The aim of this thesis is to convey a psycho-social and experiential understanding of the lived experience of trans-racial adoption. As a woman that was adopted as a baby from Malaysia by Caucasian parents during the 1970s, the personal experience of the phenomenon of trans-racial adoption has been integral to the theoretical foundations and overall research approach of this study. The primary aim of this study has been one that has sought to deepen understanding of the affective dimensions involved in being a trans-racially adoptive family member from both the perspective of the adoptive mother and the adoptee. The concept of trans-racial adoptive subjectivity is informed by phenomenological and psychoanalytic thinking and assumes an embodied subject that is embedded in a relational and material world. The analytical focus therefore prioritises understanding the historical, social and political processes that engage the body in particular ways that we can understand as being trans-racially adopted. The research framework assumes a psycho-social methodological framework that has prioritised depth of understanding experience. Six sets of trans-racially adopted adults and their adoptive mothers were engaged where each family members was interviewed over a period of six months, four times each. Influenced by the relational psychoanalytic tradition, the notion of inter-subjectivity was central to the methodological process. The research interview encounters therefore assumed a two person psychology where the feelings I experienced as the researcher were considered as important forms of research data. An inter-subjective dialogue enabled the method to go beyond purely the discursive and recognise the complex layers of unconscious forms of defence that are understood as being the multi-dimensions of experience. The empirical chapters have been presented in three separate analytical chapters entitled: Race, Class and Loss. In theorising an embodied subject, I have emphasised in this interpretation of trans-racial adoptive experience the inter-connection between these three analytical categories. That whilst presented as separate categories, the presentation of the experience in each empirical chapter has aimed to demonstrate the fluidity involved in the process of being trans-racially adopted.

This thesis presents an in-depth, qualitative mixed method (QMM) inquiry into the coming out experiences of 19 lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGB) and 6 heterosexual brothers and sisters. It investigates what happens to sibling relationships, sibling identities, and sibling practices when non-heterosexuality is disclosed or discovered. This study seeks to explore how LGB individuals manage their sexuality in sibling and wider family dynamics; the difficulties of keeping secrets, the fears of being rejected, and the joys or disappointments experienced as they negotiate their new sexual identities. This study also explores how heterosexual siblings are emotionally affected by the disclosure of their sibling’s sexuality, and the impact that non-heterosexuality can have upon the relationships between brothers and sisters over time. The analysis is based upon data generated through semi-structured interviews, sibling sticker charts, research diaries, and debrief meetings. The research concludes that heterosexual siblings are significant in the process of coming out, but that disclosure is often far from simple. What is revealed is that the lives of siblings are meshed in wider family connections (specifically parents) and that the decisions about whether or not to come out to heterosexual brothers and sisters are often made in light of family responsibilities, obligations and commitments. The research shows that when parents hold homophobic or hostile attitudes towards non-heterosexuality this can create barriers to openness between siblings, causing tension in family relationships. Findings also suggest that when LGB individuals do come out the reactions from their heterosexual siblings are complex and often tied up in understandings of their relational family connections. Heterosexual sibling stories show a range of simultaneous, competing, and non-liner emotions about having an LGB brother or sister, including happiness, shock, concern, and anger. When attention is paid to the impact of disclosure over time this research shows that coming out can change the relationships between LGB and heterosexual brothers and sisters in mostly positive ways, although there can also be some negative consequences for these relationships. Sibling connections can become stronger, closer, and more supportive post disclosure. This seemingly troubles the persuasive discourses of crisis and rejection from families that have been entrenched in family coming out stories.

A number of established planning theorists have sought a connection between Deleuzian philosophy and planning to create new practices and tools to increase the effectiveness of [the discipline]’ (de Roo et al, 2012: 20; Hillier, 2007, 2011; Van Wezemael , 2010; Mark Purcell, 2013). This Deleuze-planning link introduces a number of unique considerations, not least because it must account for theoretical as well as practical concerns, and explore processes of analysis as well as processes of engagement. To date these efforts remain tentative, exposing such studies to Forester’s critique that most planning theorists use philosophical concepts to ‘deconstruct’ rather than ‘reconstruct’ methods of engagement (Forester, 2007). This study responds to this gap by showing how some of Deleuze’s most abstract philosophical concepts can be translated into a new, practicable assessment tool useful to actors working in development and regulatory processes. It shows what is needed to make this transition, and when such tools might usefully contribute to ‘real’ situations. This thesis explores this experimental line of enquiry through two research stages. The first stage focuses on developing a Deleuze-inspired alternative to the Building Research Establishment’s ‘universal method’ for assessing the sustainability of a given building or urban design. This proposal is constructed on the basis that all assessments should be undertaken within the design process; by those responsible for making these design decisions; and based on their speculations about what might become of the scheme. The study goes on to test the practicable viability of this proposed method, termed the ‘Speculative and Immanent Assessment Method’ (SIAM), through a series of interviews with professional actors working in design, development, assessment and regulatory roles. The results of these two research stages suggest that Deleuze’s concepts can be made useful to practice, but doing so demands that the researcher adapts, re-creates and expands Deleuze’s concepts to meet the specific, practical demands of the field.

The primary objective of this thesis is to develop a conceptual model which will help to understand individuals’ monetary donations to Charitable Organisations (COs) in Saudi Arabia. Although individuals are one of the main funding sources for many COs, research in this area is limited. Most of the previous studies have been conducted in Western countries and they have principally investigated the relationship between individuals’ demographic characteristics and their monetary donation behaviour. The present study fills the gap in the literature by conducting a substantive research on Muslim donors’ behaviour. This study examines Saudi individuals’ intentions and the extent to which these intentions are related to individuals’ self-reported donation to COs. It also investigates the role of individuals’ trust in the COs, as well as their behavioural differences with regards to the level of their religiosity and demographic characteristics (e.g. income, age and gender). Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) is used to rigorously test the validity of the measurement models in order to examine the comprehensive set of hypothesised interrelationships among the variables and their comparative effects on individuals’ intentions and self-reported monetary donation to COs. The data were collected through drop off questionnaires. A survey was administered to a convenience sample of respondents and 221 completed questionnaires were received. Firstly, the empirical results show that behavioural intention to donate to COs translate over time into self-reported behaviour. Secondly, they show that attitudes toward helping others and attitudes toward giving monetary donation to COs have a significant effect on behavioural intention. Thirdly, moral responsibility and social norms have a significant impact on behavioural intention. Fourthly, perceived behavioural control has a significant impact on behavioural intentions but not on self-reported behaviour. Fifthly, trust in COs has a significant impact on both behavioural intention and self-reported behaviour. Sixthly, an individual’s perceptions of the ability, integrity, and benevolence of COs are direct antecedents of his or her trust in the COs, making trust a multi-dimensional construct. Seventhly, an individual’s trust disposition has a direct impact on his or her behavioural intention. And finally, Saudi individuals do not differ in their monetary donation behaviour on the basis of their religiosity and most of the demographic characteristics. The main theoretical implication of the study is that while the theory of reasoned action and the theory of planned behaviour are useful in explaining Saudi individuals’ monetary donation behaviour to COs, extending the theory to include the combined effect of new variables and moderators increases our understating of the underlying phenomenon. An individual’s monetary donation behaviour is still a complex, elusive, yet extremely important phenomenon. The model proposed and validated in this thesis advances the theory and research on monetary donations to COs and provides a comprehensive understanding of donors’ behaviour for practitioners in charitable and not-for-profit organisations.

In countries like Nigeria and similar contexts in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, maternal deaths remain prevalent and the current political will and corresponding interventions remain insufficient to significantly address the problem. One way of generating the required political priority is through the mass media, which has been credited with the capacity to influence social and political conversations and set the policy agenda by raising the salience of an issue on its own agenda. This study investigates the processes and factors which influence the media agenda for maternal mortality and comparatively, HIV/AIDS in Nigeria. It utilizes content and frame analysis of newspaper coverage to establish the media agenda for both issues. It also utilises in-depth, semi-structured interviews: 1) with NGOs and other advocates to determine the factors which influence the state of maternal health and source strategies for media engagement; and 2) with senior reporters and health editors, to investigate the factors which influence the media agenda for health issues especially maternal mortality and HIV/AIDS. The results show that the state of maternal health in Nigeria has been influenced by epidemiological factors, cultural and religious factors, gender and socio economic class and strategic factors such as donor politics and priorities. Content analysis of newspaper coverage indicate that news coverage of maternal mortality is significantly low, when benchmarked against HIV/AIDS and that a wider range of framing approaches (including a political and multi-disciplinary approach) are employed in coverage of the latter, compared to the former. The study results also suggest that most maternal health advocates do not take a strategic approach to media engagement and that there is poor collaboration and lack of trust between NGOs and the media. Interviews with media personnel show that that the lack of trust and collaboration between the media and NGOs has resulted in a lack of stakeholding, and media engagement is largely at the level of events reporting. In addition to the above, the results show that the media agenda is predominantly driven by funding, political issue champions, celebrities, expert sources, epidemiology, global health days, events, and human interest stories.

The reasons and ways by which sustainability is signalled to stakeholders have changed over the years. The absence of a common sustainability framework urges companies to act individually in discovering the most suitable signals that covey their engagement with sustainability strategy. This study explores the mechanisms that create a connection between a sustainability signal and the fundamental value it represents, a process identified as a signal fit. The study also focuses on the reasons for signalling and investigates the types of sustainability signals and methods adopted by private companies in general and in the context of the sustainable fashion industry in particular. Qualitative research was used including observation, unstructured exploratory discussions, and semi-structured interviews with twenty-four companies. The participant companies were grouped into two clusters: certified and non-certified, depending on their official certification status regarding their sustainability practices. It is shown that companies set their signalling sustainability environment by four underlying drivers: strategic, legitimacy, market, and owner drivers. Companies send out signals of: sustainable manufacturing processes, transparency in processes, and sustainability as a core part of their corporate identity. These sustainability signals are integrated into the marketing mix. The two clusters are revealed to have similarities and differences in the content and structure of their sustainability signalling, and this led to the development of the “signalling sustainability process model”. The model explains the process of signalling and concludes that the signalling outcomes of the two company clusters can be different even though their starting points are characterized by similar drivers; certified companies achieve fit and gain positive outcomes, non-certified companies do not. This reality widely affects signalling sustainability structures in their whole environment. This study extends current CSR and signalling literatures by identifying the drivers, types of signals and methods behind signalling sustainability. It also identifies which homogeneous sustainability signals have a relevant impact on private companies of a small scale.

This thesis investigates the nature and intersection of gender and racial inequality within a South African University culture during a period of transition in the higher education system in South Africa. The research draws on Alvesson’s (2002) emancipatory approach to culture and on Acker’s (2006) inequality regimes framework to explore the ways in which gender, class and race operate as organising principles of work and within organisations. This study explore in particular, the role and impact of social and historic inequalities embedded within South Africa’s national culture, a legacy of the previous “apartheid” era, on the nature of gender and race relations within a University setting. It also examines the ways in which gender and race form the bases of inequality through a range of gender and race relations- that being the division of labour, symbols, social relations and self-identities and examines the visibility, legitimacy, control and compliance of inequalities including how the processes and practices of the University produce an ideal worker norm. The findings suggest that the University’s structures, processes and practices reflect nationally embedded divisions and have reinforced and strengthened the pre-existing patriarchal and racialised University culture. Through the adoption of Acker’s inequality regimes framework and intersectionality approach (Crenshaw 1991; Acker 2006b; Knudsen 2006) to the analysis of University cultures, this research has enabled participants to have a voice concerning the shape and degree of inequalities in the workplace. In doing so, the research makes an important contribution to academic knowledge and understanding of the gendered and racialised nature of the University culture and the constitution of individual subjectivities, as well as in the wider context, the gendered and racialised nature of the organisations and organisational theory.

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.