Problematization: Tourism has a major impact on the environment. However, there is a conflict of interest making it difficult for the hotel business to decrease this impact. On the one hand, there is a pressure for environmentally friendly behaviour from society. On the other hand, the customers want to be pampered during their hotel stay. This makes it necessary to further investigate what influences customers’ intention to select a green hotel. Therefore this thesis examines students’ intention to select a green hotel. Since, it might make it easier for hotels to design and implement strategies to be greener, if they know what is important. Purpose: The aim with this thesis is to examine how the variables subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, perceived moral obligation and environmental awareness influence students’ intention to select green hotels. The main theory used is the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). However, to make the TPB model fit better to the context green hotels, the variables perceived moral obligation and environmental awareness were added. The reason for adding these variables was because they are closely entwined with each other and is argued in previous research argues they influence environmentally friendly behaviour. Methodology: This study used an online questionnaire and a small experiment in the questionnaire. The sample consisted of students from Kristianstad University. Conclusion: The result of this study shows that all the hypotheses were rejected and therefore the null hypotheses are retained.

This paper treats George Dickies institutional theory of how to define art. Some alternative theories and their originators are also introduced. According to Dickie something is art because it has been created against a background of an already existing artworld. Dickie has formulated his theory in two different versions, ”the earlier” and ”the later”, which differ somewhat in their design. Both versions is presented and discussed in this paper.

Syftet med denna studie är att attribuera effekten av rättvist ledarskap på arbetstillfredsställelse då det saknats specifik forskning inom området. Studien genomfördes i ett verksamhetsområde inom kriminalvården. Studien syftade även till att undersöka effekten av rättvist ledarskap på turnover intention och förekomsten av psykosomatiska besvär hos de anställda. Totalt 103 kriminalvårdare besvarade enkäten som mätte ovan nämnda variabler. Resultaten visade ett signifikant positivt samband mellan samtliga former av rättvisa och arbetstillfredsställelse. Resultaten visade vidare ett samband att rättvist ledarskap leder till en minskning av psykosomatiska besvär och minskad grad av turnover intention.

The mining industry has been under enormous pressure in the past few years. particularly with issues around production and costs. As far as human capital is concerned. the gold industry has seen a high degree of shrinkage in personnel. In order to be able to cope with the continuous challenges faced by the mining industry, mining organisations need leaders of the highest standards. Due to the challenge of increasing productivity levels, empowerment is required within the gold mining industry. The correct application of empowerment may increase efficiency and effectiveness inside an organisation. Having employees with the appropriate levels of organisational commitment facilitates the change management process and ensures its successful implementation. Organisations value commitment among their employees because it is typically assumed to reduce withdrawal behaviours, such as lateness, absenteeism and turnover. The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between leader empowering behaviour, organisational commitment and turnover intention within the mining industry. The research method consists of a literature review and an empirical study. A cross-sectional survey design was used to collect the data. An availability sample (N = 388) was taken from mining employees. The Leader Empowering Behaviour Questionnaire (LEBQ), Affective Organisational Commitment Scale (AOC), Turnover Intention Scale (Tl) and a biographical questionnaire were administered. The statistical analysis was carried out with the help of the SPSS program as well as the AMOS program. / Contents: Leader empowering behaviour -- Organisational commitment -- Turnover intention -- Work performance -- Productivity / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007

The aim of this study to explore the green products purchases intentions of the young & native Swedish consumers. Many studies have done on the green products and consumers of green products. Researcher also focused on the consumers’ and their purchase intention based on the age. Some studies conducted only on the young consumers of a particular country. However, this study focused on the young consumers of Sweden. Attitude, knowledge and friends and family influences are considered as the three basic factors of this study. I tried to investigate the influence of these three factors on the green purchase intentions of young Swedish. The Theory of Planned Behavior is used to predict human behavior. The theory is on the basis of three factors, those factors are attitude to the behavior, subjective norms and perceived behavior control. As mentioned before that I have considered three factors for this study and theses three factors are related with the other three factors of the Theory of Planned Behavior. This research used quantitative method, and quantitative method requires large numbers of sample. To fulfill the quantitative method’s requirement on sample numbers, I have considered 190 young Swedish from different places of Umeå and Stockholm. Analysis of the consumers’ response showed me positive response of young consumers on green products. The TPB helped me to explain my three factors as these factors are related with the factors of TPB. All the factors I have considered are positively explained and supported by Theory of Planned Behaviors. Findings of this study describes that Swedish are environment conscious consumers. They have positive knowledge, attitude on green product and intention to buy green products. As this study was based on young Swedish and they have showed their positivity on the green products and indented to purchase green products in future.

Game theory outlines optimal response strategies during mixed-strategy competitions in which available actions are selected probabilistically. The neural processes involved in choosing individual strategic actions, however, remain poorly understood. Here, actions need to be selected (1) in the absence of sensory instruction or reward cues and (2) independent of previous events. This thesis examines the neural processes involved in action selection during mixed-strategy competition. To do so, we both measured and manipulated presaccadic activity in the primate superior colliculus (SC), a structure involved in the generation of orienting saccadic eye movements, during a strategic game. The first study tested whether the SC is involved in choosing saccades under strategic conditions. Monkeys were free to choose either of two saccade targets as they competed against a computer opponent during the mixed-strategy game ‘matching-pennies’. The accuracy with which pre-saccadic SC activity predicted upcoming choice gradually increased in the time leading up to the saccade. Probing the SC with supra-threshold stimulation demonstrated that these evolving signals were functionally involved in preparing strategic saccades. Finally, sub-threshold stimulation of the SC increased the likelihood that contralateral saccades were selected. In the second study, we compared the influence of previous actions and rewards on updating premotor activity in the SC in the strategic condition where eliciting stochastic responses was optimal and in a non-strategic condition where stochastic responses were also elicited but through explicit instruction. To avoid exploitation by opponents during mixed-strategy competitions one should select behaviors unpredictably, that is, independent of previous choices and their outcomes. The iterative updating of neural processes involved in selecting actions to produce mixed-strategy behaviors, however, remain poorly understood In both tasks, premotor activity and behavior were shaped by past actions and rewards with more recent events exerting the largest influence. Importantly, these sequential effects were attenuated under strategic conditions suggesting that updating of selection processes is not entirely automatic but can be tailored to different decision-making contexts. Together our results highlight the active role played by the brain in choosing strategic actions. / Thesis (Master, Neuroscience Studies) -- Queen's University, 2009-01-30 17:11:21.002

L'enjeu de cette thèse est de proposer une perspective psychosociale de l'étude des usages à partir du concept d'acceptabilité sociale, définit comme " la valeur que l'individu accorde à ces objets et / ou à ces utilisateurs en fonction durapport spécifique qu'il entretient avec eux " (Lefeuvre et al., 2008, p.101). Cette perspective psychosociale est ancrée entre des points vus sociologique et ergonomique et est construite sur la base de la notion de variables sociales dans les modèles d'usages (issus des champs des IHM, MSI et la TARTCP). Nous avons montré que les variables sociales absentes des modèles d'usage, apparaissaient néanmoins dans trois évolutions différentes de ces modèles. De ce constat, l'objectif de cette thèse est d'améliorer la prédiction d'un modèle d'usage par la prise en compte de l'acceptabilité sociale. Deux hypothèses ont été testées. La première selon laquelle, la valeur du comportement module l'effet des variables sociales sur la prédiction de l'intention (Conner et Armitage, 1998 ; Rivis, Sheeran et Armitage, 2009 ; Manning, 2009), et la seconde selon laquelle, les variables sociales n'ont pas toutes la même sensibilité à la variation de la valeur d'un comportement. Pour mettre à l'épreuve ces hypothèses, deux axes de recherches ont été conduits. Le premier axe opérationnalise la valeur par la valorisation du comportement et est testé dans le domaine des comportements routiers (étude 1 et 2). Le second axe opérationnalise la valeur selon le niveau de socialité des comportements et est testé dans le domaine des comportements d'éco-mobilité (étude 3 à 5). Les résultats révèlent la pertinence d'une approche des usages orientée par l'acceptabilité sociale. Ils permettent de souligner que les comportements valorisés sont davantage prédit par les variables sociales que les comportements portant moins de valeur sociale

Corporations follow different strategies to leverage their existing brands. One of these is brand extension, which is the extension of an existing brand to a new product category. In this strategy, corporations have two alternatives, one of which is the family brand extension. Here, the new product is introduced under the corporate name along with the extension’s category name (e.g. Sony mobile, Nestlé mineral water, and Gillette shampoo). The second alternative is the brand endorsement. In this alternative, the extension is given a new name. Moreover, the corporation’s name is presented as the endorser in the extension brand structure and communications (e.g. Scandic by Hiliton, Courtyard by Marriott). However, the focus will be on the extension brand name, rather than the corporate name. The endorser’s main role is to provide credibility and substance to the endorsed brand, while maintaining the endorsed brand’s freedom to establish its unique associations and personality. It is well-known that, in the family brand extension, the perceived fit between the parent brand and the extension product category moderates consumers’ judgement of the extension (i.e. the new product which is introduced under the parent name). However, widely-diversified corporations (e.g. Nestlé, Unilever) often endorse their products to leverage their corporate credibility. The proliferation of using a corporate name to endorse products in the case of corporations with diversified product portfolios puts the importance of the fit on the corporate endorser, and the endorsed product brand under scrutiny. Specifically, it raises the following questions: to what extent is the perceived fit between the corporate brand endorser and the endorsed brand really important in an endorsement context? What is the relative importance of fit and endorser credibility in an endorsement context, and why? In the current research, it is proposed that both corporate credibility and fit affect consumers’ judgement in an endorsement context. However, the endorser credibility is more important. It is also proposed that corporate credibility is more important than fit because it is more diagnostic, which makes the endorser credibility more recallable for the consumer. The current research results have shown that, when consumers can easily recall information related to the endorser credibility and the fit between the endorser and the endorsed brand, both endorser credibility and fit has an effect on the endorsed brand. However, endorser credibility has a stronger effect on the endorsed brand judgement than fit. Moreover, the results have shown that fit moderates the effect of corporate credibility only when the endorser credibility is high. When consumers have difficulty recalling information, fit does not moderate the effect of the endorser credibility on the endorsed brand. The current research findings have been obtained by conducting two experiments. In Experiment One, corporate credibility and perceived fit were manipulated in an endorsement context. Consumer judgement of the endorsed brand was measured by the perceived quality and purchase intention. Experiment Two was conducted to study the impact of the information accessibility on the effect of the endorser credibility and fit on the endorsed brand judgement. Endorser credibility, fit and information accessibility were manipulated in an endorsement context. Perceived quality and purchase intention of the endorsed brand were also used to measure the consumers’ judgement of the endorsed brand.

Background and purpose: The main goal was to examine which factors in the psychosocial work environment that would predict turnover intention among engineering employees in a larger global company within the oil and gas industry. The second goal was to examine if the predictors would differ for employees under the age of 40, compared to employees over the age of 40. Method: Data was collected using a self-reported electronic questionnaire designed by Mille Myhre and myself. The analyses included three control variables and seven independent variables, which also encompassed a new aspect of the psychosocial work environment research in relation to turnover intention, namely the personal resources optimism and selfefficacy. The questionnaire was distributed through an e-mail sent from the Vice President HSE, and a sample of 128 participants was used in the analyses conducted in SPSS. Key findings: The predictors were job satisfaction, leadership and sickness absenteeism, and were found to have different rank of importance for the employees in the two age groups, regarding the predictor’s beta value. Optimism and self-efficacy were not found as predictors of turnover intention in the current sample. Conclusion: To manage the employee’s turnover intention the leaders should focus on the employee’s satisfaction with their work, keeping a high qualitative transactional leadership and be observant to the employee’s sickness absenteeism, but control for the employee’s age if they were to initiate actions to control for turnover intention.

The current study examined the capacity of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and the Prototype/Willingness model (P/W model) to predict intention to have unsafe sex with new and regular partners as well as frequency of unsafe sex in a sample of men who have sex with men (MSM) sample. The study also examined aspects of the sexual situation immediately prior to or during unsafe sexual intercourse (such as substance use, venue and emotional state) to determine whether there were any significant correlations and group differences. One hundred and fifty-eight male participants between the ages of 18-26 who have had sex with another male in the last nine months completed an online survey of sexual habits, TPB and P/W model variables. With the exception of prototypes, the results showed significant group difference in terms of TPB and P/W model variables between risk groups. Furthermore, there was no significant difference between models in predictive capacity in terms of either intention or frequency of unsafe sex. The results of the study suggested participants were generally only having unsafe sex with regular partners, that in older samples it may be more parsimonious to use the TPB than P/W model and that it is important to measure TPB variables in terms of both new and regular partners for increased accuracy and greater applicability in terms of HIV/STI interventions.