OBJECTIVES: The general aim of this research was to analyse the relationships between bullying (as a distinct form of aggression), victimisation, personal and collective self-esteem, and narcissism in adolescents. Baumeister et al. (1996) refuted the conventionally accepted view that low self-esteem is a cause of violence whereby, for example, those who lack self-esteem may use aggression as a means of dominating others and thereby gaining self-esteem. Instead, it may be that aggression is related to high self-esteem such that individuals with a combination of high levels of both self-esteem and narcissism are more likely to react aggressively to a perceived threat. Design: After a conducting a small pilot study (n = 112), the main study employed a large-scale cross-sectional survey with self-report questionnaires administered to school students during class. METHODS: Participants were drawn from six metropolitan high schools in Adelaide (South Australia), resulting in 1,628 adolescents (665 females & 963 males, aged 12-17 years) completing the survey. The questionnaire battery comprised modified self-report bully and victim versions of the Direct and Indirect Aggression Scales (Bjorkqvist et al., 1992), personal (Rosenberg, 1979) and collective self-esteem (Luhtanen & Crocker, 1992) scales, the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (Raskin & Hall, 1981), and a measure of socially desirable responding (i.e., Impression Management; Paulhus, 1991). RESULTS: A variety of multivariate analyses controlling for socially desirable responses was employed to test and explore hypothesised relationships. Results showed no relationship between age and any form of bullying or victimisation. Boys reported significantly higher mean levels of direct and total bullying and victimisation, whereas girls reported higher levels of indirect bullying and victimisation. Victimisation was negatively correlated with personal self-esteem, and positively correlated with collective self-esteem. In contrast, bullying was positively correlated with personal self-esteem, with no significant relationship found with collective self-esteem. Collective and personal self-esteem did not differentially predict different types of bullying or victimisation. Narcissism was positively correlated with bullying. The predicted interaction between personal self-esteem, narcissism and bullying was evident, although the predicted collective self-esteem interaction was not found. Impression Management (social desirability) was significantly negatively correlated with bullying and, to a lesser extent, with victimisation. CONCLUSION: Research such as this into the possible causes and correlates of aggression and bullying will assist in the design, implementation, and maintenance of effective interventions. For example, as results corresponded with Baumeister et al.'s (1996) assertion in that bullying was related to high self-esteem, interventions that are designed to increase self-esteem might in reality be counterproductive and possibly contribute to an increase in bullying behaviour. Additionally, victims reported higher collective self-esteem than their non-victimised peers, clearly a novel finding worthy of further research. Findings suggested that, rather than running the risk of underreporting of socially undesirable behaviours, self-report methods provide a useful and valid means of measuring prevalence rates and internal states. Rather than underreporting aggressive behaviours, it is likely that respondents were being honest as they did not feel that these behaviours were, in fact, socially undesirable. The present sample reported bullying and victimisation prevalence rates that were comparatively high, despite using relatively conservative criteria, possibly due to an increased awareness of what constitutes bullying as a result of government and school anti-bullying policies and initiatives. The findings generally correspond with and build upon previous research. In addition, a number of the results are novel, providing numerous opportunities for future researchers to further explore and test the relationships between self-esteem, bullying, and victimisation.

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Fear of missing out (FoMO) represents a fear of losing out on rewarding experiences that others might have. The Covid-19 pandemic has required great restrictions on social interactions, with many reporting experiences of loneliness. The recommendations for the general public have been followed to different extents, depending on the individual. It is possible that FoMO could decrease compliance with social distancing recommendations and that socially desirable responding (SDR) also is involved. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between university students' FoMO and self-reported compliance with Swedish recommendations on social gatherings during the past year of the Covid-19 pandemic. A second aim was to explore the influence of SDR on this relationship. The study population consisted of 162 university students that responded to an on-line survey containing the validated FoMO scale, the two-factor SDR scale BIDR-16 and questions exploring compliance with restrictive recommendations on social gatherings (CRG). Utilizing a cross-sectional quantitative study design, Pearson correlations and hierarchical regression analyses were performed to investigate these associations. The study results showed that there were no significant difference in CRG between high and low FoMO groups. Analyzed together with the two SDR variables, FoMO was related to worse attitudinal compliance (0.4%) and worse behavioral compliancy (2.9%). A higher level of efforts to be positively perceived by others was associated with higher attitudinal and behavioral compliance. A higher level of unintentionally embellishing one’s own self-assessment decreased behavioral compliance by relating to a higher number of reported events going against the guidelines. / Fear of missing out (FoMO) representerar en rädsla för att missa givande erfarenheter som andra har. Covid-19-pandemin har inneburit stora restriktioner av sociala interaktioner och många rapporterar en upplevelse av ensamhet. Rekommendationerna som utfärdats för allmänheten har följts i olika utsträckning, beroende på individen. Det är möjligt att FoMO skulle kunna minska följsamhet av rekommendationer om att hålla socialt avstånd samt att socialt önskvärda responser (SDR) också är involverade. Studiens syfte var att undersöka relationen mellan universitetsstudenters FoMO och självrapporterad följsamhet av de svenska rekommendationerna kring sociala sammankomster under det senaste året av Covid-19-pandemin. Ett andra syfte var att utforska hur SDR influerade detta förhållande. Studiens population bestod av 162 universitetsstudenter som besvarade en enkät on-line; innehållande det validerade FoMO-formuläret, det tvåfaktorskaliga BIDR-16-formuläret som mäter SDR samt frågor kring följsamhet av restriktiva rekommendationer om sociala sammankomster (CRG). I en tvärsnittlig kvantitativ design studerades associationer med Pearson-korrelationer och hierarkiska regressionsmodeller. Studiens resultat visade att det inte var någon signifikant skillnad i CRG mellan hög och låg nivå av FoMO. Vid analys tillsammans med de två SDR-variablerna, relaterade högre FoMO till lägre följsamhet i attityd (0,4%) och lägre följsamhet i beteende (2.9%). En hög nivå av strävan efter att bli positivt utvärderad var förknippad med en högre nivå av attityd- och beteendemässig följsamhet. En högre nivå av omedvetet förskönande av egen självbild minskade följsamhet genom att relatera till ett högre antal angivna tillställningar som bröt mot rekommendationerna.

People are not always rational, rely on heuristics and are influenced by situational factors being conducive to biased decisions. Hence, the decision outcome cannot be explained by consumers’ preferences exclusively. This offers opportunities to service managers to steer the decision outcome into a desirable direction by a beneficial design of situational factors. In contrast to the discussed opportunities, situational factors can also become a pitfall for researchers and managers. I show that situational factors may compromise the validity of research results based on self reports in a service context, because the reported scores of research participants may be biased. Three perspectives related to service management are distinguished in this thesis: First, the customer independently of the service provider; second, the interaction of customer and service provider; third, the service provider independently of the customer. From the perspective of the customer, I investigate the impact of different defaults in a customization process on the decision outcome of different types of customers. From the perspective of the customer and service provider interaction, I point out a new solution to overcome a dilemma related to service productivity. Finally, from the perspective of the service provider, the possible contamination of service related constructs by socially desirable responding is examined.

People are not always rational, rely on heuristics and are influenced by situational factors being conducive to biased decisions. Hence, the decision outcome cannot be explained by consumers’ preferences exclusively. This offers opportunities to service managers to steer the decision outcome into a desirable direction by a beneficial design of situational factors. In contrast to the discussed opportunities, situational factors can also become a pitfall for researchers and managers. I show that situational factors may compromise the validity of research results based on self reports in a service context, because the reported scores of research participants may be biased. Three perspectives related to service management are distinguished in this thesis: First, the customer independently of the service provider; second, the interaction of customer and service provider; third, the service provider independently of the customer. From the perspective of the customer, I investigate the impact of different defaults in a customization process on the decision outcome of different types of customers. From the perspective of the customer and service provider interaction, I point out a new solution to overcome a dilemma related to service productivity. Finally, from the perspective of the service provider, the possible contamination of service related constructs by socially desirable responding is examined.