This thesis introduces two concomitant psychological perspectives, Regulatory Focus Theory and Regulatory Fit Theory to research in the field of audit judgment and decision making (JDM). The purpose of this thesis is to explore the applicability of the two theories in audit JDM research and to generate preliminary empirical results concerning their plausible implications. Regulatory Focus Theory (Higgins, 1997) provides a fundamental model of human cognition, emotion, and behaviour, as composed of two distinct self-regulation systems: promotion focus (concerned with nurturance needs) versus prevention focus (concerned with security needs). The developing theory has provided many remarkable insights into cognition and decision-making generally. It is proposed in this thesis that Regulatory Focus Theory has important implications for audit JDM, and that it may enrich the account of difference in audit judgment and cognition among auditors provided by prior research. Employing an audit task setting that involved judgment concerning investigation boundaries, this thesis reports evidence for the distinct effects of promotion focus versus prevention focus on cognition of temporal aspects of accounting information and on information processing styles in audit judgment. Participants represent a mix of accounting undergraduates, MBA students, and accounting practitioners. Compared with promotion- focused individuals, prevention-focused individuals over-discount the significance of accounting information distant in the past (five-years ago), while under-discount proximal (two-years ago) information. When information is processed procedurally rather than intuitively, differences in judgments among subjects with promotion versus prevention focus is significantly reduced. Higgins‘ later work looks at how strategic means serve one‘s regulatory focus dispositions and finds that certain strategic means or behaviours may better sustains or fit one‘s motivational state than others (Cesario, Higgins, and Scholer, 2008). The concept of regulatory fit has been applied by researchers in the field of consumer behaviour to study the effect of regulatory fit on the persuasiveness of advocacy messages (e.g., Avent and Higgins, 2006). This thesis proposes that the persuasion effect of regulatory fit can be applied to audit JDM and in particular to the persuasion aspects of the audit review process, and provides new evidence in support of the proposal. The persuasion effect of regulatory fit is examined in a scenario constructed to be analogous to audit. Accounting undergraduates assume a role as independent party to advice the committee of a student drama club on planning of activities for the current year based on review of accounting information in relation to revenue generation of the club. Experimental results reported in this thesis show the relevance of regulatory fit / misfit in audit judgment. Across three settings of regulatory fit induction: The experiments manipulated various sources of regulatory fit – fit from framings of messages received; fit from strategic means applied within the task; and finally fit from prior performance in a separate task. The thesis has demonstrated methods by which regulatory fit can be created from various sources in audit contexts and offered findings suggesting factors affecting audit judgment not yet covered in extant research, e.g., order of audit tasks and the strategic manner of audit tasks (eager versus vigilant).

Over the past five years the UK has seen an increased number of refugees and asylum-seekers arriving on its shores as a result of ongoing conflicts happening around the world. Refugees and asylum-seekers make up only a very small percentage of the country’s population, yet immigration concerns regularly make headlines and are a ‘hot topic’ for politicians seeking public support. Glasgow became home for a large number of refugees and asylum-seekers after it signed up to the ‘dispersal’ scheme nearly twenty years ago, and as a result the make-up of communities in the city is everchanging. It has increased multiculturalism and is a decidedly multilingual city. This thesis brings together work in language geographies and migration studies to explore the everyday language geographies of refugees and asylum-seekers in Glasgow. The central aim is to reveal the situated dynamics of ‘talk’; what languages are used, in what combinations, and with what kinds of ‘props’ as people seek to ‘get-by’, make friends and express themselves, all the while considering the implications of the spaces involved. Through the voices of refugees, asylum-seekers and associated professionals, this thesis explores different spaces of multilingualism and the associated emotional geographies of these spaces. Language is conceptualised in this thesis as an object in itself, engendering feelings of belonging (or not), and recognises that language is fluid and mobile, mutually constituted with the space in which it happens. The thesis explores four different sites of language use - journeys to the UK, the body, the classroom, and the community - to investigate the complex geographies of refugees and asylum-seekers as they seek to acquire English and settle in the city of Glasgow. Of importance is the part that language plays in positioning refugees and asylum-seekers in society, often relating to insider-outsider type dichotomies, but also thinking about how these divides may be overcome. Finally, the refugee and asylum-seeker body is conceptualised as the mobile linguistic stranger, simultaneously near and far, and the thesis uncovers how this figure comes to be and the implications of such a conceptualisation.

This research begins with an introduction to the history of welfare and reforms in the U.K., related to political, societal and ideological structures. It highlights the link between work and mental health. This is considered through a psychological lens, by discussing the debate between Waddell and Aylward’s biopsychosocial model versus the social model of disability and how ideas from community and liberation psychology can be applied to the current research. A brief overview of the literature is also discussed. This research aimed to explore the experiences of claiming benefits, conditionality and sanctions for those who had been placed within the Employment and Support Allowance Work-Related Activity Group. It also aimed to explore concepts of employment in this sample. This research took a critical realist ontological position and a contextualist epistemological position. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 participants, who were recruited through an organisation which works with deaf and disabled peoples’ organisations. Interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. Eight themes (and 22 sub-themes) were constructed: ESA WRAG: the good, the bad and the ugly; ruled by conditionality; sanctions and suicidality; the importance of relationships; adaptations and defences; power and politics; fighting back; workplace values. Results are discussed in the context of historical, social, ideological and political power structures as it is argued that the individual cannot be separated from their environment. There is further exploration of how participants’ mental health is impacted by their experiences, which is linked to theory and previous research. Strengths and limitations, dissemination and the researchers’ reflections are discussed as well as clinical implications of the findings, which provides specific examples of implications linked to the findings.

The purpose of this study is to examine the loss of Korean cultural heritage during the Japanese colonial and military occupation between 1910 and 1945, and the possibilities for its return and restitution. To examine the historical background and the reasons for Japan’s particular interest in Korean cultural objects during the 20th century, the thesis first outlines the earlier Japanese plunder of Korean cultural heritage during the Imjin War (1592-1598). The Japanese colonial occupation of Korea began in 1910; however, the removal of Korean cultural property to Japan began earlier, in around 1905, when Japan had secured its political and military power after victories in the Sino-Japanese (1894- 1895) and Russo-Japanese (1904-1905) Wars. Therefore, this thesis considers Japan’s institutionalised ‘investigations’ of Korean cultural heritage and assets from the late 19th century until 1945. These activities were associated with the removal of Korean cultural property including artefacts, works of art, treasures, books, libraries and archives to Japan and also with cases of destruction of Korean cultural heritage. The thesis then introduces Korea’s claims for the return of cultural property after its restoration of independence in 1945. The process whereby the Government of the Republic of Korea and the Government of Japan re-established their diplomatic relations in 1965 is highlighted. Following the Agreement attached to the 1965 Treaty between Korea and Japan, Japan returned some Korean cultural objects, but not enough to match the original request from Korea. The thesis also discusses whether the 1910 Treaty of Annexation of Korea was legally valid or not. This argument is important, because Japan maintains that its annexation of Korea was done legally, and that consequently the removal of Korean cultural property during its occupation of Korea was lawful. In order to test this question, this research first examines the lawfulness of the preceding 1905 Agreement, which deprived Korea’s diplomatic rights, given that the 1910 Treaty was a consecutive convention that depended on the 1905 Agreement. Case studies are presented that offer examples of the return of Korean cultural objects from Japan between 1965 and the present time. This study uses a methodology of re-examining and re-testing each historical event that has a high significance for this subject. Importantly, the author has researched relevant archival and historical resources that support the study and have not been examined in other previous research. Theoretical principles in cultural heritage are also reviewed in the course of this study. As the discovery of Korean cultural objects in Japanese museums, libraries, universities, and private collections continues and even increases, the conclusion of this thesis emphasises the necessity for further research into concrete resolutions.

This thesis combines a literature review and a case study in order to examine startup accelerators as social networks. The literature review looks at two distinct bodies of research; the first on Social Network Theory, in order to create a framework within which to describe an accelerator as a social network, the second on startup accelerators in order to understand their structure and evolution as business support programs. The case study uses EyeFocus Accelerator, founded by this researcher, to test some of the ideas formulated from the literature. The literature demonstrates that accelerators are social networks, and the dynamics between the different actors in those networks can be explained and defined using the vocabulary and concepts of Social Network Theory. This describes the structure of the accelerator network, and how such a network is able to reward people with Social Capital, which is observed in this thesis to be the currency of accelerators. Consequently, the unique nature of the research in this thesis is to describe accelerators using the language and concepts of Social Network Theory, providing new insights into how and why accelerators work. This understanding identifies that value in accelerators lies in their ability to facilitate the flow of non-redundant information, and to provide early access to this information. Creating this value also enables accelerators to withdraw access to that value as a threat of sanction against bad actors. Other aspects of the social network structure and behaviour of accelerators are examined, including the tendency of weak ties and non-redundancy of information to decay over time, suggesting that this may explain the typical fixed term of most accelerators. Combined, this theory leads to an accelerator being described as a dynamic social network with a high level of closure at the core, set within a weak network architecture, with many weak ties, and consequently many bridging ties. It is policed using link reciprocity, and its currency is Social Capital. The skill used to operate in this network involves having complex role and status sets.

Product appearance has been considered a significant factor of influence in the consumer behaviour, but its impact alongside other factors like cost, features and intrinsic psychological factors on the decision making has not been in focus. This is especially the case in the Indian urban context where both consumer behaviour and the influencing factors have not been adequately studied. Based on the mixed methods research philosophy, this study employed both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods, to empirically study the in-store consumer behaviour of the young urban Indian adults (18-25 years). The product category chosen for this study was both a functional and a fashion accessory: wristwatches. Literature related to the various areas of the cultural, sociological and economical conditions of the Indian consumer context were studied alongside theories of consumer behaviour based on cognitive psychology. Primary data was collected from a combination of 74 questionnaire survey responses, 101 observation episodes and 7 expert interviews. This large amount of data was analysed based on the paradigms of grounded theory coding levels as well as the theoretical foundation of the perceptual cycle model. The findings of the study presented an interesting and new perspective of the Indian consumer filling existing gaps in knowledge. The main finding related to product appearance vis-à-vis other competing factors as ‘stimuli’, was that it has very low influence on the in-store purchase behaviour of the Indian consumer, with limited impact on the final purchase decision, cost factor is the key influencing factor in this decision. However, the other key influencing factors in the ‘exploration’ and ‘schema’ were the socio-psychological factors of peer groups, family influence, conformity and symbolic interaction, each of which were examined independently and together in the perceptual cycle. The finding also augmented the pivotal role of peer and family influences on the decision making. Finally, a new conceptual framework, based on the perceptual cycle model and reasoned action model, in the form of an integrated decision model, amending the deficiencies in both, to include the key factors of emotions, attitudes, beliefs and behavioural intent was developed based on the findings of the study.

This study examines what teachers actively do to manage bereaved primary school children and whether implementation of death and loss education is hampered by lack of government policy, poor finance, teachers'embarrassment, or teachers' workload. An interdisciplinary design incorporates history, psychology, English and the professional discipline of education. It uses a qualitative method to explore whether school policy and practice for helping bereaved children is affected by the wider influence of past historical events and increased pressure on teachers to improve academic results. Qualitative findings are broadened by modest quantitative findings from questionnaires sent to a purposive sample of thirteen Southern England primary schools. These findings support prior research suggesting an absence of school-level death and loss education policy and negligible complementary teacher training via ITT and CPD. Significant findings show that CPD prioritises curriculum subjects which attract supply teacher funding and that the impact of academic testing reduces teachers' time to talk with bereaved children. Identified is the lack of government policy for supporting bereavement in primary schools, contrasting with a wealth of policy for raising academic standards, suggesting a preference for measuring children's wellbeing by academic results rather than emotional happiness. The effect of reduced school-based counselling support, teachers' professional concerns at losing emotional control and the effect of historical events, are factors considered contributory to adult awkwardness with discussing death and loss in schools. An original contribution to knowledge in the fields of educational practice and children's literature explores how teachers could use developmental bibliotherapy for bereaved children. Despite the availability of children's fiction, developmental bibliotherapy is not widely implemented by teachers in Britain. Thesis findings support the need for government policy to improve the wellbeing of bereaved children and for the implementation of school-level death and loss education policies. Appropriate teacher training through ITT and CPD is called for, to maximise teachers' professional confidence with bereaved children.

In recent times, literature has raised the importance of studying entrepreneurship in different contexts. There has been considerable research conducted in transitional contexts, as it raises the many challenges faced by entrepreneurs. There has been considerable research conducted in Russian, Eastern European and Chinese economies. However, there is a real dearth in the literature on the challenges faced in other transitional economies, particularly Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka was the first country in South Asia to embrace extensive economic liberalisation in 1977 (though the civil war, 1983-2009, in the north-east of the country blocked the full realisation of these economic benefits). Further, entrepreneurial learning in such turbulent and challenging environments has also been identified as a less-explored area. Against this backdrop, this research's overarching aim was to explore opportunity recognition and new venture creation experiences in the transitional context of Sri Lanka. Four main areas were covered: opportunity recognition and new venture creation, entrepreneurial learning, entrepreneurial motivation and institutional context. The mixed methodological approach was informed by a conceptual framework developed by the researcher. Semi-structured interviews with a non-random sample of 31 Sri Lankan entrepreneurs provided rich descriptions. Their learning styles/preferences were identified using a modified version of Kolb's (1984) learning style questionnaires through different stages of opportunity recognition and new venture creation. Findings suggest that Sri Lankan entrepreneurs' initial business ideas arose through prior knowledge, scanning the business environment and changes in government policies. Few initial resources were utilised; many relied on previous experience and relationships with customers and suppliers. Most participants were motivated by pull rather than push factors and individual entrepreneurs demonstrated a combination of learning styles/preferences rather than one. Entrepreneurs cited numerous challenges: frequent policy changes, rigid customs policies, unsupportive financial sector, high interest rates, lack of support for start-up firms, and lack of social recognition in society and among the government officials. Further, critical learning events occur in transitional and turbulent contexts such as Sri Lanka. The frequency of such events is high; resilience is required to ensure higher learning. This research has contributed to entrepreneurship theory in several ways. First, the author explored the under-researched transitional context of Sri Lanka to identify the challenges encountered during transition Second, the research contributes to the literature concerning learning styles during opportunity recognition and new venture creation, using a sample of entrepreneurs. The findings will help educators and practitioners tailor their training and educational programs. Further, this study brings new knowledge in relation what, how and when entrepreneurs learn in critical events in turbulent and challenging environments.

In this thesis, I develop and then test an approach to mentoring that after Clutterbuck (1991), I call, Professional Friendship. This is to better understand the role of mentoring more broadly and that of learning mentors in particular. My hypothesis examines the problem of: ‘To what extent is professional friendship a core component of successful mentoring relationships?’ I begin with an examination of the importance of mentoring generally and the role of the learning mentor specifically, before critically accessing the literature on both to date. I then explain the origin of Professional Friendship and give my own definition, before testing its validity in a study of the role of learning mentors in a large West Midlands Education Service. I use five sources of data: a systematic literature search; a mentee questionnaire; a set of mentoring case studies provided mainly by mentors; in depth interviews with mentors; and my own lived experience. The data shows me that Professional Friendship is a core component of successful mentoring relationships and that may be of broad benefit; certainly it is useful in assessing the role of learning mentors. However, the analysis also leads me to suggest ways in which the construct can be adapted and improved.

This thesis investigates the marketization of universities’ recruitment discourse, using critical discourse analysis and corpus linguistic methodology. University and financial job advertisements were compared synchronically and diachronically. Synchronic corpus linguistic analyses were executed on 3,000 online university and 3,000 financial job advertisements from the present day. In addition, 60 university and financial job advertisements from newspaper in the 1970s were analysed manually for the diachronic comparison. The results indicate that while 1970s university and financial job advertisements are strikingly different, 2010s university job advertisements are fundamentally aligned with those from businesses. 2010s university job advertisements and financial job advertisements seek to establish the credentials of the employer but this move is rare in 1970s university job advertisements. Universities in 2010s are construed as performing activities that are inherently promotional. Applicants in 2010s university job advertisements are construed as more equal and as benefiting from the job. The evaluative adjectives in university and financial job advertisements are largely similar. Business oriented discourse and ideologies have become conventionalized in the phraseology of university discourse. However, universities do not always adopt business discursive practices and should indeed be more selective about the in-take of business discourse.