Religious institutions have been tax-exempt from almost all taxes for more than two centuries. The two primary justifications used to protect this ‘status’ is the constitution and the concept that churches provide positive externalities that believers and non-believers all benefit from. This paper examines the relationship between religiosity and five socially important characteristics: high school graduation rate, a divorce rate, incidence of domestic violence, and levels of substance abuse and crime. I run multiple simple and full regressions across 207 counties in Texas. In four of the five analyses, religiosity has a strong statistically significant desirable impact. With the addition of control variables, other explanatory variables like median household income and number of divorces have coefficients with greater magnitude but the same statistical significance as that of religiosity.

Social entrepreneurship is given considerable attention within literature and academic research despite that fact it is an area that needs considerable attention and research. The main purpose for societal entrepreneurs is to create societal value but there can be difficulties to understand value creation within the area. Important components within Total Quality Management (TQM) are process orientation and value creation. A TQM perspective with processes in focus provides opportunities to clarify societal value creation within societal entrepreneurship initiatives. The main purpose of this thesis has been to explore how societal value is created within the area of societal entrepreneurship and the underlying purpose has been to contribute to the development of knowledge and understanding about the societal entrepreneurship area. In order to fulfil the purpose one literature case study and three empirical case studies have been conducted with processes in focus. The literature case study was conducted first and it resulted in a theoretical process map based on a process perspective, which showed how societal value was created within a societal entrepreneurship initiative. After that the three empirical case studies were conducted separately and the findings from the empirical case studies were compared with the previously developed theoretical process map. A cross case analysis was made to find out if the process map could be confirmed, developed or rejected. The result of the case studies contributes to earlier findings within research and gives a common, comprehensive and simplified picture of a complex phenomenon and an opportunity to understand how societal value is created. A general overall process map is presented that gives a picture of how value is created within the area of societal entrepreneurship. The result shows the management process and support process fields. The map also shows a main process that is further developed with input, output and sub processes. The studies point out that societal value is created through processes and that societal value creation can be described out of a process orientation perspective. Important components to create societal value have been found to be: 'unidentified needs'; 'knowledge about the context'; 'identified need'; 'an idea or a vision'; and some kind of 'organization' and important activities to create value seem to be: 'being in the context'; 'analysis of knowledge'; 'searching for solution'; 'organize and mobilize'; and 'realize'. Fields where support processes are performed that are of importance in societal value creation have been identified. Those fields are 'creation of financing opportunities'; 'performance of political decisions and acts'; 'development and use of networks'; 'establishment of initiative'; 'creation of media information'; 'development and use of scientific results'; and 'development and use of competence'. The map does have potential for development. Further studies need to be done within the area concerning how societal value is created and to get an even more comprehensive process map of the societal entrepreneurship area but the result presented in this thesis is a start to understanding how societal value is created and to develop knowledge and understanding of the societal entrepreneurship area.

In Quality Management and Total Quality Management (TQM) customer focus and customer value creation is of importance and in organisations it is of high priority. Quality Management has had an internal focus when it comes to customer value creation but in the 21st century there is a need for an outward orientation and to go beyond the organisational borders. Also an increasing interest in social, societal and environmental issues can be seen, for instance by customers, organisations, quality awards and within the quality area. An area that considers these issues is the societal entrepreneurial sector.   The purpose of this thesis has been to contribute to the knowledge and understanding about customer value creation from a system view. Additionally the purpose has been to contribute to the development of Quality Management. In order to fulfil the purpose, case studies have been performed. Cases within the societal entrepreneurial area have been studied and seven studies have been performed. Data have been collected through interviews, direct observations, participating observations and documents. All data have been collected empirically except in one study where a literature case study was used. The data were analysed through tools such as process mapping, attribute value mapping and rich picture process maps combined with analytical methods for case study research. The research journey started out from TQM and an internal perspective on customer value creation. As the studies went on, the system borders became wider as other areas important to customer value creation were identified: the customer value creating system went from an internal perspective to include an external perspective.    The findings contribute to earlier research findings and give a comprehensive and simplified picture of a complex phenomenon and an opportunity to understand customer value creation from a system view. This thesis provides an overall map of the customer value creating system. Additionally it contributes to the development of Quality Management by expanding the view on customer value creation to include both an internal and an external oriented perspective. It also contributes by suggesting a fifth step in the quality management movement ´System Quality Management´ that considers social, societal and environmental factors through continuous improvement before, during and after value creation for customers. Further it contributes with a developed view on customers and the concept of customer value creation.   The overall map provided includes three areas. Growth and development of societal entrepreneurial initiatives. The result shows important components for the creation of societal value based on the growth and development of societal entrepreneurial initiatives. Included are the processes, input and output important for societal value creation from unidentified needs until societal value can be delivered, management process and support process fields.  Customer value creation in the customer sphere.  Customer value has been found to be created beyond the use or purchase of a product or service. Value has also been found to be created for those that are not in direct contact with an initiative or its product or service. Customer value has been found to spread into society like ripples in a complex system of value creation. And Value Ripple Logic has been developed to describe this phenomenon. Management role in customer value creation. The management’s role in value creation has been found to be of importance in the creation of customer value in an indirect way through interaction with the surroundings and the initiative.  Factors and behaviours have been found which are connected to the leaders and their essential management processes along with their input and output.   The findings presented in this thesis have considerable potential for development. Further studies need to be done within the area concerning how customer value is created and to achieve an even more comprehensive picture of the customer value creating system and the suggested fifth step. The results presented in this thesis are a contribution to the knowledge and understanding about customer value creation from a system view and the development of the Quality Management. / <p>Vid tidpunkten för disputationen var följande delarbeten opublicerade: delarbete 6 accepterat för publicering och delarbete 7 inskickat.</p><p>At the time of the doctoral defence the following papers were unpublished: paper 6 accepted for publication and  paper 7 submitted.</p>

The thesis is intended to assess the contribution of the public library service to the creation of social capital to reduce poverty. However, in research studies targeting this subject, the lack of empirical research is continuously mentioned or suggestions are made that more qualitative studies could shed more insight on the creation of social capital in public libraries. The concept of social capital or rather how it is created in public libraries leads to the complexity of understanding the creation thereof in public libraries, while continuous suggestions are that more qualitative studies would give light on its creation in public libraries and also in other subject disciplines (Aguilar & Sen 2009: 425; Halpern 2005: 1; Lin 2001: 3). However, to find clarity about what social capital is, the study focuses on Pierre Bourdieu’s description of social capital. Pierre Bourdieu is known as one of the first social scientists who tried to understand the concept of social capital (Bourdieu 2005: 1). The public library from a social capital viewpoint is a trustworthy social network where people have access to resources to benefit their socio-economic development. The presence of social capital is visible in every aspect of life and for that reason it is not uncommon for social capital to have an effect on unemployment, mental health and social empowerment (Thompson 2015). Social capital is a recognisable term in Library and Information Science (LIS) literature (Stilwell 2016: 54; Strand 2016: 144; Skelly 2014: 2; Aabø, Audunson & Vårheim 2010:16; Hart 2007:22; Bhandar, Pan & Tan 2007:263). However, the idea that social capital in libraries exists may not be recognised, such as in the case of the book Bowling alone, authored by Robert Putnam (Putnam 1995:22). Public libraries fulfil the role of social capital in two ways: connecting individuals and the community with their library services and programmes and promoting the staff-patron interactions that attempt to create patron trust in the library. Feldman (2009: 5) illustrates the notion of social capital in the library as generated through library services and programmes that could contribute towards empowerment, skills development, happy families and positive economic growth (Feldman 2009:5). The study is an sequential explanatory mixed methods study. There were three data collections methods use. Questionnaires with mostly close-ended questions, interviews and official documents. The research participants were 115 library patrons and 58 library staff of the Emfuleni Local Municipality Library and Information Service. The researcher found several explanations on the creation of social capital, but none had measurable outcomes that could illustrate the societal value of public libraries, apart from one, which was to build a trusting relationship between the library, staff and patrons. Hence, through Vårheim’s (2014: 68) observation about trust and patron attendance, library programmes were identified as the measurable outcome to rationalise the importance of the public library and the value of libraries and library staff. In such a case, the societal value of libraries can be understood. Through the correct measuring instruments that were identified in this study, public libraries address the creation of social capital that makes it possible to show that public library services support lifelong learning and workforce development. / Information Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Information Science)