Background: The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted all of society, and businesses are faced by having to close or adapt to the new regulations and laws by pursuing digital transformation. As companies are transitioning to remote work, leaders are now met with the obstacle of taking in-person, face-to-face leadership and putting it through digital transformation. Due to all these unforeseen changes employee motivation is at risk as employees are working remotely in isolation with leaders adopting new leadership styles.    Purpose: This research aims to investigate the change in leadership styles resulting from remote work and investigate if it has affected employee motivation.   Method: This research is an exploratory qualitative study conducted, focusing on multiple cases where semi-structured, and in-depth interviews were held with nine participants from three companies, with one leader and two employees from each company. A thematic analysis was used to investigate the primary data. Conclusion: The empirical findings and the analysis provide two areas that have been found during this conducted research: 1) Leaders realized that instead of focusing on performances-oriented approaches with heavy monitoring and supervision, it was more important to tend to human-centric care and being more open and nurturing to alleviate stress for employees. 2) Employee motivation has generally been negatively impacted due to employees and leaders experiencing communication difficulties, loneliness, lack of support and easily accessible distractions. With a few exceptions of employees coping better with a more balanced supervision and higher level of isolation acceptance.

Biodiversity loss caused by human activities is considered to be one of the greatest challenges to the stability of our planet. Protected areas emerged as a solution to this challenge, but they are not always successful due to the exclusion and displacement of local communities that live in proximity to the protected area, especially in low income countries. The Maasai Mara conservancy model presents an opportunity to mitigate these problems by increasing wildlife habitat and simultaneously improving the livelihoods of surrounding Maasai communities. However, the model is threatened by the Covid-19 pandemic which has suspended the international tourism on which the conservancies rely. In order to understand how the model can potentially increase its resilience to future global shocks, I interviewed stakeholders about their experiences within the model, during the pandemic and relating to past global shocks. Using the concept of environmentality, I sought to evaluate the structure of the model, its historical roots and the governance tools which enable its function. Some already existing issues were emphasised by the impact of the pandemic, while new opportunities for evolution were also unearthed. The most prominent theme arising from these conversations was that of equity - between tourism partners and landowners, relating to the rights of women and to the place of Maasai youth in the future of the model. The colonial history of wildlife conservation also created discussions around the exclusion of local tourists and the underlying biases that may exist. Finally, I attempt to understand how the governance enacted within the conservancy model creates different kinds of environmental subjects. Although previous discussions on environmental governance have assumed that regulation is successful, I illustrate here that power is not unidirectional because resistance and negotiation by the governed population is common. By interrogating the different layers of environmentality and how they interplay, I trace the creation new environmental subjectivities in those who are involved in the conservation of wildlife in the Maasai Mara.

As the pandemic of COVID-19 is still affecting peoples’ lives in various ways, it is not surprising that it affects consumer behaviour as well. This paper focuses on the changes in consumer behaviour, more specifically on the changes in consumer shopping channel preferences due to the pandemic. Furthermore, it was of interest whether these changes are likely to be long-term, and influence consumer shopping behaviour in the corona-free future. To answer the research question: “How did the pandemic affect consumers’ preferred shopping channels, and are those changes long-term?” a qualitative study was conducted. The study consisted of ten interviews, five of which were with consumers who spent most of the pandemic in Sweden, and five with respondents who spent most of the pandemic in Slovakia. This way, the study compares the responses and thus changes in consumer shopping behaviour and channel preferences of consumers who have experienced different levels of restrictions and recommendations as a response to the pandemic. Indeed, Slovakia’s response to the corona pandemic was much more severe and included much more, longer-lasting, restrictions affecting/restricting consumer shopping.   The study showed that despite the countries adopting very different responses to the pandemic, the consumers changed their shopping behaviour in a rather similar way. Most of the respondents stated that they started shopping less due to the pandemic and that they shopped more online. The main reasons for these developments were (1) reduced need for new clothing during the corona pandemic, (2) stores being closed, and/or (3) consumers trying to reduce their contact with others and keep their distance. However, when asked whether these changes in their behaviour are going to persist into the far future, the responses differed. A portion of respondents stated they will continue to shop online more than prior to the pandemic, while still shopping in traditional, offline, stores as well. Some other respondents, however, stated that they will return to in-store shopping as soon as possible. From these findings, it is clear that shopping for clothes via offline channels will still be important and preferred by many, despite the rise of technologies and online shopping possibilities.   The study contributes to the literature on the corona pandemic and its effects on consumer behaviour, the field of consumer behaviour in general, consumer shopping channel preferences, channel switching intentions, omnichannel literature, and the online shopping literature.

The aim of this study was to explore how homecare services work to support the elderly people during the COVID-19 pandemic in Gävle, Sweden. This study has been done by using qualitative methods to get a deeper understanding and knowledge about how homecare services are supporting elderly people at their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, to collect the data for this qualitative study, semi-structured interviews have been conducted with four participants who have been working with homecare services. Empowerment theory has been chosen to explain and analyse how elderly people receive the support from the homecare services to continue their daily life during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the result the data that was collected for this study was arranged in two different themes: Support Strategy and Challenges. The results showed that the homecare services continue to provide the support and services to the elderly even in the time of pandemic. The finding also shows the different strategies that Homecare services apply to cope with challenges that they face while supporting their client as well as their workers during the time of Pandemic.

Abstract Title: Positive and negative consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic on SMEs in Sweden   Purpose The aim of this study is to identify the positive and negative consequences due to the covid-19 on SMEs in Sweden and further specify strategies Swedish SMEs used to manage the influences.    Methodology This study tends to show data, tables and figures based on Qualitative study and Semi-structured interviews and analysis of various related articles.    Finding & Conclusion We find out that small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) face different challenges during Covid-19. Such as failed projects, temporary closure, financial consequences, reduction of job opportunities and challenges of implementing new strategies. We surveyed eight companies during the pandemic crisis and found out how those companies are overcoming the pandemic crisis. Various strategies such as flexibility among SMEs, innovation, investment, digitalization, and other management practices have been implemented by Swedish SMEs to solve the challenges.   Contribution of the study The theoretical contribution is that we have enhanced the knowledge around the Covid-19 influences on SMEs and introduced the company's solutions regarding the impact of the pandemic. The theoretical contribution also showed that the Covid-19 have negative consequences. Another theoretical contribution is that the pandemic has a positive effect to some SMEs. Besides, the practical contribution is that we have provided new data from eight SMEs during the Covid-19 pandemic.   Reflections and suggestions for future research The study focused on understanding the challenges and positive negative influences of the Covid-19 pandemic on only eight SMEs operating in Stockholm city of Sweden. Future studies can focus on finding challenges from Covid-19 pandemic on SMEs and large firms in different countries as well as regions. It could be also interesting to compare the strategies followed by the Swedish SMEs with SMEs from other countries to safeguard from the influences of Covid-19.

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In the COVID-19 stock market industries reacted and were affected in different ways. This paper will use Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes to look at how sectors and selected industries fared after a whole year in a pandemic. This will be accomplished by comparing 2019 stock returns to 2020 stock returns with a t-test and estimating the effect of COVID-19 positive case and death increases using a pooled OLS regression. All SIC sectors A-J were analyzed as well as 18 selected industries such as food stores, real estate, oil and gas extraction, health services, and communications. Results show a significant variation in the monthly returns of 2019 and 2020. Regression results show that there is a small but positive correlation of sector and industry returns to COVID-19 positive case and death increases. This contrary result can confirm the short influential window of COVID-19 outcomes on the stock market as shown in related research. This also confirms that regardless of the continued escalation of the pandemic, the stock market follows sentiment, not substance. This paper will contribute to the existing literature by conducting a yearlong event study of the United States' sectors and industries during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Syftet med denna sociologiska undersökning var att studera hur introverta individer har upplevt sin tillvaro innan och under Covid-19 pandemin i relation till en norm om extraversion. Studien har fokuserat på följande frågeställningar: Hur upplever introverta individer normen om extraversion? Hur upplever introverta individer att deras tillvaro har förändrats av Covid-19 pandemins utveckling? Hur upplever introverta individer att normen om extraversion har förändrats av Covid-19 pandemin? Ambitionen var att belysa problematiken med en extravert samhällsnorm vilket har genomförts utefter en hermeneutisk vetenskapsteoretisk ansats. Empiriinsamlingen baserades på åtta semi-strukturerade intervjuer med individer som identifierade sig som introverta. Studiens teoretiska ramverk bestod av Erving Goffmans (2014) dramaturgiska teori och Thomas J. Scheffs (1990) teori om sociala band vilka låg till grund för analysen av empirin.    Resultaten av studien påvisade att en norm om extraversion finns och påverkar introverta individers tillvaro negativt. Vidare kom studien fram till att introverta individer haft en övergripande positiv tillvaro under Covid-19 pandemin. Avslutningsvis visade studien på att normen om extraversion kvarstod efter det att Covid-19 pandemins restriktioner släppt. Detta innebar att en slutsats kunde dras om att normer har en stark inverkan på vårt samhälle och att förändring av dessa kan ta tid. / The aim of this study in sociology was to examine how introverted individuals have experienced their being before and during the Covid-19 pandemic in relation to a norm of extraversion. The study focused on the following questions: How do introverted individuals experience the norm of extraversion? How do introverted individuals experience that their being have been changed during the Covid-19 pandemic? How do introverted individuals experience that the norm of extraversion have changed due to the Covid-19 pandemic? The ambition was to illuminate the issue of an extraverted social norm, which have been done through a hermeneutic theoretical approach. The empirical collection are based on eight semi-structured interviews of individuals who identify themselves as introverts. The theoretical framework includes Erving Goffman´s (2014) dramaturgical theory and Thomas J. Scheff´s (1990) theory of social bonds.   The result indicated that a norm of extraversion exists and affects introverted individuals negatively. The study also shows that introverted individuals had an overall positive being during the Covid-19 pandemic. Finally, a conclusion was made that norms have a strong impact on our society and that changing them takes time, which refers to the experience that the extraverted norm remains after the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions have been lifted.