Bakgrund I dagens samhälle är CSR, samhälleligt ansvarstagande, en viktig fråga för företag. De studier som undersökt medarbetare i företag som arbetar med CSR har visat på ett positivt samband mellan detta arbete och medarbetarnas motivation. Däremot har få kvalitativa studier fokuserat på medarbetaren och ingen studie har tidigare använt meningsskapande som perspektiv för att skapa förståelse om detta fenomen. Syfte Syftet med denna studie är att med en komparativ utgångspunkt belysa vilken mening medarbetare skapat i deras arbetsgivares samhälleliga ansvarstagande för att skapa förståelse för betydelsen av arbetsgivares förhållningssätt till samhälleligt ansvarstagande för medarbetares självbild, motivation och organisatoriska engagemang. Metod Studien har antagit en komparativ fallstudiedesign. En kvalitativ metod och en iterativ ansats med deduktiva inslag har använts. Det empiriska materialet har samlats in genom tre semistrukturerade intervjuer med medarbetare på respektive fallföretag. Slutsatser Medarbetare ser att arbetsgivarens samhälleliga ansvarstagande finns till för att tillgodose medarbetarnas behov av att vara en del av något som gör gott för andra intressenter. Medarbetares motivation och organisatoriska engagemang kan härledas ur deras arbetsgivares samhälleliga ansvarstagande såvida medarbetarna själva tycker att den typen av arbete är viktigt. Detta förklaras av att individens självbild och arbetsgivarens organisatoriska identitet och båda parters underliggande värderingar överensstämmer. / Background In our society, the question of social responsibility is of importance for most companies and it has long been a subject for scholars. Studies of employees in social responsible companies indicate a positive correlation between CSR activities and motivation. However, only a few have focused on the employee and none of the previous studies have used sensemaking as a theoretical perspective to deepen our knowledge and understanding of employees’ behavior within a socially responsible company. Aim The aim of this study is to illustrate, with a comparative approach, what meaning employees have given to their employer’s social responsibility to provide an understanding of the significance of employers’ various approaches to social responsibility for the social identity, organizational engagement and motivation of employees. Methodology The research design is a comparative case study. A qualitative methodology was used with an iterative approach, although the initial approach was deductive. The empirical data was gathered through three semi-structured interviews with employees on each company. Conclusions Employees consider that the purpose of their employer’s social responsibility is to fulfill their need to belong to a company that does good for other stakeholders. Employees’ motivation and organizational commitment may be derived from their employer’s social responsibility if the employees themselves consider these activities important. This is explained by congruence between the individual’s social identity, the employer’s organizational identity and the underlying values of these identities.

Personas är något som används av företag idag inom en mängd branscher och däribland modebranschen. Det används för att skapa en bild av sin kund och rikta sig mot en tydlig målgrupp. Tidigare forskning talar emot att utveckla personas internt inom företag och denna studie har genom en fallstudie, på ett klädföretag som gjort det, undersökt om det går att utveckla personas internt utan extern kundinformation. Modebranschen karaktäriseras av snabba förändringar och befinner sig därmed på en dynamisk marknad. Teorin om optimal distinctiveness menar på att företag på dynamiska marknader behöver anpassa sig till omvärlden för att vara optimalt distinkta, det vill säga att vara distinkta för att sticka ut från sina konkurrenter men uppnå konformitet för att inte bli irrelevanta för det segmentet. Idéen om dessa motstridiga krafter har undersökts för att studera om teorin optimal distinctiveness skulle kunna appliceras på personametoden för att utveckla den, detta genom modellen Optimal Distinct Persona. Fallstudien har genomförts med hjälp av intern information från Företag X, en kvantitativ enkät som genomförts i Företag Xs butiker samt två kvalitativa fokusgrupper. Resultatet från denna fallstudie visade att det går att utveckla personas internt inom företag även fast inte alla kunder stämmer in på samtliga attribut i personabeskrivningen. Resultaten visade även att teorin optimal distinctiveness skulle vara behjälplig för att utveckla personametoden då den i dagsläget kan innebära vissa problem. Modellen Optimal Distinct Persona kan minimera dessa problem genom att använda teorin optimal distinctiveness vid utvecklingen av attribut till personabeskrivningen men även genom att konstant anpassa attributen till omvärlden och kundernas ändrade preferenser. / Personas is something that is used by companies today in a number of industries, including the fashion industry. It is used to create an image of its customer and aim at a clear target group. Previous research speaks against developing personas internally within companies and this study has through a case study, at a clothing company that has done so, investigated whether it is possible to develop personas internally without external customer information. The fashion industry is characterized by rapid changes and is thus in a dynamic market. The theory of optimal distinctiveness means that companies in dynamic markets need to adapt to the outside world in order to be optimally distinct, that is to be distinct in order to stand out from their competitors but achieve conformity in order to not become irrelevant to their segment. The idea of ??these contradictory forces has been investigated to study whether the theory of optimal distinctiveness could be applied to the persona method to develop it, this through the model Optimal Distinct Persona. The case study was conducted using internal information from Company X, a quantitative survey conducted in Company X's stores and two qualitative focus groups. The results from this case study showed that it is possible to develop personas internally within companies even though not all customers match on all attributes in the person description. The results also showed that the theory of optimal distinctiveness would be helpful in developing the persona method as it currently involves certain problems. The Optimal Distinct Persona model can minimize these problems by using the theory of optimal distinctiveness in the development of attributes to the persona description but also by constantly adapting the attributes to the outside world and customers' changing preferences.

SAMMANFATTNING Titel: Revisorns identifikation med klienten respektive professionen – Hur påverkas valet av förhandlingsstrategi? Nivå: C-uppsats i ämnet företagsekonomi Författare: Jannicke Berghold och Vanessa Do Pilar Lemos Handledare: Jan Svanberg Datum: 2016 - Januari Syfte: Revisorers val av förhandlingsstrategi vid meningsskiljaktigheter med klienten angående rapporteringsmål, har visat sig få betydande konsekvenser på de slutliga reviderade rapporterna. Då intressenter till de reviderade företagen till stor del baserar sina investeringsbeslut på dessa rapporter är det av stor vikt att revisorn inte påverkas av den enskilda klienten vid förhandling. Social Identity Theory menar att individer identifierar sig med flertalet sociala grupper, vilka ibland besitter avsevärt skilda intressen och värderingar. Forskare menar att individen är mer eller mindre benägen att följa dessa beroende på hur stark denna identifikation är. Vidare föreslår ny forskning på området att individens beslutsfattande framförallt är beroende av vilken av dessa identiteter som är framträdande i individens sinne vid beslutsögonblicket. Vi ämnar med denna studie undersöka hur revisorns identifikation med klienten påverkar hur denne beter sig vid en förhandling med klienten, samt huruvida denna effekt förändras när professionsidentiteten är framträdande. Metod: Denna studie har genomförts genom att primärdata samlats in via en experimentell enkätundersökning. Urvalspopulationen bestod av 3600 auktoriserade och godkända revisorer i Sverige. Svarsdata har samlats in med hjälp av enkätprogrammet SUNET-survey, för att sedan sammanställas och analyseras i statistikprogrammet SPSS statistics. Resultat & slutsats: Studien visade att en stark klientidentifikation bidrog till att revisorn ansåg sig mer sannolik att använda sig av en förhandlingsstrategi som var inställsam mot klienten, gentemot när klientidentifikationen var svag. Vidare såg vi att när professionsidentiteten gjordes framträdande, så var respondenterna mindre benägen att använda sådana strategier. Vårt utfall visar att styrkan av klientidentifikation påverkar revisorns val av förhandlingsstrategi, dessutom verkar effekten av en framträdande professionsidentitet också influera revisorns val. 3 Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Då det stora bortfallet i vår studie kan ha bidragit till ett missvisande resultat, så föreslår vi att framtida forskare utför en studie i likhet med denna under mer kontrollerade former. Detta för att försäkra sig om en högre svarsfrekvens och för att öka möjligheten att i större utsträckning kunna dra generaliserbara slutsatser. Ett förslag, då tidsaspekten inte utgör ett problem, vore att komplettera enkäten med ett alternativ som gör det möjligt för forskaren att mer djupgående få inblick i respondenternas svar. Uppsatsens bidrag: Vår förhoppning är att vår studie kommer att lämna ett värdefullt bidrag till förhandlingslitteraturen. Detta då vi antar en ny infallsvinkel på revisorns förhandling med klienten genom att studera huruvida valet av förhandlingsstrategi skiljer sig åt beroende på vilken av revisorns multipla sociala identiteter som är mest framträdande i beslutsögonblicket. / ABSTRACT  Title: The auditor's identification with the client and the profession - How does it effect the  choice of negotiating strategy?  Level: Final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business Administration Author: Jannicke Berghold and Vanessa Do Pilar Lemos Supervisor: Jan Svanberg Date: 2016 – January Aim: The auditor´s choice of negotiating strategy in cases of disagreement with the client regarding the reporting objectives, has proven to have a significant impact on the final statements to be presented to the public. As stakeholders of these companies largely base their investment decisions on these reports, it is very important that the individual client doesn’t influence the auditor at negotiation. Social Identity Theory predicts that individuals identify with multiple amounts of social groups, which sometimes possess significantly different interests and values. Scientists believe that the individual is more or less prone to follow these groups depending on how strong this identification is. Furthermore, new research in the field suggest that individual decision-making above all depends on which of these identities that are salient in the individual's mind at the moment of decision. With this study we intend to examine how the auditor's identification with the client influences how she choses negotiating strategy, and whether the effect changes when professional identity is made salient. Method: This study was conducted by a collection of primary data through an experimental survey. Sample population comprised 3,600 authorized and certified auditors in Sweden. Response data has been collected using questionnaires program SUNET survey, then compiled and analyzed in SPSS Statistics. Result & Conclusions: The study showed that a strong clientidentification contributed to that the auditor was likely with the use of a negotiation strategy that is slimy to the client, when the identification towards the client was weak. Furthermore, we saw that when professional identity was made salient, so respondents were less inclined to use such strategies. Our results show that the strength of client identification affect the auditor's choice of negotiating strategy, additionally appears the effect of a prominent professional identity also influence the auditor's election 5 Suggestions for future research: Since the great shortfall in our study may have contributed to a misleading result, we suggest that future researchers conducting a study like this, would do so under more controlled conditions. This to ensure a higher response rate and to increase the possibility of generalized conclusions. One proposal, when the time aspect does not present a problem, would be to complete the questionnaire with an option that allows the researcher to get more in-depth insight into the respondents' answers. Contribution of the thesis: We hope that our study will make a valuable contribution to the negotiation literature. This by our adaptation of the new approach to the auditor's negotiation with the client by studying whether the choice of negotiating strategy differs depending on which of the auditor's multiple social identities that are most prominent in the moment of decision

The purpose of this essay was to examine Islamic State’s (IS) self-image and perception of their enemies, and also what kind of propaganda technique that they use in their movies. To do so three questions were formulated: 1. According to Social Identity Theory the ingroup’s social identity is the same as the ingroup’s prototype. How is IS’s prototype portrayed, and thus their social identity, in the movies Flames of War and Clanging of the Swords IV? 2. According to Social Identity Theory a consequence of group membership is that the ingroup will associate outgroups with stereotypic images. What stereotypic images does IS’s associate outgroups with in the movies Flames of War and Clanging of the Swords IV? 3. According to Jacques Ellul propaganda can be categorized as either rational or irrational. So, based on his definition of propaganda, what kind of propaganda technique is used in Flames of War and Clanging of the Swords IV ? In this paper four segments were analyzed from two of IS’s movies: Flames of War and Clanging of the Swords IV. Two theories were used in this essay: Ellul’s theory on rational and irrational propaganda, and also Social Identity Theory. The first theory presents different techniques of argumentation that can be classified as either rational or irrational propaganda. The second theory describes the phenomenon known as prototype and stereotype. The most common propaganda technique used in the movies was that of social evidence, which is a rational strategy of propaganda. This means that the propaganda mainly uses symbols in its arguments, which in this case is the symbol of Allah. IS uses Allah, as well as their leader Al-Baghdadi, to justify their actions. Irrational propaganda is also used quite often. It can be seen in the way IS describes their own group and their enemies. IS always describes themselves with positive attributes and characteristics, while their enemies are described as their complete opposite. The purpose of this is to make the viewer automatically start to associate the ingroup (IS) as good and the outgroups (enemies) as evil. The prototype of IS is that they see themselves as the holy warriors of Allah executing His will on earth. The stereotypic image of IS’s enemies is that they are apostates and enemies of Allah. Their infidelity has provoked Allah, they’re sinners and thus IS considers it to be their duty to punish them.

Introduktion Tidigare forskning kan identifiera en tydlig revisorsstereotyp.Trots att revisorer i viss mån har arbetat för att motarbetastereotypen, kvarstår samma stereotyp idag som för 40 årsedan. Skiljer sig omgivningens stereotyp från hur revisornuppfattar sig själv, föreligger ett förväntningsgap. Brist påforskning kring hur revisorerna upplever stereotypen och hurde bemöter den, motiverar vår studie. Syfte Studien syftar till att utforska hur revisorer uppfattar denstereotypa bilden om revisorer samt hur och varför de arbetarför att påverka omgivningens föreställningar om revisorer. Metod Denna kvalitativa studie har genomförts genom tolvsemistrukturerade intervjuer. Samtliga respondenter ärrevisionsmedarbetare med olika befattningar och arbetar pånågon av de fyra världsledande revisionsbyråerna. Slutsatser Vi kommer fram till att revisorer uppfattar stereotypen omrevisorer som i huvudsak negativ och icke överensstämmandemed revisorns egen bild av sig själv. Vi har identifierat ett nyttförväntningsgap – skillnader i förväntningar om hur en revisorär. Revisorer arbetar aktivt för att motarbeta stereotypeneftersom det medför fördelar för dem i yrkeslivet. Trotsmotarbetandet kvarstår stereotypen och därmedförväntningsgapet. I viss mån sker dessutom ett omedvetetagerande som tyder på att stereotypen förstärks eller ignoreras. / Introduction Previous research identifies an evident auditor stereotype.Although auditors to some extent have attempted to change thestereotype, the stereotype as it appeared 40 years ago stillremains. Differences between the stereotype and the auditors’perceptions of themselves causes an expectation gap. The lackof research regarding how auditors perceive the stereotype aswell as how they treat it, motivates our study. Purpose The purpose is to examine how auditors perceive the stereotypeof auditors as well as how and why they are working to changethe surroundings perceptions of auditors. Method This qualitative study is based on twelve semi-structuredinterviews. All respondents are audit staff with differentpositions that work in one of the Big 4 accounting firms. Conclusions We conclude that auditors mainly perceive the stereotype ofauditors negative and not consistent with their own images ofthemselves. We have identified a new expectation gap –differences in expectations about the auditor’s traits. Auditorsare working actively to counter the stereotype as it entailsbenefits to them in their professional life. To some extent,auditors are also unconsciously acting in a way that suggeststhat the stereotype is reinforced or ignored.

Episodes of aggression and violence continue to beset our public spaces. This thesis explores how well we understand the transition to violence—and how aggression and violence in public spaces can be managed or controlled. We begin by arguing that established social psychological approaches to aggression and violence are inadequate for the task. Existing models explain violence through the failure of individuals to inhibit their own impulses or control their own emotions sufficiently. At best the models allow for the importance of dyadic interactions as individuals provoke each other as part of an escalation cycle. We argue that public space aggression and violence involves multiple parties and more complex sets of social dynamics. We suggest that, at the very least, the roles of third-parties and social categories need to be at the heart of theorising about violence in public spaces. To support our arguments, we examined violence directly through detailed behavioural microanalyses of real-life aggressive incidents captured on CCTV footage. We also built agent-based models (ABM) to explore different theoretical approaches to the impact of groups and third-parties on aggression and violence. The thesis contains seven studies. We begin with a CCTV behavioural microanalysis (Study 1) that showed collective group self-regulation of aggressive and violent behaviour in both within- and between-group conflicts. This study demonstrated an ‘intergroup hostility bias’, showing a greater likelihood of aggressive, escalatory acts towards outgroup members in intergroup conflicts than towards ingroup members in intragroup conflicts. Furthermore, this study demonstrated an ‘intragroup de-escalatory bias’, showing a greater likelihood of peace-making, de-escalatory behaviours towards ingroup members in intragroup conflicts than towards outgroup members in intergroup conflicts. Overall, we found that the majority of coded actions were acts of de-escalation performed by third-parties. With evidence stressing the importance of social dynamics, we compared dyadic models of aggression against an alternative social model (which allowed normative influence of others) in a dynamic agent-based modelling environment. We modelled the dynamics of metacontrast group formation (Studies 2 and 3), and found that group processes can produce both escalation of violence and inhibition of violence (Study 4). We found greater polarisation of violent positions in intergroup interactions than in intragroup interactions (Studies 5a and 5b). However, an emergent intergroup hostility bias did not emerge from this polarisation process. In Study 6, we re-examined the intergroup hostility bias present in our CCTV footage. We found an intergroup hostility bias for non-physical escalatory acts but not for physical escalatory acts. We examined the standardised number of actions contributed by third-parties and assessed the relationship between specific third-party conflict management strategies (policers and pacifiers) and conflict violence severity (Study 7). Overall, our results showed that third-parties and groups are integral features of the dynamics of violence. Third-parties largely attempt to de-escalate conflict, and the conflict management strategy they employ has a direct relationship to the violent outcome. Groups have a tendency to de-escalate their own members, and self-policing and collective inhibition take place. These findings have importance for current models of aggression and violence and also for evidence-based violence reduction initiatives.

The following study examines the impact that perceptions of organizational continuity (POC) have on organizational identification (OI) and organizational outcomes, including organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) and turnover intentions. It was proposed that POC would be an important factor in determining OI, OCBs, and turnover intentions. In order to test this proposition, a scale was developed that measured an individual’s POC within their organization with regards to the organization’s culture and history. A survey was distributed among working individuals that contained the new measure of POC and other established measures of an organization’s culture and values. The sample consisted of 394 participants. The results showed that the construct of POC consisted of perceiving the organization’s culture and values as continuous over time. Additionally, the measure predicted OCBs and turnover intentions. POC did not, however, predict these outcomes over and above OI. Mediation analyses showed that OI mediated the relationship between POC and OCBs/turnover, thus, providing evidence to show that POC is a contributing factor in the development of an individual’s identification with an organization. This investigation extends research in the area of OI from the social identity perspective by providing the basis for understanding and measuring one of the components that leads to identification with an organization.

<p>This paper aims to examine how employee motivation is affected during the operational combination stage of a merger between two relatively small Swedish professional service firms. This is done through a quantitative study conducted by examining the relationship between employee motivation and three approaches; social identity, role conflict and acculturation. Those approaches were first by themselves tested in order to examine the relationship between their respective indicators that represent respective approach. The main result of this study is that the three approaches have a positive significant impact on employee motivation. Therefore, it is important for the professional service firm to take those variables into consideration when formulating future strategies and when trying to improve the organizational climate.</p>

This paper aims to examine how employee motivation is affected during the operational combination stage of a merger between two relatively small Swedish professional service firms. This is done through a quantitative study conducted by examining the relationship between employee motivation and three approaches; social identity, role conflict and acculturation. Those approaches were first by themselves tested in order to examine the relationship between their respective indicators that represent respective approach. The main result of this study is that the three approaches have a positive significant impact on employee motivation. Therefore, it is important for the professional service firm to take those variables into consideration when formulating future strategies and when trying to improve the organizational climate.

Studiens syfte har varit att förklara i vilken utsträckning icke-finansiellt beroende hos revisorer kan uppstå genom revisorernas identifikation med klienter samt undersöka dess effekter på revisorns oberoende och objektivitet. Vidare har vi försökt undersöka hur klientidentifikationen kan påverkas av professionell identifiering och revisorsrotation. Således har vår problemformulering varit ”Hur identifierar revisorerna sig med sina klienter hur detta påverkar revisorns objektivitet? Hur påverkas klientidentifikationen av revisorns profession? Hur kan revisorsrotationen bidra till en minskning av identifikationen med klienten? ”.Det empiriska materialet har samlats in genom en elektronisk enkätundersökning som skickades ut till 1200 godkända och auktoriserade revisorer i Sverige. Bortfallet blev 87 %, den bakomliggande anledningen kan vara att enkäten skickades ut i samband med alla deklarationer. Vidare har den insamlade materialet bearbetats och analyserats i statistikprogrammet (SPSS) med hjälp av olika analysmodeller.Studiens resultat visar att svenska revisorer identifierar sig med sina klienter och att denna identifikation uppstår på grund av den sociala relationen mellan revisorn och klienten. Det icke-finansiella beroendet som uppstår genom identifikationen med klienter visar dock ingen påverkan på revisorns objektiva bedömning, vilket tyder på att revisorn oavsett klientens önskemål gör en korrekt bedömning vid en redovisningstvist. Vidare visar denna studie att48identifikationen med professionen leder till ökad identifikation med klienten. Detta har sin grund i den sociala identitetsteori som antyder att individer kan identifiera sig med olika sociala grupper samtidigt och att den ena identifikationen inte behöver utesluta den andra. Slutligen har vi visat att revisorsrotationen inte kan bidra till en minskning av identifikationen med klienten. Tidigare forskning visar nackdelar med revisorsrotationen, så som merkostnader och förlorad förkunskap, vilket indikerar i att rotera revisorn var sjunde år är ingen korrekt lösning som kan gynna både parterna. / The purpose of this study was to explain the extent to which non-financial dependence of auditors may arise from auditors' identification with clients and examine its effects on the auditor's independence and objectivity. Furthermore, we have attempted to examine how the client identifier can be influenced by professional identification and auditor rotation. Thus, our problem was "how auditors identify themselves with their clients how this affects the auditor's objectivity? How is the client identifier of the auditor's profession? How can the auditor rotation contribute to a decrease in identification with the client? ".The empirical data were collected through an electronic survey sent to 1200 approved and certified public accountants in Sweden. The loss was 87%, the underlying reason may be that the questionnaire was sent out in all declarations. Furthermore, the collected material processed and analyzed in the statistical program (SPSS) using various analytical models.Our results demonstrate that Swedish auditors identify with their clients and that this identification occurs due to the social relationship between the auditor and the client. The non-financial dependency arising from identification with clients, however, shows no effect on the auditor's objective assessment, which indicates that the auditor whether the client wishes make an accurate assessment of an accounting dispute. Furthermore, this study shows that the identification with profession leads to increased identification with the client. This is due to the social identity theory suggests that individuals may identify with different social groups at the same time and that one identification need not exclude the other. Finally, we have shown that auditor rotation can‟t contribute to a decrease in identification with the client. Previous research shows the disadvantages of auditor rotation, so that additional costs and loss of entry, indicating that rotate auditors every seven years is not a proper solution that can benefit both parties.