This applied dissertation was a study of the relationship between leader-member exchange (LMX) and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) in a federal government organization in Washington, DC. As a result of the organization’s business and leadership challenges, understanding the relationship between a leader and a follower and extra-role behaviors may help to understand how high-quality relationships are developed with staff members that are productive and motivate staff to extend their efforts beyond normal expectations. Productive high-quality relationships demonstrate loyalty, consideration, and affect towards the organization and its leaders. Understanding the relationship between LMX and OCB in a federal government organization may help to produce greater awareness of the factors that lead to high-quality leader-member relationships. Knowing the characteristics of high-quality relationships may promote extra-role behaviors enabling increased job satisfaction and greater results. Federal organizations find that many employees have low job satisfaction. In addition, only 38% of federal workers believe leaders generate high levels of commitment. The researcher employed an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design that included surveys and interviews. The sample study was composed of 50 paired dyads from 433 employees of the target federal agency selected using convenience sampling. Survey instruments were used for demographics, LMX, and OCB to gather data. The results from the LMX and OCB instruments were used to formulate interview questions for a select group from the core sample represented by the top and bottom 5% of raw survey score totals. The targeted federal organization should benefit from this study. The results showed how differences in the quality of the relationship between a leader and a follower related to OCB, or extra-role behaviors and led to recommendations on leader-subordinate relationships.

Purpose: Leadership is one of the very important as well as decisive factors in business environment. Following the Blau’s social exchange theory, this study discussed to analyze the despotic leadership effect on employees' job satisfaction in the Pakistani context. This research also analyzes the indirect association of despotic leadership and job satisfaction through the third variable named, emotional exhaustion (as mediator).  Method: Data is collected through an online self-administrated survey from employees working in the hotel industry of Pakistan. Descriptive analysis and inferential statistics were used. Moreover, conditional process technique was used introduced by Preacher and Hayes. Results: In conclusion, this study illustrates that despotic leadership style of the employees in hotel industry is a main antecedent of poor job satisfaction of the employees and this low job satisfaction becomes More low when employee experience the feelings of emotional exhaustion. Importantly, in this study it is found that emotional exhaustion does not mediate the relationship between despotic leadership and job satisfaction.  Originality: This research had added value to the existing literature on negative supervision in the hospitality sector, specifically in Pakistan. This has suggested organizations to identify prevalent despotic leaders and establish accountability mechanisms within the organizations.

Background: In the last couple years, the free to play sector in gaming has taken a rise compared to their pay to play counterparts, being able to generate up to 85% of all gaming revenue. More and more game developers have opted to change their game from a paid model to a free-to-play business model, with prominent cases being games like CS:GO and Overwatch. It all started with cosmetics and skins, but companies started to develop new ways to get players into the cycle of spending money in free-to-play games. Purpose: For this reason, the purpose of this study focuses on exploring how the purchase of microtransactions in free-to-play games impacts the way players experience flow. Similarly, we also aim to learn what happens after the initial purchase and how, by using money in this way, players can enhance the quality of their overall play time. Method: We conduct a qualitative study examining how microtransactions impact flow through conducting a set of 21 interviews with players from different platforms and games, 4 individual think aloud protocols, and various relevant reddit posts. Conclusion: Our findings build upon past research, illustrating how there are contrasting effects regarding how microtransactions impact flow. The results challenge previous flow literature, incorporating the novel view that microtransactions and the social context can also help trigger and destroy flow.

A contagious virus appeared in late 2019 and later led to the COVID-19 pandemic being declared in March 2020. The pandemic has since seen detrimental socioeconomic effects worldwide which led to a halt in the global tourism industries. Sweden has used a different and criticized approach to combating the pandemic compared to other countries. The country has relied on the individual responsibility and the civic liability of its population.Meanwhile, the biggest island in the country, Gotland, has recovered itsvisitation figures during the pandemic and has been voted the most popular destination in Sweden in 2021. This recovery was, however, not without consequences. Residents of the island have voiced their opinions on the topic of the pandemic and tourism online and in newspapers. Residents have expressed fear of the virus spreading further, imposing health risks as restrictions on social distancing have not been kept by tourists. Tourismrelated research on Swedish island destinations to this end is scarce in addition to there being limited research on residents’ attitudes during a pandemic and limited qualitative research on residents’ attitudes in general.This is a qualitative case study that studies the islanders’ perceptions of tourism impacts with the help of semi-structured interviews and letters to the editors. The study uses Social Exchange Theory as the conceptual framework,a theory described as the most logical framework to explain residents’ perceptions of tourism impacts. The results from this study show that the residents perceive more negative impacts than positive impacts. Perceptions of positive impacts are mainly related to the contributions to rural areas. Negative impacts related to water scarcity, littering, the disappearance of natural areas, over-crowding, gentrification, seasonality, the economic interest of the tourism industry during the pandemic, and more.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka betydelsen faktorer kopplade till schemaläggning har för upplevelse av delaktighet och inflytande. De faktorer som undersökts är schemaläggningssystem, organisatoriska aspekter, samarbete, och flexibilitet. De teorier som används är Job demand-control model, Social exchange theory och Structural empowerment theory. Det är en kvalitativ intervjustudie med fem informanter som jobbar hel- eller deltid inom äldrevård eller funktionshinderomsorg i Umeå kommun. Informanterna har tre olika schemasystem med det gemensamma att samtliga informanter får ge önskemål på hur de vill att deras schema för kommande schemaperiod ska se ut. Resultatet visar att informanterna upplever olika grad av delaktighet och inflytande i sitt schemaläggningssystem. Centralt schemastöd är den funktion som minskar upplevelsen av delaktighet och inflytande för majoriteten av informanterna. Ökad utbildning, avsatt tid för schemaläggning, stöd för att öka samarbete på arbetsplatsen och kontakt med Centralt schemastöd är faktorer som sammanfattningsvis föreslås kan öka de anställdas delaktighet och inflytande i schemaläggning.

Outdoor adventure learning (OAL) provides a unique environment to teach organizational change. Therefore, there is an implication these programs can be used to foster necessary specific skills such as leading change, innovation, and thriving in hostile environments to lead in the ever-changing corporate world. Little research, however, supports the efficacy of adventure learning in achieving specific outcomes. Skeptics suggested the benefits of OAL programs do not always generalize effectively from the outdoor experience to the workplace. This paper outlines how utilizing strategic skills and theory to conduct OAL programs are effective and impactful in the corporate world. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions and meaning of a based outdoor adventure learning program among corporate executives using qualitative data analysis (QDA).

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The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) on marital relationships. MCI refers to age-related decline in memory and other cognitive processes that do not necessarily interfere with daily activities or the maintenance of social relationships with others (Petersen et al., 1999). Using social exchange theory as the theoretical framework to guide this qualitative study, aspects of the marital relationship explored from the nonimpaired spouses’ perspective were couple interaction, intimacy, and the division of household labor. In-depth interviews were conducted with five husbands and five wives (M age = 76.6 yrs., S.D. = 6.64). Open-ended interview questions that focus on issues specific to the marital relationship included: (a) range of activities participated in as a couple, (b) ways of showing care or affection toward one another, and (e) management of everyday life. In addition to participating in the semi-structured interviews, the spouses completed three standardized scales (e.g., Revised Memory & Behavior Problems Checklist, Zarit Burden Interview, Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale). Their responses to these measures provided information about the memory and behavioral changes of the elder as it related to the outcomes for and responses of the spouse. Spouses noted both change and stability within their marriages. They expressed “mixed emotions” concerning the influence of MCI on both them as individuals and on their relationship. Husbands’ responses focused on the negative relationship outcomes (e.g., frustration, stress) associated with caring for a spouse with memory loss; however, wives reported higher levels of burden and depression on the standardized measures than did the husbands. Gender differences were found regarding how husbands and wives view their roles in context to the caregiving situation, as well as how they adapt and cope. Longitudinal research is needed to examine the changes in the dynamics of these late-life marital relationships over time. / Master of Science