variance and Emotional Intelligence factors for 12% of the total variance. More specifically it seems that the lack of Caring and Empathy and Emotion Management predicted Exhaustion in this regard. However, when Emotional Intelligence factors were entered into the model, an increase of 10% variance was shown of the variance explained in Exhaustion. Emotion Work, Emotional Intelligence and Social Support predicted 14% of the variance explained in the level of Exhaustion by participants. A Multiple Regression analysis with Emotional Resilience as dependent variable was carried out. The results show that Emotion Work factors accounted for 6% of the total variance. More specifically; it seems that Dissonance predicted the level of Emotional Resilience. When Emotional Intelligence factors were entered into the model, an increase of 15% was shown. Caring and Empathy and Control of Emotions predicted Emotional Intelligence the best. Lastly, when Social Support factors were entered into the regression analysis, the variance explained showed an increase of 5%. Support of Family and Others predicted Emotional Resilience the best. In total, Emotion Work, Emotional Intelligence and Social Support factors explained 20% of the variance in Emotional Resilience. A Multiple Regression Analysis with Engagement as dependent variable with Emotion Work factors, Emotional Intelligence factors and Social Support as predictors of Engagement was done. Entry of Emotion Work factors at the first step of the regression analysis did not produce a statistically significant model and only accounted for 1% of the variance. However, when Emotional Intelligence factors were entered in the second step of the analysis, it accounted for approximately 7% of the variance. More specifically, it seems that Caring and Empathy predicted Engagement. When Social Support factors were entered into the third step of the analysis, an increase of 27% was found. All the Social Support factors (Social Support of Family and Others, Supervisors and Co-workers) accounted for 27% of the variance explained in Engagement. Emotion Work, Emotional Intelligence and Social Support predicted 33% of the total variance explained in the level of Engagement. Limitations within the study were identified, and recommendations were made for human resource personnel in a mining industry, as well as for future research. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Nätkränkningar är ett växande problematiskt fenomen i dagens samhälle. Många ungdomar upplever att de blir kränkta på sociala medier, både av bekanta och icke bekanta personer. Studien syftar till att lyfta fram hur motstridiga normer kan tänkas ha en inverkan på ungdomars resonemang kring nätkränkningar och bygger på fem fokusgruppintervjuer med ungdomar. Resultatet visar att ungdomarna anser att alla har valfrihet kring vilka selfies de publicerar på sociala medier, samtidigt som de som utsatts för nätkränkningar ibland får skylla sig själva. Friheten som ungdomarna anser att alla har rätt till är inte alltid på lika villkor eller förbehållslös, det tycks finnas olika normer för olika personer, bland annat killar och tjejer. Med hjälp av Perssons tolkning av Goffmans dramaturgiska ansats, Engdahls resonemang kring frihet och socialt tvång, attributionsteorier och teorin om kognitiv dissonans tolkas detta som att det är lättare för tjejer att korsa gränsen till överdelning genom lättkläddhet på selfies. De som utsatts för nätkränkningar tillskrivs olika personliga attributioner, då ungdomarna upplever att alla vet om riskerna. Vilka attributioner som tillskrivs beror främst på hur nära relation den som tillskriver har med den utsatta. Motstridiga normer skapar kognitiv dissonans hos ungdomarna vilka kommer till uttryck under intervjuerna. / Online denigrations is a growing problem in today's society. Many teenagers feel that they get violated on social media by both familiar and non-familiar people. The study aims to highlight how contradictory norms may have an impact on teenager’s reasoning about online denigrations and is based on five focus group interviews with teenagers. The results show that the teenagers believe that everyone has the freedom of choice about which selfies they publish on social media, even though the person subjected to online denigrations sometimes have themselves to blame. The freedom of choice does not always apply on equal terms or unconditionally, there seems to be different norms for different people, inter alia, boys and girls. With the help of Persson’s interpretation of Goffman’s dramaturgical model, Engdahl’s reasoning about freedom and social constraints, attribution theories and cognitive dissonance, we interpret this to mean that it’s easier to cross the border to oversharing for girls, mainly by being underdressed in the selfies. Because the adolescent perceive that everyone knows about the risks of publishing selfies, the victims of online denigrations are attributed with different personal attributions, mainly depending on how close the relationship are between the victim and the one attributing. Conflicting norms creates cognitive dissonance in the teenagers as being expressed during the interviews.