Magister Commercii (Industrial Psychology) - MCom(IPS) / Empirical and anecdotal evidence suggests that organisations, including higher education institutions (HEI‘s) have a propensity to focus on extrinsic rewards as a main motivator that attracts and retains staff (Kubler & De Luca, 2006). Twenge, Stacy, Campbell and Hoffman (2010) maintain that work values represent people‘s expectations from the workplace. Studies performed to determine the impact of intrinsic work values, as opposed to extrinsic work values and rewards, indicate that the sustainable factors influencing long-lasting career choices can be found in the attainment of intrinsic work values (Kovach, 1987; Masibigiri & Nienaber, 2011). With respect to leadership behaviours, intrinsic work values and rewards are seldom considered when focusing on the factors that lead to attracting and retaining academic staff. Werner (2011) posits the view that an understanding of underlying work values of employees can assist in sound people practices to foster engagement and retention of staff. Aspects of intrinsic work values become more important in the context of literature relative to research done about younger generations, who have different expectations from leadership and different ideas of desired work cultures (Sujansky, 2010). Brown (2003), as cited by Patton and McMahon (2009 p.41), states that ―occupational tenure is partially the result of the match between the culture and work values of the worker, supervisor and colleagues‖. The alignment of leadership culture to strategies is therefore important (Rhodes & Mc Guire, 2009). Moreover, the alignment between desired organizational work values and perceived current work values is contended to influence the effective functioning of a workplace. The current research was undertaken based on a cross-sectional, quantitative survey approach which requested participants to select work values out of a pre-designed list of approximately a hundred possible work-related values as positioned in the vision and mission statements of the institution at which the research was undertaken. The results of the research indicate that the two younger groups of academic staff who were targeted in this research, accord importance to intrinsic work values which relate to meaningful and fulfilling work. An analysis of the trends which emerged from the data suggest that leadership and cultural aspects designed to support desired work values may influence successful attraction and retention of these younger generations for academic careers. These findings emphasise the importance for leadership to act in alignment with change needs of academic staff and their own stated vision and mission strategies. The results provide useful insight into the current and perceived work-related values and could be used to inform strategic debates within the HEI. Although tentative in nature, the findings provide a heuristic framework within which to align work-related values across generations of academics and serve as an impetus for future research.

Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att jämföra hur Generation X och Y:s attityd till ett varumärke påverkas av produktplacering. Metod: I studien genomfördes en undersökning med hjälp av experimentell design och enkät med 169 respondenter. Varje respondent fick ta del av ett avsnitt från TV-serien Solsidan där det förekommer produktplacering. Därefter fick respondenterna svara på en enkät om de produktplaceringar som förekom i avsnittet. Resultat & slutsats: Resultaten visar att generationerna i de flesta fall har samma inställning till produktplacering generellt. Vår slutsats är att både Generation X och Y har en positiv attityd till ett varumärke som använts i en produktplacering i TV-serien Solsidan. Vi kan se ett undantag vid tydlig produktplacering där båda generationerna visar en negativ attityd. För samtliga varianter av produktplacering går det inte att se någon skillnad mellan generationernas attityd, då Generation X och Generation Y har samma attityd. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Vårt förslag till vidare forskning är att genomföra samma typ av studie med fler respondenter. Ytterligare ett förslag är att utföra samma typ av studie med hjälp av en kvalitativ undersökning. Uppsatsens bidrag: Det teoretiska bidraget är vår jämförande studie mellan Generation X och Generation Y och deras attityd till varumärket via produktplacering. Vårt praktiska bidrag är att utöka kunskapen för marknadsförare att använda de olika varianter som finns inom produktplacering. Detta för att kunna hjälpa de som använder produktplacering för att nå olika ålderskategorier, då de vill få en positiv inverkan på attityd till varumärket hos konsumenterna de vill nå ut till. / Aim: The purpose of this study is to compare how Generation X and Y´s attitude towards a brand is influenced by product placement. Method: In the study, a survey was conducted using experimental design with 169 respondents. Each respondent was asked to watch a specific episode from the TV-series Solsidan where product placement occurs. Thereafter the respondents answered a survey about product placements that appeared in the episode. Results & conclusion: According to the results, Generation X and Y in most cases have the same attitude to product placement in general. Our conclusion is that both Generation X and Y have a positive attitude towards a brand used in a product placement in the TV-series Solsidan. We can see an exception in prominent product placement where both generations show a negative attitude. For all kinds of product placement, there is no difference between generation's attitude, since Generation X and Generation Y have the same attitude. Suggestions for further research: Our proposal for further research is to do the same type of study with more respondents. Another suggestion is to do the same type of study using a qualitative survey. Contribution of the thesis: The theoretical contribution is our comparative study between Generation X and Generation Y and their attitude towards brands through product placement. Our practical contribution is to expand the knowledge of marketers to use the different kinds of product placement. This in order to help those who use product placement to reach different age categories, as they want a positive impact on the consumer's brand attitude.