Notre recherche a pour objectif d’étudier le comportement du dirigeant des sociétés cotées en France lorsqu’il diffuse l’information aux investisseurs. Nous considérons que le dirigeant adopte un comportement « opportuniste », défini par la théorie de la gestion des impressions. Ainsi, le dirigeant cache les « mauvaises informations » notamment la mauvaise performance financière, qui peuvent avoir une influence sur le cours de l’action au travers de la lisibilité narrative. L’objet de cette recherche est formulé sous la question suivante : Quels sont les déterminants de la lisibilité de l’information diffusée par les sociétés cotées en France ? Nous étudions 192 sociétés cotées en France au CAC All entre 2007 et 2012. Notre échantillon est composé de 1152 observations entreprise/année concernant l’étude du rapport de gestion et 1012 observations entreprise/année concernant l’étude le mot du Président. Nous mesurons la lisibilité au travers de l’indice de Flesch (adapté à la langue française) issu de la littérature informatique en linguistique et au travers de la longueur des parties étudiées. Ce travail met en exergue le comportement opportuniste de diffusion de l’information des dirigeants. Les résultats de l’analyse quantitative indiquent d’une part que la performance financière influence la lisibilité du rapport annuel et d’autre part que l’obligation de diffuser une information lisible n’influence pas la lisibilité du rapport annuel des sociétés cotées en France. / This research aims to study the manager’s behavior of listed companies in France when manager discloses information to investors. Based on the theory of impression management, we consider manager is "opportunistic". In this way, manager obfuscates the “bad news” especially bad financial performance that can have an impact on the share price trough narrative readability. The purpose of this research is formulated by the following question: What are determinants of disclosed information readability by listed companies in France? We investigate 192 french listed companies in the CAC All between 2007 and 2012. This yields a sample of 1,152 firm-years with MD&A sections and 1,012 firm-years with Chairmen’s statements. We measure the readability using the Flesch formulas (adapted to the French language) from the computational linguistic literature and the length of the annual report parts. This research highlights manager is likely to have opportunistic behavior when he discloses information to investors. Results from quantitative analysis suggest both financial performance affects the readability of annual report and obligation to disclose readable information does not affect the readability of the annual report of listed companies in France.

Perceptions of intelligence are strongly related to attractiveness and have a significant impact on first impressions. The introductory chapters (1 - 3) provide an overview of the literature on attractiveness, halo effects, and intelligence, while the experimental chapters (4 - 6) explore perceptions of cues to intelligence beyond attractiveness, individual differences in the susceptibility to the halo, and the accuracy of perceptions of competence. Chapter 4 investigated the malleable facial cues of eyelid-openness and mouth curvature and their influence on perceived intelligence. Attractiveness partially mediated intelligence impression, but effects of eyelid-openness and subtle smiling enhanced intelligence ratings independent of attractiveness. These effects were observed and replicated in between individual (cross-sectional) studies of natural images of adult faces, child faces, through digital manipulation of individual cues in the same faces, and in a within individual sleep-restricted sample. Chapter 5 investigated the relationship between perceived intelligence and attractiveness by exploring whether a raters' own intelligence may be related to a stronger endorsement of the perceived intelligence-attractiveness halo. The correlation between ratings of the perceived intelligence and attractiveness was found to be stronger for participants who scored higher on an intelligence test than participants with lower intelligence test scores. Chapter 6 investigated the limiting effects of attractiveness on perceptions of competence. When statistically controlling for the attractiveness halo, academic performance could be predicted from judgments of conscientiousness but not from ratings of intelligence. Thus this thesis demonstrates that malleable facial cues can influence perceptions of intelligence independent of attractiveness, identifies an individual difference that influences endorsement of the intelligence-attractiveness halo, and shows the limiting effects of the attractiveness halo on potentially accurate perceptions of academic performance. Collectively these findings provide evidence of the powerful influence of attractiveness on perceptions of intelligence; such work is necessary if we are to mitigate such bias.

Uppsatsen tar avstamp i de ökade krav om samhällsansvar som ställs på företag. Kravenresulterar i att företagen antingen tar större ansvar eller framställer sig som att de tar störreansvar. Problematiken som uppsatsen adresserar är följaktligen svårigheten i att avgörahur pass hållbara företag egentligen är, om de externa hållbarhetsredovisningarna ärvinklade i syfte att öka läsarens tro att företaget arbetar hållbart. Syftet med uppsatsen äratt undersöka likheter och skillnader i hur företag som anses hållbara respektive ickehållbaraskapar intryck av ett hållbart företagande i sina hållbarhetsredovisningar. Tvåhållbarhetsredovisningar från hållbara företag och två från icke-hållbara företagundersöktes utifrån teorin om impression management. Undersökningen bestod av tvådelar, där den ena innebar en mätning av fyra impression management taktiker och denandra en öppen ansats där fokus låg på att studera visuell information samt löpande text.Undersökningen gav att både de hållbara och de icke-hållbara företag använderimpression management i sina hållbarhetsredovisningar, men att de icke-hållbaraföretagen använder fler och i vissa fall mer aggressiva former.

abstract: Research suggests that behaving in an ingratiatory manner towards one’s supervisor is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, ingratiation is a powerful tool through which employees develop positive social exchange relationships with target audiences (i.e., supervisors) and subsequently obtain desired outcomes at work. On the other hand, third party observers of ingratiation often view this behavior (and the people enacting it) in a negative manner, thereby hindering ingratiatory employees’ ability to develop high quality social exchange relationships with these individuals. However, this research primarily focuses on how organizational actors perceive of ingratiatory employees while neglecting the social context in which this behavior occurs. This is an important limitation because there are compelling reasons to believe that the social context plays a crucial role in how individuals react to ingratiation. Specifically, the social context may influence the extent to which ingratiation is salient, valued, and/or perceived as normative behavior by organizational members both within and external to the ingratiator-target dyad, which in turn affects how this behavior relates to relationship quality with the target and observers. The objective of my dissertation is to address this limitation by integrating a social context perspective with social exchange theory to build a “frog-pond” model of ingratiation. To that end, I propose that employees’ ingratiation relative to their team members, rather than absolute levels of ingratiation, drives positive exchange quality with supervisors. Furthermore, I hypothesize that congruence between the focal employee’s ingratiation and other team members’ ingratiation increases employees’ social exchange quality with team members. I also shed light on the asymmetrical nature of ingratiation (in)congruence by investigating how different types of congruence and incongruence impact social exchange quality with team members in different ways. In addition, I examine how relative ingratiation indirectly influences supervisors’ citizenship behavior toward the focal employee via focal employee-supervisor social exchange quality, as well as how ingratiation congruence indirectly affects team members’ citizenship behavior toward the focal employee through social exchange quality between the two parties. I test my hypotheses in a multi-wave multi-source field study of 222 employees and 64 teams/supervisors. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Business Administration 2019

In vivo, les cellules souches résident au sein de niches, des microenvironnements extrêmement spécialisés qui leur permettent de réguler leur prolifération ainsi que leur différentiation en cellules matures et fonctionnelles. Ces microenvironnements sont caractérisés par des interactions cellules-cellules, la présence de facteurs de croissance et de cytokines, et une matrice extracellulaire, qui fournissent des signaux qui permettent de contrôler le comportement des cellules souches.Bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2) est un facteur de croissance ostéoinductif qui est impliqué dans toutes les étapes de la différentiation ostéoblastique, ainsi que dans la transdifférentiation de myoblastes vers une lignée ostéogénique. In vivo, ce facteur existe à la fois en solution et lié à la matrice extracellulaire. Bien que ces deux modes de présentation influencent les comportements cellulaires de façon distincte, leur rôle dans le microenvironnement de la niche et leur pertinence fonctionnelle dans la genèse de la réponse biologique n’a presque pas été étudié à l’échelle cellulaire. Ici nous avons utilisé l’affinité naturelle de la BMP-2 pour la fibronectine afin de créer des micromotifs de BMP-2 de taille cellulaire sur des biomatériaux mous.Cette technique nous a permis de contrôler simultanément la présentation spatiale de la BMP-2 liée à la fibronectine, ainsi que l’étalement cellulaire. Ces micromotifs ont induit une organisation d’actine et d’adhésions focales autour du noyau, et a déclenché la phosphorylation et la translocation nucléaire de SMAD1/5/8 dans des myoblastes murins C2C12 et des cellules souches mésenchymateuses. Ceci est un indicateur précoce de leur transdifférentiation ostéoblastique. Nous avons trouvé que l’étalement cellulaire lui-même facilitait la phosphorylation de SMAD1/5/8 dépendante de la BMP-2, et avons démontré que la signalisation SMAD médiée par la fibronectine et la BMP-2 dépendait de LIM kinase 2 et de ROCK, plutôt que d’une activation de la myosine II.Nous avons également pu utiliser cet outil pour étudier les cinétiques d’adhésion et d’étalement, les changements d’organisation du cytosquelette dépendants du mode de présentation de la BMP-2, et la signalisation entre la matrice et la cellule, médiée par les intégrines. Nous avons obtenu des résultats préliminaires suggérant un effet du mode de présentation de la BMP-2 sur les forces cellulaires, suggérant que le mode de présentation des facteurs de croissance pourrait être pertinent à d’autres mécanismes cellulaires tels que la mécanotransduction.Dans l’ensemble, nous résultats montrent que les patterns de BMP-2 liée à la fibronectine sont un outil utile à l’étude de mécanismes cellulaires. De façon plus large, notre approche pourrait être adaptée à d’autres combinaisons de protéines de la matrice et de facteurs de croissance, ouvrant ainsi une avenue fascinante pour recréer in vitro des niches spécifiques aux tissus. / In vivo, stem cells reside within niches, highly specialized microenvironments which allow them to regulate their self-renewal and differentiation into mature and functional cells. These microenvironments are characterized by cell-cell interactions, the presence of growth factors and cytokines, and an extracellular matrix, all of which provide cues that control stem cell behavior.Bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2) is an osteoinductive growth factor which is involved in all stages of osteoblastic differentiation, as well as the transdifferentiation of myoblasts toward an osteogenic lineage. In vivo, it exists both in solution and bound to the ECM. While these two modes of presentation are known to influence cell behavior distinctly, their role in the niche microenvironment and their functional relevance in the genesis of a biological response has sparsely been investigated at a cellular level. Here we used the natural affinity of BMP-2 for fibronectin (FN) to engineer cell-sized micropatterns of BMP-2 on soft biomaterials.This technique allowed the simultaneous control of the spatial presentation of fibronectin-bound BMP-2 and cell spreading. These micropatterns induced a specific actin and adhesion organization around the nucleus, and triggered the phosphorylation and nuclear translocation of SMAD1/5/8 in C2C12 myoblasts and mesenchymal stem cells, an early indicator of their osteoblastic transdifferentiation. We found that cell spreading itself potentiated a BMP-2-dependent phosphorylation of SMAD1/5/8, and demonstrated that FN/BMP-2-mediated early SMAD signaling depended on LIM kinase 2 and ROCK, rather than myosin II activation.We were also able to use this tool to investigate adhesion and spreading kinetics, changes in cytoskeletal organization depending on BMP-2 presentation mode, and reciprocal integrin-mediated signaling between the ECM and the cell. We were able to show preliminary results suggesting an effect of BMP-2 presentation mode on cellular forces, suggesting that growth factor presentation may be relevant to other cellular mechanisms like mechanotransduction.Altogether, our results show that FN/BMP-2 micropatterns are a useful tool to study the mechanisms underlying BMP-2-mediated mechanotransduction. More broadly, our approach could be adapted to other combinations of ECM proteins and growth factors, opening an exciting avenue to recreate tissue-specific niches in vitro.

<p>Studiens syfte var att undersöka om det sker en social desirability effekt vid självskatting av egenskaper som beskriver manliga och kvinnliga stereotyper när dessa egenskaper framhävs positivt. Studien ämnade ytterligare undersöka om män och kvinnor skiljer sig åt i social desirability. Ett experiment utfördes där försökspersonerna slumpvis fördelades över en kontrollbetingelse och två experimentbetingelser. Den ena experimentbetingelsen tilldelades en kvinnlig manipulation där kvinnliga stereotyper framhävdes positivt medan den andra experimentbetingelsen tilldelades en manlig manipulation där manliga stereotyper framhävdes positivt. Kontrollbetingelsen tilldelades ingen manipulation. Därefter fick försökspersonerna skatta sig själva på påståenden i en enkät som beskrev de könstereotyperna som angivits i de båda manipulationerna. Ingen social desirability effekt uppvisades i resultatet.</p>

<p>Introduction: </p><p>A job interview is for both the candidate and the company involved, an important</p><p>situation. It might be tempting for the candidate to adjust the answers to the job in question or what he</p><p>or she thinks the recruiter wants to hear. This behaviour is a part of what socialpsychology would call</p><p>impression management. This term means that you try to control the impressions you send out and</p><p>accordingly adjust your behaviour for the current situation.</p><p>Purpose: </p><p>Candidates usage of impression management is a widely debated subject where the</p><p>research mainly has focused on the candidates, their strategies and the efficiency of impression</p><p>management. Our purpose with this thesis is therefore to see how recruiters experience candidates</p><p>impression management in a job interview, how they handle it and what level of acceptance they have</p><p>for it.</p><p>Theoretical perspectives: </p><p>The theories and previous research used as models for explanation and</p><p>basis for discussion is mainly Erving Goffman´s (1974) dramaturgical perspective and thoughts about</p><p>impression management and Mark R Leary´s (1995) theories concerning impression management</p><p>tactics. In addition to these we also used more specific research concerning attribution, selfdescription</p><p>and problems with applicants use of impression management.</p><p>Methodology: </p><p>We carried out six qualitative semistructured interviews with recruiters from two</p><p>marketleading Swedish companies. The empirical foundation was analyzed through the method</p><p>concentration of meaning and thereafter put in relation to relevant theories and previous research.</p><p>Finally the empirical foundation was discussed on the basis of the thesis purpose.</p><p>Empirical foundation: The empirical foundation is mainly a description of the recruiters experiences</p><p>of different impression management tactics and their coping strategies. The result shows that there is</p><p>many different experiences of the various tactics and whether they are seen positive or negative is</p><p>dependent on which job it is and the candidates impression in general. The empirical foundation also</p><p>describes the recruiters thoughts about how a candidate carries out a successful interview and what</p><p>their interviewsituation looks like. The chapter ends with a description of which importance the</p><p>recruiters ascribe candidates usage of impression management.</p><p>Conclusions: </p><p>Our main conclusion is that even if the recruiters on direct questions concerning</p><p>different impression management tactics describe it as negative, the result shows that it often is seen</p><p>as a relevant social skill and something that is expected of a good candidate. We also think that the</p><p>recruiters are “unconciously aware” of the different impression management tactics. At first they show</p><p>no awarness concerning the tactics but after further discussions we found that they had several coping</p><p>strategies for them.</p>

Introduction: A job interview is for both the candidate and the company involved, an important situation. It might be tempting for the candidate to adjust the answers to the job in question or what he or she thinks the recruiter wants to hear. This behaviour is a part of what socialpsychology would call impression management. This term means that you try to control the impressions you send out and accordingly adjust your behaviour for the current situation. Purpose: Candidates usage of impression management is a widely debated subject where the research mainly has focused on the candidates, their strategies and the efficiency of impression management. Our purpose with this thesis is therefore to see how recruiters experience candidates impression management in a job interview, how they handle it and what level of acceptance they have for it. Theoretical perspectives: The theories and previous research used as models for explanation and basis for discussion is mainly Erving Goffman´s (1974) dramaturgical perspective and thoughts about impression management and Mark R Leary´s (1995) theories concerning impression management tactics. In addition to these we also used more specific research concerning attribution, selfdescription and problems with applicants use of impression management. Methodology: We carried out six qualitative semistructured interviews with recruiters from two marketleading Swedish companies. The empirical foundation was analyzed through the method concentration of meaning and thereafter put in relation to relevant theories and previous research. Finally the empirical foundation was discussed on the basis of the thesis purpose. Empirical foundation: The empirical foundation is mainly a description of the recruiters experiences of different impression management tactics and their coping strategies. The result shows that there is many different experiences of the various tactics and whether they are seen positive or negative is dependent on which job it is and the candidates impression in general. The empirical foundation also describes the recruiters thoughts about how a candidate carries out a successful interview and what their interviewsituation looks like. The chapter ends with a description of which importance the recruiters ascribe candidates usage of impression management. Conclusions: Our main conclusion is that even if the recruiters on direct questions concerning different impression management tactics describe it as negative, the result shows that it often is seen as a relevant social skill and something that is expected of a good candidate. We also think that the recruiters are “unconciously aware” of the different impression management tactics. At first they show no awarness concerning the tactics but after further discussions we found that they had several coping strategies for them.

Den forensiska vetenskapen innefattar en mängd olika vetenskaper som tillämpas för att bistå och besvara frågor av intresse för rättsväsendet. Skoavtrycksjämförelser har använts sedan slutet av 1700-talet för att bistå i brottsutredningar. Genom att undersöka egenskaper hos ett skoavtryck kan en forensiker ge utredaren värdefull information om skon och ibland även om bäraren. I bästa fall är skoavtrycket så unikt att det kan individualiseras och identifieras till en specifik sko. För att underlätta och förbättra den forensiska bevisvärderingen är det av stort intresse att statistiskt erhålla förekomsten av ett bevis. Genom att samla in data gällande sulmönster och sedan etablera en databas kan styrkan hos ett specifikt skoavtryck fastställas. I denna studie samlades 687 avtryck in slumpmässigt och lades in i ett visualiserat databasklassificeringssystem, SIMSALAPIM, varpå en statistisk utvärdering utfördes. Resultatet i denna studie visar på att ett specifikt sulmönster generellt förekommer endast en gång i databasen, varför det kan sägas att ett skoavtryck tillför en viss styrka/värde som forensiskt bevis även om det inte besitter några individualiserande detaljer. Vidare, genom ytterliggare statistiska utvärderingar, kunde även ett samband mellan ålder och typ av sko ses. / The Forensic Science comprises a variety of sciences that are applied in order to assist and answer questions of interest to the legal system. Since the end of the 18th century footwear impression comparison has been applied to assist in crime investigations. By examining the characteristics of a footwear impression the forensic scientist may provide the investigator with valuable information about the footwear and sometimes even about the wearer. Ultimately, the footwear impression is so unique that it can be individualized and identified to a specific shoe. In order to facilitate and improve the forensic evidence evaluation it is of great interest to statistically establish the prevalence of evidence. By collecting data of outsole patterns and then recording it in a database the strength of a specific footwear impression can be determined. In this survey 687 impressions were randomly collected and recorded in a visualised database classification system, SIMSALAPIM1, whereupon a statistical evaluation was performed. The result of this survey indicates that a specific outsole pattern typically only occurs once in the database, wherefore it can be stated that any footwear impression provides some strength/value as forensic evidence even though there are no individual characteristics present. Moreover, through additional statistical evaluations, a relation between age and shoe type also was revealed.

Studiens syfte var att undersöka om det sker en social desirability effekt vid självskatting av egenskaper som beskriver manliga och kvinnliga stereotyper när dessa egenskaper framhävs positivt. Studien ämnade ytterligare undersöka om män och kvinnor skiljer sig åt i social desirability. Ett experiment utfördes där försökspersonerna slumpvis fördelades över en kontrollbetingelse och två experimentbetingelser. Den ena experimentbetingelsen tilldelades en kvinnlig manipulation där kvinnliga stereotyper framhävdes positivt medan den andra experimentbetingelsen tilldelades en manlig manipulation där manliga stereotyper framhävdes positivt. Kontrollbetingelsen tilldelades ingen manipulation. Därefter fick försökspersonerna skatta sig själva på påståenden i en enkät som beskrev de könstereotyperna som angivits i de båda manipulationerna. Ingen social desirability effekt uppvisades i resultatet.