The concept of heritage is full of conflicts and contestations. The UNESCO’s intervention in the form of the “World Heritage Convention” enriches the meaning of heritage but may exacerbate the intrinsic tensions in heritage while expanding its economic significance through tourism. Heritage tourism is an effective means to realize the economic potential of heritage. This is a major reason why developing countries like China apply for UNESCO world heritage designation. However, some stakeholders take more benefits while others bear more costs in the interplay of heritage conservation and tourism. Achievement of a balance among resource conservation, tourism development, and local community well-being is a pressing challenge for planning and management of World Heritage Sites. This research examines the implications of World Heritage designation for conservation of the world heritage and, particularly, for the lives of local people living in and around the site. It is argued that such people often bear the most costs while often being ignored or disadvantaged in terms of benefits. Sustainability of local life is interdependent with sustainability of heritage conservation and tourism. A key goal of heritage planning should be to mitigate heritage contestation and dissonance, and to sustain local people’s livelihoods and enhance their life quality. This would be conducive to the overall sustainability of the heritage resource. Using Mount Taishan, a UNESCO world heritage site in China, as a case study, employing a plan and implementation evaluation approach, and taking a community perspective, this thesis evaluates the plans for the world heritage site and their implementation from three perspectives: resource conservation, visitor experience and local well-being (particularly local involvement in, and benefit from tourism). A mixture of quantitative and qualitative research methods is used and the transferability and applicability of western heritage planning and evaluation methods to China is examined implicitly. It is shown that much attention has been placed on resource conservation on this world heritage site, although the desire for economic returns underpins the conservation. The resource integrity of the heritage mountain has been marred by the construction of several cable cars for tourism. The number of visitors keeps growing. However, visitor experiences are generally positive except for crowding during the high seasons and length of stay has decreased. Local involvement in decision making relating to heritage operations is low. Local involvement in the provision of tourism services is high but uneven, and usually under the organization of the village committees. Faced with land loss, displacement, and livelihood change, villagers are very positive toward and very much dependent on tourism as the major or sole means of making a living. The power-relations that are reflected in the heritage nexus are a key issue. As the most powerful stakeholder, the local government’s intervention produces high efficiency and also inequity. Short-term goals are sought, reflecting the short tenure of officials. Within this context, western heritage planning ideas, including the advocacy of community involvement and public participation, have met many challenges in China, although this could change with socio-political developments in China.

This longitudinal study uses a cultural ecological-transactional perspective (Garcia-Coll, et. al., 1996; Kuperminc, et al., in press) to examine whether relational factors (familism and parental involvement) predict processes of motivation and achievement one year later among 199 Latino adolescents from immigrant families. Parent involvement predicted higher present-oriented and future-oriented motivation, and familism predicted higher present-oriented motivation. Future-oriented motivation predicted higher perceived school competence, while present-oriented motivation predicted lower perceived school competence. Both future and present-oriented motivation increased over time for recent immigrants significantly more than for US-reared youth. Findings suggest that 1) familism and parent involvement relate significantly to processes of achievement motivation among Latino youth 2) future-oriented and present-oriented motivation are distinct from one another and are linked to perceived school competence in unique, and inverse ways among Latino youth and 3) immigration age plays an important role in the motivational processes of Latino youth over time.

Previous research suggests that parents can benefit from youth participation in after-school programs. However, little research has explored parent involvement in after-school programs as an important program characteristic leading to youth development. Bioecological Systems Theory suggests that individuals are influenced by the interactions of others within their environment. Building from this theory, it was posited that parent benefits resulting from involvement in after-school programs can facilitate positive youth development. Surveys were completed by 117 parents whose daughters participated in the Cool Girls, Inc. after-school program, a program serving primarily low-income, African American, urban youth. Using Exploratory Factor Analysis, a three factor structure of parent benefits was identified. Parent benefits include increased (1) parent-child communication, (2) parent social capital, and (3) parent-school involvement. A fourth parent benefit of help for working parents was identified in subsequent analyses using a smaller sample of only working parents (n = 86). Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that more parent after-school program involvement was associated with increases in each of the four parent benefits. As predicted, each of the four parent benefits mediated the association between parent involvement in after-school programs and parent reported changes in positive youth development outcomes due to participation in Cool Girls, Inc. These results suggest the importance of further research into ways parents benefit from their child’s participation in after-school programs and how those benefits can influence youth developmental trajectories. These findings also demonstrate the importance of involving parents in after-school programs.

ABSTRACT Hispanic parents face several barriers that impede their involvement in their children’s education. This lack of parental involvement negatively affects the academic outcome of students, graduation rates, and college attendance. This study uses the situational theory of publics to determine what kind of public Mexican parents are, and makes recommendations on what is the best way to engage them and motivate them to participate in schools. Seventeen Mexican mothers were interviewed about their views on education and relationships with their children’s teachers and schools. Findings revealed that the main barriers to parental involvement among Mexican parents are work, language and lack of childcare. The study discusses some strategies that schools can use to help parents overcome barriers to involvement. This research is important because for the first time it uses communications, and more specifically public relations theories, to further the research on Hispanic parental involvement.

[ An abstract in English will follow] Denna uppsats handlar om på vilket sätt användarinvolvering påverkar acceptansen av ett affärssystem. I studien redogörs varför acceptansen påverkas av användarinvolveringen, samt hur påverkan sker och vad som leder till den. IT genomsyrar idag så gott som alla former av företagsamhet. Affärssystem stödjer affärsprocesser i flera branscher, från tillverkande företag till renodlade tjänsteföretag. Ett företag behöver exempelvis anpassa både sina affärsprocesser och det nya affärssystem för allt som sker inom företaget. På grund av komplexiteten som detta för med sig är implementeringen ofta ett stort steg för företaget och dess anställda. De framtida användarna av systemet ställs inför en stor förändring som ett nytt affärssystem medför. För att göra övergången så enkel som möjligt och få användarna att acceptera systemet brukar användarna vara delaktiga i implementationen genom en process som benämns som användarinvolvering. Forskning inom området har enats om att användarinvolveringen påverkar acceptansen av ett system (Dickson & Simmons, 1970; Powers & Dickson, 1973; Wu, et al.,2002; Kujala, 2003;, Gable, et al., 2003; Amoako-Gyampah, 2005; Sharp, et al., 2007). Desto mindre finns skrivet om varför acceptansen påverkas av användarinvolveringen, hur den påverkas, samt vad det egentligen är i användarinvolveringen som påverkar acceptansen. Denna uppsats undersökte detta genom att en kvalitativ studie utformades. Teorin om att användarinvolveringen påverkar acceptansen kombinerades med Technology Acceptance Model (en modell för undersökning av acceptansen föreslagen av Davis, 1989) för att skapa en egenutvecklad modell. Den egenutvecklade modellen användes för att skapa teman kring vilka den öppna individuella intervjun utformades. Därefter genomfördes intervjuer med fyra användare som var involverade i en implementationsprocess. Resultatet från intervjuerna strukturerades på ett sätt som matchade teman i den egenskapade modellen. Därefter analyserades resultatet med hjälp av det teoretiska materialet som insamlades under studiens inledningsfas. Slutsatsen är att användarinvolveringen som process består av flera företeelser som tros påverka acceptansen. De företeelserna som tros ha påverkat acceptansen på företaget som studerades var: användarnas förståelse för vad som kommer krävas av dem i framtiden, utbildningen och dess kvalité, användares tidigare kunskap och förmåga att ta in ny kunskap samt företagets mål med implementationen och hur väl det nya systemet kan uppfylla dessa. Slutligen bör man inte bortse ifrån de krav som företaget ställer på sina anställda. En medarbetare kan känna sig tvungen att acceptera ett visst system, då det redan är beslutat att företaget ska bruka systemet. [English abstract] This essay covers what in the user involvement process affects user acceptance of an Enterprise Resource Planning System (ERP). The study reads up on why the acceptance is affected by user involvement, how the influence derives and where it comes from. Information Technology permeates all forms of enterprise. ERP systems support business processes for many different types of enterprise, ranging from manufacturing to service oriented. A company needs to adapt both its business processes and the new ERP system to fit the company’s business processes and support them throughout the value chain. As a result of the complexity that this adaptation implies, the implementation turns often out to be a big step for the company and its employees. Because of that, future ERP system users face a huge change in their work life. To make this easy and increase the chances of the future users to accept the new system, a process called user involvement is often used. Research has shown that user involvement affects the acceptance of a system (Dickson & Simmons, 1970; Powers & Dickson, 1973; Wu, et al.,2002; Kujala, 2003; Gable, Sedera & Chan, 2003; Amoako-Gyampah, 2005; Sharp, et al., 2007). On the contrary, less is known on why the acceptance is affected by user involvement, how the relation looks like and what in the user involvement process actually affects the acceptance. This essay studied that using a qualitative approach. By combining the theory that user involvement affects the acceptance, with the Technology Acceptance Model (a theory proposed by Davis (1989) that models how users come to accept and use a technology), a new model was developed. The self-created model was used to develop themes which were used as a base for the empirical research. Four interviews with system users took place and the result was analyzed using the theories collected in the earlier part of the study. The conclusion is that user involvement as a process contains many different parts which we believe may influence acceptance. Our study has shown that the acceptance depends on – but not limited to – the following: user’s understanding of what will be required of them in their future work, the educational process and its quality, user’s technical knowledge before the implementation process began, user’s ability to learn, as well as the company’s goals set for the implementation and to which degree the new system will fulfill these goals. Finally, the demands which the company sets on its employees must not be ignored. An employee can feel obligated towards company’s choice of the ERP system and compelled to accept the new system, because it has already been decided that the company would use it.

The performance of the companies in corporate sector is reliant greatly on the practices of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR); therefore in today’s business environment companies are paying more attention to the sense of CSR. These companies also consider the aspects of socio-culture environment into business practices and compliance with other regulatory and ethical issues. However, it has been found that CSR is being practiced in Pakistani firms in tobacco industry because the concept is new for the emerging economies like Pakistan. The paper consists of brief study about the CSR practices on stakeholder dimension of Pakistan Tobacco Company (PTC). The basic aim of this paper is to examine that how companies engage their stakeholders in CSR activities and what is the role of stakeholders in CSR policies. This research was conducted by using a qualitative method and the case study of PTC. Data has been collected from relevant scientific articles, research books, and online resources regarding CSR and stakeholders theoretical framework while empirical data was gathered through interviews and company annual reports. However, PTC products are injurious for customers’ health but their efforts for the environment and community make a good image of the company in the minds of customer and stakeholders.

Bakgrund: Att vi blir allt äldre innebär också att allt fler insjuknar i en demenssjukdom. Då det i dagsläget inte finns något botemedel för sjukdomen blir det främsta omvårdnadsmålet att minska lidande och öka livskvaliteten och välbefinnandet för dessa personer. Då många med demenssjukdom bor på vårdboenden blir det vårdpersonalens främsta uppgift att skapa en bra vårdmiljö vilket innefattar en god vårdrelation. Vårdrelationen är central i all god omvårdnad och det är viktigt att ha en förståelse för att den vård som ges till personer med demenssjukdom antingen kan hjälpa eller stjälpa individen. Syfte: Att belysa vårdrelationens betydelse för livskvaliteten hos personer med demenssjukdom som bor på vårdboenden. Metod: Denna studie är en litteraturstudie där tolv artiklar analyseras. En kvalitativ innehållsanalys har använts där meningsbärande enheter i artiklarna har kondenserats, kodats och slutligen bildat kategorier. Resultat: Tre kategorier framkommer av resultatet som visar vårdrelationens betydelse för livskvalitet hos personer med demenssjukdom. Dessa är: betydelsen av delaktighet som handlar om vikten av att personerna får delta i meningsfulla samtal och aktiviteter, betydelsen av personens livsberättelse som behandlar vikten av att inkludera personernas historia och bakgrund i omvårdnaden, samt vårdpersonalens bemötande som handlar om personalens sätt att uppträda och behandla personerna. Diskussion: Vårdrelationen har en inverkan på personens livskvalitet. Bland annat påverkas den av vårdpersonalens bemötande, huruvida personens livsberättelse används i omvårdnaden och personens möjlighet till delaktighet. Med ett livsvärldsperspektiv kan vårdpersonalen få en ökad förståelse för hur personen med demenssjukdom upplever och förstår sin värld. Livsberättelsen ger vårdpersonalen kunskap om vad som är eller har varit betydelsefullt för den enskilde personen. Det är nödvändigt då livskvalitet är en subjektiv upplevelse som skiljer sig från person till person.

Topic: Co-creation of experience Research gap: The number of papers focusing on customer involvement and customer experience has increased significantly in recent years. However, there is a lack of studies on how companies can use customer involvement for creating a better customer experience jointly with customers, which Prahalad & Ramaswamy (2000, 2003, 2004) refer to as the co-creation of experience. Purpose: By this paper we want to develop an understanding of how e-commerce companies can use customer involvement to create a superior online shopping experience. Theoretical basis of our paper: Customer involvement (e.g. von Hippel); experience co-creation (Prahalad & Ramaswamy) Methodology: We conducted in-depth interviews with nine Swedish, Norwegian and Chinese e-commerce companies from different industries to collect data on how they use customer involvement and/or co-creation. The interviews were semi-structured interviews which consisted mostly of open-ended questions. In order to be able to identify patterns and learn about the nature of how companies involve customers, a qualitative multi-case study design was used. Findings: The main findings are that some e-commerce companies have already realized the importance of the customer experience and also already involve their customers in various forms for co-creating experience. However, none of the companies completely fulfils the criteria of experience co-creation as defined in the theoretical articles by Prahalad & Ramaswamy (2000, 2003, 2004). Practical implications: E-commerce companies have many options to provide a better online shopping experience by involving customers as co-creators. Research limitations: Due to the sample size and the fact that a convenience sample was chosen, the results cannot be generalized. Originality/value: This study can provide insights into opportunities for the co-creation of experience in the case of e-commerce companies. Keywords: Customer involvement, Experience co-creation, Experience, E-commerce, Innovation community

Syftet med denna uppsats är att få ökad kunskap och insikt om hur förskollärare tänker om föräldrasamverkan. Hur värderar de samarbetet, vilken betydelse har den och hur utformas den. Arbetet utgår från följande frågeställningar: Hur upplever och värderar förskollärare samarbetet med föräldrar på förskolan? Finns det faktorer som kan underlätta/ försvåra samarbetet med föräldrar? Vilka samarbetsformer kan föräldrasamverkan ta sig uttryck i? För att besvara mina frågeställningar har jag gjort kvalitativa intervjuer med fem förskollärare på olika förskolor i två medelstora kommuner. Mitt resultat visar att föräldrasamverkan är viktig och värderas som något man inte kan vara utan. Det är främst barnet som vinner på ett fungerande föräldrasamarbete, då det bidrar till barnets trygghet och utveckling. Det finns åtskilliga faktorer som underlättar eller försvårar ett samarbete. Bemötande, öppen kommunikation och att det finns en vilja och ett intresse är några av de faktorer som underlättar. Faktorer som försvårar kan t.ex. vara språket, kulturen och föräldrars syn på förskolan. Det kan vara svårt att hitta generella lösningar, det viktiga är hur man som förskollärare väljer att hantera och förhålla sig till dessa faktorer. Samverkan visar sig i olika former och kan ske på flera olika sätt. Varje förskola bör pröva sig fram vad som passar just dem. / The purpose of this study is to get a deeper understanding and insight into what preschool teachers think about parental involvement. How is this collaboration valued, what significance does it have and how is it formed. The study is based on the three following questions: What do the preschool teachers think about and how do they value the involvement of the parents? Are there any factors that facilitate/complicate this involvement? What different kinds of engagement does this parental involvement include? In order to answer these questions, I have done qualitative interviews with five preschool teachers at different preschools and in two medium sized municipalities. The results show that the parental involvement is important and valued as something the teachers do not want to be without. Most of all, it is the children who benefit from a functioning parental involvement as it creates a feeling of security and helps their development. There are several factors that both facilitate and complicate this involvement. How one is treated, open communication, interest and willingness are some aspects that facilitate. A number of factors that can complicate the situation are the language, the culture and what opinion parents have of preschool. It is difficult to find any general solutions, however, it is important how the preschool teachers choose to handle and relate to these factors. Involvement can take different forms and can be done in many different ways. Each preschool should try and find what is most suitable in this matter.

In our paper, we introduced employee wellbeing through physical, psychological and social dimensions. We discuss employee wellbeing in the context of project-based organization (PBO). Meanwhile we summarize features of project-based organizations and this kind of work settings brings some negative effects to employee wellbeing. We figure out some human resource management (HRM) policies and practices for improving employee wellbeing in PBO based on our case study results and theoretical research. These HRM policies and practices can be concluded that performance evaluation and appraisal in PBO should be dynamic and autonomic; employees in PBO should be more involved in work process; trainings and development should include basic skills, broad knowledge and deep technical excellence.