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Empowered by the internet and eWOM, online consumption community members now have a greater impact while considering customers’ purchase intentions. This qualitative study intends to examine the factors that impact these community members’ purchase intentions, by addressing the research question: How do internal behavioral and value creation factors impact customers’ purchase intentions in an online consumption community? Moreover, this study proposes a research model of purchase intention in an online consumption community inspired by the theory of planned behavior. As this study considers investigating human behaviors in the online sphere, a netnographic research design is applied. Utilizing the CAQDAS software NVivo 14, the study highlights the nine most engaging factors that impact the community members’ purchase intentions differently. Based on the findings, this study finally offers a research model that can be used in a similar research context.

The purpose of this case study was to explore the factors that influence Black students' decisions to participate in study abroad programs. This study took place at a large, public, Predominantly White Institution in the southeastern United States. Three theories formed a conceptual framework to guide this study, including Critical Race Theory, Theory of Planed Behavior, and Astin's Input-Environment-Output Model. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 5 Black study abroad alumni, which revealed 6 themes of influential factors in making decisions to participate in study abroad: (a) familiarity, (b) finance, (c) family, (d) faculty, (e) fear, and (f) finish.

The prevalence of overweight and obese children has increased dramatically in the United States over the past 20 years and is a symptom of multiple systemic and cultural changes that have significantly influenced alterations in energy intake, energy expenditures, and the energy balance of children across the nation. School-based obesity prevention programs addressing nutrition and healthy eating behaviors within the school environment and cultural context provide a unique opportunity to educate and engage students in healthy food consumption practices. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a three-year elementary school nutrition education program for students in grades kindergarten through fifth using a longitudinal analysis of two separate data sets, a nutrition skills behavior assessment survey of self-reported eating behaviors, and body mass index (BMI) scores derived from height and weight measurements of program participants. Nutrition survey results indicated that students reported making healthier food choices from August 2001 to November 2004, with a significant decrease in reported consumption of fats/oils/sweets and significant increases in reported consumption of milk, meat, vegetables, fruit and grains. BMI results indicated a 7.8% decline in the percentage of students in the "overweight" and "at-risk for overweight" categories between August 2001 and October 2004. The combined results of both measures indicate that the nutrition education program appeared to positively affect eating behaviors and body mass index percentages. Implications of the study and strategies for further research are proposed.

The purpose of this study was to apply the Revised Theory of Planned Behavior and EVENTQUAL models to explore (1) event qualities that significantly impact guests’ satisfaction with a university event that they attend, (2) significant factors influencing university loyalty as a result of an event, and (3) willingness to make a charitable donation to a university as a result of attending an event. An online survey was sent to attendees of an annual Cal Poly auction event between 2002 and 2016 that directly benefits Cal Poly students. The data were used to test a series of hypotheses to determine the fit of a proposed theoretical model. Although the study was limited by a small sample size of 74 subjects, it resulted in the creation of a revised event fundraising model. Student involvement proved to be the only quality significantly predicting a guest’s overall satisfaction with the event, explaining 12% of the variance. The combination of overall event satisfaction with a subset of the revised theory of planned behavior variables (attitude, descriptive norm, and moral norm) explained 51% of the variance in predicting university loyalty. Finally, intention to donate was best predicted as a combination of prescriptive norm, attitude, and university loyalty, accounting for 57% of the variance. Overall, the revised model is applicable in aspects of university event planning including event branding, marketing, and the involvement of students at the event. Of serious note is the statistically significant attitude variable. If an event planner can utilize a university event to shift the guests’ attitudes towards the event and university, this can greatly enhance not only intention to donate at one particular event, but the loyalty these people feel to the university or program.

Sharing automated vehicles (AVs) is a possible future, where shared automated vehicles (SAVs) and pooled automated vehicles (PooledAVs) are prospective on-demand AV configurations. While SAVs and PooledAVs can contribute to the sustainability of transport systems, the success of on-demand AVs depends on whether and how the public adopts them as regular travel modes. As such, this dissertation investigates five objectives: (1) to scrutinize the essential steps of designing a future mobility survey , while the primary focus of the survey is on respondents’ intentions to adopt various AV configurations (2) to propose and validate a theoretical model for on-demand AV adoption by extending the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), (3) to identify the prospective use cases of SAVs as the potential precursor of on-demand AVs, (4) to identify individual characteristics that may trigger different behavioral intentions among the on-demand AV service types, and finally (5) to investigate Canadians’ intentions to adopt on-demand AVs. A nationwide Canadian survey was designed and administered in fall 2021 (n = 5002) among adults (18 to 75 years old) residing in six major Canadian metropolitan areas: Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa-Gatineau, Montréal, Calgary, and Hamilton. The findings of this dissertation paint a complex picture of on-demand AV adoption in the Canadian context with respect to the application of constructs from common technology adoption models and will help researchers investigating the characteristics of prospective consumers of on-demand AVs to identify the importance of affective motivations regarding adopting such emerging travel modes. The results reveal that many Canadians are yet either uncertain or reluctant to adopt AV technology in shared mobility services. In this light, policymakers and planners should adjust and moderate their expectations regarding the future market for on-demand AVs and be prepared for potential changes in travel behavior by examining incremental changes in existing on-demand ride-hailing services. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This dissertation assesses the conditions under which Canadians are willing to use fully automated vehicles (AVs) and investigates public perceptions and intentions to use “automated ride-hailing services,” which function as a taxi or Uber/Lyft service without a driver, and “pooled automated ride-hailing services,” which are a form of ride-hailing services, where passengers share a ride with someone they do not know to save on the cost of travel. To this end, an online survey (n = 5002) was designed and administered in October and November 2021 across six major Canadian metropolitan areas: Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa-Gatineau, Montreal, Calgary, and Hamilton. Overall, results suggest that expectations towards AVs suddenly transforming the entire transportation sector, should be moderated and “automated ride-hailing services” and “pooled automated ride-hailing services” (when they are available in the entire Canadian market) are likely to be adopted as a supplementary mobility tool rather than a substitution for current travel modes.

The Covid-19 pandemic outbreak has caused social destruction all across the world. In this thesis, we focus on the impact of Covid-19 on online consumer behavior. Understanding whatis generating these behavioral changes among online shoppers is essential, but it is even moreimportant to investigate and assess if these behavioral changes will persist among onlineshoppers beyond the pandemic. In this study, the primary objective is to examine changes inthe online consumer behavior of the Swedish ready-made clothing industry in response toCovid-19 and determine if these changes will affect future online shopping intentions using thetheory of planned behavior. We thus pay attention to three key components: subjective norms,attitudes, and behavioral controls. We conducted a qualitative study and gathered rich insightsthrough 10 semi-structured interviews with online clothing shoppers in Sweden. The findingsdemonstrate that participants' intentions to shop online in the future are predominantly impactedby factors such as perceived behavioral control, attitude toward behavior, and media, rather thansubjective norms factors like family and friends. Furthermore, in the post-pandemic era,behavioral patterns related to online clothes purchases have changed significantly due to issuesassociated with Covid-19.

Background: Despite implementation efforts, most anxious youth do not receive evidence-based treatment. Dissemination initiatives can increase consumer knowledge of evidence-based treatments. Opinion leaders (OLs) have been used in public health campaigns, but this strategy has not been examined for the dissemination of mental health treatments. This study uses the theory of planned behavior to test the dissemination strategies of (1) involving an OL and (2) using an educational presentation to increase caregiver demand for CBT for youth anxiety. Methods: Participants (N=262; 92% Female; 69% White, 82% non-Hispanic) were caregivers who registered for a virtual presentation on youth anxiety and how to seek treatment. Caregivers were cluster-randomized by school (N=25) to the OL condition (presented by a clinical researcher and local caregiver OL) or the researcher-only condition (presented by two clinical researchers). Presentations occurred from May 2021-May 2022. Measures were completed pre- and post-presentation, and at three-month follow-up. Results: One hundred and nine participants attended the presentations. Relative to the researcher co-presenter, participants rated the OL as significantly more relatable, familiar, similar, and understanding of their community, but significantly less credible. Across conditions, there was a significant increase in participants’ (a) knowledge of, (b) subjective norms related to, and (c) intention to seek CBT for youth anxiety, but no change in stigma or attitudes about CBT. Presentation conditions did not differ in change on these measures, or on rates of seeking youth anxiety CBT at three-month follow-up. Conclusion: Although involvement of a caregiver OL did not increase caregiver demand for EBT for youth anxiety, the overall outreach presentation was an effective dissemination strategy. Involving OLs may not be necessary for all consumer audiences, but may be beneficial for individuals with higher levels of stigma or scientific skepticism than participants in this study. / Psychology

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