Fairtrade is a trading partnership which contributes to sustainable development by offering better conditions while safeguarding the rights of marginalised producers in the global South. This study presents a grounded theory of consumer purchase decision making in the context of Fairtrade. This thesis has identified the consumers' main concern to be the Demands of Conscience when faced with the choice of buying Fairtrade products, and presents the emergent grounded theory of Reconciling Demands of Conscience which explains conceptually the means by which consumers process this concern. The emergent process of ' Reconciling Demands of Conscience' is conceptualised as consisting of the four distinct stages of Comfort Zoning, Evaluating, Acting and Reflecting, with an experiential feedback loop from the purchase outcomes which could affect subsequent purchase decisions. This study also conceptualises consumer behaviour as mutable as a result of external or internal influences. Furthermore, five emergent behavioural types of Supporting and Committed, Supporting but Vacillating, Questioning but Supporting, Sceptical, and Cynical are presented on a behavioural continuum and the concept of Behavioural Mutability as emerged from the data, which explicates the potential for behavioural change within these five behavioural groups is proposed. The theory has been developed employing the complete gamut of classic grounded theory procedures and is based on seventy one-to-one, in-depth interviews, and observations with an eclectic mix of consumers. These interviews were further augmented by having respondents provide till receipts so as to identify any difference between stated and actual behaviour. The theory contributes to the extant fair trade consumer behaviour literature by explaining the significance of behavioural nuances involved in the consumer's purchase decision making, highlighting some important considerations for fair trade academics and practitioners. Furthermore, the theory of Reconciling Demands of Conscience, because of its conceptual nature also demonstrates relevance outwith its substantive area. Most notably, offering contributions to current research on attitude-behaviour discrepancy in ethical consumer behaviour, guilt coping mechanisms, and to ethical decision making literature by offering a conceptual explanation of consumer purchase behaviour when faced with an ethical option.

This thesis is the result of the work conducted in collaboration with PepsiCo UK and their UK based growers between October 2010 and October 2013. The research project has been funded by an ESRC-CASE studentship and has provided the opportunity to explore the relationships between PepsiCo, as a large customer, and their small agricultural suppliers on their journey to address the sustainability challenge. The research is framed within the field of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM), which can be defined as the integration and coordination of economic, environmental and social goals in the management of inter-organisational business processes (Carter & Rogers, 2008). Although there has been a growing amount of research in the field in the last decade, little research has offered insights into the actual implementation process of sustainability practices in supply chains (SC). This research addresses the qualitative knowledge gap around the relationship aspects of implementing SSC practices, and particularly relationships between a large buyer and small suppliers. The research adopts an Action Research (AR) approach; drawing on a variety of empirical methods, in an attempt to both contribute to academic knowledge and to address the practical concerns of the research participants. The thesis presents the process and outcomes of this AR project that has revolved around several emergent cycles of inquiry. The findings of this research offer a complementary perspective between inter-organisational governance dynamics for sustainability and the critical role of individual stakeholders in the change towards more sustainable practices in the SC. This is helpful in moving towards a more multilevel understanding of SSCM. The practical contribution of the research aims at supporting the development of better management practices for the implementation of sustainability practices in a supply chain involving a large buyer and SME suppliers.

This thesis analyses switching costs in China’s banking market in three main aspects. First, my thesis examines a model that investigates the effect of switching costs in the Chinese loan market on banking profitability. In keeping with the extant empirical literature it reports a positive relationship between bank profitability and switching costs. Furthermore it reports the estimation of a systems model of switching costs determination and profitability determination. The main result is that bank size measured by total assets is positively related to switching costs, while the ratio of deposits to assets is negatively related. The study also finds that banks that have higher cost-income ratios have a negative impact on switching cost. Second, this thesis examines the drivers of firms switching from one bank relationship to another. The results show that the principal driver of a switching action is the credit needs of the firm and a mixture of firm and bank characteristics. The findings support the extant literature that less opaque firms are able to switch more readily than opaque firms. The results also suggest that banks that develop their fee income services are more effective in locking-in their borrowers. Finally, this thesis determines the factors that decisions of firms to keep single bank loan providers or multiple bank loan providers. The results show that large firms are more likely to switch from single to multiple lending relationships. This study also finds that medium size and small firms with high quality prefer a single borrowing relationship while larger and higher quality firms are more likely to be involved in a large number of banking relationships. Increasing market competition decreases the probability of single bank-firm relationship.

This thesis explores the role of social workers in suicide prevention. Using a mixed methods approach the research examines how social workers understand, and work with, suicidal individuals in multi-agency and interdisciplinary settings. In my first empirical chapter (chapter five) a secondary analysis of the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (2007) (n=7,403) explores the circumstances under which social workers come into contact with suicidal individuals. Using a multinomial logistic regression it has been possible to establish that substance misuse is associated with social worker contact. This suggests that social workers are having contact with a group at elevated risk of suicide. The second part of the thesis is based on a series of semi-structured interviews with statutory social workers (n=17) (chapters six and seven), service users with a history of suicide attempts (n=3) and Community Psychiatric Nurses (CPNs) (n=3) (chapter eight). A thematic analysis of the interviews found that although statutory social workers had little or no training in assessing suicide, both service users and CPNs believed that social workers have a vital role in supporting suicidal individuals. Social workers found peer learning to be important as both a source of knowledge and learning, and as a support network. The findings of this research indicate that social workers have particular expertise in taking a holistic approach to suicide assessment and prevention. The Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) role is also felt to give social workers a strong knowledge of the legal issues that underpin working with this vulnerable group. However further research into the contact between social workers and suicidal service users and the assessment of suicide is necessary. The findings of this thesis have implications for practitioners, policy makers and researchers.

This thesis explores women’s contribution to governance through a study of two housing associations in Wales. Whilst housing policy has developed to enhance the role of housing associations, governance and accountability, women are still underrepresented in senior and executive management roles, and are underrepresented at the strategic decision making structures, boards of management. The aims of the research were to: uncover the organisational typology and culture; the governance structures and prevailing board cultures of the housing associations; explore the motivations of board members’ participation and uncover the power relationships on the boards of management in relation to female participation and empowerment. The research used an in-depth case study format with interviews with key informants from the housing sector and Welsh Government; exploratory interviews with the executive teams and board members; discourse analysis of corporate documentation and direct observation of board meetings. The research process developed a unique theoretical framework which was wide ranging, to explore the research aims of governance; organisational typology and culture; empowerment; participation and power dynamics. The research found that whilst housing associations are not inherently sexist, the governance structures, typologies, organisational cultures, routes to participation and power dynamics operated at board level inhibit female participation on boards of management. Housing associations failed to consider the lack of gender and wider diversity on their boards of management. Housing associations have failed to address the situations where dominant members on boards of management hold onto their power, and influence the majority of the decisions made, to the possible detriment of the tenants. Governance and recruitment arrangements are based on a need to preserve the strategic and policy focus on finance, risk, legal and governance issues, and as it is mainly men who are involved in these professions, it is ultimately their views which direct the organisations.

This research study offers a contribution to the field of framing environmental policies in several ways. First, it makes explicit the ways in which a nomadic professional group such as seafarers frame and interact with the growing demand to protect the environment in general and the marine environment in particular. Due to the nature of their profession, this group is able to roam the world and compare the effectiveness of environmental regulations in various countries. The shipping industry is composed of different types of shipping companies, some of which can be described as more environmentally aware than others, an issue which would affect the frames of seafarers regarding compliance to environmental regulations as discussed in this study. Moreover, this research opens up a social qualitative inquiry in areas scarcely attended to by previous scholars especially when focusing on the relationships and tensions between seafarers and their personal and professional commitments to their global work place; the marine environment. This study argues that such differences not only impact on the social construction of seafarers regarding environmental protection but also affects their framing of daily compliance practices as well. This allows us to review the institutional and instrumental policies carried out by different ship owners in different parts of the world and verify how this impacts on the compliance practices of this professional group in the context of a demanding and challenging regulatory environment.

The aim of this research was to explore the contribution of critical realist metatheory to evaluation. The principal contention is that adopting a critical relist perspective overcomes the propensity of conventional approaches to evaluation, both quantitative and qualitative, to focus on pre-determined performance measurement criteria. This research is based on comparative analysis of the methodologies and outcomes derived from conventional and critical realist evaluation. Evaluation grounded in critical realist metatheory embraces methodological pluralism, which underpins critical realism, and emphasises more thoughtful forms of data interpretation in empirical research. Making use of an exemplar, publicly funded, scheme providing grants to enterprises engaged in commercialising innovation, the research examines the role of common forms of data gathering and analysis, contrasted with particular forms of data interpretation based on abduction and retroduction. Intrinsic and extrinsic research methodologies are presented, not as polar opposites, but as complementary stances in gaining a rounded understanding of the scheme. Conventional approaches to evaluation are shown to act as limited forms of performance measurement, emphasising anticipated outcomes and predetermined criteria but offering little explanation and understanding. Critical realist evaluation is shown to broaden the scope of outcomes identified and deepen explanation and understanding, whilst simultaneously acknowledging the implications of fallibilism in developing multiple, plausible explanations. Explanation is enhanced through recognition of the inherent uncertainty of the social world, despite the dominance of notions of universal regularities. Recommendations for undertaking evaluation are given. The research helps fill an identifiable gap in current literature and debate on mechanisms and casual inference in social science. It provides a practical example of evaluation in the context of support interventions for innovation. No equivalent example is known to have been published previously.

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The research presented in this thesis comprises a body of work dedicated to continuing and enriching past exploration into the impact cumulative life stress exerts on ageing cognition. In order to extend previous work into this topic, behavioural measures were paired with electroencephalographic recordings of the cortical oscillatory activity thought to underlie cognitive operations. In a theoretical sense, work presented in this thesis strengthens past investigations highlighting the adverse effects of life stress on elderly peoples’ working memory abilities by replicating the effect under conditions of increased experimental rigour. It further provides evidence that the detrimental effects of cumulative stress extend to the domains of executive control and spatial memory. Electrophysiological findings obtained during task execution and at rest indicate pronounced changes in the oscillatory activity of aged high stress individuals’ delta, theta, alpha and gamma bands and are thus the first to demonstrate that cumulative stress affects the underlying neural processes related to successful task execution. As such, from a methodological standpoint, the current research strongly advocates the use of neuroscientific tools such as the electroencephalogram to gain an increased understanding of the mechanisms by which increased stress exposure evokes progressive cognitive decline in old age. Combined, the work presented in this thesis demonstrates the negative consequences of leading a highly stressful life for the integrity of multiple cognitive functions in old age and is the first to provide an indication of how cumulative stress affects both cortical and (indirectly) subcortical regions of the brain necessary for successful cognitive functioning.

Studies focussing on Europeanisation and in particular on the return to Europe of postcommunist states have come to the fore in political science research since the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. The way in which many states of the former Eastern Bloc have engaged with European geopolitical power structures such as the European Union and Council of Europe has been well-documented. Europe is a contested construct and its boundaries are still subject to redefinition. This study examines issues of Europeanisation, national identity and nation branding through the lens of popular culture. In particular the role that events such as the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) play in illuminating the more salient issues of European identity politics has until recently been an area which has lacked scholarly attention. Although the volume of literature on the event is steadily increasing, there has to date, been no in-depth study conducted on a Former Soviet Republic. This study aims to fill this gap. This thesis comprises a case study of the role of the Eurovision Song Contest in Estonia and Ukraine. The empirical findings highlight the contested nature of the construction of national identities in the post-Soviet region and in particular, this study has drawn out some of the more salient aspects of identity politics. By exploring these issues through the prism of the Eurovision Song Contest, I argue that the event is significant in terms of nation branding and image building, particularly in the context of the return to Europe of post-communist countries. The Eurovision Song Contest is often an event which is dismissed as musically and culturally inferior. However, this study shows that different nation states attribute different meanings to the ESC and as such there is a need to go beyond the dominant (western) view of the contest in order to explore the diversity of issues that this event illuminates in wider socio-political debates in Europe today.