Datum: 2022-06-01 Nivå: Kandidat/Magisteruppsats Företagsekonomi, 15 hp Akademi: Akademin för Ekonomi, Samhälle och Teknik, Mälardalens Universitet Författare: Hennström Moa (99/02/24)     Jarmteg Emma (00/05/25) Titel: IDAG, IMORGON OCH I FRAMTIDEN - En kvalitativ fallstudie om digitala externa möten och mötesledarskap Handledare: Johan Grinbergs Nyckelord: Social Presence Theory, Giddens Struktureringsteori, Digitala Möten, Externa Möten, Mötesledarskap, Externt Ledarskap, Utmaningar med Digitala Externa Möten  Forskningsfrågor: Vilka utmaningar upplever mötesledare att det finns med digitala externa möten? Vilka förmågor och beteenden använder sig mötesledare av i de digitala externa mötena och hur kan de utvecklas i framtiden?  Syfte: Syftet med denna fallstudie är att ur ett mötesledarperspektiv undersöka hur utmaningarna med digitala externa möten manifesteras i praktiken samt att explorativt undersöka om det finns ytterligare utmaningar i denna studerade praktik utöver de som redan identifierats i den existerande forskningen. Vidare syftar denna studie till att ge en förståelse för hur mötesledarskapet utövas i det digitala externa mötet och utifrån detta skapa ett underlag för hur det kan utvecklas i framtiden. Metod: I denna studie användes en fallstudie i kombination med en explorativ undersökning, där det empiriska materialet samlades in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. Det användes en induktiv forskningsansats där den teoretiska referensramen fastställdes för att kunna ligga till grund för den insamlade empirin. Det genomfördes totalt tio intervjuer där den empiriska datan analyserades utifrån två valda huvudteorier, för att avslutningsvis kunna besvara undersökningens syfte och forskningsfrågor. Slutsats: Resultatet av studien visar att det finns ett flertal utmaningar med digitala externa möten som mötesledare ställs inför i den studerade kontexten. Respondenterna ger varierande svar på de utmaningar som de upplever manifesteras i praktiken och dessa svårigheter är såväl överensstämmande med tidigare forskning som helt nya. Det kan därför konstateras att det finns utmaningar i denna studerade kontext som inte har identifierats tidigare i forskningen. Mot bakgrund av detta har mötesledarnas nuvarande förmågor och beteenden i de digitala externa mötena identifierats, kartlagts och analyserats. Som resultat har behov av nya förmågor och beteenden identifierats, vilka i framtiden kan tillämpas av mötesledarna för att kunna bemöta och hantera utmaningar med digitala externa möten. / Date: 2022-06-01  Level: Bachelor/Master thesis in Business Administration, 15 cr Institution: School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalen University Authors: Hennström Moa (99/02/24)         Jarmteg Emma (00/05/25) Title: TODAY, TOMORROW AND IN THE FUTURE - A qualitative case study about digital external meetings and meeting leadership Supervisor: Johan Grinbergs  Keywords: Social Presence Theory, Giddens Structuration Theory, Digital Meetings, External Meetings, Meeting Leadership, External Leadership, Challenges with Digital External Meetings  Research questions: What challenges do meeting leaders experience when holding a digital external meeting? What abilities and behavior skills do meeting leaders need to use in external digital meetings and how can they develop them in the future? Purpose: The purpose of this case study is to examine, from a meeting leader’s perspective, how the challenges of leadership in digital meetings are manifested in practice, and also, to examine whether this form of meeting has extra challenges in addition to those already identified by existing research. Furthermore the aim of this study is to create an understanding of how the leadership in a digital meeting is exercised and, based on this study, to create the basis for future development. Method: This study was conducted using a combination of a case study and an exploratory study, where the empirical material was collected through semi-structured interviews. An inductive research approach was used where the theoretical frame of reference was established in order to form the basis for the collected empirical data. To be able to finally answer the survey’s purpose and research questions, a total of ten interviews were conducted to collect empirical data, which were then analyzed based on two selected main theories. Conclusion: In the context studied, the results show that there are a number of challenges that meeting leaders face with external digital meetings. The respondents give varying answers to how the challenges they experience are manifested in practice. Those interviewed describe previously known challenges, but our study has also identified new challenges not seen in past research. It can therefore be stated that there are challenges in this study that have not been identified in earlier research. Against this background, the meeting leaders’ current abilities and behavior skills, in external digital meetings have been identified and analyzed. As a result, the need for new abilities and behavior skills, which in future can be applied by the meeting leaders to enable them to meet and handle the challenges of external digital meetings have been identified.

The increasing availability of modern head-mounted displays have spurred interest in social virtual reality (VR) applications, but their immersion-inducing features limit the use of important nonverbal social cues in multiuser contexts. Embodied avatars have proven useful in increasing the social affordances of real-time rendered VR applications but remain underexplored in cinematic virtual reality (CVR). In the present study, three different conditions were evaluated in co-located CVR where participants watched 360° videos together in pairs; one condition had no visual representation of the co-watcher, one condition had a translucent cone representing the co-watcher’s viewing direction, and one condition had both the cone and a set of hands representing the co-watcher. Social presence was measured through the Networked Minds Social Presence Inventory and a semantic differential scale, presence was measured through the iGroup Presence Questionnaire, and participants’ use of implicit and explicit spatial references (i.e., “there” versus “next to the blue house”) was analyzed. The results indicate that simple embodied avatars can increase presence and social presence in CVR, and lead to more face-to-face-like verbal behavior. / Intresset för sociala VR-applikationer har stigit i takt med spridningen av moderna VR-glasögon, men applikationer för två eller fler användare är svåra att realisera i och med att glasögonen blockerar viktiga ickeverbala sociala signaler. I realtidsrenderad VR har de sociala interaktionsmöjligheterna kunnat förbättras genom så kallade embodied avatars men deras effekt har hittills inte undersökts i cinematisk VR (CVR). I den här studien utforskades tre betingelser av embodied avatars i ett CVR-experiment där deltagarpar tittade på 360° filmer tillsammans i ett rum. En betingelse saknade avatar, i en betingelse representerades ens partners blickfång av en halvgenomskinlig kona, och i en betingelse representerades ens partner av både konan samt ett par virtuella händer. Social presence mättes genom the Networked Minds Social Presence Inventory och en semantic differential scale, presence mättes genom the iGroup Presence Questionnaire, och deltagarnas användning av implicita (”där”) och explicita (”bredvid det blå huset”) spatiala uttalanden analyserades. Resultaten visar att enkla embodied avatars kan öka både presence och social presence i CVR, samt leda till verbal kommunikation som liknar den vi använder i när vi interagerar ansikte mot ansikte.

Over the past decade, the use of asynchronous video interviews (AVIs) has increased exponentially, largely spurred by ongoing technological progress and shifts to remote work. Although prior research shows interview design can influence applicant reactions, the effect of video interview design factors on interviewee reactions remains unclear. The present study determines the influence of AVI stimulus format (text-based vs. audio-visual questions) on applicant perceptions of social presence, fairness and organisational attractiveness. To this end, a between-subjects posttest-only experimental design was used in two separate samples (South African sample, N = 58; USA sample, N = 169, Combined samples, N = 227). Participants were randomly assigned to either the control or experimental group. Participants completed a mock interview on a commercially available AVI platform and then answered a questionnaire measuring perceptions of social presence, fairness, and organisational attractiveness. Bootstrapped independent sample t-tests and serial mediation were used to test the hypotheses. Within Sample 1, applicant perceptions of social presence, fairness and organisational attractiveness were higher for the audio-visual and text-based AVIs, thereby supporting the proposition that audio-visual stimuli lead to higher perceptions of social presence, fairness and organisational attractiveness. Conversely, Sample 2's findings were non-significant (p > .05). While there were mixed results, the findings of this study provide preliminary evidence which suggests that within the South African context, audio-visual stimuli can be used in AVIs. Organisations in the American context should pay close attention to the effects of AVI stimulus format on applicant reactions as the findings from the American sample were not conclusive. Future research should investigate applicant reactions to different forms of AVI stimulus during a multi-stage selection process

The purpose of this research study was to explore the impact of specific Web 2.0 tools on students' experience of teaching, social, and cognitive presence and motivation when enrolled in a very large hybrid course. With online course enrollments continuing to grow at a higher rate than traditional enrollments in higher education (Allen & Seaman, 2011) and universities increasing class sizes as a way to meet this demand with fewer fiscal resources, it is imperative to find ways to keep students engaged and motivated when enrolled in very large classes. This study used the Community of Inquiry framework (Garrison, Anderson & Archer, 2000) to examine the effect of specific Web 2.0 tools (asynchronous discussion, streaming lectures, multimedia lecture demonstrations, Twitter, and the Second Life virtual world) on teaching, social, and cognitive presence and motivation. The sample population for this study (n = 567) consisted of undergraduate students enrolled in a very large hybrid accounting course in the fall of 2010 at the University of Central Florida. The total enrollment for the course was 943 students. Students could attend face-to-face (f2f) class sessions in a large lecture room that seated 285 students or they could view a streaming video capture of the lectures online. Students were not required to attend the f2f class sessions and could complete the course entirely online. Data were analyzed using one-way analysis of variances (ANOVA), and results of the statistical analyses indicated that students who frequently used the Web 2.0 tools had statistically significant higher mean motivation scores than students who did not use the tools as frequently. Additionally, students who frequently attended the f2f sessions had statistically significant higher mean social presence scores compared to students who attended sometimes or not at all. Attending the f2f sessions, however, did not result in higher mean scores of teaching or cognitive presence. When examined for the impact of the specific Web 2.0 tools, analysis of the ANOVA results indicated that students who used the discussion, streaming lectures, multimedia lecture demonstrations, and Twitter all of the time had significantly higher mean scores of teaching, social, and cognitive presence compared to those students who used the tools less frequently. Further research should be conducted on large hybrid and online courses in different content areas and on those that use different types of learning approaches.

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This thesis examines the role connected devices in the home could play for maintaining and taking care of close relationships of people living apart. Communication tools nowadays offer many different ways of communicating and they are mostly focused on mobile devices. Social presence describes the feeling that humans have when communicating with each other and can be mediated through communication tools in different strengths. The Internet of Things is one rapidly developing branch of contemporary technology and estimates say by 2020 about 200 billion devices will be connected. This research focuses on the possibilities the Internet of Things offers to the notion of social presence in the domestic setting by exploring how we feel interrupted by current devices: Through a Research through Design approach, alternative concepts will be developed to materialize the feeling of social presence.

The Computers are Social Actors (CASA) paradigm was proposed more than two decades ago to understand humans’ interaction with computer technologies. Today, as emerging media technologies including social robots and smartphones become more personal and persuasive, questions of how users respond to them socially, what individual factors leverage the relationship, and what constitutes the social influence of these technologies need to be addressed. As an expansion of the CASA paradigm, the Media are Social Actors (MASA) paradigm was applied in the current dissertation to understand users’ social perception, social attitudes, and social behavior in their interactions with humanoid social robots and smartphones. Two lab experiments with between-subjects factorial design were conducted. A total of 110 participants were asked to interact with a humanoid social robot and a smartphone respectively in a socio-emotional context and a task-oriented context. Four pairs of social cues were compared to understand their influence on users’ anthropomorphism of the technologies. Multivariate analyses and textual analyses were conducted. Results suggested that users developed more trust in the social robot with a human voice than with a synthetic voice. Users also developed more intimacy and more interest in the social robot when the robot was paired with humanlike gestures. However, individual differences such as users’ attitudes toward robots, robot use experiences, and suspension of disbelief affected users’ psychological responses to the social robot. Although users’ responses to the smartphone did not vary based on the language styles and the modalities, factors such as individuals’ intensive smartphone use, mobile use habits, and their source orientation and re-orientation moderated the social influence of the smartphone. The dissertation has theoretical value in expanding the CASA paradigm to social robots and smartphones. It also tests the validity of the propositions of the MASA paradigm. The results can lead to more comprehensive, nuanced, and exciting discoveries of the social implications, ethical implications, and practical guides of using these emerging media technologies in the future. / Media & Communication

Background: The traditional way of product promotion is no longer enough to attract the emerging consumer class; high-quality short video platforms have brought more business opportunities and dividends, providing a new channel for product marketing and promotion. The short video platform of TikTok has strong traffic attributes and intuitive product presentation, and many brands and merchants have shifted their product marketing and promotion positions here. However, brands and merchants lack a deep understanding of the internal mechanism of the influence of TikTok's short videos on the purchase intention of the consumer, cannot grasp the pain points of consumers' demand well, and lack attention to the online shopping experience of consumers. The existing researches mainly analyze the marketing strategies of short videos, and there are insufficient researches on consumers' purchase intention in the context of short videos on TikTok. Purpose: This thesis takes the consumer of TikTok short videos as the research object. Based on SOR theory, three main characteristics of TikTok short videos are selected as independent variables: entertainment, interactivity, and personalization. Meanwhile, social presence is introduced as the intermediary variable to explore the mechanism of influence of TikTok short videos' characteristics on consumers' purchase intention. Method: In this thesis, the questionnaire survey method was used to collect data, and 207 valid questionnaires were collected. Finally, SPSS26.0 statistical analysis software was used to process and analyze the data. Conclusion: The empirical results show that: (1) the entertainment, interactivity, and individuation of TikTok short videos have a positive impact on the purchase intention of the consumer; (2) TikTok short video entertainment, interactive, personalized positive impact on the consumer's sense of social presence; (3) Social presence plays a partial mediating role in the influence of entertainment, interactivity and personalization on purchase intention. According to the research conclusions, this thesis puts forward relevant suggestions for guiding enterprises to use short video platforms to carry out targeted and efficient precision marketing, stimulate the consumer's purchase intention, and maximize the use of short video as a differentiated marketing tool to cultivate their core competitiveness.

This research addresses the growing applications and impacts of AI-generated digital human avatars from software suites like HeyGen. By exploring the role of trust in mediating user interaction with such technology, this study establishes a basic hierarchical model which supports some foundational theories of human-computer interaction, while also calling into question some more recent theories and models previously used to evaluate avatar technology. By modeling user behavior and user preference through the lens of trust, this study is able to demonstrate how this emerging technology is similar to its predecessors and their relevant theories, while also establishing this technology as something distinctly new and largely untested. This research serves as an exploratory study, using notions of social presence, anthropomorphic design, social trust, technological trust, and human source-bias to separate this generation of AI Avatar technology from its predecessors, and determine what theories and models govern the use of this new technology. The findings from this study and their impacts on use-cases are then applied, speculating on prosocial as well as potentially unethical uses of such technology. Finally, this study problematizes the loss of “primary trust” that this technology may afford, highlighting the importance not only of continued research, but also rapid oversight in the deployment of this emerging technology.