Strategisk kommunikation har förändrats i och med sociala medier eftersom att den traditionella kommunikationsprocessen utvecklats. Tidigare har organisationer varit sändare av kommunikation medan målgrupper har varit mottagare och sociala medier har möjliggjort enklare och snabbare interaktion. I sociala medier kan mottagare av budskap bli deltagare i kommunikationsprocesser genom att reagera och kommentera på företags kommunikation. Denna deltagarkultur ställer nya krav på företag i deras kommunikativa strategi. Genom att interagera med målgrupper upprätthålls goda relationer och detta är en viktig anpassning som företag behöver anamma. För att nå ut med strategiska budskap i den höga konkurrensen på sociala medier är det viktigt att skapa engagemang till och mellan målgrupper. Tre svenska livsmedelskedjor, Ica, Coop och Willys, har undersökts i den här studien. Med kvantitativ innehållsanalys mättes och jämfördes innehållskategorier i företagens mest uppmärksammade Facebookinlägg år 2017 med tillhörande kommentarsfält. Kommentarerna som mättes var de mest relevanta, detta för att på bästa sätt karaktärisera företagens målgrupper eller publics engagemang och reaktioner. Resultatet från studien visar att samtliga företag har en bra strategi för att skapa engagemang bland publics. Ica och Willys lyckas skapa störst uppmärksamhet med sina budskap vad gäller antal kommentarer och gilla-markeringar. Samtidigt visar resultatet att samtliga företag i låg utsträckning följer upp publics deltagande. Enkelriktad kommunikation är företagens huvudsakliga kommunikationsstrategi eftersom att de sprider information utan att interagera med sina målgrupper. Resultatet visar att företagen behöver tillämpa en mer interaktiv kommunikativ strategi med publics på Facebook. Företagens inlägg får dock spridning genom att företagen får publics att reagera på och kommentera inläggen, detta visar på en anpassning till Facebook som kommunikationskanal. Resultatet från studien visar att en effektiv strategi för att skapa engagemang är att uppmana publics till interaktion.

With this immensely and immeasurably growing Internet technology, the need for onlinereputation management (ORM) is also growing accordingly. It is increasingly seen as animportant means by firms to create stronger alliance between customers and the firm (Bealand Strauss, 2008). ORM is relatively new which theoretically and empirically very youngphenomenon in which very few researches have been made around the area ever since.Hence, the intention of this research is to fill the knowledge gaps recognized and useEricsson Company to conduct an exploratory qualitative research to give empirical value tothe study.The purpose of this study is to explore how ORM can play role in making strategic businessdecisions through branding and construct a model that shows relationship among ORM,branding and strategic business decision. The relevant research concepts that are discussedin the literature review are linked through logical links depicted in the model.After the model is constructed Ericsson Company was taken as a case and qualitative study was made using an in-depth interview with the company’s expert in this area in Ericssonglobal to see how the concept of ORM, branding and strategic decisions in the model areinterlinked to each other. This research has answers on how this company perform its ORM,how ORM can influence branding, how branding can influence strategic business decisionand in the end how ORM can influence strategic business decision.From the finding of this research, ORM has influence on branding and brand has influenceon strategic business decision. Finally, it can also be concluded that ORM has impact on strategic business decisions through branding.

Online auction, as one way of the online shopping has become increasingly popular. During the process of online auction, there are many factors influencing the the final auction price. This dissertation will focus on the factors influencing the online auction price. Thus, the sellers and buyers in online auction process will be much more clear how to make decision in future auction process.

This thesis employs qualitative research with focus on corporate information technology strategy which is perceived as a tool used to build and maintain reputation in Slovak companies. The newly generated knowledge is then used to develop a new information technology strategy and implement it to a company using the best organization development and change practices.

Les mécanismes de réputation sont des outils très utiles pour inciter des utilisateurs ne se connaissant pas à se faire confiance, en récompensant les bons comportements et, inversement, en pénalisant les mauvais. Cependant, pour que la réputation des fournisseurs de service soit précise et robuste aux attaques, les mécanismes de réputation existants requièrent de nombreuses informations qui menacent la vie privée des utilisateurs; par exemple, il est parfois possible de traquer les interactions effectuées par les clients. Des mécanismes de réputation préservant aussi bien la vie privée des clients que celle des fournisseurs sont donc apparus pour empêcher de telles attaques. Néanmoins, pour garantir des propriétés fortes de vie privée, ces mécanismes ont dû proposer des scores de réputation imprécis, notamment en ne permettant pas aux clients de témoigner de leurs interactions négatives.Dans cette thèse, nous proposons un nouveau mécanisme de réputation distribué préservant la vie privée, tout en permettant aux clients d'émettre des témoignages négatifs. Une telle construction est possible grâce à des outils issus des systèmes distribués -- des tierces parties distribuées qui permettent de distribuer la confiance et de tolérer des comportements malveillants -- et de la cryptographie -- par exemple des preuves de connaissance à divulgation nulle de connaissance ou des signatures proxy anonymes. Nous prouvons de plus que ce mécanisme garantit les propriétés de vie privée et de sécurité nécessaires, et montrons par des analyses théoriques et pratiques que ce mécanisme est utilisable. / Reputation mechanisms are very powerful mechanisms to foster trust between unknown users, by rewarding good behaviors and punishing bad ones. Reputation mechanisms must guarantee that the computed reputation scores are precise and robust against attacks; to guarantee such properties, existing mechanisms require information that jeopardize users' privacy: for instance, clients' interactions might be tracked. Privacy-preserving reputation mechanisms have thus been proposed, protecting both clients' privacy and the providers' one. However, to guarantee strong privacy properties, these mechanisms provide imprecise reputation scores, particularly by preventing clients to testify about their negative interactions. In this thesis, we propose a new distributed privacy-preserving reputation mechanism allowing clients to issue positive as well as negative feedback. Such a construction is made possible thanks to tools from the distributed systems community -- distributed third parties that allow for a distribution of trust and that tolerate malicious behaviors -- as well as from the cryptographic one -- for instance zero-knowledge proofs of knowledge or anonymous proxy signatures. Furthermore, we prove that our mechanism guarantees the required privacy and security properties, and we show with theoretical and practical analysis that this mechanism is usable.

With privacy settings on social networking sites (SNS) perceived as complex and difficult to use and maintain, young adults can be left vulnerable to others accessing and using their personal information. Consequences of not regulating the boundaries their information on SNS include the ability for current and future employers to make career-impacting decisions based upon their online reputation that may include disqualifying them as job candidates. On SNS, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, young adults must decide on how to manage their online reputation by regulating boundaries to their own personal and professional information and identities. One known practice for the regulation of boundaries is the use of multiple profile management (MPM), where users of SNS create and use multiple accounts on a SNS and separate the social and professional identities that they disclose publicly and privately. The purpose of the study was to understand the lived experiences of young adults in how they regulate boundaries on SNS, through the use of MPM, as they manage their online reputation to different audiences. The practice was studied by applying interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) through interviewing young adults of 18-23 years of age, who use MPM on a SNS. Semi-structured interviews permitted participants to provide in-depth descriptions of their lived experiences. Eight themes were identified and described based on the analysis of the interviews that include: SNS use with online audiences, motivations for using MPM, the processes for the presentation of self, online search results, privacy settings, untagging SNS posts, self-editing and censorship, and new features. The themes describe the complexity and challenges that young adults face with regulating boundaries with their professional and social identities online through the use of MPM. Findings from this study have implications for a variety of audiences. Through the findings of this study, SNS developers can introduce new features, improve usability related to privacy management, and further encourage use of their networks. Users of SNS can use this study to understand risks of using SNS and for learning of practices for how to manage their online reputation on SNS.

[pt] Adotando a transação como unidade de análise, é objetivo do presente estudo,investigar o impacto do comércio eletrônico, enquanto uma tecnologia transacional, nos custos de transação inerentes às atividades econômicas. Pela comparação de diferentes formas de troca de informações, o estudo demonstra com simulações de comunidades formadas por compradores e vendedores, que as propriedades do comércio eletrônico possibilitam um aumento de eficiência nos mecanismos de reputação, permitindo uma redução nos custos de imposição de contratos. Com base nas conclusões dos experimentos e na literatura do assunto, são levantadas possíveis implicações desse impacto na estrutura de mercados e indústrias. / [en] Adopting the transaction as unit of analysis, he is objective of the present study, to investigate the impact of the electronic commerce, while a transacional technology, in the inherent costs of transaction to the economic activities. For the comparison of different forms of exchange of information, the study it demonstrates with simulation of communities formed for purchasers and salesmen, who the properties of the electronic commerce make possible an increase of efficiency in the reputation mechanisms, allowing a reduction in the costs of contract imposition. On the basis of the conclusions of the experiments and in the literature of the subject, are raised possible implications of this impact in the structure of markets and industries. / [es] El objetivo del presente estudio es investigar el impacto del comercio eletrónico, como tecnología transaccional, en los costos de transacción inherentes a las actividades económicas. Comparando diferentes formas de troca de informaciones, el estudio demuestra con simulaciones de comunidades formadas por compradores y vendedores, que las propriedades del comércio eletrónico hacen posible un aumento de eficiencia en los mecanismos de reputación, permitiendo una reducción en los costos de imposición de contratos. Considerando las conclusiones de los experimentos y la literatura realacionada, se levantan algunas posibles implicaciones de este impacto en la extructura de mercados e industrias.

The shift from product- to corporate branding have resulted in a wider reach for organizations: containing both internal- and external stakeholders, that have resulted in that a corporate brand has to bear in mind of the importance of presenting itself as a cohesive brand throughout the different stakeholders. This in turn can be accomplished through corporate communication strategies. It is further crucial for a corporate brand to ensure that the stakeholders share the same corporate identity. A highly recognized tool to strengthen the brand is referred to CSR activities that come with potential benefits in terms of corporate reputation.

With this study, the authors will examine what generation Y values the highest when applying, and accepting, a job. The study will also examine if this is something that changes if the organization has a harmed reputation. The authors own experience is that the business students at Linköping University, who belong to generation Y, tend to look for jobs and organizations that would make their classmates envious. The status symbol could be seen as an extrinsic factor according to Ryan & Deci’s (2000) definition, leading us to the belief that extrinsic factors are a great motivator for generation Y. However, literature such as studies from Universum (2016) indicate that generation Y are more motivated by intrinsic values. The study is divided into three parts where the first part examines to what extent intrinsic motivational factors affect generation Y in the recruitment process. The second part examines to what extent a harmed reputation affects generation Y in the recruitment process. In the third and final part, the study aims to seek if there is a match between what organizations with harmed reputation offer and what generation Y wants. The data collection methods are interviews and document studies of five organizations, in order to examine the organizational view. However, only three of the organizations had time for an interview. The result of the organizational view was also used when a survey was designed to understand generation Y’s view. The survey was sent out to, and answered by, 49 last year business and industrial engineering and management students at Linköping University. The findings of the study are that when generation Y is asked out of context, ceteris paribus, they value intrinsic motivation factor highest, but when retested in various scenarios generation Y lean towards extrinsic motivation factors. Regarding the question about what impact a harmed reputation has on the decision of new-graduate students of generation Y, it seems that it only affects when the harmed reputation is connected to a lack of transparency. Furthermore, the study concludes that value congruence is of importance for generation Y and this is something that has been observed that the organizations of the study are lacking in some cases. However, one source of error in the process of matching could be the impact of brand name, that could be seen as a significant factor to make an organization attractive according to employer branding, has been taken away in this study and this could be interesting to look into in further studies. The study has a low respond rate, this is why no generalization could be done.

Master of Science - Agricultural Education and Communication / Department of Communications and Agricultural Education / Jason D. Ellis / The Situational Crisis Communications Theory (SCCT) states that what organizations say to various publics during a crisis should influence the extent of the reputational and financial damage a crisis can inflict on the organization's image. Past research has focused on distinguishing types of crises and what crisis-communication strategies should be used with traditional media. Research exists, but looks at social media and its effects on brand reputation during a crisis via case studies or is an experimental design focused on the information source. There is a lack of controlled experimental studies that investigate the role of social media in crisis-communications strategies. Guided by Coombs’ Situational Crisis Communications Theory, this controlled experimental design employed a 2x2 factorial design. The independent variables were (a) type of crisis (preventable, accidental) and (b) type of response (rebuild, diminish) used on Twitter. The dependent variable was organizational brand reputation. Survey participants were recruited through a paid Qualtrics panel who were millennials that live in Midwestern states. Specific research questions were RQ 1: Will all participants begin with the same pre-test score; RQ 2: Is there a time effect on brand reputation; RQ 3: Does an accidental crisis change brand reputation; RQ 4: Does a preventable crisis change brand reputation; RQ 5: Does brand reputation change vary by crisis type? Based on findings in previous research, hypotheses developed were: H1: Brand reputation will be consistent from pre-brand to post-brand test for matched crisis responses; H2: Post-brand tests for unmatched accidental responses will be consistent with or better than pre-brand tests; H3: Post-brand tests for unmatched preventable responses will be lower than pre-brand tests. The findings from this study give insight to how SCCT translates to Twitter. In this study, matched responses did not maintain reputation as the SCCT literature suggests. In addition, the accidental unmatched condition did not perform better than the matched condition. However, unmatched preventable did have a bigger decline in brand reputation than matched, suggesting it could be better to have no response than the wrong response in some situations. This study confirms the need for practitioners to understand the crisis type prior to responding and understand the role of social media in communication. Throughout the study, it was found that using an unmatched response could cause a decrease in brand reputation. This is especially true when using a low-attribution response for a high-attribution situation, as the response will fall short of what the crisis requires.