The history of management practice is filled with innovations that failed to live up to the promise suggested by their early success. A paradox facing organization theory is that the failure of these innovations often cannot be attributed to an intrinsic lack of efficacy. To resolve this paradox, in this paper I study the process of innovation implementation. Working from existing theoretical frameworks, I synthesize a model that describes the process through which participants in an organization develop commitment to using a newly adopted innovation. I then translate that framework into a formal model and analyze it using computer simulation. The analysis suggests three new constructs—reversion, regeneration and the motivation threshold—characterizing the dynamics of implementation. Taken together, these constructs offer an alternative explanation for the paradox of innovations that produce early results but fail to find a permanent home in the organizations that adopt them.

This research concentrates on the visual aesthetics of a website, investigating the web user's affective/emotional reactions to different designs of web homepage aesthetics and their influence on subsequent behaviors of web users. Drawing on the existing theories and empirical findings in environmental psychology, human-computer interaction, aesthetics, and marketing research literature, a research model is developed to explore the relationships between the visual aesthetic qualities of a website homepage - webpage visual complexity and order, induced emotional states in users, and users' approach behaviors toward the website. The model predicts that the visual aesthetics of a web homepage elicit specific emotional responses by provoking intrinsic feelings of pleasantness / unpleasantness, arousal, as well as motivational pleasantness / unpleasantness in web users. These elicited emotional responses, which mediate the effect of homepage aesthetic features, in turn affect web users' subsequent behaviors toward the website, such as further approaching/exploring or avoiding the website. A set of pilot studies and a main laboratory experiment were conducted to test the model and its associated hypotheses. Based on the results of pilot studies, 12 versions of a Gift website's homepage, which varied at four levels of complexity and three levels of order, were selected the stimuli materials for the main experiment. A total of 467 undergraduate students participated in the main study. During the main study, we instructed the participants to browse the homepage stimuli for a goal-oriented web search activity or an excitement/enjoyment-seeking web browsing activity, measured how they felt about the homepage and their degree of approach/avoidance tendencies toward the entire website. The results of the study generally confirmed the belief that a web user's initial emotional responses (i.e., pleasantness and arousal) evoked by the aesthetic qualities of a website's homepage he/she first encounters will have carry-over effects on his/her subsequent approach behaviors toward the website.

Behaviour is usually assumed to depend on the reach of a critical intensitytermed reactivity thresholdby its motivation. This view represents a simple, predictive theoretical framework in ethology and psychology. However, it is here argued that only the influence of an isolated motivation on behaviour can be explained that way; that such a view fails to account for behaviour when several motivations are jointly activated. Upon analysis, the 'classical' theory of behaviour proves to be under-specified and thus leads to three conceptual problems that make it logically inconsistent for the study of multiple motivations. A revision of the 'classical' théory, called Anticipatory Dynamics Model (ADM), is then developed in order to bring a theoretical solution to these conceptual problems. The ADM hypothesizes that an organisms motivational interactions are due to the limitation of the organisms attentional resources. Several experiments are designed to test major predictions of the ADM. Tout comportement est censé dépendre du fait que sa motivation atteint une valeur critique d'intensité appelée seuil de réactivité. Cette approche constitue un cadre théorique simple et prédictif aussi bien en éthologie qu'en psychologie. Cependant, je tente de montrer que seule l'influence d'une motivation isolée sur le comportement peut être expliquée de cette façon ; que cette approche cesse d'être applicable lorsque plusieurs motivations sont activées simultanément. Après analyse, cette théorie 'classique' s'avère sous-spécifiée et conduit à trois problèmes conceptuels qui la rendent logiquement inconsistante pour l'étude des motivations multiples. Une révision de cette théorie 'classique', appelée Modèle de Dynamique Anticipatoire (MDA), est ainsi développée en vue d'apporter une solution théorique à ces problèmes conceptuels. Le MDA fait l'hypothèse que les interactions motivationnelles d'un organisme sont causées par la limitation de ses ressources attentionnelles. Plusieurs expériences ont été imaginées pour tester des prédictions importantes du MDA.

We wanted to study if and how students become motivated and stimulated towards a permanent interest for regular physical activity, from a pedagogical perspective. Our goal was to examine how physical education teachers create motivation for the students and how you, as a physical education teacher, can motivate those students who are physically inactive due to obesity or other various kinds of problems. In the theoretical background, we have made a summary of sports and development of the physical education subject over the years. We also describe society´s perspective on public health. The motivation concept is definded and we explain different motivational theories. The study shows how teachers can help motivate their students and we discuss earlier research concerning motivation. The examination consisted of semi-structured interviews interpreted on the basis of research questions. When it comes to creating motivation for physical activity among students, the result shows that physical education teachers are of utmost importance. The students´ motivation can be influenced in a positive way if teachers encourage and praise all children and vary the education, adapting it to needs of the students.

The issue of unemployment among immigrants in Sweden started from 1980s when a large amount of immigrants had no access to the labour market (Sördersten, 2004). Many foreign born citizens who could not find any jobs have to live on social welfare. Some of them have found a way to solve their unemployment by becoming self-employed. In 2003, Swedish Integration Board reported that the proportion of self-employment in Sweden was 7.4 percent. This proportion was higher among foreign-born (8.8 percent) compared to native Swedes (7.3 percent). It is of great academic interest for our group to conduct research on immigrant’s business entry decisions. This thesis specifically focuses on identifying and understanding the factors that influence immigrants’ decision to start up their business. This research was conducted in Jönköping municipality by doing a case study on nine ethnic entrepreneurs who come from Non-EU countries, namely: China, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Uganda and Vietnam. Many studies have been carried out on the topic of ethnic entrepreneurship by researchers such as Waldinger et al. (1990), Basu (1998), Curran and Blackburn (1993), Najib (1999) and Ram (1994). Previous studies will be treated in this thesis as a source of evidence and theoretical framework. Qualitative method was used in this thesis. Case study is particularly chosen as the most appropriate tool in qualitative method to conduct this specific research. In order to obtain information for this case study, semi-structured interview with guideline questions was used. Nine cases including: five restaurants, one clothing store, one cosmetic shop, one assembling company and one carpet shop were selected in this study. The results of this study showed that, the factors that motivated ethnic entrepreneurs’ decision to start their own business were: selective immigration, entrepreneurial traits, blocked mobility, opportunity recognition, level of education, desire for independence and autonomy, financial betterment, business background and previous business experience, business culture values, interests and hobbies. However, opportunity recognition, level of education, desire for independence and autonomy and financial betterment were the factors that played a significant role in immigrant business decision making process. The result also shows that positive (pull) factors outweighed negative (push) factors in immigrants’ decision to enter self-employment. One alternative to unemployment is to become self-employed. It is highly possible that self-employment will lead to lower unemployment among immigrants (Hammarstedt, 2001). It should be in interest of the Swedish government to support self-employment since it will contribute to the growth of the Swedish economy. This thesis may be of interest to Jönköping municipality and other governmental organizations as well as policy makers. It might help them to improve the integration level of immigrants into Swedish society, unemployment level or encourage self-employment by understanding the factors affecting immigrants to start up their own businesses.

An estimated 50% of mortality from the 10 leading causes of death is due to behaviour. Individuals can make important contributions to their own health by adopting health-related behaviours and avoiding others. Motivational interviewing (MI) has emerged as a counselling approach for behavioural change that builds on a patient empowerment perspective by supporting autonomy and self-efficacy. The overall aim of this thesis is to contribute to improved understanding of the different factors that impact on general health care professionals’ learning and practice of MI. Specific aims are; study I was to identify barriers, facilitators and modifiers to use MI with pharmacy clients in community pharmacies; study II was to identify barriers and facilitators to use MI with overweight and obese children in child welfare and school health services; study III was to evaluate the attitudes towards MI and clinical use of MI with children´s weight issues one year after child health care nurses’ participation in MI training; study IV was to systematically review studies that have evaluated the contents and outcomes of MI training for general health care professionals. Participants in study I were 15 community pharmacy pharmacists in Östergötland, Sweden. Participants in study II were five child welfare centre nurses from the county council and six municipally-employed school health service nurses, all from Östergötland, Sweden. Data for both studies were obtained through focus group interviews. Study III, participants were 76 nurses from child health care centres in Östergötland, Sweden. 1-year after MI training they answered a survey. Study IV, the material was 10 empirical studies that have evaluated different aspects of MI training. MI training for general health care providers is generally of short duration and tends to focus on specific topics such as diabetes, smoking, and alcohol. The training seems to contain more training on phase I elements, such as clients’ inner motivation, than on phase II, which involves strengthening clients’ commitment to change. MI is seen as practical and useful in work with lifestyle and health promotion issues, especially with issues that may be perceived as sensitive, such as alcohol and obesity. General health care providers have positive attitudes to MI and view MI as being compatible with their values and norms about how they want to work. Clients’ resistance reactions are difficult to handle in the first stages of learning MI, and may lead to frustration. Strategies to avoid resistance are including in the final stages of learning MI. Learning and clinical use of MI for general health care providers is influenced by interactions with their environment (colleagues, staff and organization). Unlearning of old knowledge can be a problem for general health care providers in the learning and clinical use of MI.

The purpose of this study was to describe how nurses, working in primary health care and responsible for diabetes care, reflected on patient information and education, its’ content and experiences of providing it. The study had a descriptive design and seven nurses from seven health care units in the middle of Sweden participated in the study. Data were analyzed with qualitative content analysis. The results are presented in two main categories; “The information” and “The procedure”. The two subcategories; Adjusting information and Bring about knowledge and to live with the disease emerged from “The information”. The five subcategories; Specific situation information, Increased insight about lifestyle changes, Developed dialogues, Nurses’ and patients’ perspective of responsibility and Supporting and follow ups were formulated from “The procedure”. Individual adjusted information within dialogues was highlighted. The motivational interview technique was considered as contributing to possibilities for more successful treatment and lifestyle changes. The main result showed that nurses responsible for diabetes care in primary health care empathized the need of individual adjusted information and the procedure providing it, in order to support the patients’ daily life.

No description available.

African Americans carry a disproportionate amount of the health burden for chronic disease in the United States (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2007). Diabetes, heart disease and cancer, to name a few, are diseases which prematurely capture the lives of African Americans. While chronic, these diseases are preventable with the advent of behavioral change. Physical activity is a primary contributor to longer life expectancy and fewer health concerns (United States Department of Health and Human Services, 1996). While American society, as a whole, struggles to incorporate more physical activity in their lifestyles, African Americans exhibit higher levels of physical inactivity which correlates to higher instances of preventable and chronic health problems in this subgroup of the population. Thus intervention which addresses the specific needs of this community, the mechanisms by which to prompt behavior change and the most effective means to disseminate this information is needed to affect health behavior change in this population. The African American church provides an ideal vehicle by which to diminish these health issues as existing teaching, support and resource mechanisms can be utilized. The current paper explores the relationship between increasing intrinsic motivation through employing motivational interviewing as a strategy to increase physical activity among African Americans church members.

Inom Kriminalvårdens tre ben häkte, anstalt och frivård, förs samtal med klienter för att försöka åstadkomma förändring. Denna uppsats fokuserar på samtalen med de klienter som inte bara är kriminella, utan även har ett missbruk av narkotika. Detta faktum gör att samtalen försvåras då det finns många underliggande faktorer som påverkar, både utifrån klientperspektiv som myndighetsperspektiv. För att ändå kunna skapa ett gott samtalsklimat som kan leda till förändring, ses detta arbete utifrån samtalsmetoden Motivational Interviewing, MI, vilken förespråkas av Kriminalvården. Den svenska översättningen av MI är Motiverande Samtal. En före detta klient och missbrukare har intervjuats liksom nio professionella med samtal som grundläggande arbetsmetod. Uppsatsen har ett fenomenologiskt perspektiv. Vad som framkommit under intervjuerna och vad som finns att hämta från litteraturen, har sedan analyserats utifrån ett humanistiskt och existentialistiskt samt ur ett kommunikativt perspektiv.                       Det studien tydligast visar på, är att samtal är en förutsättning för att bedriva ett bra arbete med de klienter som är bland de svåraste inom Kriminalvården. Dock visar studien på att det finns faktorer som försvårar samtalen för förändring. En slutsats dras att dessa behöver tas i beaktande för att de professionella inom Kriminalvården ska kunna utföra sitt arbete. Därför kan MI enligt resultatet utgöra en mycket bra grund i samtalen, men att det finns en del kvar som kan förbättras, inte minst utifrån aspekten att samtalen påverkas av flera inre och yttre faktorer, vilka specificeras i studien. Det är flera av de intervjuade som ej använder sig av MI, men det kan tolkas som att metoden i sig är lätt att ta till sig i då den utgår ifrån grundläggande mänskliga värderingar. Detta gör att metoddelarna i MI ändå kan skönjas även bland de intervjuade som inte säger sig ha användning av metoden. Kriminalvårdens personal har, trots många svårigheter att övervinna i arbetet, ett unikt tillfälle att samtala om förändring, oavsett om MI används som metod eller ej. / Within the three ”legs” of the Swedish Prison and Probation system; detention centre, prison and probation office, there are conversations held with the clients, with the purpose of bringing about a change. This essay is focused on the conversations with the clients who are not only criminals, but also have a drug abuse. This fact makes the conversations more difficult because of many underlying factors, both from the perspective of the client and of the authority. To be able to create a good climate for discussion which could lead to change, the method of Motivational Interviewing (MI) is used. MI is the foundation of the prison and probation authority´s everyday work with clients. A former client and drug addict, has been interviewed as well as nine professionals. The essay has a phenomenological perspective. The results of the interviews and what is found in the literature has been analyzed from a humanistic and existentialistic perspective as well as a communicative perspective.                       The most important findings in the study are that use of conversations is a very important and basic method to be able to carry on a good work with the most difficult clients within the Swedish Prison and Probation system. Yet, this essay also shows factors which makes the conversations towards change more difficult. The conclusion is drawn that the professionals within the Prison and Probation system, have to take these factors into consideration, to be able to do their work. Motivational Interviewing as an approach can therefore be, according to the result, a very good foundation in these conversations. The study also shows that there are still things that could be better, especially that the conversations can be influenced by several of inner and outer factors, which are specified in the study. There are many of the interviewed, that are not using the MI technique, though that could mean that the method in it self, is easy to embrace because of its base on fundamental human values. Therefore some of the MI techniques can be seen among the interviewed that stated that they didn´t have any use of the method. The staff of the Prison and Probation system have, despite the many difficulties in the work, a unique opportunity to discuss change, no matter if MI is used as a method or not.