<p> </p><p><strong>Purpose</strong>: To identify among temporary agency workers at Proffice AB in Jönköping, which de-motivators constitute a problem with-in the industrial sector, and further propose a framework that can be used as an indicative tool for alleviating these prob-lems for companies working in the sector.</p><p><strong>Background</strong>: Temporary agency work is an increasingly growing industry. In the EU it has been the fastest growing market the last 20 years. At the same time, the rate at which temporary agency workers (TAWs) quit their jobs due to dissatisfaction is high-er than for most industries. Research on the subject has dis-covered that this is due to underlying reasons that emerge in the everyday work of the TAWs. These are labeled de-motivators. This research is aimed at the industrial sector, a sector within temporary agency work that has been over-looked in previous research. Due to the special working con-ditions, it contains many de-motivational factors, making it an interesting area to research.</p><p><strong>Method</strong>: In order to answer the purpose, interviews with managers at Proffice (a Swedish temporary agency), TAWs at Proffice, and managers at host companies have been conducted in or-der to test de-motivational theories, discover new de-motivators, and gain knowledge in order to develop a new framework for dealing with de-motivators subjected to TAWs within the industrial sector. Since the interviewees are differ-ent types of respondents, the methods of interviewing have varied between being semi-structured, and unstructured.</p><p><strong>Conclusion:</strong> As a result of the case study, the authors suggest a framework for how managers at temporary agencies and host companies could prioritize dealing with the most important de-motivators in accordance with the empirical findings. This framework indicates that previous research done on de-motivators among TAWs does not completely correspond to TAWs within the industrial sector.</p><p> </p>

Denna studie syftar till att identifiera vad det är som driver eller hindrar lantbrukare i Östergötland att ställa om sitt lantbruk till ekologisk produktion och huruvida de identifierade påverkningsfaktorerna skiljer sig åt mellan konventionella och ekologiska lantbrukare. Semistrukturerade intervjuer med tre konventionella samt fyra ekologiska lantbrukare genomfördes för att undersöka deras erfarenheter. Respondenternas erfarenheter redovisas i sex identifierade teman; Gårdsspecifika förutsättningar, Ekonomi, Politik, Administration och regelverk, Miljö och hälsa samt Produktionsteknik. En jämförelse mellan de båda grupperna genomförs och det empiriska materialet ställs mot tidigare forskning. Resultatet av studien visar att skillnader mellan ekologiska och konventionella lantbrukares uppfattningar kring hinder och drivkrafter förekommer, men inte inom alla teman. Det är tydligt att lönsamhet är viktigt för att lantbrukare skall ställa om sin produktion men även andra faktorer påverkar valet och behöver beaktas om en ökad konvertering är önskvärd. / This study aims to identify motivations and barriers for farmers in Östergötland regarding conversion to organic farming and if the identified factors of influence differ between the conventional and the organic farmers. We used semi-structured interviews with three conventional farmers and four organic farmers to examine their personal experience regarding organic farming. The experiences from the respondents are presented in six identified themes: Farm specific conditions, Economy, Politics, Administration and regulations, Environment and health and Production techniques. This is followed by a comparison between the groups, and the empirical material is linked to scientific sources on the subject. The result of the study indicates that differences between identified motivations and barriers exists between the two groups, but not within every theme. It is clear that profitability is an important factor for farmers to convert their production, but other factors may influence the choice as well. It is necessary to consider these factors if an additional increase in organic farming is desired.

The aim of this thesis is to present and analyse the role of the environmental groups and the trade unions on the issue of the environmental protection through the economic methodology. The specific groups have strong connection with the environmental issue since the beginning of the environmental movement. However, the two groups stand on different positions in the market and in the society, therefore they have different objectives and different tools for the achievement of their targets. Following the groups' different characteristics, I analyse their targets and how these could influence the firms' technological choice, the level of the production, the profits and finally the level of the emissions released by the firms' production. In the second chapter, a deeper analysis on the behavior and the strategy of the environmental groups is provided in order to shed more light on their objectives from the beginning of the environmental movement. Following a review of the literature an analytical framework for studying targets or motivations of the environmental groups is analysed. Three interrelated factors which affect the strategy and the decisions of the group are identified; the group s size, their budget and the weight of impure altruism in their individual and collective objectives. A positive relation exists between the group s size and the financial contributions, and the interaction of the personal expectations with the collective objectives encourages and benefits the group s actions. In the third chapter following the experience from the real world, the participation of the environmental groups in the emissions trading system (ETS) is analysed. Concretely, a competition in an ETS as a game between two firms and environmental group is modelled. According to the results, there is a U-shape relationship between how polluting the chosen technology is and the degree of the environmentalists impure altruism. Firms choose a more polluting technology in the presence of the environmentalists than in their absence if they are characterised by a high enough degree of impure altruism. Finally, in the fourth chapter the influence of the trade unions on the firms' environmental technological choice is analysed. However, in addition to the literature and according to the real world experience the unions care for the environmental protection. Particularly, the decentralised structure is compared with the centralised structure under a Cournot duopoly. I conclude that the decentralised structure could always provide higher incentives to the firms for the adoption of a better (less polluting) technology. Furthermore, there is an inverse U-shape relation between the firm s emissions and the size of the market. Finally, the emissions could be less under the centralised case compared to the decentralised for relatively low market size.

Confrontées à des problématiques marketing d'attraction et de fidélisation des bénévoles, les associations ciblent les retraités en raison de leur temps quotidien disponible. Cependant, elles omettent le fait que leur temps est également une ressource limitée, du fait du rapprochement de leur propre finitude. Pourquoi donner son temps lorsque celui-ci est compté ? Cette recherche a ainsi pour objectif d'expliquer la diversité des motivations au bénévolat des retraités par leurs différences en termes de rapport au temps restant à vivre. Celui-ci est envisagé comme une pression temporelle spécifique : la pression temporelle ultime (PTU) ; soit la conscience d'un temps restant à vivre limité par le rapprochement de l'échéance ultime et les réactions affectives qui l'accompagnent. Après un état de l'art sur le thème du bénévolat et des motivations qui le sous-tendent (chapitre 1), une revue de la littérature sur le rapport au temps suite au vieillissement nous amène à conceptualiser la PTU et aboutir à un premier modèle théorique (chapitre 2). Celui-ci est enrichi progressivement (chapitre 3), grâce à une analyse thématique de contenu de 18 entretiens semi-directifs, réalisée à l'aide du logiciel NVivo10. En découlent les variables, les hypothèses et le design de recherche (chapitre 4). Par la suite, une étude quantitative (728 retraités bénévoles au total) permet la création d'une échelle de mesure de la PTU, la vérification des propriétés psychométriques des autres instruments (chapitre 5), puis le test des hypothèses. Les principaux résultats (chapitre 6) mettent en avant l'influence (absolue puis relative) de la PTU sur les motivations au bénévolat des retraités, ses antécédents, ainsi que des implications relatives aux intentions de poursuite du comportement. Le principal apport théorique et méthodologique est l'ajout d'une troisième catégorie de pression temporelle et l'échelle de mesure associée. Cette recherche répond également à des enjeux de nature managériale et sociétale, en étant de nature à aider les responsables associatifs à tirer profit du vieillissement de la population. Pour cela, elle encourage la considération de l'hétérogénéité des retraités pour une stratégie et un marketing mix plus efficaces (typologie de 5 segments de bénévoles retraités).

The Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) is a voluntary investor-led initiative, backed by the United Nations. Together, the six principles are meant to provide a ‘best practice’ code of conduct for institutional investors seeking to adopt responsible investment practices with a secondary goal of contributing to improved corporate performance on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. Launched in 2006, the PRI has grown to be the single largest global investor initiative with over 700 signatory financial institutions representing assets under management in excess of $US20 trillion. Contributing to the broader literature on plausible explanations for why firms participate in voluntary initiatives, the thesis is primarily concerned with the question of what has motivated institutional investors to create and publicly commit to the PRI. A review of the broader trends behind the growth of responsible investment and the emergence of the PRI indicates the dominant utilitarian, cost-benefit logic is not wholly persuasive in understanding investor motivations. The research findings indicate that decisions to integrate ESG issues and publicly commit to adopting the PRI should be primarily viewed as a response to formal pressures by external stakeholders and actors in an investor’s institutional environment. Regulatory and stakeholder influences in the form of NGO advocacy campaigns have established normative standards directed towards the conduct of investors. As public opinion has shifted to put greater emphasis on sustainable development, the image and reputation of a pension scheme in relation to these trends have come under increasing scrutiny such that being perceived as a ‘responsible’ investor – sometimes even in the absence of a direct market rationale – has become a central driver behind the growth of responsible investment. The decision to adopt the PRI and establish beyond-compliance commitments to integrate ESG issues into investment decision-making should principally be seen as embedded in broader reputational risk management strategies. These findings support complex market rationalism explanations for firm participation in voluntary initiatives which suggest that firms commit to such principles or codes of conduct as a means of assuring stakeholders that their concerns are being internalized into corporate practices. A secondary focus of the thesis is to examine signatory implementation to-date, assessing the adequacy and effectiveness of the voluntary measure for the promotion of more socially-responsible and environmentally-sustainable investments. While substantial progress has been shown by a small group of PRI signatories, it remains unclear whether the PRI has generated significant improvement across the broader signatory base. The PRI suffers from several weaknesses commonly identified in the literature on voluntary initiatives. First, a lack of accountability measures limits incentives for investors to go beyond business-as-usual. Second, less stringent voluntary standards like the PRI are likely to suffer from adverse selection and free riding, therefore threatening the credibility of the initiative’s reputation over the longer-term. Ironically, weaknesses in the institutional design of the PRI may undermine the very reputational benefit sought after by signatories.

Food festivals and events are growing in popularity and warrant in-depth studies of festival visitors. Given the increasing socio-economic significance of this vibrant component of the world’s leisure industry, gaining knowledge of food festival visitors and their expenditure patterns is essential to festival researchers and destination marketers. This study examines the characteristics of food festival visitors and the determinants of their festival expenditures. Specifically, a conceptual model has been developed to delineate the correlations among festival spending patterns and the visitors’ event-related motivations, food-related motivations, and food involvement levels. Generally, the study was constructed around six hypotheses and five research questions, which were proposed based on a comprehensive review of literature related to events and festivals, culinary tourism, and food consumption. A questionnaire survey was designed to collect empirical data from festival attendees exiting the 9th China(Hefei) Crawfish Festival (CHCF) in Hefei city, Anhui province, China. Four aspects of food festival visitor characteristics were investigated: 1) festival expenditures in five categories (i.e., food and beverages consumed at the festival, food and beverages taken away, goods and gifts other than food and beverages, entertainment, and other expenses); 2) event-related motivations for attending, including eight individual motivators (i.e., relaxation, social, family, festival culture, excitement, escape, entertainment, and novelty); 3) food-related motivations for attending, including eight individual motivators (i.e., social, family, physical environment, food culture, celebration, sensory appeal, knowledge, and prestige); 4) food involvement traits, including four subsets (i.e., cooking, acquisition, eating, and preparing) and ten individual traits (i.e., food choice, food shopping, food processing, food presentation, cooking delight, cooking practice, taste judging, food preoccupation, and exotic food experiences). To gain a wider understanding of the food festival market, the study also investigated the visitors’ demographic and visit characteristics. A Tobit modeling procedure was applied to investigate the relationships between visitors’ festival expenditures (total and food-related) and their scores on festival motivations and food involvement scales. The results show that visitors’ total or food-related expenditures at the festival were not associated with their overall scores on event-related or food-related festival motivations, and visitors’ spending during the festival had negative correlations with their overall food involvement scale scores. However, a further investigation of sixteen individual motivators and ten food involvement traits revealed that within the event-related motivation category, “Novelty” and “Escape” were positively related to both the total and food-related expenditures, while “Social” and “Entertainment” were negatively related. Among the eight food-specific motivators, “Culture” and “Family” were negative correlates of both the total and the food/beverage spending and, respectively, “Sensory appeal” and “Social” were positive correlates of the total and food/beverage. In-depth investigations of the ten FIS items indicated that, in particular, the greater visitors’ interest in “Cooking practice” and “Exotic food experience”, the less they spent in total and on food/beverages. The only food involvement item that had a positive relation with the expenditures is “Cooking delight”. In terms of the relation between festival motivations and food involvement levels, the results of a series of t-tests reported that individuals who are more highly interested in food were more likely motivated to attend by food-related factors than individuals who are less interested in food, and those who reported less involvement with food showed equal interest in the food and event experiences available at the festival. With respect to visitor characteristics, empirical data gathered from the visitor survey provided a general description of the CHCF attendees’ age, gender, residence, and visit patterns. The findings illustrate that the visitors were typically young, and slightly more females than males attended the festival. The majority were local residents who came to the festival in a group with two or three family members or relatives/friends, and they tended to stay two to three hours at the festival. As could be expected with a food-themed festival, a great proportion of the visitors’ festival expenditures were related to food, especially, foods and beverages consumed at the festival. In terms of motivations for attending, generally, visitors were attracted to the festival by a synergy of food experiences available at the festival and the event itself. The most important motivations for attending were interpersonal, including both event-related and food-related “Social” and “Family” motivators. The event-related “Relaxation” and food-related “Physical environment” were also among the top three most important motivators in the two categories. With regard to food involvement, the visitors were relatively more highly involved with food than general food consumers; in particular, they were highly interested in “Cooking” and “Taste judging”. Overall, this study provides an in-depth examination of festival visitors and their consumption traits in a food festival context. When compared with those of the extant literature on culinary tourism and festival visitors, the results and discussion of the study confirm certain previous findings and, also, challenge some common assumptions. Based on the study’s key findings, the hypothesized conceptual model was extensively modified to illustrate the detailed correlations among a number of variables related to food festival visitors’ expenditures, event-related and food-related motivations for attending, and food involvement traits. Theoretical and practical implications of the study towards future research issues are subsequently drawn from the findings. It is suggested that the food festival market should be understood in a holistic sense within both the community festival and culinary tourism contexts, and future research endeavors should be directed towards a more comprehensive conceptual model that can thoroughly explain the food festival expenditure determinants.

China is growing as an economic power leading to more and more foreign organizations taking the opportunity of its future potential and hence opening up their subsidies there. Companies nowadays, have several options when it comes to what type of workforce they should recruit. Self-Initiated Expatriates (SIEs) are a growing group in the international workforce who goes to work in another country on their own initiative as compared to the traditional expatriates that are sent by companies. Our literature research indicated that SIEs are perceived as a group of people who lack organizational commitment and tend to switch jobs often, which makes organizations reluctant to employ and invest in them.Inspired by this, we have a performed a study, which investigated SIEs’ experiences in China. The purpose of the study was to develop recommendations for organizations on how to better leverage SIEs as human resource. To fulfill the purpose of our thesis, we conducted a qualitative study, where we interviewed ten Westerners who currently had a job or previously had been employed in China. Our empirical findings revealed that SIEs perceive themselves as developing better cross-cultural skills and improving their language proficiency more than traditional expatriates as well as being much cheaper to employ. They do however need challenges, freedom and career development possibilities in order to stay satisfied. The failure to provide these from the company side results in them quitting their job or if the costs of quitting are too high, they stay on but performing only what they absolutely have to. As for the existing definitions, we found that a definition that only includes individuals with clear plans of return is not suitable since some SIEs have a “for now” mindset and only considering SIEs who intend to leave in the near future might lead to an overrepresentation of “failed” SIEs in the population. A more suitable definition should allow for less definite plans for staying in the host country.

Abschlussbericht zum DFG-Projekt "Veränderung der Lernmotivation in Mathematik und Physik: eine Komponentenanalyse und der Einfluss elterlicher sowie schulischer Kontextfaktoren" Abstract: Dass die Lernmotivation besonders in mathematisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Fächern im Verlauf der Sekundarschulzeit sinkt, kann als gesichert gelten (Krapp, 1998). Allerdings ergibt sich bei genauerem Hinsehen ein recht differenziertes Bild. Dies betrifft insbesondere die verschiedenen Komponenten von Lernmotivation (z. B. Erfolgserwartungen, Nützlichkeiten/Instrumentalitäten, intrinsische vs. extrinsische Folgenanreize, Sachinteressen, Selbstkontrollfunktionen etc.), die offenbar nicht gleichermaßen betroffen sind. Weiterhin wurden auch unterschiedliche Veränderungen je nach Fach, Klassenstufe und Geschlecht gefunden (z. B. Fend, 1997; Pekrun, 1993). Überdies sind hier individuell unterschiedliche Verlaufstypen der Lernmotivationsveränderung zu erwarten (Fend, 1997; Rheinberg, 1980). Je nachdem, aufgrund welcher Komponenten ein Absinken der Lernmotivation zustande kommt, sind ganz andere Interventionsmaßnahmen angezeigt. Von daher ist ein Instrumentarium erforderlich, das die einzelnen Komponenten der Lernmotivation in mathematisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Fächern zu erfassen erlaubt. Ein solches Verfahren soll in einem zweijährigen Projekt theorieverankert entwickelt werden. Es stützt sich zunächst auf das Erweiterte Kognitive Modell zur Lernmotivation (Heckhausen & Rheinberg, 1980; Rheinberg, 1989), des weiteren auf Interessenkonzepte (Krapp, 1992, 1998) sowie auf die Handlungskontroll- bzw. die PSI-Theorie (Kuhl, 1987, 1998). Es soll die Lernmotivation in ihren Komponenten so erfassen, dass spezifische Interventionen hergeleitet bzw. schon bewährte fallbezogen platziert werden können. Solche Interventionen sind für mögliche Anschlussprojekte im DFG-Schwerpunktprogramm "Bildungsqualität" vorgesehen. In einem altersgestaffelten einjährigen Längsschnitt wird im jetzigen Projekt mit diesem Instrument die Veränderung dieser Komponenten in den Fächern Mathematik und Physik auf der Sekundarstufe I erhoben. Gewonnen werden dabei klassenstufenspezifische Veränderungen der Lernmotivationskomponenten sowie (via Typenanalysen) verschiedene Entwicklungstypen in der mathematisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Lernmotivation. Dies sind Basisinformationen, die für die Entwicklung, Platzierung und Effektsicherung nachfolgender Interventionsmaßnahmen benötigt werden. Um im Vorfeld zwei (von vielen) Ansatzpunkten solcher Interventionen näher abzuklären, wird bereits in der ersten Projektphase die Wirkung zweier Kontextfaktoren untersucht. Hier wird (a) das mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche Anregungsklima des Elternhauses sowie (b) die Bezugsnorm-Orientierung des Mathematik- bzw. Physiklehrers erfasst. Von beiden Kontextfaktoren sind Auswirkungen auf spezifische Komponenten der mathematisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Lernmotivation zu erwarten. Dies ist jedoch vorweg genauer abzuklären, ehe man die Kosten von Interventionen investiert. Das Instrumentarium (PMI) wird von Mai bis September 2000 entwickelt. Die einjährige Längsschnittstudie beginnt dann im Oktober 2000. Geplant sind drei Messzeitpunkte jeweils auf den Klassenstufen 5 bis 9 (Kombiniertes Längs- und Querschnittdesign)

This research explores aspects of small tourism businesses in a Canadian context. A number of authors (e.g., Getz and Nilsson, 2004; Hall and Rusher, 2004; Lynch and Tucker, 2004; Morrison and Teixeira, 2004a/b) have noted that while small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are acknowledged as an important parts of the tourism industry, they are underrepresented in the academic literature. Of the small business research that has been conducted, a sizeable portion has focused on industries other than tourism; the tourism-specific research on SMEs has predominately been conducted in Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand and has frequently focused on a single segment of the industry, often the small accommodation sector. Little research of this nature has been done in a Canadian context. The study was set in Stratford and Goderich, Ontario, and compares and contrasts two parts of the tourism industry: the accommodation and food and beverage sectors. The study focused on small business owners and examined three main aspects: their motivations for starting/purchasing the business, how they evaluated the success of the business and the experiences they had while running the business. The research also set out to examine the demography of Canadian tourism SME owners and how they defined small business. A mixed methods approach was adopted. Data were collected through mailed questionnaires which were followed up with semi-structured interviews. Findings showed that despite motivations being similar between study sites and industries, the paths that lead owners to their business varied greatly. Though ‘lifestyle’ motivations were predominately cited, financial considerations were also noted. Owners frequently used financial calculations to measure the achievement of their lifestyle motivations. The experiences owners had with their business were overwhelmingly positive and were grouped into six themes: changes in the industry, relationship building, staffing, the importance of customer service, financial costs of running a small business and time management. The results of this study confirmed that Canadian tourism SME owners in Stratford and Goderich, Ontario, possess similar motivations, measurements of success and experiences as their national and international counterparts.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Miami University, Dept. of Psychology, 2008. / Title from second page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 31-37).