Having high employee loyalty is something which most organisation strive to obtain. Not only because of the morals of it, but also because of the fact that high levels of employee loyalty have been proven in many studies to increase operational performance. However, the literature on the concept provides many different definitions on it, and also suggest many different factors that affect how loyal an employee feels towards their organisations. The studies conducted previously on the topic has mainly been quantitative studies researching the connection between levels of loyalty and performance, and at specific companies or industries. As soon to be newly graduated students, the authors of this study also found the lack of comparison between people with different working experience interesting. Due to these reasons, the purpose of this study was to dig deeper into the concept of employee loyalty, how it is defined and which factors that affect the level of loyalty an employee feels towards an organisation. The sub-purposes of this study involve comparing one group of people with 1-3 years of working experience to another group with more than 15 years of working experience. The research question that was developed to be answered in this thesis is as follows: How does the view upon employee loyalty and the factors affecting it differ between people whom have been working for more than 15 years versus 1-3 years?  In order to answer the research questions and fulfil the purpose, a comparative qualitative study was conducted through semi-structured interviews. In line with some previous studies, the Social Identity theory and the Social Exchange theory were used in order to explain the factors affecting employee loyalty. The first focuses upon the level of identification the respondents feel towards different components of the organisation, while the other focuses on factors of exchange between the organisation and its employees. These theories, and theories connected to what employee loyalty is, was used in order to develop a conceptual model which served as a foundation for the data collection, empirical findings, and the analysis.  The empirical findings of this thesis showed that while some definitions of employee loyalty and the factors which are affecting it are similar between the groups, there were also some differences. Employee loyalty was defined by most as someone whom has a behaviour and attitude which is positive, does what is expected from them and whom represents the company in a good manner. The difference between the groups regarding employee loyalty were that the group with more experience seem to have higher demand to classify someone as a loyal employee than the group with less experience has. Moreover, the most evident difference of what affects employee loyalty was that the factor competence development was by far most important for the groups with less experience, while a responsive organisation was what the group with more experience found important in order to keep employees loyal.  Conclusions drawn from this study is that “softer” factors like the relationship’s employees have between each other, the organisational culture, and sense of opportunity for personal growth seem to be far more important for employees than physical benefits. Furthermore, there seem to be some differences regarding employee loyalty between groups with different levels of working experience which is why this thesis recommends organisations to be responsive to its employees’ needs and adapt their management to all employees.

This research explores the linkages between HR practices and business sales performance in a retail bank branch network. Whilst previous research in the last two decades has generally supported the notion that when appropriately designed HR practices can help enhance organizational outcomes, there is still ongoing debate regarding how such practices can actually influence business results. In particular, academics have highlighted the importance of the quality of HR implementation, because this can affect employee day-to-day experiences of and reactions to the HR practices which can impact on variance in the business results. In effect, it is crucial for research to take up the employee lens of the implemented practices and their reactions to these, if the HR-performance relationship is to be clearly understood. This thesis contributes to this research agenda by adopting the social exchange lens to shed light on the nature of the aforementioned relationship. A multidisciplinary and multilevel HR-performance model was employed for conducting empirical tests. Specifically, the empirical model was constructed from the literature in three different fields: strategic human resources management, social exchange theory and psychological contract, with the aim of eliciting the nature of employer-employee exchange relationships in the HR process. Subsequently, the model was tested using the data obtained from 1,286 employees in 149 bank branches and analysed so as to assess the multilevel process through which HR practices can influence business sales performance. The empirical results indicate that an organization can improve branch sales performance by paying careful attention to several processes pertaining to the implementation of HR practices. That is, through the psychological contract process, employees, based on their perceptions of the quality of the received practices (i.e. HR level and breach), reciprocate the organization with their discretionary performance, i.e. commitment attitudes and organizational citizenship behaviours and these outcomes have an impact on business results. Moreover, the findings also point to a boundary condition, whereby the HR-performance relationship can be enhanced by stressing the role of the key constituencies responsible for delivering these practices, namely: senior management and the line manager. That is, respectively, through the affective and relational processes, these agents can have an impact on employee perceptions of HR level and whether there has been a breach of the psychological contract, which in turn influence employee reactions in the causal chain. In summary, having applied the social exchange perspective to elicit the employee interaction with the different quality of HR implementation across bank branches, this study has contributed to the literature by identifying the key processes including psychological contract, relational and affective processes through which HR practices can impact on business sales performance, thereby illustrating how an organization’s human resources can serve as the source of sustained business competitive advantage.

En kvalitativ studie som syftar till att analysera vad som kan skapa bra förutsättningar för ett ledarskap på distans, beskriva vilka utmaningar och möjligheter detta kan medföra och uppmärksamma upplevda skillnader mellan att leda på distans och att leda på plats. Åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes där tidigare forskning om leader-member exchange theory och arbetsrelaterad känsla av sammanhang låg till grund för intervjuguiden. En tematisk analys genomfördes vilken resulterade i fem teman: tydlighet, kommunikation, tillgänglighet, relationer och stöd samt kompetens och effektivitet. De fyra första temana bidrog till att skapa bra förutsättningar för ett ledarskap på distans, utmaningar som framkom var att skapa förutsättningarna. I dessa teman fanns även skillnader mellan typerna av ledarskap. Det femte temat var övergripande och kom att stå för möjligheter med ett ledarskap på distans och anledningar till att det var nödvändigt. Studien visar en komplex bild av ledarskap på distans där alla teman samverkar.

In small businesses in the United States, specifically those with fewer than 10 employees, leaders may be skeptical of and resistant to the use of social media in their management operations. Management literature does not indicate clear and effective guidelines and policies detailing small marketing firms use of social media. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the perceptions of small marketing firm leaders about the resources and knowledge needed for effective use of social media as a management tool. Emerson's social exchange theory grounded the study. The study targeted owners and managers of small marketing firms in Dallas, Texas, with three to five years of experience and firms who use social media in their firm management or operations. Twenty-three participants satisfied the criteria. Data were collected through interviews, questionnaires, and document reviews. Yin's 5-phase analysis was used to analyze the data. The primary result of the study is that small businesses that use social media in the Dallas, Texas, area reported various gains, including increased awareness about their business, valuable customer feedback, and customer retention. The study may have a positive social change impact by providing information on strategies and benefits of using social media as a management tool not only to small marketing firms in Texas, but also to very small businesses in other sectors.

Managers' ability to engage virtual employees (those in different geographic locations) is a determining factor of employee productivity and commitment to an organization. Since 2005, the number of U.S.-based virtual employees increased; however, research regarding virtual communication and employee engagement is limited. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine if a significant correlation exists between employee engagement (the dependent variable) and the quantity and perceived quality of virtual management communication (the independent variables). The research question assessed the correlation among the quantity of time managers spend communicating with virtual employees, quality of virtual communication, and employee engagement. Homans's social exchange theory served as the theoretical framework. Data collection involved an online survey from 71 U.S.-based virtual employees, working primarily from home. The results of the regression analysis were statistically significant, F(2, 67) = 7.14, p = .002, R2 = .18, indicating that quantity of time a manager a spent communicating with virtual employees and the virtual employees' perceived quality of communication positively affected employee engagement. Findings indicated that managers who communicate more frequently and have a higher perceived quality of communication are more likely to have engaged employees. Business leaders can use this study to inform managers of the need for frequent, high-quality communication with their virtual employees. The findings will contribute to social change by providing organizational leaders with useful strategic information to increase the employee engagement of home-based virtual employees.

Child welfare has been part of American society since the early 1900s and continues to play a pivotal role in response to troubled families. Although there is a need for qualified child welfare staff, the process of maintaining staff is a constant struggle for many child welfare agencies. Many states are experiencing high turnover rates within the child welfare system, and Florida has been acutely impacted. Researchers have demonstrated that the nature of the work, supervision, and other organizational factors continue to contribute to job satisfaction among child welfare professionals. Guided by the social exchange theory as the theoretical framework, which is based on intraorganizational relationships and workplace behavior, this quantitative study determined which indices of job satisfaction influenced retention among workers in Palm Beach County, Florida. It also examined how job satisfaction impacted different worker groups. Using Spector's Job Satisfaction Survey and additional demographical questions, data were analyzed to measure job satisfaction among the different worker groups (n = 18). A 2-tailed t test, analysis of variance, and multivariate analysis of variance indicated that adoption workers were more satisfied than were dependency workers in each of the 9 indices measured and that having a degree in social work did not influence job satisfaction among the different worker types. By understanding the factors related to job satisfaction in Palm Beach County, Florida, child welfare agencies can implement measures and procedures geared at increasing retention among child welfare workers.

The healthcare system in the US faces substantial challenges related to cost, access and quality. Health Information Exchange (HIE) has been widely viewed as a viable solution for dealing with those challenges. Despite the potential contributions to the healthcare system that HIE promises, adoption and use of HIE have always been difficult, and the past two decades have witnessed significant HIE implementation failures. The limited understanding of HIE is a major obstacle for HIE success. Only recently in-depth research about HIE starts to appear in top IS journals. In addition, the uniqueness of healthcare industry adds to the complexity to HIE. Our study attempts to address this research gap by systematically examining multiple factors that influence HIE adoption and use. Using social exchange theory (SET) and diffusion of innovations theory, a research model was developed to empirically test major factors that impact healthcare providers’ relative advantages and risks perceptions for adopting and using HIE. It is further proposed that relative advantages and risks in turn impact organizations’ intentions for adopting and continuously using HIE. As such, we posit that organizations’ assessments of relative advantages and risks associated with HIE mediate the impacts of organizational and technological factors on organizations’ adoption and use intentions. This study uses questionnaire surveys for data collection. Out of a total of 163 responses, 117 surveys were completed and were analyzed using Partial Least Square software SmartPLS 3. Data analysis finds that most of the relationships were in the hypothesized directions with some of the relationships being significant. Specifically, top management support, absorptive capacity, trust, and HIE innovation characteristics positively affect relative advantages and negatively affect risk. Furthermore, relative advantages positively affect adoption/continuance intentions, whereas risk negatively affects adoption/continuance intentions. This study contributes to the literature and offers important practical implications. It is one of the early empirical attempts to understand the key factors that affect HIE’s adoptions and use. The research can also serve as a starting point for more in-depth studies in the future. Moreover, practitioners can use the several newly-developed scales to empirically examine healthcare providers’ adoption and use intentions.

How do people determine satisfaction in their relationships? One way may be to engage in bottom-up processing and rely on sexual satisfaction to arrive at an overall evaluation of the relationship. Another way may be to engage in top-down processing and allow the overall relationship satisfaction to color the perceptions of sexual satisfaction. The current study more rigorously examined the causal relationship between sexual and marital satisfaction through multilevel cross-lagged regression analyses of 8 waves of marital and sexual satisfaction reported by 72 newlywed couples over the first five years of marriage. Consistent with bottom-up processing, initial sexual satisfaction predicted subsequent marital satisfaction. Also, consistent with top-down processing, initial marital satisfaction predicted subsequent sexual satisfaction. The current findings extend theoretical perspectives on the relationship between sexual satisfaction and suggest that both causal paths be considered in future research and clinical practice.

Since 1992, the number of short-term mission (STM) travelers has exponentially increased for more than a decade. The purpose of STMs is to spread religious messages to local residents. In order to spread the word of God, STM travelers attempt to interact with local residents. They want to communicate with local residents in the host community and build a relationship with them. Therefore, for STM travelers their relationship with local residnets really matters. Many tourism scholars have argued that hosts-tourists interaction heavily influences both tourists and hosts. In spite of the increased popularity and the importance of host-tourist interaction in the context of STMs, STMs have received relatively little attention from the tourism research field. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to understand short-term mission travelers' interaction with local residents within four existing theories: the theory of leisure and tourist motivation, the theory of cultural hegemony, the gift-exchange theory, and the integrative theory of cross-cultural adaptation. To reach this research aim, this study used a qualitative research design rooted in the constructivist paradigm. A total of 43 STM travelers participated in the interview of this study. Considering the concept of the cultural distance between the participant's home culture and the host culture, American and Korean STM travelers who visited Cambodia or Thailand were recruited. Also, to understand the process of participant's relationship-building and cross-cultural adaptation, both pre- and post-interviews with 26 participants were conducted. The results showed that STM travelers sought personal and interpersonal rewards from the trip, which supports the theory of leisure motivation. Also, this type of travel had similarities with alternative, mass, and volunteer tourism in terms of tourist motivation. Regarding the theory of cultural hegemony, hegemonic power was exercised through STM travelers' work. STM travelers took advantage of an opportunity to provide what locals wanted as an opportunity to spread their religious message. Furthermore, identified conflicts between Christianity and the local culture support the existence of cultural hegemony. Concerning the relationship-building process of STM travelers, the results suggested that STM travelers built their relationship with local people and God by providing a gift to them and positively evaluating receivers' responses. In terms of the theory of cross-cultural adaptation, this study found support for this theory as successful intercultural adaptation led to a personal transformation in travelers. Finally, cultural distance was considered as a dimension of the intercultural adaptation theory. Regarding the perceived cultural distance, American mission travelers reported cultural distance with the host culture whereas Korean mission travelers expressed a cultural similarity to the host cultures rather than cultural difference.

Problem: The developing business market and the pressure it puts on business gives rise to new fields of business within SCM and logistics. Third party logistics (TPL) services have grown rapidly in importance as an alternative to vertical business integration. The emergence of TPL has brought about interest in the topic by academia, but recent literature reviews express a need for research on TPL relationships where both buyer and provider perspectives are viewed simultaneously, since a majority of previous research has been conducted more from a single organisational viewpoint. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how providers and buyers in TPL relationships adapt and cooperate to develop mutually beneficial and long-term relationships, as well as investigating their willingness and attitudes in this concern. Method: The thesis combines an explanatory and exploratory classification, and performs a qualitative, mono method study of viewpoints on TPL relationships from Swedish and Norwegian providers and buyers that currently are in a TPL relationship. Semi-structured interviews are conducted with four providers and three buyers. The findings are analysed and interpreted in light of a theoretical framework developed from the literature review, which in the analysis is applied in a TPL context to extend the understanding of TPL relationships. Conclusions: Willingness to adapt and cooperate in TPL relationships is connected with the parties’ perceived potential for economic gain and also with being able to trust the other party. Buyers emphasise the need for providers to have knowledge about the buyers’ business. Providers emphasise the need for buyers to be knowledgeable about their own business and for the buyer to fits their solutions. Attitudes: Both parties emphasise communication as crucial for the development of mutual benefits. Buyers adapt to providers’ standards as far as possible. Providers seem to want buyers to adapt to their solutions to gain economies of scale, and therefore appear reluctant to make relationship-specific investments. The use of contracts in the TPL context appears to contradict literature in that contracts work as a foundation for building trust, as well as for reducing opportunistic and operational risk. In practice, both providers and buyers highlight the use of integrated IT-solutions as a means of adapting to each other. Regular operational meetings are emphasised as part of the practical cooperation to develop the relationship’s future and to discuss day-to-day issues.