This research aims to facilitate sales personnel and companies in understanding the interrelation of personal branding within sales and how it should be utilized effectively. Thus, the thesis explores how sales personnel develop and communicate their personal brand, and additionally how personal branding relates to social selling in a B2B context. Using a qualitative approach, the researchers conducted semi-structured, in-depth interviews with nine participants to achieve meaningful insights about the topic. The research utilizes a deductive approach and a form of directed analysis where the findings are closely related to the conceptual framework (Figure 1). It was found that authenticity is a major aspect when communicating a personal brand. This is since supporting other salespeople, offering expertise, and creating relationships were essential. Furthermore, findings regarding the development of a personal brand indicated changes in professional and personal life as prominent factors. The discoveries reported that processes such as self-reflection and idea-batching, in which values are at the core of evolving the personal brand, can be beneficial. Moreover, the study identifies how personal branding relates to social selling in a B2B context. The researchers found that personal branding can form the base for successful social selling in terms of the connection between the two concepts. It was indicated that social selling would function as a Pull-strategy when incorporating a strong personal brand. In summary, this thesis offers insightful information on the essential function of personal branding for sales personnel and businesses in the B2B context, elucidating the development and communication of a personal brand and its relationship with social selling.

Är du osäker på hur du ska skapa eller utveckla ett starkt personligt varumärke på den växande plattformen Linkedin. Där det varje minut laddas upp långa och saftiga inlägg om diverse ämnen. Vissa med viktiga budskap, långa inlägg som liknar romaner eller inlägg där det går att läsa om vad någon gjort på sin semester. Vad platsar på plattformen och vad platsar inte. Hur kan du som planerar att ladda upp ett inlägg skapa ett intresse hos andra. Det är endast 10 procent som studerat plattformen Linkedin och nu är det dags att ta reda på vad som är viktigt att tänka på kring Linkedin. Syftet med rapporten är att skapa förståelse för hur Linkedin kan användas i utvecklingen av ett personligt varumärke. Uppsatsen är en kvalitativ studie där sex personer blivit intervjuade. De sex respondenterna vars erfarenhet inom Linkedin är; vardagliga användare, professionella användare samt instrumentella användare. Primära data har samlats in via sökmotorer som One Search på Linnéuniversitetets hemsida samt genom Google Schoolar. Det framkom tydligt att det är ytterst viktigt med att fråga sig själv varför och vad det personliga varumärket ska ge för signal utåt. Även viktigt att arbeta med struktur och planering för att skapa/utveckla sitt personliga varumärke. Rapporten har endast tagit upp den sociala mediekanalen Linkedin så vidare forskning borde göras för att få en bredare översikt över vad en bör göra. Då det finns Instagram och Facebook, även de nyare kanalerna som TikTok och snapchat på marknaden. Och dessa kan ha stor betydelse för det personliga varumärket också.

In an effort to reduce exorbitant employee turnover, the hospitality industry has recently offered career development programs to their employees in pursuit of longer retention. Such educational human resource (HR) practices are expected to increase the skill flexibility of individual employees (i.e., individual skill breadth) across a wide range of skill categories, leading to lower turnover through improved job satisfaction. However, the empirical association between employee skill flexibility and turnover at the individual level has remained unexplored in the HR literature. This study fills in this research gap by drawing on the theoretical framework of employee skill flexibility in the field of strategic human resource management (SHRM). Building on a unique data set from over 10,000 LinkedIn profiles among hotel employees in major brands across the United States, we operationalize their skill flexibility and find its association with turnover. For this purpose, we first identify seven hotel employee-specific skill categories using an unsupervised machine-learning method and subsequently quantify skill flexibility at the individual level. Our results show that the association between skill flexibility and turnover is moderated by skill categories. This study contributes to the HR literature as a data-driven implementation of human capital analytics (HCA). / Doctor of Philosophy / Employee turnover has long been a critical issue in the hospitality industry. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the hospitality sector had a turnover rate of 86.3% in 2021, while the average of all industries is 47.2%. As the quality of customer service in hotels is directly linked to the competence of employees, it is essential to reduce the turnover rate and retain highly skilled workers for long-term competitiveness. One of the most effective ways to achieve this is by developing employees' skill sets through upskilling and reskilling practices (Deloitte, 2020), which can improve their flexibility and performance in the workplace. By analyzing the profiles of 10,560 hotel employees on LinkedIn, this study identified key skill categories using machine-learning-based text analytics, then, two main variables are operationalized: individual skill flexibility using the Herfindahl-Hirschman index and turnover frequency. This study found that the role of individual skill flexibility on turnover is contingent on specific skill categories employees have. Individual skill flexibility is negatively associated with turnover in employees with accounting and finance skills, but employees with software skills show a positive association between individual skill flexibility and turnover. The findings in this study suggest that hotel managers and HR practitioners need to implement customized skill training programs based on their employees' primary skill sets. By doing so, they can focus more specifically on individual career development, continuously reconfigure their workforce, and improve the company's resilience. By reducing turnover rates and retaining highly skilled employees, hotels can also enhance customer service quality and achieve a competitive advantage in the long run. Such findings are largely consistent with anecdotal evidence found in major hotel brands and operators.

Digitaliseringen är ett centralt fenomen för vår samtid där framväxten av digitala plattformar bland annat påverkat hur företag interagerar med varandra. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka om skapandet av nya relationer mellan företag underlättas genom användandet av sociala medieplattformar, samt vilken typ av relation som dessa plattformar ger upphov till. Detta är av intresse att undersöka då förbindelser är essentiellt för att inkluderas i nätverk och det finns en avsaknad av forskning kring den roll sociala medieplattformar har för relationsprocessen mellan företag. Uppsatsen fokuserar på små och medelstora företag (SME:s) ur ett B2B-perspektiv, samt plattformarna Facebook, Instagram och LinkedIn. För att utvärdera och analysera relationsprocessen applicerades Dwyer, Schurr och Ohs modell om relationsprocessen. Vidare genomfördes semikonstruerade intervjuer bestående av frågor med öppna svar samt frågor formulerade som påståenden med fyra företag. Resultatet visar att de studerade företagen använder sig av sociala medieplattformar där det främsta ändamålet är att etablera en närvaro för att skapa kännedom kring varumärket. Undersökningen visar att användandet av sociala medieplattformar hjälper SME:s att initiera nya relationer genom att en närvaro ökar chansen att upptäcka eller bli upptäckt av potentiella samarbetspartners. De relationer som skapats via sociala medieplattformar har underlättat för företagen att inta en insiderposition i etablerade nätverk på främmande marknader. När det kommer till vilken typ av relationer som knutits mellan företagen är det, inom denna studie, weak ties där samtliga utvecklats sedan kontakten påbörjats.

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Antalet användare på sociala medier har på de senaste åren ökat successivt på grund av de effektiva kommunikationsverktygen som underlättar kontaktknytningen med vänner, familj och arbetskollegor. Trots ökade användare på sociala medier visar tidigare forskning på att flera användare inte är medvetna om den stora mängd data som samlas in av olika sociala plattformar såsom Facebook och LinkedIn. Syftet med denna studie är därmed att beskriva hur nätanvändare beaktar personlig integritet på Facebook och LinkedIn. För att uppnå studiens syfte har vi samlat in det empiriska materialet genom en enkätundersökning som resulterade i svar från 144 respondenter. Utifrån det empiriska materialet har studiens forskningsfråga besvarats som omfattar hur Facebook- och LinkedIn användare skyddar sig mot personligt integritetsintrång. Resultatet visade på att nätanvändare valde att skydda sig på olika sätt baserat på hur medvetna var om datahanteringen och hur bekanta de var med respektive sociala media. En central likhet mellan de undersökta sociala medierna var att användare från både Facebook och LinkedIn skyddade sig genom olika lösenordsstrategier. En stor skillnad som framkom kring hanteringen av sekretessinställningar var att Facebook-användare justerade inställningarna kontinuerligt för att minimera risker för att obehöriga inte ska kunna ta del utav den personliga informationen. Flera LinkedIn-användare hittade däremot inte sekretess inställningarna vilket kan bero på den låga användningsnivån av plattformen till skillnad från användare som använder Facebook dagligen. / The number of users on social media has in recent years gradually increased due to the effective communication tools that facilitate contact with friends, family and co-workers. Despite the increase in users on social media, previous research shows that many users are not aware of the vast amount of data collected by different social platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn. The purpose of this study is therefore to describe how network users take account to privacy on Facebook and LinkedIn. In order to achieve the purpose of the study, we collected the empirical material through a survey resulting in answers from 144 respondents. Based on the empirical study, the research question has been answered which depends on how Facebook- and LinkedIn users protect themselves against privacy intrusions. The result showed that network users chose to protect themselves in different ways based on how aware they were of the data management. A central similarity between the studied social media platforms was that users from both Facebook and LinkedIn protected themselves through different password strategies. A significant difference was found regarding the privacy settings of Facebook-users who adjusted the settings continuously to minimize the risk of unauthorized being able to take part of the personal information. Several LinkedIn-users did not find the privacy settings that may be due to the low usage level of the platform, unlike users who use Facebook daily.

Previous research has mainly focused on the social capital formation process on Facebook. In general, professionally-oriented social network sites (P-SNSs), such as LinkedIn, are under-researched in the Information Systems discipline. In addition, current studies do not include the effects of important elements of social network sites (SNS) such as one’s profile on social capital formation. As such, the main objective of this research is to propose and validate a model that explains the process by which individuals develop and accrue social capital through using P-SNSs. The theoretical framework of the proposed research draws upon Social Network Analysis, Social Media Analysis, and Social Capital Theory. Using an online survey of 377 LinkedIn users, this study finds that: (1) P-SNS users’ actions (perceived profile disclosure, active participation, and passive consumption) have significant positive effects on perceived social connectedness; (2) perceived social connectedness on P-SNSs has a significant positive effect on perceived networking value on these sites; (3) perceived profile disclosure and passive consumption have significant positive effects on network size; (4) active participation does not have any effect on network size; and (5) network size does not have a significant effect on perceived networking value. Overall, this investigation advances our understanding of how social capital is formed in P-SNSs. Additionally, by including the profile disclosure construct in the research model, this is the first study in the P-SNS context that investigates the role of the user profile in the social capital formation process, along with user actions such as active participation and passive consumption. From a practical perspective, this study has implications for different audiences such as job seekers, policy-makers, and P-SNS providers, assisting them in playing a more effective role in the social capital formation process on P-SNSs. / Thesis / Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) / In recent years, people increasingly spend their time on various social network sites (SNSs) such as Facebook and LinkedIn. This raises a serious question as to how people gain actual benefits from using these sites. This research examines this question from the lens of social capital. As such, the main objective of this research was to propose and validate a model that explains the process by which individuals develop social capital through professionally-oriented SNS such as LinkedIn. This study finds that to gain actual benefits from professionally-oriented SNS, such as networking value, people need to feel connected to their social networks on the site. This feeling of connection requires that people actively participate on the site (e.g., share a post) rather than just reading and following other people’s posts. Also, to connect with more people, individuals should disclose more information on the site.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-02T21:42:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Lilian Cristina.pdf: 1059441 bytes, checksum: a594dec839ce5298c86a3ae9b48dc804 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-25 / The turnover intention refers to the probability of individuals leaving their current job. This topic has become relevant to organizations since it is a potential problem, which may affect the organizations competitiveness, amongst other reasons. It is believed that some of the individuals who have turnover intention look for means of communication, new technologies, such as the professional social network LinkedIn, in order to spread their professional information, find professional opportunities by networking, as well as obtain more information about the labor market, besides different other functions. Therefore, the turnover intention may be considered as a previous factor to the individual adoption of the professional social network LinkedIn. This study has analyzed the previous factors that may influence the usage and how they use the professional social network LinkedIn, guided by the theoretical perspective of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), by Venkatesh et al (2003), and also guided by the scale of the turnover intention, by Siqueira et al (2014)and Van Dam (2008). The research is based on a quantitative investigation approach, in which data collection was done using a research tool, and obtained 292 answered questionnaires, which has made it possible to validate the relations between the constructs of the research model developed for the study of the individual adoption of the professional social network LinkedIn. There was an analysis of structural equations to make the test of the study hypotheses, based on PLS-PM (Partial Least Squares Path Modeling) from which satisfactory measures for all the investigated constructs and proposed models were presented, and all the relations between the constructs were significant. The results obtained by this study confirm the influence of previous factors, such as Performance Expectancy, Effort Expectancy, Social Influence, and Turnover Intention, on the intention of using the professional social network LinkedIn. The study concludes that the Performance Expectancy was revealed to be the greatest influence in the intention of using LinkedIn, since there is the perception that by using it, it is possible to obtain some professional benefits as well as other aspects. The second factor to present the greatest influence was the Turnover Intention, once some individuals, by adopting LinkedIn, may tend to show it to other people or organizations that are interested in their talents, experiences, skills, network and so on. The Effort Expectancy, in turn, showed that some individuals notice it is easy to interact with such technology, and the Social Influence showed that there is the individuals perception as to the influence of their network in their intention of using LinkedIn. / A intenção de rotatividade refere-se à probabilidade de os indivíduos deixarem o seu trabalho atual. Este tema se tornou relevante para as organizações por ser um potencial problema que pode afetar a competitividade das organizações, entre outros motivos. Acredita-se que alguns dos indivíduos com intenção de rotatividade possivelmente buscam meios de comunicação, novas tecnologias, como a rede social profissional LinkedIn objetivando disseminar suas informações profissionais, localizar oportunidades profissionais, obter mais contatos e informações sobre o mercado de trabalho, entre outras possibilidades. Desse modo, a intenção de rotatividade pode ser avaliada como um fator antecedente à adoção individual da rede social profissional LinkedIn. Este estudo analisou os fatores antecedentes que podem influenciar a intenção de uso e o comportamento de uso da rede social profissional LinkedIn, apoiando-se na perspectiva teórica da Teoria Unificada de Aceitação e Uso da Tecnologia (UTAUT), de Venkatesh et al (2003), e na escala de intenção de rotatividade, de Siqueira et al (2014) e Van Dam (2008). A pesquisa fundamenta-se em uma abordagem de investigação quantitativa na qual os dados foram coletados por meio de um instrumento de pesquisa com a obtenção de 292 questionários respondidos, o que possibilitou a validação dos relacionamentos entre os construtos componentes do modelo de pesquisa desenvolvido para o estudo da adoção individual da rede social profissional LinkedIn. Para realizar o teste das hipóteses do estudo, procedeu-se a análise de equações estruturais, com base no PLS-PM (Partial Least Squares Path Modeling) a partir do qual foram apresentadas medidas satisfatórias para os construtos investigados e o modelo proposto, sendo significativas todas as relações entre os construtos. Os resultados obtidos por esta pesquisa confirmam a influência dos fatores antecedentes Expectativa de Desempenho, Expectativa de Esforço, Influência Social e Intenção de Rotatividade na intenção de uso da rede social profissional LinkedIn. O estudo concluiu que Expectativa de Desempenho revelou-se o fator que mais influencia na intenção de uso do LinkedIn, pois há a percepção de que ao utilizar o LinkedIn pode-se obter benefícios profissionais, entre outros aspectos. O segundo fator que apresentou maior influência na intenção de uso do LinkedIn foi a intenção de rotatividade, uma vez que alguns dos indivíduos, ao adotarem o LinkedIn, provavelmente tendem a mostrar para as outras pessoas/organizações interessadas quais são os seus talentos, suas experiências, competências, além de obter mais contatos, entre outros motivos. Já a Expectativa de Esforço demonstrou que alguns indivíduos percebem que é fácil a interação desta tecnologia. A Influência Social constatou que existe a percepção dos indivíduos quanto à influência da sua rede de contatos na intenção de uso do LinkedIn.

Title: The impact of digitalization on today’s local boutiques A qualitative study on how Quinte, Gillblads and Tátch can take advantage from digitalization Authors: Victoria Ehrenström and Carolina Long Examiner: Frederic Bill Supervisor: Anders Hytter Course: Enterprising and Business Development, bachelor thesis, 15 credits Semester: Spring 2018 Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is that through a qualitative study of Quinte, Gillblads and Tatch illustrate how companies can take advantage from the digitalization of their marketing. Research questions: How does Quinte, Gillblad and Tátch include digitalization in their business strategy? How can Quinte, Gillblads and Tátch take advantage from digitalization to increase sales? Which marketing strategies are applied at Quinte, Gillblads and Tátch to increase sales and create competitive advantages on the market? Method: Qualitative interviews Results: After completing the study, it has been found that Quinte does not have a sufficiently developed digital strategy. The use of social media has resulted in more customers visiting the boutique and asking for clothes they have seen on the channels. Gillblads uses digital technology, in the form of e-commerce and inventory management. The use of social media has led to spontaneous purchases, but the channels are not used continuously, because of staff shortage. Tátch uses digital technology passively, as the company does not have the financial conviction or a sufficiently developed digital strategy. The use of social media has led to increased sales as it creates interest for the consumer. Keywords: Business strategy, digitalization, digital technology, marketing strategy, social media, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Influencer Marketing / Titel: Digitaliseringens påverkan på dagens lokala butiker En kvalitativ studie om hur Quinte, Gillblads och Tátch kan dra nytta av digitaliseringen Författare: Victoria Ehrenström och Carolina Long Examinator: Frederic Bill Handledare: Anders Hytter Kurs: Enterprising and Business Development, examensarbete (kandidat), 15 hp Termin: Vårterminen 2018 Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att genom en kvalitativ studie av Quinte, Gillblads och Tátch illustrera hur företag kan dra nytta av digitaliseringen i sin marknadsföring. Problemformuleringar: Hur inkluderar Quinte, Gillblads och Tátch digitalisering i deras affärsstrategi? Hur kan Quinte, Gillblads och Tátch dra nytta av digitaliseringen för att öka försäljningen? Vilka marknadsföringsstrategier tillämpas hos Quinte, Gillblads och Tátch för att öka försäljningen och skapa konkurrensfördelar på marknaden? Metod: Kvalitativa intervjuer Resultat: Efter att ha genomfört studien har det framkommit att Quinte inte har en tillräckligt utvecklad digital strategi. Användandet av sociala medier har resulterat i att fler kunder besöker butiken och frågar efter klädesplagg de sett på kanalerna. Gillblads använder sig av digital teknik, i form av e-handel och lagerhantering. Användandet av sociala medier har lett till spontana köp och köpsug, däremot används inte kanalerna kontinuerligt, detta på grund av personalbrist. Tátch använder digital teknik passivt, då företaget inte har den ekonomiska övertygelsen eller en tillräckligt genomarbetad digital strategi. Användandet av sociala medier har medfört ökad försäljning då det skapar intresse för konsumenten.

Social networking sites and their functions are in constant change and with every new innovation different user behaviors are encouraged or prevented. Persuasive design is one way of designing a system to encourage a certain behavior. In this study we conducted four surveys of Sweden’s four most popular Social networking sites and how they are used. We followed up with ten interviews to gain understanding of why the users use these sites in a certain way. We identified four different target behaviors on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn with help from the results we gathered from our surveys and our interviews. We then used a behavior model for persuasive design (FBM) to identify the different factors of the model in Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn’s design. The three factors of the behavior model are: motivation, ability and triggers. To gain further understanding of how Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn motivates, allows and triggers users to perform target behaviors we analyzed our findings using theories from research already done on persuasive design. We found that persuasive design was a powerful tool when it comes to making users perform a certain target behavior. Where the target behavior was not being performed we identified where the design did not correspond with the behavior model. Our goal was to expand on the behavior model by providing it with real world examples. By doing so we hope to help designers gain further understanding about how persuasive design works and how to put it into practice.