The concept of commitment has emerged recently in international business literature especially in explaining importer behaviour as a counterpart of the process of internationalisation. Importer commitment often plays a dominant role as one of the major factors influencing relationships in the exporter-importer dyad and facilitates the process of internationalisation by imparting access to the international market. This critical importer and supplier relationship and its animating factors are, however, overlooked and largely neglected in the literature. Accordingly, it is inconclusive as to which factors influence importer commitment and how they influence it. Drawing on the literature, this study strived to investigate the spectrum of importer commitment and has explicitly examined eight factors influencing importer commitment to a foreign supplier by integrating the factors in a comprehensive model. Cultural similarity between importer and overseas supplier, knowledge and experience of the importer, the supplier's competencies, communication between importer and supplier, the supplier's opportunism, the importer's trust, importer transaction-specific investment, and environmental volatility of the import market have been identified as possible antecedents of importer commitment. Theoretical foundations are drawn basically from transaction cost economics, internationalisation process theory and resource-based theory of the firm to design a basic framework for quantitative investigation. Further, the study endeavors to gain important insights into the phenomena related to the trust and commitment building process through qualitative in-depth interviews. In addition, to validate the qualitative reasoning, a competing quantitative model is developed where trust plays a mediating role for some of the predictor variables in the model. Primary data were collected from a sample of 232 industrial and commercial importers in a developing country for empirical verification of the quantitative models using Structural Equation Modeling. As reported in this thesis, the proposed model with minor modifications fit better with the data compared to the competing model, and it explained 56% of the variance of importer commitment. However, the analysis of the modified proposed structural model revealed that ten out of fourteen hypotheses are significant including five direct paths as antecedents of importer commitment. The mediating role of trust and opportunism in the model is also supported. Twelve interviews were conducted to add in-depth richer insights into the study for further verification of the knowledge development, and trust and commitment building process in the importer-supplier relationship. The findings support most conceptual links in the qualitative model and lend support to most of the hypothesised relationships in the modified competing quantitative model. These findings extend the application of the underpinned theories and their tenets in explaining the importersupplier commitment relationship and contribute to the body of knowledge. Implications of the findings are discussed and future research directions are recommended.

This study focussed on teacher training in the context of distance education. It investigated the impact on practice of an English methodology course offered by Unisa’s Department of English Studies at certificate level. The unit of analysis was a group of eight student teachers registered for the module ACEEN26 Teaching English: General Principles offered by Unisa’s Department of English Studies. This module aims to help students to understand the approaches that underpin Outcomes-based Education (OBE) and how these translate into practice in the English First Additional Language (FAL) classrooms. To investigate the participants’ classroom practices, the study adopted an open and inductive approach aimed at gauging their thinking with regard to teaching, learning, assessment and how these understandings reflected OBE practices. The aim was to determine how the eight students made sense of this phenomenon given their own epistemologies within the unique contexts in which they worked. Data collection consisted of a mix of lesson observations, in-depth audio-taped interviews and analysis of documents. The interview was the main data-gathering technique. All these instruments were supplemented by field notes based on informal observations which were entered in a reflective journal. The picture that emerged was of teachers who worked under demanding conditions as they tried to implement complex and sometimes contradictory policies and were constantly under the pressure of policy demands. Their practices were, to a large extent, inconsistent with the OBE approach to teaching and learning. Although they gained some theoretical surface knowledge from the course, the students’ practice remained traditional because of two main reasons emanating from the findings: their inability to internalise the theory to make it an integral part of their mental repertoire and the negative impact of disabling contextual factors.The study constituted an evaluation of the course and therefore fed directly into the whole concept of dialogue and student support which are necessary prerequisites for success in distance education. As a teacher educator, this research was also a way of illuminating my teaching practices through practical research that simultaneously informs the field of teacher education. Based on the training needs identified, a re-contextualised curriculum for the ACE English programme was proposed. This proposed new programme reflects my stance that instead of continuing to focus on pouring resources into dysfunctional schools, we should concentrate on the lowest denominator in the system — the teacher. / Educational Studies / D. Litt. et Phil (English)

Submitted by Nadir Basilio (nadirsb@uninove.br) on 2016-09-01T21:02:51Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Valmir Alves Ventura.pdf: 3298811 bytes, checksum: 15d1e14ae8cc68eef2e5840c2f85b5b1 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-01T21:02:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Valmir Alves Ventura.pdf: 3298811 bytes, checksum: 15d1e14ae8cc68eef2e5840c2f85b5b1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-26 / This thesis aimed to investigate and respond how the learning mediates the process of strategic entrepreneurship (SE) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of high organic growth. As the adopted theoretical foundation, the SE was set as the organizational ability to develop simultaneously, on the one hand, the opportunity-seeking (exploration) strategies (OSS) prospecting strategies opportunity and more radical innovations, preparing the structure, organizational culture and operations, unstructured or routinely to generate sources of future competitive advantage, and moreover, advantage-seeking (exploitation) strategies (ASS) and more incremental innovations aligned with key business skills and opportunities identified in previous periods, a more structured and regular manner by means of known routines to generate competitive advantage in the short and medium term. The study is featured with a inductive qualitative research, based on multiples cases studies of six high organic growth of SMEs, operating in different segments, and located in four states. As the main procedure of data collection, there were semi-structured interviews with managers and employees. And as an accessory procedure, direct observation, focus interviews and collecting documentary evidence were carried out. The study took place in three phases. At first, indications of SMEs characterized as high organic growth were given by entities such as Endeavor, CIETEC / USP and PROINE / UFG. It is observed that these companies account for 1.5% of operating in the market. In the second part, there was the collection of data to find what were the actions and organizational strategies adopted in each case. In the third part, it was executed the analysis of data of the multiples cases based on the theories, concomitant with their field validation. As the main result of this thesis, it was identified that mediate learning in the SE process in high organic growth SMEs happens in an evolutionary and systemic manner, for four interdependent phases, Stimulation, Emancipation, Integration and Overrun. In phase 1, the entrepreneurial leadership provides the opportunity for employees to experience challenges and expand their cognitive abilities for the sake of personal and organizational development. This leadership transforms the environment of tension in positive stimulus and creates a learning culture that, systemically, spreads from anywhere in the organization. In phase 2, the employees acquire greater autonomy because they share the same environment in the search for solutions to organizational problems. In phase 3, the equity in the interaction with the social environment and the relevance of the objectives integrating the team, generate belloging and soften possible differences. In phase 4, the knowledge of limits, capabilities and organizational challenges creates resilience, which systemically, feeds back and strengthens the system. Mediation of learning is complex, built incrementally, and their maturity does not depend on a pre-set exact point, because it is subject combination of mechanisms and mediation elements. The mechanisms that interact and permeate the four phases are: conditioning factors of learning, strategies for prospecting and exploitation, organizational (culture, structure and operations) and types and levels of learning. Studies like this can contribute grants to small organizations, medium and large to stimulate an entrepreneurial leadership, reduce organizational stress and create a culture of learning, in order to implement effectively and balance the PSO and CARS to generate growth and wealth for organizations. / Esta tese objetivou investigar e responder como a aprendizagem media o processo do empreendedorismo estratégico (EE) em pequenas e médias empresas (PME) de alto crescimento orgânico. Conforme fundamentação teórica adotada, definiu-se EE como a capacidade organizacional de desenvolver simultaneamente, de um lado, estratégias de prospecção de oportunidade (EPO) e inovações mais radicais, preparando a estrutura, cultura organizacional e operações, de forma não estruturada ou rotineira, para gerar fontes de vantagem competitiva futura, e por outro lado, estratégias de aproveitamento de vantagem competitiva (EAVC) e inovações mais incrementais, alinhadas às competências empresariais essenciais e às oportunidades identificadas em períodos anteriores, de forma mais estruturada e regular, por meio de rotinas conhecidas, para gerar vantagem competitiva em curto e médio prazos. O estudo é caracterizado com uma pesquisa qualitativa, indutiva baseada no estudo de casos múltiplos de seis PME de alto crescimento orgânico, atuantes em diferentes segmentos, e localizadas em quatro estados brasileiros. Como procedimento principal de coleta de dados, realizaram-se entrevistas semi-estruturadas com gestores e colaboradores, e como procedimento acessório, realizaram-se observação direta, entrevistas focais e coleta de dados documentais. A pesquisa ocorreu em três fases. Na primeira, por meio de entidades como Endeavor, CIETEC / USP e PROINE / UFG, obteve-se indicações de PME, caracterizadas como de alto crescimento orgânico. Observa-se que essas empresas correspondem a 1,5% das atuantes no mercado. Na segunda, realizou-se a coleta de dados de modo a constatar quais eram as ações e estratégias organizacionais adotadas em cada caso. Na terceira, efetuou-se a análise dos dados dos múltiplos casos à luz das teorias, concomitante com sua validação em campo. Como principal resultado desta tese, foi identificado que a mediação da aprendizagem no processo do EE em PME de alto crescimento orgânico ocorre de forma evolutiva e sistêmica, em quatro fases interdependentes, Estimulação; Emancipação; Integração; e Superação. Na Fase 1, a liderança empreendedora propicia a possibilidade aos colaboradores de vivenciarem desafios e ampliarem suas capacidades cognitivas em prol do desenvolvimento pessoal e organizacional. Essa liderança transforma a tensão do ambiente em estímulo positivo e cria uma cultura de aprendizagem que, de forma sistêmica, dissemina-se a partir de qualquer ponto da organização. Na Fase 2, os colaboradores adquirem maior autonomia por compartilharem o mesmo ambiente na busca por soluções dos problemas organizacionais. Na Fase 3, a equidade na interação com o meio social e a pertinência dos objetivos integram a equipe, geram pertencimento e amenizam possíveis diferenças. Na Fase 4, o conhecimento dos limites, capacidades e desafios organizacionais gera resiliência, que de forma sistêmica, retroalimenta e reforça o sistema. A mediação da aprendizagem é complexa, construída de forma incremental, e sua maturação não depende de um ponto exato pré-definido, pois está sujeita a combinação dos mecanismos e elementos de mediação. Os mecanismos que interagem e permeiam as quatro fases são: fatores condicionantes da aprendizagem, estratégias de prospecção e de aproveitamento, organizacionais (cultura, estrutura e operações) e tipos e níveis de aprendizagem. Estudos como este podem contribuir com subsídios às organizações de pequeno, médio e grande portes para estimularem uma liderança empreendedora, reduzirem a tensão organizacional e criarem uma cultura da aprendizagem, de modo a aplicarem com efetividade e equilíbrio as EPO e as EAVC a fim de gerar crescimento e riqueza para as organizações.

O presente trabalho busca apresentar um panorama geral da aproximação da Psicologia com a tecnologia trazendo à tona a questão dos atendimentos psicológicos online, suas limitações e possibilidades. Os atendimentos online são regulamentados pelo Conselho Federal de Psicologia e devem seguir uma serie de normas, sendo possível apenas sua realização como orientação psicológica ou ainda como psicoterapia se em caráter experimental. O foco de atenção nessa dissertação será o atendimento enquanto orientação online, visando uma melhor compreensão sobre qual o seu sentido. Busca-se apresentar, através da análise de alguns emails recebidos pelo Núcleo de Pesquisa de Psicologia em Informática da PUC- SP que vem realizando orientações online através de e-mails desde 1998. Por esse procedimento, encaminham-se questionamentos e reflexões a respeito do fazer psicológico no meio virtual escrito. São também ensaiadas algumas questões na direção de compreender as possibilidades de atuação do psicólogo nesta modalidade de atendimento / The aim of this work is to present an overview of the approach of psychology with technology concerned to online appointments, their limitations and possibilities. Online Counselling are regulated by norms issued by the Federal Council of Psychology (Conselho Federal de Psicologia), and are restricted to the practice of psychological orientation and experimental psychotherapy. This dissertation intends to develop the concept of online attendance on the psychological counselling, in order to provide a better knowledge of its field of application. Research was based on e-mails received by PUC-SP Psychology in Computing Research Center (Núcleo de Pesquisa de Psicologia em Informática da PUC- SP), which has been performing online orientation appointments since 1998, and consists of presenting questions and deliberations about the psychological practice in the online written environment. Specific questions in order to understand the psychologist\'s practice in this kind of counselling are also discussed

Detta arbete belyser ämnet Svenska som andraspråk (Sva) genom fyra kvinnliga Sva-lärares upplevelser av hur deras kunskaper i Sva-ämnet beaktas av andra ämneslärare och rektorer. Studien genomfördes på ett högstadium och ett gymnasium i två olika kommuner. Förestående studie har en kvalitativ ansats innefattande inspelade intervjuer där intervjuaren utgick ifrån en intervjuguide. Resultaten pekar på likartade upplevelser hos alla fyra informanterna, nämligen att deras kunskaper i Sva inte utnyttjas av andra ämneslärare samt att det föreligger ett ointresse/okunskap hos såväl andra lärare och rektorer, som hos föräldrar och elever om Sva-ämnet. Samtidigt upplever informanterna att deras kunskaper behövs, men att det i nuläget inte förekommer något samarbete. De skolor som denna studie berör visar på en organisation som inte har en tydlig struktur kring hur flerspråkighetsundervisning bör bedrivas.

The objective of this thesis is to examine how language, gestures and physical artefacts are used in science classes with emergent bilingual students who do not share the same minority language as their classmates or teachers. The purpose is to contribute to findings that can enhance emergent bilingual students’ learning in science. The data consist of classroom observations in one 3rd grade (9–10 years old) and one 7th grade (13–14 years old) science class. In addition, the students in the 7th grade were interviewed. Whole-class instruction was carried out monolingually in Swedish. The students typically made meaning of the activities without any language limitations during conversations following an initiation, response and evaluation pattern (IRE). However, during longer conversations the students’ language repertoire in Swedish frequently limited their possibilities to express themselves. During group-work activities, students with the same minority language worked together and used both of their languages. One strategy used among the students to overcome language limitations was translating unfamiliar words into their minority language. In general, this supported the students’ learning in science. Occasionally, the students made incorrect translations of scientific concepts. The interviews with the students demonstrated how monolingual exams may limit emergent bilingual students’ achievements in science. When students’ language proficiency limited their possibility to express themselves, the students showed what they meant by using gestures. This resulted in the continuation of the lessons as both other students and teachers drew on the used gestures to talk about the science content. The physical artefacts implied that the students experienced the science content by actually seeing it, which the teacher then drew on to introduce how the phenomena or process in question could be expressed in scientific language. When students’ proficiency in the language of instruction limited their possibilities to make meaning, using physical artefacts enabled them to experience unfamiliar words being related to the science content and learn what they mean. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 4: Submitted.</p>

Background: Effective information exchange is an asset to effective lung cancer care. Although a considerable body of evidence informs the approaches to ‘diagnostic bad news delivery’, the exchange of information that takes place between patients with cancer and professionals with whom they interact thereafter is less well documented. Information exchange has an influential role throughout the lung cancer care continuum, providing patients and professionals with details relative to the cancer diagnosis and the subsequent choices to be made in its management. Information on disease extent, treatment and related side-effects, rehabilitation and prognosis are judged by patients as the most prominent for them. Despite awareness of the specific categories relevant to information exchange needs, there is little evidence available exploring the information exchange process, per se, within cancer generally and even less within the lung cancer context. Aim: To investigate information exchange processes during lung cancer consultations, specifically exploring information content which is both exchanged and not exchanged. Design: Qualitative, multiple case study design. Methods: A case centred on a patient with lung cancer. Within the case were the patients, the health professionals they consulted with and accompanying companions. Seven cases were recruited, which included 12 companions. Data were collected in outpatient clinics between 2010 and 2011. Data were digital recordings of consultations; debrief interviews immediately post-consultation and later in-depth patient interviews. All interviews were transcribed and analysed for pattern matching and coding. Findings: Analysis of categorical data indicated cases were typical of the Scottish lung cancer population across all demographic domains, accept age and performance status. The preliminary analysis showed across cases, almost universal satisfaction with the level and content of information exchange for the main a priori categories of diagnosis, treatment and treatment outcome. Substantive analysis revealed that information content across the a priori categories was influenced by the presence of the accompanying companion. Within the clinical consultation, companion influence on information exchange was shown to be mediating, moderating or neutral. A key finding which emerged showed companion accompaniment to be a negotiated process, with three identifying levels of accompaniment. Non-negotiated companion presence at the clinic was associated with influential and expert companions who significantly moderated the content, direction and flow of information exchange, using the constructs of companion control, companion agenda and companion as expert. Persuasive influences further shaped non-negotiated accompaniment and were identified as demographic characteristics and relationship alliances. Patient and professional perspective regarding companion accompaniment was shown to be discordant. Conclusions: The level of negotiated companion presence at lung cancer clinics has direct implications for clinical care. There needs to be greater understanding among professionals of ways in which information exchange can be influenced by companions.

Submitted by Jakeline Ortega (jakortega@unoeste.br) on 2016-09-12T19:36:09Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Mestrado Homéro finalizado. 5 maio 2016.pdf: 937793 bytes, checksum: 5ee9b6503371fb4300b9d992331aebcc (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-12T19:36:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Mestrado Homéro finalizado. 5 maio 2016.pdf: 937793 bytes, checksum: 5ee9b6503371fb4300b9d992331aebcc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-04-30 / The hereby study, affiliated to the research line “Forming and Pedagogical Formation of the Professional Docent”, under the Masters in Education of the University of Western Sao Paulo (Unoeste) in Presidente Prudente-SP, had as goal ains to identify and discuss the profile of the docent responsible for the “Reading Room Program”, its initial and continuing formation and its intervention practices in the process of building the critical-reflexive thinking of the elementary education students/readers. The qualitative research was set under a study case. It was used an epistemological reference about the social-semiotics nature of the language, the text and reading socio-cultural conceptions, and the docent formation. The procedures applied in the data collection were the documental analysis and interviews semi-structured with three docents responsible for the referred Program, who are active in schools of full-time Education in a county in the country side of Sao Paulo. Among the results obtained, it’s highlighted the fragilities in the conditions offered by the State, which get to the point of compromising the performance of the attributions given to the teacher responsible for the Program. However, from the evaluative point of view of the three docents participating in the research, a fascination discourse emerged from the participation in the Program, and of understanding that the continuing formation has made “good results” possible in the practice of reading works. This discourse also constitutes an object of critical reflection in this thesis. / O presente estudo, vinculado à linha de pesquisa “Formação e Prática Pedagógica do Profissional Docente”, do Mestrado em Educação da Universidade do Oeste Paulista (Unoeste) em Presidente Prudente-SP, teve o objetivo de identificar e discutir o perfil do docente responsável pelo “Programa Sala de Leitura”, sua formação inicial e continuada e suas práticas de mediação no processo de construção do pensamento crítico-reflexivo dos alunos/leitores da educação básica. A abordagem foi qualitativa, configurada em um estudo de caso. Foi utilizado um referencial epistemológico sobre a natureza sociossemiótica da linguagem, as concepções socioculturais da leitura e do texto e da formação docente. Os procedimentos empregados na coleta dos dados foram a análise documental e entrevistas semiestruturadas com três docentes responsáveis pelo referido Programa, atuantes em escolas de Ensino Integral de um município do interior paulista. Dentre os resultados obtidos, destacam-se fragilidades nas condições ofertadas pelo Estado que chegam a comprometer o desempenho das atribuições dadas ao “professor responsável” pelo Programa. No entanto, do ponto de vista avaliativo das três professoras participantes da pesquisa, emergiu um discurso de encantamento na participação desse Programa e de reconhecimento de que a formação continuada vem lhes permitindo “bons resultados” nas práticas de trabalho de leitura. Esse discurso constitui, também, objeto de reflexão crítica nesta dissertação.

This study examines how university academics understand and enact knowledge requirements embedded in official teacher education policies. The research probes faculty understandings of what constitutes ‘relevant and appropriate pedagogies’ in teacher education curricula, and the basis of such knowledge selections in the absence of a stable ‘knowledge base’ of teacher education. In teacher education, new national norms and standards are intended to guide curriculum processes in new programmes. However, policies remain open to wide interpretation and assume common understandings among the teacher education community with regard to knowledge, practices and values. This study, conducted in three university-based Faculties of Education, analyses the curriculum motivations, processes and practices of education academics, in an attempt to understand and explain their responses to policy requirements. The conceptual framework of Paul Trowler is employed to examine the Teaching and Learning Regimes (TLRs) at work in academic contexts. By lifting out the discursive repertoires, identities in interaction, tacit assumptions, connotative codes, implicit theories of teaching and learning, power relations, rules of appropriateness and recurrent practices among faculty members, this research demonstrates how knowledge is mediated in and through institutional contexts. Three parallel Faculty portraits elucidate stark differences in approaches to curricula and in curriculum processes, a consequence of the lack of a stable knowledge base and the perceived vagueness of policy directives. Significantly, institutional histories and traditions feature prominently as ‘shapers’ of academic responses to change, factors that, the study argues, government policies have not taken into account. / Thesis (PhD (Education Policy Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

Background: Provide insights on the potential drivers of service loyalty in access-based services, especially when the consumers have the option to switch between owning a product or accessing a product through a service. By examining service loyalty in access-based services in the context of e-scooter sharing services, the researchers contribute to the service research field. Aim: Conceptualize service loyalty by considering the ownership dilemma in access-based services in micromobility. More specifically, the study aims to find what are potential drivers of service loyalty, what effects does ownership advantage have on service loyalty and what variables mediate the customer satisfaction – service loyalty relationship in said services. Methodology: A quantitative study, in which a survey method is chosen to gather empirical data. The survey was distributed as an online questionnaire via online platforms. In addition, an e-scooter sharing service company, Helbiz, shared the survey on their official Twitter and Facebook handles. A total of 249 responses was received. Findings: PLS-SEM was used as a statistical analysis tool to analyse the gathered data. Data suggests that customer satisfaction, service image, affective commitment and relative advantage are drivers of service loyalty in access-based services in micromobility. Furthermore, the effect of ownership advantage on service loyalty proved to be inconclusive as the result was not statistically significant. Finally, data indicates that service image, affective commitment and relative advantage mediate the customer satisfaction – service loyalty relationship.