Women leaders are grossly underrepresented in police and Army organizations and relevant research suggests that women face the most significant challenges in reaching leadership positions in male dominant organizations. Although there have been recent policy changes to increase opportunities for women in police and Army organizations, women are still barely represented in senior command and primary staff positions in police and Army organizations. When women are underrepresented, particularly at the most senior ranks, there are implications regarding cultural, structural, and attitudinal challenges that simply should not still exist in these organizations. Using qualitative methods, this study examined the experiences of women leaders, specifically senior leaders, in selected police departments and representative Army commands and staff support agencies. Specifically, the study explored the characteristics of effective women leaders to assess the perceived group affiliation of these leaders as it relates to these leadership characteristics and personal assessments of their leadership capabilities. The findings revealed that women leaders possess a multitude of characteristics that have set the conditions for them to break through the “Glass Ceiling” despite the many challenges and obstacles that exist within male dominant organizations. The findings indicate that women leaders in police and Army organizations are care-givers, selfless servants, over-achievers, and great communicators. They identify themselves by their performance and leadership acumen as opposed to their gender, race, or any other demographic descriptors. The findings also suggest that women leaders continue to be faced with challenges and obstacles that make it extremely difficult for them to become senior leaders and navigate up the chain of command within their organization, which impacts their ability to influence policy changes that could address some of these cultural, structural, and attitudinal challenges.

Magister Educationis - MEd / The purpose of this case study was to investigate how the Francophone students from Congo, Gabon and Cameroon negotiated competence and identities in English (L2) in and outside the classroom. The study also aimed at understanding the nature and extent of academic support that was made available to the Francophone students who had to learn through the medium of English (L2) at the University of the Western Cape (UWC). Through the lens of the sociocultural and poststructural theories, the study argues that identity construction in a second language is a fluid phenomenon which should be understood within a particular context, particularly in multilingual environments like UWC. The study followed a qualitative research design which involved three methods of data collection, namely, observations, semi-structured interviews and student narratives. A thematic analytical framework was used to understand the Francophone students’ experiences, and how they negotiated and (re)constructed competence and identity in English (L2) in the lecture rooms and in local communities. The findings of the study indicate that English (L2) was perceived as an investment by the Francophone students. They show that competence in English (L2) was a source of voice and agency for the students. They also illustrate that there is a close relationship between (second) language learning and identity construction, and that identity is socially constructed. The study concludes that identity construction is a fluid phenomenon which should be understood in relation to the changing social context, which is embedded in language competence.

Problem formulation: What factors affect the consumers perception of credibility in influencer marketing on social media? How and why do certain factors affect the credibility of influencer marketing? Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to understand what factors affect the perception of credibility in influencer marketing on social media. Moreover, the aim is to understand how and why certain factors affect the credibility in influencer marketing in order to elaborate a conceptual model consisting of factors generating credible influencer marketing. Theoretical framework: The theoretical framework of this paper consists of existing theories regarding social identity theory, perception, brand communication, word-of-mouth (WOM), celebrity endorsement and social influencers. Methodology: This study is conducted through both a quantitative and a qualitative study with a deductive approach. The collection of primary data consists of an online survey where 120 respondents participated followed by five qualitative interviews. In order to determine what aspects to examine, a conceptual model was created based on the previous findings within credibility in WOM and celebrity endorsement. The secondary data building the theoretical framework of this thesis are collected from peer reviewed articles published in scientific journals as well as books. Empirical findings: The empirical findings consist of the result from the qualitative and quantitative study. The result of the quantitative study presents the outcome from 24 Likert scale items presented in text, charts and tables. The empirical findings from the qualitative study presents the outcome from the interviews conducted through personal communication face to face or through Skype and are presented in text that are strengthened with citation from the interviews. Conclusion: The findings show that the credibility in influencer marketing is positively affected by the perception of the influencer being a credible source and the influencer and the brand being a good fit.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur identiteten hos unga vuxna som vuxit upp inom Jehovas Vittnen påverkas av en uteslutning. Detta utifrån den sociala identitetsteorin och Marcia´s teori om identitetstatusarna i en identitetsutveckling. Studien var kvalitativ med semistrukturerade intervjuer med åtta unga vuxna fd. Jehovas Vittnen som vuxit upp i organisationen. Den induktiva tematiska analysen gav tre huvudteman; In- och utgrupps tänkande; underordnande och lydnad samt begynnande distansering och uppvaknande. Ett av resultaten var att deltagarna hade lärt sig redan som barn ett in- och utgruppstänk. och att utifrån denna sociala identifiering begränsades deltagarnas umgänge, till att endast umgås med ingruppen och undvika att umgås med personer i utgruppen. Detta fick effekter vid uteslutning i uppbyggandet av nya sociala relationer, där de saknade referensramar om hur de skulle agera i vissa sammanhang, de visste inte vad som förväntades av dem i samhället, de saknade helhetsbilden av samhället och dess sociala samspel. / The purpose of the study was to examine how the identity of young adults raised within Jehovah's Witnesses is affected by exclusion. This is based on the social identity theory and Marcia’s theory of the identity statuses in an identity development. The study was qualitative with semi-structured interviews with eight young adults formerly. Jehovah's Witnesses who grew up in the organization. The inductive thematic analysis yielded three main themes; In- and out-group thinking; subordination and obedience as well as incipient distancing and awakening. One of the results was that the participants had already learned an in- and out-group thinking as children. and that on the basis of this social identification, the participants' contact was limited to only spending time with the ingroup and avoiding contact with people in the outgroup. This had the effect of exclusion in the building of new social relationships, where they lacked a frame of reference on how to act in certain contexts, they did not know what was expected of them in society, they lacked the overall picture of society and its social interaction.

abstract: This study provides insights into expanding the concepts of community arts in general and more specifically community-based art practices (CAP); highlights the participatory characteristics in the processes of CAP, and seeks to discern the mechanism that contributes to the formation of community collective identity. Revolving around Bhattacharyya’s (1995, 2004) conceptualization of community development, this study found it essential for exploring the fundamental concept of community in relation to community identity. To examine the concept of community identity, this research anchors the inquiry by studying how community-based art practice contributes to community identification and seeks to discover the connection between identity process and social change. The research also discusses the emergent concepts that serve as influential factors to the formation of community identity and proposes an alternative identification mechanism, ‘jen-tung’ process, which provides a needed new dimension to the existing theories of social identity formation and community efficacy development. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Community Resources and Development 2020

This paper investigates how an administrative border affects the identity making of peopleliving in the border region of Rundu, situated in northern Namibia adjacent to Angola. Thepurpose of the study is to investigate how ethnic and national identity is dependent on thespace it is fostered in. The focus has been on the state boundary from a micro level; to seehow the Namibians living in the area perceive their ethnic belonging and how they look uponthe border, hence taking an interest in the narratives of the people. It applies Social IdentityTheory in order to investigate the process of identity making, both in regard of a nationalidentity and ethnic identity, which goes well in hand with the angle of borders having a binarydistinction e.g. here and there, inclusion and exclusion. Thus, the study draws on theoriesfrom both cultural geography, social anthropology and social psychology. The result of thestudy indicate that people in Kavango have a national identity which is superior to their ethnicidentity, but it is fragile and they easily turn to their ethnic identity. The result also shows thatthe people have accepted and emphasise the differences between Namibia and Angola, whichwas first imposed as a strategic act from the colonials, and this indicates that the border actsas both an institution and a process.

Recently, some men have taken their wives' last names upon marriage rather than following tradition. The goal of this study was to examine the attitudes that men and women have toward these nontraditional men. Ideological hegemony and social identity theory comprised the framework for examining participants' beliefs. A survey first elicited participants' extant sexist beliefs about men and the characteristics of a nontraditional man compared to a traditional man. An open-ended question further explored participants' opinions. The results indicated that benevolent sexism influences respondents' attitudes towards nontraditional men and that most respondents view nontraditional men as more nurturing and committed to their marriage than traditional men. The results further revealed a dichotomy of positive and negative attitudes towards nontraditional men indicating that society's feelings about nontraditional men are changing.

30 years into the existence of a unified German Republic, the emphasis of differences, the use of stereotypes and the existence of economic inequalities remain. This affects the younger post-unification generation - children that were born after 1989. The study is concerned with the investigation into the process of identity construction along the East-West binary and the effects this process has on said binary division. Thereby, the Eastern German perspective is stressed by using in-depth interviews with Eastern German respondents for a narrative analysis that is based on structural, interactional and performative principles. This thesis sees its contribution in the renewal of the deadlocked debate about the German East-West discourse by taking a postmodern stance on identity while applying a sociological theoretical framework and postcolonial concepts. The ambivalence in identity construction and the indication for a hybrid form of identity point at the existence of a Third Space, in which socio-political transformations can take place.

The Hispanic population is the largest and fastest growing population in the United States, which necessitates research on the acculturation process, especially because of the current events regarding the Texas–Mexico border. Although research has indicated the need to develop coping skills to support positive mental health during acculturation, there is a lack of empirical information regarding acculturation and mental health among Mexican alumni of U.S. colleges and universities. Based on social identity theory and acculturation theory, this quantitative, correlational study was conducted to examine the relationship between acculturation and psychological well-being (PWB) among Mexican alumni of colleges and universities in the United States. Forty-seven participant surveys were obtained via an online survey on acculturation, as measured by the Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans-II, and PWB, as measured by the Ryff Scales of Psychological Well-Being. An ANCOVA was implemented with a hierarchical multiple regression with gender and amount of time spent at the U.S. college or university as covariates. However, the results were statistically nonsignificant regarding relationships between levels of acculturation and PWB, gender, and number of years at the college or university. Thus, the results promote positive social change by encouraging the development of updated instruments and inclusion of additional demographic information in the research of Mexican alumni.

MAAS / Centre for African Studies / The purpose of this research project was to explore the impact of language in public services in terms of service delivery. The study was steered by the fundamental question that required the researcher to assess the extent to which language impacts on service delivery. Previous research focused much on the challenges in service delivery that culminated in riots and demonstrations by communities. Complaints ranged from poor service delivery, lack of effective service delivery, to corruption, all of which affected quality service delivery. On the contrary, this study seeks to broaden the horizon by bringing in a new dimension that looks into the interrelation between service delivery and language, and the impact thereof. The study intends to provide a better understanding of the significance of language in the public service sector. The nature of the study is both exploratory and descriptive. The study is underpinned by two theoretical frameworks, namely, the Critical Theory and the Social Identity Theory; which were used as the lenses through which interactions between the municipality and communities were perceived. The analysis of both interviews and document study analysis outlined the importance of dissecting information through various modes of communication: in this case, orally and also in a written form. The language of the communities was also adopted in order to address the challenges of service delivery. The study elicited the importance of language in the partnership between municipalities, as the local governing structure, and its communities. This study recommends that Thulamela Municipality should, in its organisational structure, incorporate a language service (like a language desk) which would handle all issues related to language - for instance, translation and interpreting - to ensure effective communication with its communities. In addition, the study also recommends that the Thulamela Municipality should adhere to the laws and legislation of South Africa, in terms of language use in its jurisdiction. / NRF