This research examines the application of a Classic Glaserian Grounded Theory methodology to the phenomenon of drought when viewed from the perspective of household water users in southern England. The resulting conceptual work calls into question the effectiveness of water-wise messaging and current Government policies on water management, by highlighting the double assurances afforded to the public through their own observations of the natural cycling of water resources between atmosphere and land, and the continuous operation of the regulated water industry, that together sustain blind belief in the ongoing availability of potable water resources. To establish a clear separation between the development of substantive theory and mixed method studies that claim to take a grounded theory approach that are generally more popular within the discipline of Human Geography, the theory is presented alongside two pieces of work; a collection of modern drought histories and a questionnaire. Developed as part of the necessary process of cycling alternate projects to enable a theory to emerge from the data whilst the researcher is distracted from forcing her own ideas onto it, both these pieces can be viewed separately or as supportive companions to the theory. Additionally, in acknowledging the difficulty in presenting a Classic Grounded Theory in the traditional discussional form, for the benefit of the reader the theory is preceded by an autoethnography, which incorporates descriptive elements taken from field notes and the author’s personal water diary. These works draw data from subjects in three counties in England (Norfolk, Kent, and Devon), following the northwest – southeast rainfall gradient. Supplementary material for the drought histories is drawn from local and national archives and recorded oral histories. The primary emphasis of this work is placed on assessing the merits of each of the methods deployed in addressing environmental social science issues in the context of climate change, which hitherto have been focused on perception questionnaires and the development of popular cultural typologies.

Crime is rife in South Africa. Explanations abound for the high crime statistics, including the weakening of the family unit, the political history of South Africa, urbanisation and the fast growing urban neighbourhood, a weak criminal justice system and the abundant availability of firearms. In the quest to prevent crime, the private security industry has become a key performer in helping to deter and prevent crime and criminal activities. Yet there are no set criteria for selecting security officers against the backdrop of the high crime rates and a growing private security sector. Therefore the purpose was to develop a competency model for the selection of security officers for the safekeeping and protection of persons and property in the Thaba Tshwane area. I chose to do qualitative research using an interpretive approach in an attempt to understand the views of the participants concerning the work context and requirements of security officers. A grounded theory approach to the strategy of inquiry was employed as it was best suited to keeping the information that was gathered grounded in the participants’ own opinions. The focus of this research was on designing a competency model for security officers for selection purposes. Data were gathered through disciplinary records and open-ended structured interviews where the repertory grid and the behavioural event interview were applied.Eight subject matter experts, who included security officers, managers and a client working in the security industry, were used. The result of the study was a competency model of nine competencies and their definitions, which were grounded in the data and critical in functioning as an efficient security officer. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

This Mixed Method Research Project examines the possible marketing strategies that can be used to market township schools in the Gauteng province, within an increasingly competitive educational system. These strategies are investigated within the largely unbalanced infrastructural and resource dichotomy that exists between most township schools and the former Model C schools; the results of which has seen among many other challenges, the ever increasing learner migration from the township schools to the former Model C suburban schools. This pedagogical manuscript adopts a case study approach while simultaneously integrating the influences of established research paradigms like pragmatism and enterpretivism. Within the attempt to find the best marketing options for township schools, the project also consciously attempts to identify the challenges (and possible solutions) that the said schools face as they try to market themselves. The benefits of implementing the marketing matrix within the education product are henceforth highlighted within the narrative of the project. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Education Management)

Electronic payment systems (EPS) have received considerable attention from researchers and business owners worldwide, because of their potential to support economic development and growth. Despite the significant contribution of the growth in EPS to the ability to complete transactions via the Internet, Libya lags significantly behind developed countries in its adoption of EPS. This research focuses on factors affecting EPS adoption and use in Libya, explaining how they positively or negatively affect Libyan customers and organisations‟ willingness to adopt EPS. Data was collected via semi-structured interviews with different stakeholders, including consumers, organisational staff (e.g. Telecommunications Companies, Banks, the Ministry of Telecommunication and Informatics, etc.), and strategic decision-makers (e.g. the Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Communications, Director of Islamic Banking at Bank of Republic). The research implements Grounded Theory methods (GT), in particular the Straussian approach, to analyse, explore, and investigate the socio-organisational, technical, political, and economic factors affecting the adoption of EPS in Libya, and importantly the relationship between these factors. It discusses the impact of the factors identified, from both organisational and consumer perspectives, highlighting the factors and issues that need to be overcome to support successful adoption of EPS. The findings confirm that, for consumers and organisations alike, economic factors (e.g. perceived benefits, cooperation with existing entities, mutuality of stakeholders, Internet costs, standard of living, marketing businesses, awareness, withdrawal control, XX feasibility studies on EPS implementation, Islamic banking services and competition) are the core factors influencing the system‟s adoption. Furthermore, the findings revealed three new and significant factors of relevance to Libya, including standard of living, post coding and the unstable political situation in the country. These represent a unique contribution to the body of knowledge, illustrating the attitude of the Libyan people toward Internet usage, and current obstacles to EPS adoption. The use of substantive GT, in particular the Straussian approach, for data collection and data analysis in the field of EPS adoption, and the assessment of organisational and consumer attitudes, is unique to this research to the best of the researcher‟s knowledge. Thus, the research embodies a substantial contribution to the body of knowledge. The interpretive analysis of data using a Straussian approach has permitted the researcher to attain a deep understanding of the socio-organisational, economic, political, and technical factors affecting adoption of an E-payment system in Libya, as implemented by different stakeholders: Consumers, and Organisational. The benefits that the adoption of EPS in Libya will bring, include facilitation of online transactions, the availability of more secure websites, easier payment and access to the global markets. Furthermore, detailed recommendations are also being offered to assist decision-makers in the development and introduction of EPS in Libya, i.e. including the Communications and Informatics Ministry, which is hoped will advise internet service providers and companies to discount the cost of using the internet for limited bandwidths, in order to insure everyone access to the internet, and EPS.

Problem:  Triggered by the present emission scandal of Volkswagen, we came across the fact that corporate crises constitute a revenant topic in the business world. They often entail significant consequences for the affected companies such as reputation damages, financial losses and loss of trust from stakeholders. Also the people working at these companies experience exceptional situations, managers as well as employees on all levels. Corporate crises can be influenced by many factors, for instance through internal triggers like power distance, transparency and communication. These factors can influence the development of a corporate crisis in a positive as well as in a negative manner.  Purpose:  With the underlying study our goal was to find fostering and hindering factors for corporate crises that are connected to internal processes within multinational companies. Initially we sought to understand which impact organizational structures have on the crisis management in a company. Later in our study, the impact of corporate culture as well as cultural origin emerged and caught our interest. That resulted in a shift of our focus towards the impact of a company’s cultural origin on corporate crisis management.  Method:  For the underlying master thesis, we conducted 17 semi-structured interviews with 13 companies and investigated the real-life case of Volkswagen through secondary data. Based on that we created 14 case studies. Through a highly explorative iterative process, we further analyzed our collected data going back and forth between our empirical data and emerging theory.  Main Findings:  Our empirical data suggested that corporate crises can be triggered internally, initiated for example by strict governance, hierarchy and insufficient transparency. Moreover, organizational structures are strongly influenced by the corporate culture of a company. Corporate culture, furthermore, seems to be strongly influenced by the cultural origin of a company, regarding decision-making procedures, responsibilities and communication. Finally, in the perception of our respondents within our empirical study there is a link between the cultural origin of a company and its crisis management.  Contribution:  Although crisis management constitutes an exhaustive researched topic, we were able to contribute to the area of crisis management with an empirical indicator of the cultural origin of a company constituting an impacting factor for corporate crisis management. This coherence has not been acknowledged by crisis management literature to a meaningful extent so far.

Abstract : Since at least the 1980's, a growing number of companies have set up an ethics or a compliance program within their organization. However, in the field of study of business management, there is a paucity of research studies concerning these management systems. This observation warranted the present investigation of one company's compliance program. Compliance programs are set up so that individuals working within an organization observe the laws and regulations which pertain to their work. This study used a constructivist grounded theory methodology to examine the process by which a specific compliance program, that of Siemens Canada Limited, was implemented throughout its organization. In conformity with this methodology, instead of proceeding with the investigation in accordance to a particular theoretical framework, the study established a number of theoretical constructs used strictly as reference points. The study's research question was stated as: what are the characteristics of the process by which Siemens' compliance program integrated itself into the existing organizational structure and gained employee acceptance? Data consisted of documents produced by the company and of interviews done with twenty-four managers working for Siemens Canada Limited. The researcher used QSR-Nvivo computer assisted software to code transcripts and to help with analyzing interviews and documents. Triangulation was done by using a number of analysis techniques and by constantly comparing findings with extant theory. A descriptive model of the implementation process grounded in the experience of participants and in the contents of the documents emerged from the data. The process was called "Remolding"; remolding being the core category having emerged. This main process consisted of two sub-processes identified as "embedding" and "appraising." The investigation was able to provide a detailed account of the appraising process. It identified that employees appraised the compliance program according to three facets: the impact of the program on the employee's daily activities, the relationship employees have with the local compliance organization, and the relationship employees have with the corporate ethics identity. The study suggests that a company who is entertaining the idea of implementing a compliance program should consider all three facets. In particular, it suggests that any company interested in designing and implementing a compliance program should pay particular attention to its corporate ethics identity. This is because employee's acceptance of the program is influenced by their comparison of the company's ethics identity to their local ethics identity. Implications of the study suggest that personnel responsible for the development and organizational support of a compliance program should understand the appraisal process by which employees build their relationship with the program. The originality of this study is that it points emphatically that companies must pay special attention in developing a corporate ethics identify which is coherent, well documented and well explained. / Résumé : La présente recherche porte sur les systèmes de gestion connus sous l’appellation de « programme de conformité » et « programme d’éthique ». Plus particulièrement, elle étudie le processus par lequel un programme de conformité a été mis en place au sein d’une entreprise multinationale allemande œuvrant au Canada : Siemens Canada Limitée. Elle propose un modèle qui décrit le processus par lequel cette compagnie a implanté un programme de conformité au sein de son organisation. Dans le cadre de cette étude, un programme de conformité est conçu comme étant un système de gestion. Il s’agit donc d’un ensemble de processus, mis en place par une organisation, qui sont reliés ensemble et qui fonctionnent afin d’atteindre un même but. Dans le cas des programmes de conformité, ce but comporte deux volets : a) voir à ce que les individus travaillant au sein d’une organisation respectent les lois et règlements relatifs à leur travail, et b) énoncer un ensemble de normes d’ordre éthique et voir à ce qu’elles soient bien comprises au sein de l’organisation afin qu’elles puissent servir de guide lors de prises de décisions concernant des sujets possédant un enjeu d’ordre éthique. L’historique des programmes de conformité remonte, selon Head (1997), à la fin des années 1940. Initialement, les programmes tenaient surtout compte des lois antitrust et se développaient à mesure que de nouvelles dispositions légales étaient adoptées par les gouvernements. Toutefois, ils ont pris des caractéristiques plus contemporaines à partir des années 1980 suite à deux événements. Le premier était la mise en place d’un programme développé par un groupe réunissant de trente-deux entreprises réunies sous l’appellation de « Defense Industry Initiative on Business Ethics and Conduct » (DII). La justification de ce regroupement était de promouvoir un programme servant à convaincre le législateur qu’il était inopportun d’adopter de nouvelles réglementations puisque les compagnies avaient pris les mesures nécessaires afin d’assurer la conformité de leurs agissements avec les lois. La deuxième était l’introduction des « U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines » ; un ensemble de règles constituant une procédure uniforme servant à déterminer la peine à imposer aux organisations reconnues coupables d’un crime. Ces règles ont, en quelque sorte, incité les entreprises à adopter des programmes de conformité. Quant aux programmes d’éthique, leur historique remonte, selon Rasberry (2000) également aux deux mêmes développements mentionnés précédemment. Le premier département d’éthique au sein d’une entreprise aurait été mis sur pied vers 1985 par des compagnies du groupe DII. Les individus travaillant au sein de ces départements étaient désignés comme des « consultants en éthique ». La prolifération de ces départements a amené ces individus à fonder, en 1992, l’association connue à l’époque sous le nom de « Ethics Officer Association. » Les études portant sur les programmes de conformité ou les programmes d’éthique sont rares. Les quelques articles sur le sujet décrivent très peu leur fonctionnement ou comment ils ont réalisé leur mis en œuvre. Cette situation de disette documentaire s’explique par la réticence des compagnies à accueillir une étude de leur programme. Elles ne se sont pas à l’aise avec l’idée qu’un agent externe, sur qui elles n’ont aucun contrôle, effectue un examen de leurs opérations, surtout celles ayant un contenu délicat. Une exception à cette tendance générale est la compagnie Siemens qui a accepté de participer à la présente étude portant sur son programme de conformité. Le projet de recherche initialement proposé par le chercheur à Siemens visait à évaluer l’efficacité de leur programme de conformité. Toutefois, après examen de documents fournis par la compagnie, il s’est avéré qu’elle avait déjà effectuée une telle démarcher. Répéter cet exercice n’aurait servi qu’à infirmer ou corroborer les données qu’elle avait déjà en main. Au cours de discussions subséquentes avec le gestionnaire responsable de la conformité, ce dernier indiqua que la compagnie ne rencontrait aucun problème de gestion avec son programme. Sans problème managérial apparent, il indiqua qu’il serait tout de même intéressé à ce que le chercheur lui trouve quelque chose, une caractéristique ou une information, que la compagnie ignore à propos de son programme de conformité. Cet état de fait fut le point de départ de la présente recherche. Dans un premier temps, le chercheur proposa à la compagnie que la recherche porte sur le développement du programme de conformité. Toutefois, en cours de l’étude, le chercheur a dû modifier sa question de recherche en sa forme définitive et qui s’énonce comme suit : quelles sont les caractéristiques du processus par lequel le programme de conformité développé par Siemens a été intégré dans la structure organisationnelle existante et a gagné l’acceptation des employés ? Pour répondre à cette question, la présente étude a été menée selon une orientation constructiviste, utilisant la méthodologie de la théorisation enracinée. Elle a examiné le processus par lequel un programme de conformité spécifique, celui de Siemens Canada Limitée, a été mis en œuvre à travers l’ensemble de son organisation. En conformité avec les préceptes de cette méthodologie, elle ne fut pas menée en concordance avec un cadre théorique précis. Elle a plutôt procédé en tenant compte de certains construits théoriques qui ressortaient de la littérature dans le domaine de l’éthique et de l’éthique des affaires. Ces construits ont été utilisés strictement en tant que points de référence et non pas en tant que cadre théorique. Les données colligées au cours de l’étude provenaient de documents produits par l’entreprise et aussi des entrevues réalisées avec vingt-quatre gestionnaires travaillant pour Siemens Canada Limitée. Le chercheur a utilisé le logiciel QSR-Nvivo afin d’effectuer le codage des documents examinés ainsi que les transcriptions des entrevues. Le logiciel a également servi lors de l’analyse de l’ensemble des données. Quant à la triangulation, celle-ci a été effectuée en recourant à un certain nombre de techniques d’analyse et en comparant les découvertes (terme utilisé ici à la place de « résultats » afin de conserver le caractère qualitatif de l’étude) avec la théorie existante contenue dans la littérature académique. La description du processus de mise en œuvre du programme de conformité fournie par le chercheur ne provient pas d’un modèle préconçu provenant de la littérature traitant soit de l’éthique des affaires, soit des programmes de conformité. Le vocabulaire utilisé pour décrire le processus correspond soit à des mots utilisés par les individus participant à l’étude, ou des mots choisis par le chercheur qu’il estimait pouvaient résumer les idées exprimées par les participants. Ainsi, le modèle descriptif et le vocabulaire utilisé pour l’expliquer émergent de l’analyse des données. Le modèle descriptif du processus de mise en œuvre du programme de conformité émerge de l’expérience des participants et du contenu des informations trouvées dans les documents. Le vocable utilisé pour désigner ce processus est celui de « remoulage » et représente la catégorie de base qui a émergé des données. Ce processus principal est composé de deux sous processus : le premier désigné comme étant de l'« embedding » (incrustation) et le second désigné comme « appraisal » (appréciation). Le processus de remoulage intègre un nouvel élément structurel, le programme de conformité, dans la structure organisationnelle déjà existante. Toutefois, la particularité de ce processus est de parvenir à transformer la fibre constitutive de la structure organisationnelle sans modifier la structure en tant que telle. En quelque sorte, le « moule » initial est préservé, mais en le « remoulant », avec l'apport du programme de conformité, la compagnie se transforme. Étant donné qu'il s'agit d'un remoulage par le biais d'un programme de conformité, le résultat de tout cet effort doit se manifester, d'une part, par l'adoption, par les employés, de l'identité éthique promue par la compagnie et, d'autre part, par leur utilisation efficiente et constante des outils et des procédures rattachés au programme. Ce résultat à deux volets est atteint à la condition que les deux sous processus, soit ceux d'« embedding » et d'« appraising », parviennent à persuader les individus à être favorablement disposé à agir de façon concordante. Dans le cas de Siemens Canada Limitée, le processus de remoulage implique trois groupes distincts d'acteurs : le personnel corporatif mondial situé en Allemagne, le personnel canadien rattaché spécifiquement à la fonction de la conformité et, finalement, les employés à qui le programme a été présenté et qui doivent suivre les nouvelles procédures. Le personnel corporatif mondial et le personnel canadien à la conformité sont les maîtres du sous-processus d'« embedding ». Le groupe corporatif mondial est impliqué au développement du programme, à sa transmission aux entités régionales, et à la surveillance de son déploiement. Toutefois, les données recueillies au cours de cette étude ne permettent pas de fournir une description plus détaillée de leur travail. Le groupe du personnel canadien à la conformité devait voir à la diffusion du programme à l'échelle du Canada. Il devait fournir une formation aux employés et fournir une rétroaction au niveau corporatif quant aux résultats. Dans leur cas également, les données ne permettent pas une description plus détaillée de leur travail. Le troisième groupe d'acteurs, les employés, est principalement impliqué dans le sous-processus d'« appraising ». Ce groupe est composé de gestionnaires et de personnel non managérial qui ont reçu la formation sur la conformité et a eu à appliquer les nouvelles procédures. La présente étude fournit une description détaillée du sous-processus « appraising ». Elle indique que les employés développent une appréciation du programme de conformité en considérant trois facettes. La première est en lien avec l'impact des changements apportés par le programme sur le quotidien vécu par les employés. À ce niveau, les employés apprécient le programme de conformité selon qu'il facilite leur travail ou qu'il le rend plus fastidieux. La deuxième facette est en lien avec la relation établie entre employés et le personnel rattaché à la conformité. À cet égard, les employés apprécient le programme de conformité selon le degré de collaboration et de confiance établi avec le personnel de conformité. La troisième facette identifiée est en lien avec l'identité éthique corporative. L'étude a identifié qu'une des composantes du programme de conformité est l'identité éthique corporative. Celle-ci est contenue et transmise par divers outils : tels que le code d'éthique, la déclaration de la mission de l'entreprise, la déclaration de la vision de l'entreprise, et autres. Or, les employés développent également une appréciation de cette identité éthique corporative par rapport à un référent particulier : l'identité éthique locale. L'étude indique que cette appréciation se fait selon deux ensembles de qualités. Le modèle décrit dans cette étude suggère qu'une société qui envisagerait de mettre en œuvre son propre programme de conformité devrait tenir compte des trois facettes du sous-processus « appraising ». L'étude suggère notamment que toute entreprise qui songe à développer un programme de conformité doit avoir un souci particulier quant à l'identité éthique de l'entreprise. Ceci est attribuable au fait que l'employé va s'identifier au programme de conformité et va l'accepter pourvu qu'il juge que l'identité éthique de l'entreprise et l'identité éthique locale s'accordent. Les découvertes de la présente étude devraient intéresser tout le personnel chargé de l'élaboration et le soutien organisationnel d'un programme de conformité. Ce personnel doit comprendre qu'une mise en œuvre réussie d'un programme de conformité n'est pas seulement conditionnelle à une bonne planification et à une bonne exécution. Elle est aussi dépendante des trois facettes contenues dans le sous-processus « appraising », tout particulièrement l'identité éthique corporative.

The aim of the present thesis was to listen to, examine and conceptualise students’ perspectives on bullying. Students’ perspectives have not been commonly heard in research and less qualitative research has been conducted. This study contributes with students’ perspectives on bullying using semi-structured interviews with students from fourth-to eighth grade. This thesis includes four studies. The aim with paper I was to investigate how bystander actions in bullying situations and reasons behind these actions were articulated. Paper II was a comparison study between Sweden and US, focused on how students articulate and discuss what factors influence students’ decisions to defend or not defend victims when witnessing bullying. The aim in Paper III was to study how students themselves discuss, reason and make sense of how and why bullying processes emerges in their social worlds. In paper IV the aim was to study how junior high school girls discuss and understand bullying. Findings reveal that students’ reactions as bystanders to bullying depend on how they define the situation. Explanations to the emergence of bullying were understood through a complex social ordering of belonging process. Students position themselves and others in striving to belong, and when defining victims as responsible for bullying. Social norms and negotiation of identities were also discussed among the students. Students discussed how gender and a normative peer structure, where a pressure to fit in, interlinked with how they understood bullying. / Syftet med denna avhandling är att lyssna på, utforska och konceptualisera elevers perspektiv på mobbning då elevers perspektiv utgör ett viktigt bidrag till vår fortsatta förståelse av mobbning. Det finns fortfarande få kvalitativa studier som fokuserat elevers perspektiv på mobbning. Denna studie utgör därför ett viktig bidrag och baseras på semi-strukturerade intervjuer med elever ifrån fjärde till åttondeklass. Avhandlingen består utav fyra studier. Syftet med studie I var att undersöka hur åskådarageranden i mobbningssituationer artiklueras av eleverna och skälen bakom dessa. Syftet med studie II var att jämföra hur elever i Sverige och USA artikulerar och diskuterar vilka faktorer som influerar deras beslut att ingripa eller inte ingripa när de blir åskådare till mobbning. Syftet med studie III var att undersöka hur elever diskuterar, resonerar och förstår vad som producerar mobbning. Syftet med studie IV var att undersöka hur högstadietjejer diskuterar och förstår mobbning. Resultaten visar att elevers reaktioner som åskådare till mobbning är situationsbundna utifån hur de definierar situationen. Förklararingar till vad som producerar mobbning sammanlänkas med en komplex socialt ordnande process där eleverna positionerar sig själv och andra i strävan att tillhöra och den utsatta ofta görs ansvarig för mobbningen. Även sociala normer och förhandlade av identiteter kommer till uttryck när eleverna diskuterar hur kön och normativa kamratnormer, där strävan att passa in, sammanlänkas med deras förståelse av mobbning.

The demographic time bomb means that older people will become a major part of tomorrow's society. This has become an increasingly pressing issue for older people and government policy alike. ONS (2009) statistics suggest that past retirement age, the sense of quality of life (QoL) experienced by older people begins to decrease, with the fastest decline occurring after the age of 70. This research therefore began by investigating how ICT could be implicated in the social life of the older person and thus improve their QoL. Literature reviews of the field of older people's involvement with ICT indicated that there was very little research between the more general studies of ICT involvement (which include far more than the purely social aspects) and the very specific (which involve examining the social impact of just one piece of technology). This study therefore aimed to fill the gap between the two extremes. It also aimed to generate theory in an under-theorised area. The study began with a focus group and interviews asking questions around how people thought social life had changed with the advent of new technologies, how they experienced the technology, and how things could be improved in the future. The study was qualitative in nature and adopted a grounded theory approach in order to inductively generate theory. The study of the lived experience of ICT also contributed to a phenomenological approach. Comparative analysis of transcripts obtained in Phase One (Year One) enabled a set of Grounded Theory Categories to be created which accounted for what was happening in the data. A core category of identity was identified which influenced subsequent data collection in Phase Two (Year Two). Phase Two participants were then involved in more focused interviews around identity concepts. Further analysis in Year Two enabled a Schema of Subject Positions to be created concerning (digital) identities which accounted for all of the participants in the study and the ways in which they viewed and interacted with technology. The Categories were also subsumed within a Grounded Theory Model involving a tripartite identity schema aligned with Giddens theory of the reflexive project of the self. Findings suggest that participants are implicated in methods of identity involvement which can be playful or pragmatic; can be viewed in moral, immoral and amoral ways (leading to ideas of the authentic and the inauthentic); and can represent the individual or explore new identities. Identity construction can ultimately be implicated positively with the use of ICT, and may lead to a virtuous cycle of ICT usage which can improve quality of life by affirming better self-views or enabling the testing of new views of selfhood. Positive technology identities can be offered as identity role models for other older people to follow.

This master thesis aims to examine how public libraries in Sweden are practically and ideologically equipped to deal with e-books, outside of the dominant distributor Elib. The study also aims to find out what’s required of the book market and the public libraries to make further progress in the question of e-books. In Sweden e-books are still representing only a small amount of all the library loans and an even smaller amount of the commercial book market. The methodological and theoretical ground for the thesis is Grounded Theory, and the survey is based on interviews with publishers, librarians and distributors. The conclusions of this thesis are that the public libraries lack resources to invest in e-books, and that they also lack in knowledge about the media and its readers. It also exposes that both internal and external collaboration efforts need to be further developed. In addition to this it also becomes clear that the libraries’ and publishers' digital presence is crucial in their efforts to reach out with literature to the readers. The findings above are closely interwoven with two conceptions of a more abstract kind. The first relates to the issue of the identity of the public library and the question of how they should manage their mission in a still developing digital world. The second concerns the issue of the value of the e-book vs. the value of the printed book. Both publishers and libraries still see the printed book as superior to the e-book, wherefore libraries are reluctant to invest in books that will not be a part of a traditional bookshelf collection. In order to work more actively with the development and further adapt to a future digital society, it is these factors that the book market and the public libraries must work on in order to reach out with literature to the readers. This is a two years master’s thesis in Archive, Library and Museum Studies.

Low-income Caucasian married parents described lifespan processes and conditions that contributed to their individual assessments that their marriage was healthy. Spouses participated in an interview together, followed later by an individual interview with each. Interview scripts referenced the study‘s primary research questions which sought their reflections on (a) external conditions that they considered to be important to their development, and (b) personal thoughts, emotions and behaviors they deemed relevant to the success of their marriage. A third research question called for integration of participants‘ reflections into a cogent grounded theory regarding successful low-income marriages. Analysis incorporated grounded theory methods, and those procedures were assisted by computer software such as NVIVO 7.0 ® and Microsoft Excel ®. This work revealed a developmental systems theoretical framework that posits that individuals‘ developmental factors gave rise to certain personal actual qualities, and also had affect upon the qualities individuals desired and perceived in their partner. Qualities desired and perceived in their partner may have greater or lesser priority to a spouse depending upon the range of acceptable variance that the spouse assigns to any given quality. While several high-priority qualities emerged from the words of the twenty spouses who participated, four high-priority qualities emerged as fundamental to the success of the marriage: (a) being loving, (b) being committed, (c) being appreciative, and (d) being child-centered. Four abstract sets of developmental factors, assigned the term synergists, strongly promoted these qualities among study participants: (a) a sensitizing experience, (b) a partner-as-rescuer mindset (PARM) preceded by a person‘s adverse history, (c) influences from one or more parents, and (d) religious influences. These findings provide a foundation of information critical to those researchers and practitioners interested in the quest toward an increase in successful marriages among households whose income falls within 200% of the published guideline for poverty as determined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.