Thesis (M.A.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1994. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-103). Also available via the Internet.

Background: Empowerment is a leadership style where the leader gives away power and therefore provides freedom to the follower to successfully do what they want to do instead of what the leader want them to do (Whetten & Cameron, 2014). It is said that leader often fail when they have the incapability to motivate and manage their followers.   Purpose: This thesis tend to examine what motives followers in order to locate if empowerment is a potential leadership style that can increase follower’s dedication and contribution within their workplace. . Method: This research contains of a qualitative study with direct questions with an influence of open ended questions in order to capture the respondent’s personal opinions. The authors uses an abductive reasoning with an interpretivism philosophy as well with an exploratory approach.   Conclusion: The author’s conclusion is that the respondents of the research were not aware of the leadership style empowerment. However, all respondents had a positive attitude to the description of empowerment. This could show an indication that there is always a search for new leadership styles and empowerment is a style that could help followers to improve their contribution and dedication at their workplace.

Due to the development of new technology, there has been a shift in many communication concepts. With consumers now gaining more control in the online environment, more influential consumers, or ‘opinion leaders’, can also gain from this increase in power. However, insufficient research has been conducted regarding the concept of social media opinion leadership, and in particular what the relational nature of these new opinion leaders is. Therefore, this study aims to explore this issue within the social media opinion leadership theory. A qualitative research design was applied to get a more in depth insight to the issue, in where interviews were conducted with followers of specific opinion leader on a social media platform. The empirical data was analyzed through the means of coding and interpretation which then lead into the theory of what possible relationships can be found amongst social media opinion leaders and their followers. Conclusively, three types of relationships emerged as most dominant: the trustworthiness relationship, the friendly relationship and the passive relationship. The theoretical contributions of this paper together with practical implications and suggestion for future research are discussed based on that conclusion.

Bien que le leadership ait fait l'objet d'une profusion de travaux, aucune définition valide et partagée n'a pu émergé, à ce jour. Fuyant, changeant, révélé ou « asphyxié » par certains contextes, nous voici face à l'étude d'un concept polymorphe et polychrome. Ce travail doctoral vise à questionner le concept de leadership s'appliquant aux organisations publiques, pluralistes et non ordinaires, que sont les universités. La prise en compte du contexte mouvant dans lequel évoluent actuellement les établissements universitaires, constitue la dimension fondamentale de cette étude. Nous avons choisi de positionner cette recherche dans une approche processuelle, relationnelle et dynamique du leadership, dans laquelle s'articulent les perceptions qu'ont le(s) leader(s) et les followers  d'une même situation de changement. Cette recherche permet de présenter les caractéristiques des organisations universitaires et d'identifier les éléments d'une mutation, tournée vers une gestion plus « entrepreneuriale » au sens de Clark (2001). Dans cette perspective, l'analyse des voies de légitimation du leadership présidentiel, s'inscrivent dans des dimensions plus managériales, où l'expertise gestionnaire et l' « agir stratégique » deviennent nécessaires. Cette étude nous conduit également à compléter le concept de leadership universitaire et d'en appréhender les mutations en nous appuyant sur les convergences de représentations. L'évolution du système universitaire français nous amène à soulever la problématique de la différenciation des légitimités et de la distribution des rôles dans l'université, et des modalités d'organisation de ceux-ci au sein d'une gouvernance repensée. / Although academic leadership has been studied in numerous works, non valid and widely agreed upon definition has so far emerged. Here we have to cope with an eluding changing concept, revealed or suppressed by given surroundings, in short a polymorphic and polychromatic concept. This doctorate work aims at questioning the leadership concept applying to higher education. Taking in charge the highly changing environment in which universities evolve at the present time, makes up the true dimension of the present study. With a view to answering our questioning, we have chosen to make an approach of leadership in terms of processes, relationships and dynamism in which leaders and followers can perceive the same changing situation in a intricate way. This research allows us to present the characteritics of academic organisations and to identify the factors of a significant change leading to more entrepreneurial type of management as indicated by Clark (2001). In this respect, the analyses of the ways of legitimation of the presidential leadership takes place in a framework of increased management, in which managerial expertise and strategic action become necessary. This study leads us to complete the concept of academic leadership and to grasp the imperceptible change processes on the basis of convergent representations. The evolution of the French higher education system brings us to raise the problematic of the various legitimacies, the allotment of roles at the university and their relationship at the heart of a new practice of governance.

In this day of age there is no clear definition of what leadership is and exactly what it means. Though something that all existing definitions of leadership have in common is that, it is a process of influence where the leader exerts influence over their subordinates. The concept of leadership can at first glance be seen as a clear substance that is easy to understand. However, this is not the case when one delves into the subject and begins to realize that leadership is a complex concept which includes a variety of things. How to best exercise leadership is a divided perception that may be completely different, depending on whom you ask the leader or the follower. In this paper the aim is to explore the leadership within the company Lycamobile located in Sweden, with respect to management. Further, we examine the relationship between managers and employees and examine their adaptation to the Swedish business culture. This paper is a case study, based on adductive triangulation. The study inhabits three personal interviews and a survey. The theoretical framework consists for instance of the path-goal theory and situational leadership. The result demonstrates that Lycamobiles leadership is very authoritarian and differs from the Swedish business cultures leadership in a hierarchal manner. The employees at Lycamobile find no major problems with this type of leadership and the majority is happy with their work. This is partly because most employees and managers can identify with each other. Nevertheless, there are some who wish for the leadership to be more transformative.

Idea and Purpose The background of this thesis is the ongoing discussion ofleadership and management and how these terms are connected. Unfortunatelythe discussuion of this topic is very much restricted to books and scientific papers. My idea is to first clarify the terms of management and leadership and then, through dialogues to find out if and how the differences are relevant in daily work-life. My personal aim is to raise the awareness to the importance of leadership because it deals with the human being as a whole. Further I hope that this work might inspire executives to reflect themselves and to improve the relationship between them and their followers. Research Question Do leaders differentiate between leadership and management and how does the difference influence their understanding of the issue andtheir individual leadership style? Methodology The approach used here is a qualitative one, using dialogues to understand the ideas and opinions of todays people in leading positions through interpretation and interaction.

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Social media enable celebrity to interact with their followers and enable followers to build the relationship through the interaction. Former research has found that openness and perceived interactivity are antecedents for parasocial interaction. In order to investigate the way to increase user’s engagement in celebrity’s social media page, this research examines the relationship between celebrity’s posts employ openness and perceived interactivity, other user’s posts employ openness and perceived interactivity, parasocial interaction, parasocial relationship, and social media engagement. Survey data were collected from 595 followers of one Chinese celebrity through an online survey. The results indicate that neither celebrity’s nor other user’s posts employ openness and perceived interactivity direct lead to user’s social media engagement. However, PSI and PSR, which increased by celebrity’s and other user’s posts employ openness and perceived interactivity, have a positive relationship with user’s social media engagement. It provides support for the mediating role of PSI and PSR to social media engagement.

The purpous of this qualitative study is to spotlight some of the followers/employess technostress concerns associated with future AI implementation in one of the Swedish public centers. The methodology used in this research is a deductive approach and primary data was collected by conducting nine semi-structured interviews with followers /mployess working at a social care center in Växjö Municipality, Sweden. The findings support that transformational leadership style can be utilized to address followers´technostress fears in the understudy social care center through enhancing followers engagement. Conclusively, transformational leadership style interaction with followers enables leader to enhance followers engagement and mitigate technostress factors generated by AI implementation.

The surge of mobile internet and electronic devices has revolutionized consumer interactions and information consumption. Livestreaming emerges as a prevalent advertising method in e-commerce, compensating for the static nature of traditional platforms by providing dynamic buying experiences. Yet, its impact on sales and customer engagement remains unclear. This study delves into how influencers leverage livestreaming for engagement and product promotion. This study investigates China's influencer e-commerce livestreaming strategies' effectiveness in enhancing consumer engagement and sales. It focuses on Li Jiaqi and Wei Ya's broadcasts, aiming to understand their communication strategies and impact on consumer behavior. Drawing on Laswell's communication model and "key opinion leader" theory, this research scrutinizes influencers' strategies to engage followers and drive sales. It explores how these influencers utilize personal branding, content, platforms, timing, and messaging to promote products effectively. Using qualitative methods, this study analyzes the livestreamed e-commerce content of Li Jiaqi and Wei Ya. Employing Netnography, it examines their language styles' persuasive aspects and their influence on product sales. Additionally, observation and interviews with consumers complement this analysis. The study underscores the rapid growth of influencer-driven e-commerce post-COVID-19, highlighting challenges such as audience retention, product quality, and false advertising. Addressing these issues is crucial to establishing effective influencer e-commerce livestreaming strategies in China.