Influencer marketing is an important tool to change and reinforce consumers brand associations. Influencers post content that is trying to create intended brand associations. The consumers’ reactions then decide what the realized brand associations are. The purpose of this study is to explore through semiotic and netnographic Instagram analysis how influencer marketing affects brand associations in the sports fashion industry. This research has a qualitative methodology and has used semiotic and netnographic analysis to explore the case of Gymshark. The research consists of 100 analyzed posts from Instagram influencers related to Gymshark. It was found that influencers’ personal brands affect the realized brand associations. Also, gender has an affecting role on both, intended and realized brand associations.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / Os danos causados ao meio ambiente atingem diretamente a qualidade de vida das pessoas e elas passam a exigir das organizaÃÃes atividades que incluam a preservaÃÃo, a prevenÃÃo e a recuperaÃÃo do meio em que vivem. As empresas que sinalizam um comportamento ambientalmente correto sÃo recompensadas com benefÃcios econÃmicos e podem permanecer no mercado porque sÃo legitimadas, ou seja, possuem o aval da sociedade para funcionar. Para obter a legitimidade, a empresa que adota e sinaliza boas prÃticas ambientais, tem que efetuar investimentos, que podem variar de empresa para empresa. Com base na Teoria da SinalizaÃÃo e na Teoria da Legitimidade, o presente estudo tem como foco as empresas do Brasil e da Espanha, considerados paÃses que mais publicam relatÃrios ambientais de sustentabilidade. Este trabalho tem o objetivo de investigar a relaÃÃo entre o desempenho econÃmico e o desempenho ambiental das empresas no Brasil e na Espanha. Verifica-se tambÃm a correspondÃncia entre o desempenho ambiental e o nÃvel de impacto ambiental das empresas brasileiras e espanholas do setor secundÃrio. Para este mister, realizou-se uma pesquisa descritiva, de natureza quantitativa, utilizando-se os procedimentos bibliogrÃfico e documental. A amostra foi composta de 25 empresas espanholas de capital aberto e de 41 empresas brasileiras de capital aberto no ano de 2010 e 39 empresas brasileiras de capital aberto no ano de 2009, listadas no rol de empresas que publicaram relatÃrios de sustentabilidade de acordo com o modelo G3 da GRI do ano de 2010. As informaÃÃes do desempenho ambiental foram coletadas nos relatÃrios GRI das empresas de 2009 e 2010, atravÃs do indicador do total de investimentos ambientais (EN 30), enquanto as informaÃÃes referentes ao desempenho econÃmico foram extraÃdas das demonstraÃÃes contÃbeis das empresas dos anos de 2009 e 2010, elaboradas segundo o padrÃo das normas internacionais de contabilidade (IFRS). Os testes estatÃsticos elaborados envolveram o teste de CorrelaÃÃo de Spearman e a AnÃlise de correspondÃncia (ANACOR). Os resultados sugerem que hà uma correlaÃÃo moderada positiva entre o ROA e o indicador de investimento ambiental (EN30/ativo) nas empresas do Brasil. Na Espanha, a correlaÃÃo apresentou-se forte negativa entre o ROA e o indicador ambiental. Levando em conta o atributo da defasagem temporal, a relaÃÃo positiva entre o ROA e o investimento ambiental foi confirmada no Brasil, enquanto na Espanha a relaÃÃo se mostrou nula com os indicadores econÃmicos, mas mostrou-se forte negativa com as variÃveis primÃrias.. Os resultados encontrados na anÃlise de correspondÃncia entre o nÃvel de impacto ambiental das atividades das empresas e o nÃvel de desempenho ambiental, sugerem que as empresas com alto impacto ambiental possuem um mÃdio desempenho ambiental nos dois paÃses em conjunto. / The damage caused to the environment affect directly the quality of life of people and this will demand of organizations, activities that include the preservation, prevention and recovery of the environment in which they live. Companies that signal an environmentally correct behavior is rewarded with economic benefits and can remain on the market because they are legitimate, or have the endorsement of society to function. For the legitimacy, the company that adopts and signals good environmental practices, have to make investments, which may vary from company to company. Based on the Signaling Theory and the Theory of Legitimacy, this study focuses on companies in Spain and Brazil, considered countries that are published reports of environmental sustainability. This work aims to investigate the relationship between economic performance and environmental performance of companies in Brazil and Spain. And also, the correspondence between the level of environmental performance and environmental impact of the Brazilian and Spanish in the secondary sector. For this task, we carried out a descriptive, quantitative, utilizing the bibliographic and documentary procedures. The sample consisted of 25 Spanish publicly traded companies and 41 publicly traded Brazilian companies in the year of 2010 and 39 publicly traded Brazilian companies in the year of 2009, listed in the list of companies that publish sustainability reports in accordance with the GRI G3 standard model in the year of 2010. The information was collected from the environmental performance of companies in GRI reports 2009 and 2010, by the total environmental investments (EN 30), while the information on the economic performance were extract by financial statements of companies in the years 2009 and 2010 , prepared according to the pattern of international accounting standards (IFRS). Statistical tests involving elaborate Spearman correlation tests and the analysis of correspondence (ANACOR). The results suggest that there is a moderate positive correlation between ROA and environmental investment indicator (EN30/assets) in companies in Brazil. In Spain, there is a strong negative correlation between ROA and environmental investment indicator. Taking into account the attribute of the lag, the positive relationship between the performance was confirmed in Brazil, while in Spain show a null correlation between economic indicators, and a negative correlation with primaries variables. The results of the correspondence analysis between the level of environmental impact of corporate activities and level of environmental performance, suggest that companies with high environmental impact have an average environmental performance analyzing the two countries together.

This dissertation studied the determinants and consequences of corporate reputation. It explored how firm-, industry-, and country-level factors influence the general public’s assessment of a firm’s reputation and how this reputation assessment impacted the firm’s strategic actions and organizational outcomes. The three empirical essays are grounded on separate theoretical paradigms in strategy, organizational theory, and corporate governance. The first essay used signaling theory to investigate firm-, industry-, and country-level determinants of individual-level corporate reputation assessments. Using a hierarchical linear model, it tested the theory based on individual evaluations of the largest companies across countries. Results indicated that variables at multiple analysis levels simultaneously impact individual level reputation assessments. Interactions were also found between industry- and country-level factors. Results confirmed the multi-level nature of signaling influences on reputation assessments. Building on a stakeholder-power approach to corporate governance, the second essay studied how differences in the power and preferences of three stakeholder groups – shareholders, creditors, and workers – across countries influence the general public’s reputation assessments of corporations. Examining the largest companies across countries, the study found that while the influence of stock market return is stronger in societies where shareholders have more power, social performance has a more significant role in shaping reputation evaluations in societies with stronger labor rights. Unexpectedly, when creditors have greater power, the influence of financial stability on reputation assessment becomes weaker. Exploring the consequences of reputation, the third essay investigated the specific effects of intangible assets on strategic actions and organizational outcomes. Particularly, it individually studied the impacts of acquirer acquisition experience, corporate reputation, and approach toward social responsibilities as well as their combined effect on market reactions to acquisition announcements. Using an event study of acquisition announcements, it confirmed the significant impacts of both action-specific (acquisition experience) and general (reputation and social performance) intangible assets on market expectations of acquisition outcomes. Moreover, the analysis demonstrated that reputation magnifies the impact of acquisition experience on market response to acquisition announcements. In conclusion, this dissertation tried to advance and extend the application of management and organizational theories by explaining the mechanisms underlying antecedents and consequences of corporate reputation.

The discussion about the corporate sustainability issues getting more importance in recent days. The stock markets around the world also are affected with this subject of discussion. Investors as well as the companies theirselves are considering sustainability concepts during taking their investment decision strategies. Many index providers launched different ’Sustainable stock’ indices around the world to recognise these new investment decision choices. But do the investors actually care about the sustainability during their investment choices? The purpose of the study was to explore the answer of this unsolved question. Towards achieving the goal the study has been conducted to explore the relationships between the announcement of the ’Dow Jones sustainability Index Emerging Markets’ and the market reactions. Though there were some efforts, which were done to understand the patterns of the relationships between these two variables in developed markets, but no such study has been conducted in case of emerging markets. An event study was conducted to find out the answer of the research question. Five years panel data from 2015 to 2019 of the listed companies on the ’Dow Jones sustainability Index Emerging Markets’ were considered as the study sample to analyse the market reactions for the announcement of this index of this study period. The findings of the study did not recieve any significant influences of the announcement of inclusion, exclusion and continuation events on the stock market return at that study period. That means the investors in the emerging markets did not care about the sustainable performance of the listed companies during their investment decisions. But this study provide a deep insight about the future trend of sustainable investment, as the announcement events had some non-significant influences on the return trend. The results of the study indicate that investors are getting aware of the corporate sustainable performances day by day. Hopefully these insights give us the opportunity to anticipate that the investors will consider the sustainability issues more in their investment decision making process in the future.

Background: Formal CEO board membership is a unique feature of Swedishboards. The share of firms having Formal CEO board membership hassignificantly decreased in the last 20 years and thus, this feature might haveevolved to be used as a signal of high CEO quality. CEO quality is in turnlikely to, through Formal CEO board membership, serve as a moderator of therelationship that both CEO power and CEO discretion has to firm performancewhich has previously been somewhat ambiguous. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explain how the CEO’s power anddiscretion is related to firm performance and if this relation is moderated byFormal CEO board membership. Method: To fulfill the purpose of this thesis, a deductive research approachwas used. The theoretical model used is built on four theories namely,Stewardship theory, CEO power, CEO discretion and Signaling theory. With a five-year interval stretching between 1998 to 2018, the quantitative empiricalmethod relies on compensation and financial data from Swedish firms. Conclusion: The results indicate that the relation that both CEO power andCEO discretion have to firm performance, consistent with the theoreticalmodel, is positive. The results further indicate that Formal CEO boardmembership as a signal of CEO quality can moderate these relationships. Thisfinding is, however, exclusive to the years after 2008.

Datum:                    9 juni 2020 Nivå:                        Kandidatuppsats i företagsekonomi, 15 hp Institution:              Akademin för Ekonomi, Samhälle och Teknik, Mälardalens högskola Författare:              Pernilla Siverot       Olivia Stener                                    (97/04/01)               (97/11/09)        Titel:                        Hållbarhetsredovisning i tre branscher: En komparativ innehållsanalys av nio svenska företags hållbarhetsrapporter Handledare:            Esbjörn Segelod Nyckelord:              Hållbarhetsredovisning, CSR, TBL, Signalteori, GRI, Intressenter,  Legitimitet Frågeställning:       Hur framställer företag i branscherna telekommunikation, livsmedel och medicin sina hållbarhetsrapporter utifrån kravet på väsentlighet? Syfte:                       Denna studie syftar till att analysera hållbarhetsrapporter utifrån vad företagen själva anser vara väsentligt, med fokus på signalteorin och andra kompletterande teorier. Detta genom att analysera hållbarhetsrapporter inom de tre branscherna telekommunikation, livsmedel och medicin.                  Metod:                     En komparativ innehållsanalys av kvalitativ art, genom att jämföra olika hållbarhetsrapporter. Analysen gjordes på nio företag i tre olika branscher och utgick från litteraturstudier inom hållbarhetsområdet. Slutsats:                   Det framkom inga markanta skillnader mellan de olika branscherna vad gäller deras hållbarhetsrapporter och vad de anser vara väsentligt att redovisa. Däremot upptäcktes mindre skillnader mellan företagen med samma branschtillhörighet, men generellt belystes samma komponenter i liknande utsträckning, det vill säga inom ekonomisk, social samt miljömässig hållbarhet. / Date:                        9th of June 2020 Level:                       Bachelor thesis in Business Administration, 15 cr Institution:              School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalen University Authors:                  Pernilla Siverot       Olivia Stener                                    (97/04/01)               (97/11/09) Title:                        Sustainability reporting in three industries: A comparative content analysis of nine Swedish firms’ sustainability reports.         Tutor:                      Esbjörn Segelod Keywords:               Sustainability reporting, CSR, TBL, Signaling theory, GRI, Stakeholders, Legitimacy Research question:                 How do firms in the telecommunication, food and medicine industries represent their sustainability reports in regards of the essentiality requirement? Purpose:                  The purpose of this study is to analyze sustainability reports in regards of what the firms consider essential, focusing on the signaling theory and other complementary theories. This through a study of sustainability reports in the telecommunication, food, and medicine industries. Method:                  A comparative content analysis in character of a qualitative method, through a comparison of sustainability reports. The analysis was applied to nine firms of three different business with a foundation of literature reviews in the sustainability field. Conclusion:              The result showed no significant deviations between the different industries regarding their sustainability reports and what they consider essential to present. However, there were minor differences between the firms in the same industry, but generally they focused on the same components to a similar extent, which are financial, social, and environmental sustainability.

This thesis examines the relationship between corporate liquidity and dividend policy. The corporate liquidity is measured by proven liquidity ratios and the dividend policy is divided into cash dividends and share repurchases. In order to examine the possible relationship between corporate liquidity and dividend policy, public European firms are examined. Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and the UK are selected based on the similarities in the regulation and market structure in the countries. The thesis aims at furthering the knowledge on the role played by corporate liquidity for dividend policy. In our ambition to investigate the before-mentioned relationship we use a panel data set over five years extracted from Datastream. Any newfound evidence on the subject can help investors, creditors, and other stakeholders in evaluating firms based on their liquidity.  We used a deductive quantitative method to analyse the chosen relationship. The study concluded a significant relationship between corporate liquidity and dividend, although negative as opposed to our expectations. With regards to share repurchase, no significant effect was found from corporate liquidity. Free cash flow on the other hand appears to have a positive effect on the amount of share repurchases carried through. We discuss mentioned relationships and attribute them to the mature firms in this sample and the liquidity levels of mature firms.The theories supporting these findings are Agency Theory, Pecking Order Theory, Shareholder Theory, Stakeholder Theory, Liquidity Preference Theory.

Sammanfattning Titel: Lagstadgad hållbarhetsrapportering: Vilken förändring har skett i företagens redovisning efterinförandet av lagstadgad hållbarhetsrapportering?  Nivå: Kandidatuppsats i företagsekonomi Författare: Alinde Johansson och Gabriel Dunberg Handledare: Annika Lake Datum: 2022 - Januari Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att analysera förändringarna i företags hållbarhetsrapporter föreoch efter införande av lagstadgad hållbarhetsrapportering (lag SFS 2016:947). Metod: Studien använder sig av en kvantitativ forskningsmetod där datainsamling har skettgenom en innehållsanalys av företags hållbarhetsrapporter. Med utgångspunkt i 6 kap. 12 §ÅRL har en kodningsmanual med indikatorer för tolkning av data tagits fram. Resultat och slutsats: Undersökningen visar att före införandet av lag på hållbarhetsrapportredovisades hållbarhet av samtliga företag som ingår i studien i någon form. Studienobserverade en ökning i antalet uppnådda indikatorer i en majoritet av företagen. Examensarbetets bidrag: Denna studie bidrar till att visa i vilken utsträckning lagstadgadhållbarhetsredovisning har påverkat hållbarhetsrapporteringen i Svenska noterade företaginom large cap. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Då vår undersökning begränsats till ett mindre urval är vårtförslag på fortsatt forskning att genomföra en studie på ett större urval för att kunna se hurhållbarhetsrapporteringen förändrats i olika branscher, i jämförelse med small cap och largecap och/eller mellan olika länder. Eftersom flera företag i studien uppfyllt samtligaindikatorer men antalet producerade sidor skiljer sig åt hade även en kvalitativ studie påskillnaderna varit intressant. Nyckelord: Hållbarhetsredovisning, Signaleringsteorin, Legitimitetsteorin, Frivilligredovisning, Årsredovisningslagen / Abstract Title: Statutory sustainability reporting: What change has taken place in the companies' accounts afterthe introduction of statutory sustainability reporting? Level: Bachelor's thesis in Business Administration Authors: Alinde Johansson and Gabriel Dunberg Supervisor: Annika Lake Date: 2022-january Aim: The purpose of this study is to analyze the changes in companies' sustainability reports before and after the introduction of statutory sustainability reporting (Act SFS 2016: 947). Method: The study uses a quantitative research method where data collection has takenplace through a content analysis of companies' sustainability reports. Based on Chapter6 Section 12 of the Annual Accounts Act a coding manual with indicators forinterpreting data has been produced. Results and conclusion: The study shows that before the introduction of legislation onsustainability reports, sustainability was reported by all companies included in the studyin some form. The study observed an increase in the number of indicators achieved in amajority of companies. Contribution of the thesis: This study contributes to showing the extent to whichstatutory sustainability reporting has affected sustainability reporting in Swedish listedcompanies within large cap. Recommendations to future research: As our study is limited to a smaller sample, ourproposal for further research is to conduct a study on a larger sample to be able to seehow sustainability reporting has changed in different industries, in comparison withsmall cap and large cap and / or between different countries. Since several companies inthe study met all the indicators but the number of pages produced differed, a qualitativestudy of the differences would also have been interesting. Keywords: Sustainability Report, Signaling Theory, Legitimacy Theory, Voluntaryaccounting, Annual Accounts Act

This dissertation leveraged signaling theory to examine feedback loops in employees' constructive voice behavior. Utilizing an event-focused lens, I examined how past experiences with voice behavior can impact an organizational newcomer's willingness to voice. Given contention in the literature on managerial responses to voice, I distinguished between voice implementation and voice appreciation and developed and validated a measure of voice implementation. Using a vignette design, Study 1 provided experimental evidence that a supervisor's voice implementation and appreciation in response to an organizational newcomer's first voice event in a new job impact the likelihood of that employee voicing again. Also using a vignette design, Study 2 provided experimental evidence that organizational newcomers consider their leader-member exchange quality with their current supervisor as well as voice implementation from their previous supervisor when deciding whether to voice for the first time in a new job. In a three-wave field data collection, Study 3 failed to support the hypotheses. However, novel information was discovered about the prevalence and frequency of constructive voice behavior in organizational newcomers. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Organisationer tycks investera allt mer i anställningsförmåner för att locka och bevara medarbetare i takt med att konkurrensen om kompetens hårdnat. Denna studie syftar till att skapa en förståelse för varför medarbetare uppskattar förmåner, hur detta skiljer sig mellan yngre och äldre medarbetare och förmåners relation till upplevt organisatoriskt stöd. De primära teoretiska utgångspunkter som använts för att kunna förklara respondenternas upplevelser om förmåner är egenintresseteorin, signaleringsteorin, Williams et al:s. tre dimensioner och Eisenbergers et al.:s tankar om upplevt organisatoriskt stöd. För att fånga medarbetarnas upplevelser har vi genomfört tolv djupgående kvalitativa intervjuer. Resultatet visar att medarbetarnas egna intresse är den viktigaste bakomliggande orsaken till varför de uppskattar förmåner, även om vissa medarbetare också upplever ett signaleringsvärde. Det fanns delade meningar huruvida förmåner ledde till organisatoriskt stöd. Av studien går det att tyda att upplevt organisatoriskt stöd från förmåner påverkas av hur givet medarbetare anser att det bör vara för arbetsgivaren att erbjuda förmåner. Vi fann även vissa tecken på att äldre medarbetare upplevde ett starkare signaleringsvärde från förmåner än de yngre. Slutligen fanns det även indikatorer på att individers livsfaser kan förklara flera skillnader mellan deras upplevelse av förmåner och upplevt organisatoriskt stöd.