abstract: The members of Generation Z are often referred to as "digital natives," having been born between 1995–2012, into a time of significant technological advancements. Members of Generation Z were between the ages of 7–24 years old in 2019. The world Generation Z knows has been impacted by the current technological environment including the use of personal smartphones and smart devices, the rise in social media use, and the preference of texting and instant messaging over voice/phone communications. The oldest members of Generation Z are just starting to enter the workforce. While there are studies on Generation Z's personal communication preferences and habits, there is very little research how these preferences and habits will impact business communication. This study examines specifically the older members of Generation Z, between ages 18–24 years old, who are currently in the workforce. The study gives insight into how Generation Z's personal communication habits are impacting their expectations of business communication.. The study includes results of a survey of 207 participants and in-depth interviews with six Generation Z members. The survey included both quantitative multiple choice and qualitative open-ended questions on the respondents’ personal and workplace communication habits and expectations. The in-depth interviews expanded on the findings of the survey and added additional context to many of the survey's findings. Through researching the habits and expectations of members of Generation Z who are currently in the workplace, the study uncovered many unexpected attitudes and behaviors among working Generation Z respondents. These insights include: the respondents’ awareness of the negatives of technology usage, differences in personal preferences and professional behaviors, the self-regulation of technology usage, and the concern for boundaries between personal and work life. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Technical Communication 2020

Background: With the emergence of new social platforms, nascent strategies of Viral Marketing utilizing User-generated Content has developed. TikTok is a new social media based on User-generated videos, where content is mainly expressed in the form of #challenges. Given its nascent nature, marketers lack clear directives of how to capitalize on #challenges by engaging the user base, in their pursuit of reaching virality. As the underlying motivations behind the participation of #challenges are unknown, further research is required. Purpose: The purpose of this study is therefore to explore what motivates Gen Z users to participate in #challenges on TikTok and how companies can utilize these motivations to structure their own #challenges’ in marketing campaigns.   Method: This is an exploratory qualitative study inspired by grounded theory where sixteen semi-structured, in-depth interviews were held with participants classified as Gen Z. Qualitative content analysis was used to develop a revised model of Uses and Gratification Theory.   Conclusion: The results suggests that the Uses and Gratification theory could be used in explaining the underlying motivation for participating in #challenges on TikTok. By drawing connections between Uses and Gratification Theory and empirical data, a revised model was found to include the six traditional forms of motivations with structure as an added seventh prevalent motivation on TikTok. The results propose the motivators factors to participate in a challenge to be intertwined but suggest Entertainment to be a superseding motivator. Suggestions of elements that marketers could implement in their campaigns were thereafter derived.

As a result of technological growth, there is a change in lifestyle which increases thedemands and expectations of consumers, especially in younger generations. Thisdemand forces the companies to update their business models to fulfil customerneeds, which results in the development of mobile applications and websites thatprovide convenience and flexibility to the users. This development gives rise to thesharing economy; it is the combination of old sharing practices with the newtechnological advancement through online. This sharing system hugely affects theconsumer behaviour, and this consumer behaviour is noted in the younger generation,especially in generation Z as they are the generation with the primary consumermarket in the upcoming decades, who are born and brought up in the internet world.Finding the attitude towards sharing economy is considered between the Indian andthe Swedish generation Z. Therefore, in order to understand more about this concept,a qualitative study is performed with the Indian and Swedish gen Z sharing economyconsumers. Our study includes ten interviews, five on both sides. An integrated modelwas developed from existing theories, which was adapted to analyze and comparethe findings of this study. This framework is regarded as the bedrock for this research,and themes were segmented from the transcribed interviews through the thematicanalysis. The finding of this study indicates that the Indian generation Z respondentsare showing active response to the sharing economy platforms. In contrast, theSwedish generation Z respondents are exhibiting passive participation towards sharingplatforms due to the various factors which are discussed in detail. The researchexplores how each structure is related in this study to evaluate the attitude of Indianand Swedish generation Z.Supervisor:

Den rådande klimatdebatten har resulterat i att människor ställer högre krav på företag i att inte enbart vara vinstdrivande utan även fokusera på vad företag kan göra för att bidra till ekonomisk, social och miljömässig hållbarhet. Samtidigt som det ställs högre krav på företagen i att agera hållbart, existerar även en utmaning för företag i Sverige att attrahera framtida arbetskraft, som nu utgörs av Generation Z. Företags agerande inom hållbarhetsaspekter har visats ha en positiv relation för företags attraktivitet. Det leder fram till syftet för denna studie som är att beskriva Generation Z:s uppfattning om företags attraktivitet utifrån ekonomiska, sociala och miljöaspekter. Studien präglas av ett hermeneutiskt förhållningssätt, med en deduktiv ansats utifrån teorierna Corporate Social Responsibility och extern Employer Branding samt genom en kollektiv fallstudie som utgörs av Generation Z’s studerande på Jönköping University. Insamling av empiri utförs genom en skrivbordsundersökning, litteraturöversikt samt kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer med personer som tillhör Generation Z och är studerande i fjärde till sjätte terminen på Jönköping University. Insamlad empiri analyserar genom en tematisk analysprocess med kategorier utifrån de valda teorierna extern Employer Branding samt tre aspekter av Coraporate Social Responsibility som kan påverka ett företags attraktivitet. Genom resultat och analys framkommer olika faktorer inom de tre aspekterna som uppfattas skapa attraktivitet för ett företag för Generation Z. Där Generation Z uppfattar företags externa Employer Branding genom att visa arbetet inom hållbarhetsaspekterna som attraktivt för ett företag.

#BlackOutTuesday blev en viral framgång på Instagram som miljontals människor engagerade sig i genom att dela en svart bild. I och med den digitala utvecklingen, har nya möjligheter skapats för sociala rörelser att nå framgång. Följande arbete kommer därför att studera hur generation Z använder digitala plattformar för att engagera sig och ta ståndpunkt i samhällsfrågor med kampanjen #BlackOutTuesday som analytiskt fokus. Detta görs genom att undersöka vilka förutsättningar som krävs för att användare på Instagram ska motiveras till att dela viral kommunikation vidare och vilka egenskaper hos kommunikationen som gör den viral.  Det teoretiska ramverket består av uses and gratifications-teorin, deltagarkultur, identitet i sociala medier och virala faktorer. Studiens resultat kommer baseras på utsagor från kvalitativa intervjuer som analyseras mot tidigare forskning och valda teorier. Urvalet resulterade i sex intervjuer via ett målstyrt urval. Analysen visade att motiven som ligger bakom deltagandet grundar sig bland annat i rätt budskap, social relevans och rätt plattform. Kampanjen skapade också en trend som innebar att respondenterna ville bli en del av gemenskapen och visa att de stod på rätt sida. Resultatet visade också att deltagandet skiljde sig en hel del online och offline, där endast en respondent deltog offline. Det beror främst på hur sociala medier gjort det enklare för människor att delta riskfritt, accepterat och utan större ansträngning. Till sist visade studien att Instagram blivit ett verktyg för sociala rörelser att nå framgång på i och med att plattformen används av generation Z för att ta ställning på.

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The textile and fashion industry is one of the most extensive and unsustainable industries in the world. Fast fashion companies, and the consumers purchasing, using and disposing the items, have an especially negative impact on the environment. Previous research does not provide deep knowledge of how environmentally sustainable clothing disposal is performed in word and deed as a part of consumers everyday life. However, this is needed to improve environmental sustainability. This research study aims to contribute to and deepen the existing body of research regarding this, investigating female members of Generation Z in a fast fashion context. Thus, the purpose of the study is to contribute with a current understanding of the practice of sustainable clothing disposal by developing knowledge about how consumers perform disposal activities post-consumption, as well as revealing the meanings driving the behaviour. In order to fulfill the purpose, a qualitative research strategy was used. Empirical material was collected through ten semi-structured interviews with female Generation Z participants. The study uses a practice theory approach, viewing a practice as a complex interaction between what consumers say and do in a specific context. A practice consists of several different activities and is dependent on three elements: competence, material and meaning. Furthermore, the theoretical framework consists of previous research on sustainable clothing disposal behaviour. The findings reveal that the practice of sustainable clothing disposal includes a number of activities performed by the participants in the context in question. Several central tendencies are distinguished; showing how female Generation Z consumers perform the activities under different circumstances, through routinised actions and communication in their everyday lives. In addition, the findings identify five different forms of meaning driving the behaviour. Accordingly, both theoretical and practical contributions are generated. The findings build on the existing body of research, adding deep and current understanding of sustainable clothing disposal behaviour. Furthermore, actors in the textile and fashion industry can interpret the findings of the behaviour and meaning-making, and hence improve their adaptation to the consumer. Ultimately, this can cause a positive impact on environmental sustainability.

The standardised approach of producing fashion products in conjunction with the fast fashion trend has triggered a throwaway culture where premature disposal of well- functioning fashion products is a major problem. However, a shift has been revealed with the emerging demand for personalised fashion, as opposed to standardised garments. Generation Z is known for its urge to showcase personal identity, which makes this consumer group a driver in the growing trend of customisation. The relevance of customisation in fashion is further fuelled by its capability to enhance consumers’ emotional attachment towards the customised product, which often results in the product being kept longer. The perceived consumer value of customisation is acquired from the final product as well as the co-design process. The purpose of this study is to investigate Generation Z’s perceived value of customised fashion products and the co-design process. The underlying objective is to explore if the concept of customisation has the potential of becoming more established in the future fashion industry. The study follows an abductive reasoning and adopts a mixed method research with the explanatory sequential design. This mixed method design is a two-phase approach starting with the collection and analysis of quantitative data, followed by the compiling and analysis of qualitative data. For the first phase, a self-administered online questionnaire was conducted. The second phase entailed semi-structured interviews, which were designed to make up for obscure results in the survey. The Consumer Perceived Value Tool (CPVT) served as a theoretical lens for analysis and guided the construction of the data collection tools. By means of the CPVT the study found that Generation Z particularly perceive value in the utilitarian and creative-achievement benefits of customised fashion. Moreover, the perceived self-expressiveness and hedonic value were deemed significant to the generation. Generation Z showed little evidence of perceiving value in the uniqueness benefit of customised fashion. Lastly, an additional perceived value of customisation was proposed and is related to environmental sustainability, which is acquired from the benefit of acting more responsibly.

This is a phenomenological study exploring leadership identity development of Chinese generation Z student leaders by referring to Leadership Identity Development (LID) theory. There are two research questions. First, in what ways, if any, is the development of Chinese Generation Z student leader’s leadership identity similar to the Leadership Identity Development (LID) by Komives et al. (2005)? Second, in what ways, if any, is the development of Chinese Generation Z student leader’s leadership identity different from Leadership Identity Development (LID) by Komives et al. The research adopts purposeful sampling and 10 participants were interviewed. Based on the analysis of the interview data, five major themes emerged; five similarities and six differences were found. Five major themes include beliefs and values, influential people, experiences, leadership identity development, changing views. Five similarities are as follows: 1. There are three similar influential factors existing in college student leaders’ development of leadership identity, including people (adults, peers) and experiences (involvement of leadership experiences). 2. There are similar ways for students to build self-confidence, through others, oneself, and involvement in activities. 3. The process that students develop their views and perceptions of organizations is basically the same. 4. There is similar change of understanding of leadership, from positional to non-positional. 5. Chinese college student leaders agree with the six LID stages developed by Komives and her colleagues in American context. Six differences include 1. In developmental influences, school counselors have tremendous influence over Chinese students’ leadership development. 2. Chinese student leaders admit that peer influence has both positive side and negative side. 3. This study didn’t find any race or gender identities problem from Chinese student leaders during their leadership experiences. 4. Academic success is a critical factor for Chinese students to build self-confidence and to obtain leadership roles. 5. Chinese student leaders’ interaction with group members is different from that of American students. 6. Chinese students believe that leadership develops fast under great pressure and difficulties.

Purpose — ​As social media develops, becoming a more relevant part of society, it is more necessary to understand it, more so when considering social informatics. Exclusively considering the types of advertising available on Instagram, the purpose of this study is to determine the preference of Generation Y and Z, and analyse what motivates their preference when interacting with Instagram advertisements. Method — ​The study relies on qualitative responses. Therefore, appropriate methods to achieve this data are interviews and surveys. Additionally, survey data can be more easily collected in order to ensure that the analysis of the final results is as accurate as possible for the general population. 10 interviews were conducted, and over 40 responses were gathered from the survey. Through the use of mockups to act as visual cues, the methods will test for preference based on three aspects; visual, trustworthiness and purchase behaviour. Conclusion — ​Through a thematic analysis, the final results uncovered that participants based their decision according to at least one of three themes; Familiarity, Presentation of Information, and/or Advertising Intrusion. A consistent majority was not achieved across all tested aspects of preference, however, Video Ads were typically favoured. Limitations — ​The nature of this study is very specific, therefore a lot of considerations within the field have been omitted. Generations outside of Y and Z will not be considered and the study focuses on these groups within Jönköping. Additionally, aspects of social media such as hashtags, tagging functions, and influencers have been studied immensely and will not be relevant to this study. Limitations have been made in order to conduct the study reasonably and competently.