Esta investigación examina las diversas estrategias de branding online y su efecto en la construcción de valor o Brand equity en los jóvenes millenials de 20 a 30 años en Lima metropolitana, respecto a las aplicaciones móviles de servicios como Rappi y Glovo. Este tema se desarrolla a través de las diversas teorías y comentarios de autores que tienen especialidad en el desarrollo de imagen e identidad para las marcas, así como especialistas que entienden la manera en cómo el público se puede ver influenciado por este tipo de herramienta. Analizando el caso especifico de Rappi y Glovo en Perú, se ha logrado entender la influencia y repercusión de sus estrategias de branding online en el público objetivo definido. Este estudio explora los cinco niveles del brand equity (brand awareness, brand associations, valor percibido, imagen de marca y lealtad de marca) a través del modelo de WPP del Meaninfull Diferrent Framework (MDF) que nos permite entender la saliencia, diferencia y signficiancia de las marcas en un mercado de manera más simple y eficaz. También, apoyándonos en el modelo tradicional del Brand equity podemos entender el nivel en el cual se ubican en este modelo del valor de marca. El alcance de cada nivel de este modelo de análisis ha dependido del impacto y relevancia de los esfuerzos comunicacionales, respecto al branding, en fan pages, aplicaciones móviles de las marca, o las diversas estrategias aplicadas por las empresas para poder ser relevantes para el público. / This research examines the various online branding strategies and their effect on the construction of value or Brand equity in young millennials from 20 to 30 years old in metropolitan Lima, regarding mobile applications of services such as Rappi and Glovo. This theme is developed through the various theories and comments of authors who specialize in the development of image and identity for brands, as well as specialists who understand the way in which the public can be influenced by this type of tool. Analyzing the specific case of Rappi and Glovo in Peru, it has been possible to understand the influence and impact of their online branding strategies on the defined target audience. This study explores the five levels of brand equity (brand awareness, brand associations, perceived value, brand image and brand loyalty) through the WPP model of the Meaninfull Diferrent Framework (MDF) that allows us to understand the salience, difference and significance of brands in a market more simply and effectively. Also, based on the traditional Brand equity model, we can understand the level at which they are located in this brand value model. The scope of each level of this analysis model has depended on the impact and relevance of communication efforts, regarding branding, fan pages, mobile applications of the brand, or the various strategies applied by companies to be relevant to the public. / Trabajo de investigación

Textile waste is a growing problem in the world and although it is being noticed in the fast fashion category the industry providing home fashion textiles is being largely ignored. However, with companies such as H&M and Zara entering the market there is a cause for concern due to their current business models. To address such complexities modern research practices are needed. With a transdisciplinary group, an innovative solution can be discovered in the process of defining and developing solutions for such problems. Focusing on the topic of home fashion textile waste the team learned that people often took their unwanted textiles to second hand or thrift stores rather than throwing them in the trash. However, when purchasing home fashion textiles there was a conscious decision to avoid going to secondhand sources to acquire their textile items. This posed a problem as consumers felt good about donating but then expressed disdain for those same outlets as a method of acquiring their home fashion textiles. This offers an opportunity for companies, such as IKEA to act with consumers to develop new ways to tackle this problem. The team decided to address this disparity through a communication tool where multi-level co-creation would be used. The United Nations encourages developments such as the Dare to Care framework as is expressed in sustainability goal 12.8 where exposure and education in consumption is vital to create sustainable behaviour. Through workshop participation, based on the framework provided, it is possible to achieve this goal through mindful consumption exposure, development of sustainable actions that consumers can take part in, and partner consumers with industry to develop new sustainability measures that focus on consumer acceptance.

Traveling salespeople usually play an integral part in exporting firms’ strategy. However, the Covid-19 pandemic and travel restrictions have forced many businesses to rely on digital communication technologies for communication with distant customers and partners they usually would meet with in person. For collaborative relationships to function well, both parties must be able to understand and make sense of each other, which is why the sensemaking process has been a topic of interest. An aspect laid forth by research as a potentially prominent issue in inter-cultural relationships is ambiguity and misunderstandings, for which previous research has underlined two main mechanisms to mitigate ambiguity and misunderstandings, formalization, and socialization. However, this research has been conducted in a context where both in-person and digital communication has been available options. This qualitative study aims to examine export sellers' perception of sensemaking, misunderstandings, and ambiguity when relying on digital communication through semi-structured interviews. This paper's result suggests that digital communication tended to be more formal than in-person communication and that relying solely on digital communication has imposed significant challenges for establishing a new relationship while being less problematic to maintaining relationships.

Distansarbete är ett arbetssätt som har blivit ett vanligare inslag i arbetslivet för många arbetstagare. Det skapar en ny arbetsmiljö där två tidigare skilda miljöer ska samverka och interagera med varandra. Detta ställer krav på arbetstagare att de ska prestera och leverera efter arbetsgivarens mål och krav trots att arbetet utförs på distans. Coronapandemin har inneburit en annorlunda vardag för arbetstagare i både arbetslivet och privatlivet och de arbetstagare som har möjlighet ska utföra sitt arbete hemifrån. Den här studien syftar därför till att undersöka hur distansarbete upplevs påverka balansen mellan privatliv och arbetsliv samt hur det upplevs påverka gruppdynamiken i en arbetsgrupp som normalt sett arbetar i en kontorsmiljö. Genom tio kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer med medarbetare som har arbetat hemifrån sedan mars 2020 har data samlats in. Resultatet visar att distansarbete som arbetssätt har många fördelar genom minskad stress i vardagen beroende på minskade transporttider och ökad flexibilitet i arbetet. Distansarbete skapar däremot utmaningar i kommunikationen med kollegor genom minskade informella och spontana samtal. Distansarbete kan därför sägas underlätta både privatlivet och arbetslivet för de arbetstagare som genom tydliga gränser och rutiner lyckas särskilja de två miljöerna och ha en god struktur i kommunikationen med sina kollegor. / Working remotely has become a more common feature in today’s work life for many employees. It creates a new work environment where employees work life interacts with daily life in a different way. Working remotely requires that employees deliver and produce at the same level as they did when they were working in an office environment. The corona pandemic has caused a different everyday life of many employees around the world. Employees who can, should work from home. This study aims to detect how working remotely is perceived to affect the work – life balance and how it is perceived to affect the group dynamics in a working group who normally is working in an office environment. Data was collected through ten qualitative semi structured interviews with employees who have been working from home since March 2020. The result shows that working remotely causes less perceived stress in both work life and private life compared to working in an office environment. It demands, however, that the employees have a structured way of working and the communication with colleagues will suffer from the missing spontaneous and informal conversations. However, working remotely can simplify work and private life for employees who can successfully separate between the two environments by having good structure and seamless communication with their colleagues.

<p>  </p> <p>LGBTQIA+ young adults face systemic and interpersonal marginalization and minoritization. These experiences occur not only in offline spaces but also in online contexts. However, online contexts also allow for LGBTQIA+ individuals to access social support that extends and bolsters the support they may receive offline. Previous studies tend to examine the relation between stress and support for LGBTQIA+ individuals using cross-sectional methods, despite the emphasis of previous theories such as minority stress theory on the occurrence of stressors on a daily, cumulative basis. The current study investigated how daily online marginalization stress experiences related to online experiences of social support for LGBTQIA+ young adults. Participants included 177 young adults, ages 18-29 and who identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community. </p> <p><br></p> <p>Participants completed baseline measures of demographics, lifetime experiences of marginalization stress, social media use and attitudes, perception of online social support, self-esteem, and mental health symptoms. Next, participants were prompted twice daily for 21 days to complete a survey about online marginalization stress experiences, general and LGBTQIA+-specific online social support experiences, and positive and negative affect. Finally, participants completed a follow-up survey measuring internalized stigma, community connectedness, self-esteem, and mental health symptoms. </p> <p><br></p> <p>Results suggested that online marginalization stress was related to daily affect but not to follow-up well-being outcomes. Online marginalization stress was also related to online general social support, but not LGBTQIA+-specific online support. General social support online was related to higher positive affect and lower negative affect, and LGBTQIA+-specific online support was related to higher positive affect, but both types of online social support were generally unrelated to follow-up outcomes. Low marginalization stress and low general social support together were associated with higher internalized stigma and lower self-esteem at follow-up. Differences in these effects generally emerged for individuals with marginalized sexual orientations and less so for individuals with marginalized gender identities. The results of the study suggest that daily online marginalization stress experiences are likely related to online social support, and that online social support is beneficial for daily affect. However, online social support may not be particularly beneficial for ameliorating the effects of online marginalization stress on affect or well-being. </p>

Background: Professional services firms (PSFs) face unique challenges when internationalisingdue to their intangible services and the need to adapt to local markets. Digital technologies havemade internationalisation more efficient since firms utilise digital communication tools (DCTs).However, PSFs still struggle to internationalise due to the need to establish a local presence tocreate competitive advantages where language plays an important role integrated fully into thetargeted countries. Problem: The internationalisation of PSFs is a complex process that involves interrelated researchstreams, such as the utility of digitised tools and the importance of language strategy. However,the research is fragmented and lacks a multidimensional discipline that incorporates all factorsapplied when PSFs internationalise. Therefore, there is a need for more efforts to broaden theconceptualisation of the PSF internationalisation process. Purpose: Provide a multidimensional perspective on the practical and theoretical knowledge PSFsrequire when expanding internationally. The aim is to explore the phenomenon’s complexity tointernationalise as PSFs and the interrelationships with factors such as DCTs and language. Method: The research is a qualitative multiple-case study using semi-structured interviews toretrieve primary data. Triangulation is applied to guarantee an in-depth inquiry, combining primarydata and secondary data consisting of scanning social media platforms of the case companies andnon-responsive textual data in the form of company reports, websites, etc. The data was analysedusing thematic and cross-cage analysis. Conclusion: The results show the importance of relationships when PSFs internationalise and aneed to adapt locally. PSFs perceive the utility of DCTs as an enabler of internationalisation butdiscovered a limitation of DCTs where the importance of relationships and physical meetingscreate a gap when establishing relationships. In addition, language is strategically selected to meetthe market’s needs and increase local adaptiveness by using the local language. We can furtherconclude that the “fluffier stuff decides the game” when PSFs internationalise due to underlyingfactors such as language, cultural context and relationships, guiding how PSFs expand into foreignmarkets.

The social work profession, which traditionally relied on face-to-face interactions with clients, has been increasingly using digital communication. Though research has directed its attention to this phenomenon in a post Covid-19 era, very little data is available from professionals’ perspectives, particularly those working with children and families. Thus, this study aimed to explore how social workers from the Swedish Child Welfare Services have adapted to the new era of digital communication with children and youth placed in out-of-home care. We interviewed four social workers working in three different municipalities. A thematic analysis was used to interpret the results through the lens of Goffman’s interaction order theory. The findings show that digital communication has become part of the social workers’ daily routine. However, its application has both opportunities and challenges, and the participants’ responses indicate that a hybrid and reflective practice tailored to the children’s individual needs would be beneficial.

Elders usually experience high levels of loneliness in the society as they have retired from work and less of a center within the family. There are many interaction design work that target elder’s loneliness and aim to solve the problem by connecting elders with other people through distance. Digitalization’s connectedness is a helpful factor that can combat elder’s communication issues. At the same time, there are many already existing digital services that embed communication functions such as email, texting, and video call. Still, elders find themselves have difficulties using existing technology. The thesis focuses on why current digital technologies cannot help elders connect and communicate efficiently and how to re-design to help elders feel their willingness to communicate by current technologies. Empirical research in the thesis project has shown that elders lack trust towards digital systems due to lack of transparency and findings of specialized contexts. The project is in two parts: qualitative research and prototyping. Through qualitative research, the thesis shows that there is a lack of transparency and control from digital applications that elders experience. Prototyping outcomes suggests enabling personalization within digital services for elders by implementing slow user interactions and simple graphic elements.

Background: Virtual teams are becoming an increasingly prominent organizational unit, mainly as a result of globalization, digitalization, and the Covid-19 pandemic. While enabling operational advantages, virtuality may be adverse for the team members’ motivation as limited physical interaction in virtual teams can cause feelings of loneliness and demotivation. However, the full impact of the limited physical social interaction on member motivation remains unclear.  Purpose: The study’s purpose is to contribute to knowledge development regarding individual motivation in virtual teams, and how it is affected by limited physical social interaction. The study further aims to provide insight into how to manage such teams to strengthen the motivation of the virtual team members and thus improve the overall functioning of the team.  Method: A qualitative research design was utilized for this study. The empirical data was obtained through semi-structured interviews conducted with ten virtual team members operating within the IT industry. Further, an abductive research approach was applied, and the collected data were analyzed using thematic analysis.  Conclusion: Social dimensions are interdependent and affect each other. They also interplay with social identity and the need to belong. Limited social ties and socialization are generally a motivational issue, but the perception and motivational effect varies greatly between individuals as a result of personal factors. However, virtual team members are still generally motivated, mainly as a result of the independence that the virtual setting provides. Motivation can be improved over time as the team members get to know each other better. The manager should also plan physical, or if not feasible, digital social activities focused on bringing value and not awkwardness. Lastly, the manager is advised to promote team empowerment as it fosters prosocial motivation, which is generally preferable in virtual teams.

This study examines employees' perceptions of digital internal communication channels in relation to their effectiveness and usability within a specific organization. By employing a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative data from interviews and quantitative data from surveys, various themes were explored. The study investigates participants' preferences, the primary communication channels utilized, and their perspectives on the effectiveness and usability of these channels. The findings indicate that employees predominantly favor Microsoft Teams and email as their preferred communication channels, citing ease of use, functionality and information sharing as key factors. Recognizing and understanding employees' preferences can enable the organization to identify and optimize effective communication channels for internal processes, fostering an environment that is more efficient and conducive to collaboration.  It is crucial to acknowledge the study's limitations. The findings are context-specific and may not be readily generalizable to other settings. Alternative interpretations of the results are possible, necessitating further research to delve deeper into these aspects. By considering the insights from this study, organizations can make informed decisions to improve and select appropriate digital internal communication channels tailored to their specific requirements.