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Research report submitted in accordance for partial requirements for the degree of Masters in Interdisciplinary Global Change Studies in the Faculty of Science at the University of the Witwatersrand, 2018 / The vision for this project is to aid in approaching climate change by providing an improved understanding of environmental concern. There are two missions. First, to develop heuristic models of environmental concern, and to utilize their constructs to assess environmental behaviour and environmental concern in a population. The model is intended to provide a depiction to aid in better understanding environmental concern and may aid in framing and developing intervention strategies to mitigate harmful effects of climate change. Broadly, assessments of environmental concern have been operationalized in two ways, as a unidimensional construct, ranging from high concern to low concern, or as multidimensional constructs demonstrating underlying reasons for environmental concern. Examining two multidimensional assessments reveals limitations of both and gaps between their underlying constructs. A reading of value-orientated theories from environmental ethics literature identifies six constructs for use in a multidimensional assessment of environmental concern. Utilizing equivalent constructs to the previous multidimensional assessments and expanding “nature” and natural entities into three separate categories results in six constructs intended to fill the gaps of the previous multidimensional assessments and may addresses some of their limitations. This reading also provides a theoretical foundation for designing items to relate to the six constructs. A theory map is presented which demonstrates constructs relating to an expanded narrative for use in multidimensional assessments. Climate change is a complex and often poorly understood phenomenon. Furthermore, it is clear that human behaviours are the underlying causes of climate change. Cross-disciplinary research and integration of several disciplines and fields of inquiry are necessary for developing sound approaches to climate change. Experimental philosophy and empirical ethics are discussed as guiding methodologies for this project. Meta-ethical fallacies and two considerations from the philosophy of science aid in contextualizing this research and provide epistemological limits for deriving ethical conclusions from facts about the world. A survey consisting of 11 sociodemographic items, the revised NEP scale’s 15 items, an existing 17 item environmental behaviour scale, and six 10 item original scales relating to six constructs based on value-orientated theories from environmental ethics and presented in the heuristic models, was drafted. An electronic version was designed and emailed to firstyear Life Science and Economics students. The environmental behaviour scale and the revised NEP scale are significant and correlate moderately positively, corroborating the hypothesis, that there is a relationship between environmental behaviour and environmental concern. While three of the six original scales (egocentrism, sociocentrism, and sentiocentrism) were unreliable, did not have many significant relationships with other variables, and require further development, the other three (nihilism, biocentrism, and ecocentrism) succeeded in corroborating the hypothesis, that there are underlying dimensions of environmental concern, and that they are significantly related to environmental behaviour. The project’s implications and recommendations discusses different intervention strategies in response to climate change as well as environmental communications and education, and how the heuristic models may aid in these topic’s endeavours. The project concludes by identifying a lack of environmental concern in two South African President’s State Of the Nation Addresses and stresses the need to improve environmental concern and increase the frequencies of people engaging in environmental behaviours. Key words: nature; natural entities; environment; environmental concern; environmental behaviour; value; environmental communication; environmental education; nihilism; anthropocentrism; egocentrism; sociocentrism; sentiocentrism; biocentrism; ecocentrism; experimental philosophy; empirical ethics; quantitative research. / XL2019

In the last 40 years the subject of police stress has gained increasing attention and a significant body of literature has emerged. This literature has documented the sources, types, and consequences of police stress. As a result of the negative consequences of police stress, a number of stress intervention services have been developed to treat police officers suffering from high stress. In spite of overwhelming evidence of the negative consequences of untreated police stress, stress intervention services remain under-utilized by police officers. Researchers cite concerns of stigma, confidentiality issues, and a general lack of confidence in service providers as reasons police do not use services. While numerous, most of the references to these factors are anecdotal in nature. Few empirical studies have focused on a systematic examination of variables that influence officer willingness to use services (positively or negatively), particularly in light of the growth of service offerings. Understanding what shapes officer willingness to use services remains a critical step in addressing the negative effects of police stress. This current study was designed to explore and examine factors that influence officer willingness to use services, with a focus on perceived organizational support (POS). The current study was undertaken with the cooperation of the Pennsylvania State Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) as the subject of police stress is of vital importance to the organization. A mixed-methods design was used to explore both the views of police officers regarding the availability and use of stress intervention services, and also the law enforcement agency response to issues of police stress. Qualitative methods included one-on-one interviews with 46 police officers throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which were used to inform the development of a police officer questionnaire (POQ). The POQ was distributed to 4,000 randomly-selected police officers throughout the state to obtain their views of the availability of services, willingness to use services, and perception of organizational support. Additionally, a survey was sent to all law enforcement agencies in Pennsylvania to obtain current information on the nature and extent of stress intervention services for police and explore organizational responses to police stress. Findings indicate that police officers in the Commonwealth have a wide variety of stress intervention services available through their agencies. Officers who have concerns regarding the confidentiality and stigma related to the use of services reported lower willingness to use services. In contrast, officers who perceive support from the organization and view the organization as supportive of the use of services are more willing to use stress intervention services. Findings contradicted several long-held beliefs about the police subculture and use of stress intervention services. Officers did not prefer peer-based services and did not express a lack of confidence in professional service providers (psychologists/therapists). Secondly, officers in the sample had lower than expected self-reports of alcohol consumption and incidents of divorce. Results of this study have some policy and practical implications for increasing police officer willingness to use stress intervention services. Additionally, the results suggest positive changes in police subculture and officer use of stress intervention services. / Criminal Justice

Leadership is a critical aspect of organizational success. There have been many leadership styles and models that have emerged from the efforts of both practitioners and researchers. In the early 2000s, authentic leadership offered the potential to be the next prominent leadership style. However, the evolution of the theory never established significant momentum, in part because of the lack of a clear and consistent definition of what it means to be an authentic leader. This is the first study to use a multi-disciplined qualitative approach for evaluating authenticity and leadership. Using grounded theory, this study attempted to revisit authentic leadership by decoupling authenticity from leadership and exploring what it means to be authentic in the context of leadership. Study One used interviews to examine authenticity in leadership by capturing how a diverse group of leaders conceptualize, observe and experience authenticity. The grounded theory analysis revealed themes and construct variables that were consistent with existing authentic leadership literature. In addition, new construct variables of fear and shifting of shared norms emerged to provide further understanding of the relationship between authenticity and leadership. Study One proposed exploring a new conceptual model for high authenticity in leadership. Study Two seeks to refine the conceptual model by further investigating the newly identified construct variables of fear and shifting of shared norms. This will be accomplished by performing a second series of interviews with another sample of leaders. Similar to Study One, a grounded theory approach was used to interpret respondent data and draw conclusions. / Business Administration/Interdisciplinary

Research and anecdotal evidence (e.g., the media) have suggested that individuals’ dress choice could lead to workplace success (e.g., Christman & Branson, 1990; Damhorst, 1990; Johnson & Roach-Higgins, 1987). Invoked in this notion is the premise that the favorable impression formed from wearing a particular dress result in positive treatment from others. While forming a positive impression is an important component of success (Reid, Lancuba, Morrow, 1997; Stuart & Fuller, 1991), workplace success could be a manifestation of the wearer’s daily dress driving changes in their own emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in a workplace relevant manner. Thus, my dissertation focuses on employees’ daily dress aesthetics, dress conformity, and dress comfort to examine whether these variables affect how one feels (i.e., relaxedness) and evaluates oneself (i.e., state self-esteem), thereby further influencing important workplace behaviors (i.e., task withdrawal, goal progress, helping, interaction avoidance). This dissertation also investigates clothing interest, impression management motives, trait self-esteem, and daily dress compliments as boundary conditions that amplify or attenuate the effects of dress aesthetics and dress conformity on work behaviors through self-esteem and relaxedness. / Business Administration/Human Resource Management

Organizations in sport and affiliated industries are gamifying their products by embedding affordances that make games attractive. While the sport industry enjoys the benefits of gamification, the literature on gamified sport products is scattered and ambiguous. Three studies were conducted to address these concerns. First, a systematic review of existing literature on gamified sport products was conducted to offer an understanding of the current state of research. Second, practitioners within organizations that manage gamified sport products were interviewed to understand the organizational practices employed to enhance consumer engagement. Third, a survey-based experiment was conducted to investigate consumers’ motivation to engage in gamified sport products that utilize AI based matchmaking. Results illuminate the growing trend in research of gamified sport products that predominantly investigates the consumer’s perspective and gamified fitness products. Furthermore, the factors that explain the ambiguity in consumer behavior toward different gamified sport products are highlighted. A model is developed that includes the different practices that are informed by the organization’s sensemaking processes and their influence on consumer’s cognition, resulting in consumer acquisition and retention. Lastly, results suggest that the application of AI based matchmaking in challenges leads to consumer’s motivation to engage with the gamified product because of the gameful experience derived. This relationship becomes more prominent as the consumer’s desire for competition increases. Collectively, the studies pave the way for future research in gamified sport products and guide practitioners in developing gamified sport products that enhance consumer engagement. / Tourism and Sport

This dissertation study seeks to better understand two main ideas around institutional advancement in higher education: the knowledge and evidence that informs practice and the structures and systems are set up for the sharing of this knowledge and evidence within and across these organizations. I use a conceptual framework based on organizational systems, learning, and culture theories along with the tenants of evidence-informed policy and practice (EIPP) to delve deeper into my research questions. These research questions include: 1) To what extent do advancement divisions value certain types of evidence and knowledge? 2) What types of evidence and knowledge do advancement divisions utilize to inform their practice and policies? 2a) What organizational practices and individual and organizational characteristics, if any, affect which knowledge guides the work of advancement organizations? 3) What organizational learning systems and structures are in place both within and outside advancement organizations that guide practice and internal policy making? 4) What sociodemographic and organizational characteristics, if any, show a relationship with systems and structures of knowledge management and mobilization of institutional advancement shops? I draw on an original data set that combines responses from survey methodology and data from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) AMAtlas Data Miner and Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) (n=1,826). Using a combination of descriptive statistics, ordinal logistic regression (OLR), and linear regression, I add to the literature base on philanthropy in higher education and gain insight into my research questions. The field of institutional advancement is understudied and often relies on anecdotal evidence versus more theory-based understanding of how work is carried out (Drezner, 2011; Drezner & Huehls, 2014; Walton, 2019). These findings push the field’s understanding of what knowledge, evidence, and learning systems and structures drive and guide the work of advancement. Advancement organizations value all types of knowledge and evidence in their work, including tacit, explicit, embedded, and research based. However, there is an incongruency between this valuing of all knowledge and evidence types and day-to-day practice. Practitioners are more likely to use and share tacit, explicit, embedded knowledge and evidence sources than research based. In addition to these findings, I find that advancement practitioners share knowledge and evidence using a multitude of different learning structures and systems both within their organization and across the broader field of institutional advancement. My study uses organizational theory and tenants of EIPP to highlight the ways that advancement practice can be further understood and improved. These improvements are critical to ensure that the field works towards a model of equity and inclusion for all alumni, donors, and stakeholders. In addition, with changing demographics and decreased alumni participation rates, the findings from my study are more important than ever to ensure the sustainability of these organizations for generations to come.

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