In multi-hop wireless network (MWN), the mobile nodes relay others’ packets for enabling new applications and enhancing the network deployment and performance. However, the selfish nodes drop the packets because packet relay consumes their resources without benefits, and the malicious nodes drop the packets to launch Denial-of-Service attacks. Packet drop attacks adversely degrade the network fairness and performance in terms of throughput, delay, and packet delivery ratio. Moreover, due to the nature of wireless transmission and multi-hop packet relay, the attackers can analyze the network traffic in undetectable way to learn the users’ locations in number of hops and their communication activities causing a serious threat to the users’ privacy. In this thesis, we propose efficient security protocols for thwarting packet drop attacks and preserving users’ privacy in multi-hop wireless networks. First, we design a fair and efficient cooperation incentive protocol to stimulate the selfish nodes to relay others’ packets. The source and the destination nodes pay credits (or micropayment) to the intermediate nodes for relaying their packets. In addition to cooperation stimulation, the incentive protocol enforces fairness by rewarding credits to compensate the nodes for the consumed resources in relaying others’ packets. The protocol also discourages launching Resource-Exhaustion attacks by sending bogus packets to exhaust the intermediate nodes’ resources because the nodes pay for relaying their packets. For fair charging policy, both the source and the destination nodes are charged when the two nodes benefit from the communication. Since micropayment protocols have been originally proposed for web-based applications, we propose a practical payment model specifically designed for MWNs to consider the significant differences between web-based applications and cooperation stimulation. Although the non-repudiation property of the public-key cryptography is essential for securing the incentive protocol, the public-key cryptography requires too complicated computations and has a long signature tag. For efficient implementation, we use the public-key cryptography only for the first packet in a series and use the efficient hashing operations for the next packets, so that the overhead of the packet series converges to that of the hashing operations. Since a trusted party is not involved in the communication sessions, the nodes usually submit undeniable digital receipts (proofs of packet relay) to a centralized trusted party for updating their credit accounts. Instead of submitting large-size payment receipts, the nodes submit brief reports containing the alleged charges and rewards and store undeniable security evidences. The payment of the fair reports can be cleared with almost no processing overhead. For the cheating reports, the evidences are requested to identify and evict the cheating nodes. Since the cheating actions are exceptional, the proposed protocol can significantly reduce the required bandwidth and energy for submitting the payment data and clear the payment with almost no processing overhead while achieving the same security strength as the receipt-based protocols. Second, the payment reports are processed to extract financial information to reward the cooperative nodes, and contextual information such as the broken links to build up a trust system to measure the nodes’ packet-relay success ratios in terms of trust values. A node’s trust value is degraded whenever it does not relay a packet and improved whenever it does. A node is identified as malicious and excluded from the network once its trust value reaches to a threshold. Using trust system is necessary to keep track of the nodes’ long-term behaviors because the network packets may be dropped normally, e.g., due to mobility, or temporarily, e.g., due to network congestion, but the high frequency of packet drop is an obvious misbehavior. Then, we propose a trust-based and energy-aware routing protocol to route traffics through the highly trusted nodes having sufficient residual energy in order to establish stable routes and thus minimize the probability of route breakage. A node’s trust value is a real and live measurement to the node’s failure probability and mobility level, i.e., the low-mobility nodes having large hardware resources can perform packet relay more efficiently. In this way, the proposed protocol stimulates the nodes not only to cooperate but also to improve their packet-relay success ratio and tell the truth about their residual energy to improve their trust values and thus raise their chances to participate in future routes. Finally, we propose a privacy-preserving routing and incentive protocol for hybrid ad hoc wireless network. Micropayment is used to stimulate the nodes’ cooperation without submitting payment receipts. We only use the lightweight hashing and symmetric-key-cryptography operations to preserve the users’ privacy. The nodes’ pseudonyms are efficiently computed using hashing operations. Only trusted parties can link these pseudonyms to the real identities for charging and rewarding operations. Moreover, our protocol protects the location privacy of the anonymous source and destination nodes. Extensive analysis and simulations demonstrate that our protocols can secure the payment and trust calculation, preserve the users’ privacy with acceptable overhead, and precisely identify the malicious and the cheating nodes. Moreover, the simulation and measurement results demonstrate that our routing protocols can significantly improve route stability and thus the packet delivery ratio due to stimulating the selfish nodes’ cooperation, evicting the malicious nodes, and making informed decisions regarding route selection. In addition, the processing and submitting overheads of the payment-reports are incomparable with those of the receipts in the receipt-based incentive protocols. Our protocol also requires incomparable overhead to the signature-based protocols because the lightweight hashing operations dominate the nodes’ operations.

Citizens’ trust in government institutions and their political support for development are important preconditions for a democratic and sustainable form of development. In the context of tourism, it is important that residents of a destination endorse development and tourism policies of the government to ensure sustainability and good governance of the sector. Recognition that communities are central to tourism development and one of the most important groups of stakeholders has led researchers to conduct numerous studies on residents’ support for tourism development and its antecedents. While early studies on this topic were of an atheoretical nature, researchers have increasingly made use of theories such as social exchange theory (SET), originally drawn from sociology, to understand the ways in which residents’ react to tourism development and the circumstances that prompt them to do so. While on one hand use of SET has strengthened the theoretical base of and has made significant contributions to this area of research, on the other hand, some researchers have found the theory to lack predictive power in explaining residents’ support for tourism development. This is probably because researchers have failed to consider all important variables of the theory simultaneously in an integrative framework. Key constructs such as power and trust have been left out by the majority of studies on this topic. It is also important that SET is complemented with other theoretical approaches so that new insights are uncovered in this area of study. Grounded in political economy, this study attempted to make a ‘complete’ use of SET by integrating its key components (trust, power, benefits, costs, and support) in a model that predicted residents’ trust in government actors involved in tourism and their political support for the sector’s development. The research drew widely from the political science literature and made use of two competing theories to investigate the determinants of residents’ trust in government actors: institutional theory of political trust and cultural theory of political trust. Based on the three different theories (SET, institutional theory of political trust, and cultural theory of political trust), the conceptual model of the study was developed. As postulated by SET, the model posited that political support is determined by residents’ trust in government actors, perceived benefits of tourism, and perceived costs of tourism. The latter two variables were also proposed to influence trust in government actors. An inverse relationship between perceived benefits and perceived costs of tourism was also hypothesized. The model further suggested that residents’ perceptions of their level of power in tourism influenced their perceptions of the benefits and costs of tourism development. As predicted by institutional theory of political trust, residents’ perceptions of the economic and political performance of local government actors and their perceived level of power in tourism were proposed to influence their trust in those actors. Drawing from cultural theory of political trust, interpersonal trust was hypothesized to be positively related to residents’ trust in government actors. Twelve hypotheses emanated from the model and were tested using responses collected from 391 residents of Niagara Region, Ontario, Canada, using an online panel. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the proposed hypotheses. In addition, the mediating effects implied in the proposed model were investigated (although no formal hypotheses were originally proposed) using Baron and Kenny’s (1986) recommended steps and the Sobel z test. Findings provided support for eight of the twelve proposed hypotheses. Contrary to what researchers have assumed so far, residents’ trust in government actors was a better predictor of political support that their perceptions of the costs of tourism development. Perceived benefits remained the best predictor of political support as advocated in several studies. Residents’ perceptions of the benefits of tourism were also inversely related to perceived costs, suggesting that interactions among residents’ perceptions of the different impacts of tourism exist. Residents’ perceived level of power in tourism was a significant determinant of perceived benefits, but did not significantly predict perceived costs. Residents’ perceptions of the political performance of government actors in tourism was the strongest predictor of their trust, followed by their perceptions of the economic performance of government actors, and their perceptions of the benefits of tourism development. Residents’ perceived level of power in tourism, their perceptions of the costs of tourism, and interpersonal trust were found to be insignificant predictors of their trust in government actors. Findings also suggested that residents’ perceptions of the costs of tourism and their trust in government actors partially mediated the relationships between perceived benefits of tourism and political support. The results partially supported SET because some of the theory’s postulates and predictions were not empirically supported. Findings also confirmed the superiority of institutional theory of political trust over cultural theory of political trust. The theoretical and practical implications of the study’s findings were discussed. The limitations of the study were recognized and some recommendations for improving future research were made. Overall, the study suggested that political trust is a promising construct in studies on community support for development policies and deserves further attention by researchers, scholars, and practitioners given the paucity of research on this topic in the tourism literature. The search also suggests that researchers should recognize that residents’ trust in government actors and their support for tourism development are complex issues that are determined by several factors. A single theory is unlikely to provide a comprehensive understanding of these concepts, raising the need for researchers to investigate these issues from different theoretical perspectives.

[Truncated abstract] This thesis investigates the influence the interpersonal relationship between the venture capitalist and the entrepreneur has upon the performance of the venture capitalist's investment. Its aim was to explore how venture capitalists add value (as opposed to what they do) to their investments in order to arrive at a fuller explanation of investment performance than that offered by agency theory – the current paradigm for the value adding relationship. The qualitative study that underpins this thesis found that in Australia, the quality of the interpersonal relationship between the venture capitalist and the entrepreneur during the value adding phase of the venture capital investment cycle positively predicts the performance of the venture capitalist's investment. The study was prompted by the researcher's personal experiences (as both a venture capitalist and as an entrepreneur in Australia) which suggested that the interpersonal relationship may influence the effectiveness of the venture capitalist's attempts to add value. Whilst the prior research had explored in depth the provision of value adding services (e.g. strategic advice, recruitment of key personnel, board participation), less progress appears to have been made in understanding the role of the interpersonal processes. Although several studies have attempted to fit an established social exchange theory to the value adding process, a published explanation of investment performance (process outcome) that includes interpersonal processes has not been identified. ... The exercise of power was found to be a negative predictor of investment performance. Power was typically exercised as the last resort measure in a failed interpersonal relationship and either precipitated or consolidated inferior investment performance. The failure of the venture capitalists to exercise their formal power in time to arrest underperformance was often due to their fear of the 'hold up' power of (threat of abandonment by) the entrepreneur. Agency theory's contribution to the explanation of investment performance was limited to (adverse) selection, at which point the combined competence of the dyad was determined. In addition to the new explanatory theory, some other insights into value adding were provided, including the key role of mutuality and the lack of explanatory power of the contract, information asymmetry, or goal alignment. The thesis offers contributions to knowledge and practice. Its contributions to knowledge include: the generation of new theory about value adding and investment performance in venture capital deals and some new theoretical concepts, the application of a methodological approach that is new to the area of interest, and a new insight into the Australian venture capital sector. It outlines the implications of the study findings for venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and policy makers, providing some fresh ideas for their consideration. It particularly highlights the need for cultural change in value adding relationships and the influence of heritage on the likelihood of the venture capitalist being successful.

Brand Trust is the trust consumers have in brands and have been previously proven to be affected negatively by dark patterns (i.e. design patterns used in websites to deceive their customers). This study is aimed to find out if Brand Trust is affected negatively by dark patterns when used for charity. The study is a between-group to determine Brand Trust based on six different scenarios (three using dark patterns for profit, three using dark patterns for charity) using the Brand Trust Scale that is divided into two dimensions, Fiability and Intentionality. This was measured in the form of two questionnaires. There were two groups that completed the questionnaires, one group that watched the scenarios for profit (for profit) and one that watched the scenarios for charity (for charity). The study consisted of 69 participants in total (37 completed the for-profit questionnaire; 32 completed the for-charity questionnaire). The hypothesis was that the group for-charity would have a higher value of Brand Trust. The results showed no significant difference between the two groups to support the hypothesis, however, an exploration of the results indicated that men have a higher Brand Trust in the dimension Intentionality and that the participants who valued themselves as really good at being source critical had a higher Brand Trust in the dimension Fiability. / Det förtroende konsumenter har för varumärken kallas varumärkesförtroende och har tidigare visat sig påverkas negativt av dark patterns som är designmönster som webbsidor använder för att lura sina kunder. Denna studie syftar till att ta reda på om varumärkesförtroendet fortfarande kommer att påverkas negativt om dark patterns används för välgörenhet. Studien är en mellangruppsstudie för att fastställa Brand Trust baserat på sex olika scenarier (tre använder dark patterns för vinst, tre använder dark patterns för välgörenhet) med hjälp av Brand Trust Scale som är uppdelad i två dimensioner, Fiability och Intentionality. Detta mättes i form av två frågeformulär. Det var två grupper som fyllde i frågeformulären, en grupp som tittade på scenarierna för vinst (för vinst) och en som tittade på scenarierna för välgörenhet (för välgörenhet). Studien bestod av totalt 69 deltagare (37 fyllde i frågeformuläret för vinst; 32 fyllde i frågeformuläret för välgörenhet). Hypotesen var att gruppen för välgörenhet skulle ha ett högre värde av Brand Trust. Resultaten visade ingen signifikant skillnad mellan de två grupperna för att stödja hypotesen, dock indikerade en utforskning av resultaten att män har ett högre varumärkesförtroende i dimensionen Intentionality och att deltagarna som värderade sig själva som riktigt bra på att vara källkritiska hade en högre Brand Trust i dimensionen Fiability.

I det ständigt förändrade medielandskapet ökar möjligheterna för organisationer att hitta nya vägar att nå ut med sin marknadskommunikation. Detta ställer höga krav på att organisationer ska delta i medieplattformar och ha en fungerande strategi för hur plattformen ska användas. Sociala medier är en relativt ny plattform för organisationer att delta i och bidrar med en möjlighet att föra en interaktion med kunder, till skillnad från traditionella media som är en envägskommunikation. Tidigare studier har adresserat strategier för att organisationer på ett framgångsrikt sätt ska generera förtroende och lojalitet via sina sociala medier. Den kunskapslucka som återfinns är att undersöka om dessa strategier är relevanta och applicerbara även i ett fall där ett utvalt företag befinner sig i en djup förtroendekris. Studiens syfte är att utifrån ett företagsperspektiv kartlägga en pågående förtroendekris och undersöka hur ett deltagande i sociala medier kan bidra till att återfå ett raserat förtroende. Studien är en fallstudie om PostNord som i skrivande stund genomgår en förtroendekris samt använder sig utav en social plattform, Facebook, för att kommunicera med sina kunder. Det teoretiska ramverket som används för studien är Kellers (2001) kundbaserade varumärkeskapital som innefattar nivåer för att generera förtroende. Empirin samlades in genom en kvalitativ ansats och semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med anställda på PostNord. Studien visar att det råder olika uppfattningar gällande vilken roll sociala medier har haft i förtroendekrisen och även hur ett deltagande i sociala medier kan bidra till att öka förtroendet. Författarna av denna studie har sammanställt en modell med en potentiell strategi för att bidra till att öka förtroendet via ett deltagande i sociala medier. / In the ever-changing media landscape, the opportunities for organizations to find new ways to reach out with their market communication are increasing. This poses high demands on organizations to participate in media platforms and to have a successful strategy for the platform. Social media is a relatively new platform for organizations to participate in and provides an opportunity to interact with customers, unlike one-way communication like the traditional media. Studies in the past has found strategies for organizations to apply for generating trust and loyalty through their participation in social media. The knowledge gap that is found is to investigate whether these strategies are relevant and applicable even in a case where a selected company is in a deep trust crisis. The aim of the study is to assess from an enterprise perspective an ongoing trust crisis and the role that social media can play in increasing trust by participating in social media. The study is a case study of PostNord. The organization is currently undergoing a trust crisis and uses a social media platform, Facebook, to communicate with their customers. The theoretical framework used for the study is Keller’s (2001) customer-based brand equity that includes levels for generating trust. Empirical data was collected through a qualitative approach and semi structured interviews were conducted with employees from PostNord. The result of this study shows that there are different perceptions about the role of social media in the trust crisis and how a participation in social media can help increase trust. The authors of this study have compiled a model of a potential strategy to help increase trust through participation in social media.

O avanço da World Wide Web tem mudado a forma como os negócios são conduzidos entre as organizações. A Web Semântica é o próximo passo na evolução da web. Ela trata de agregar significado semântico ao seu conteúdo, tornando-o mais acessível a máquinas. Dentre os componentes da Web Semântica encontram-se as ontologias, que são representações do conhecimento comumente acordados em um determinado domínio na forma de classes, atributos e relações. O conhecimento presente na ontologia deve ser compartilhado e sua estrutura não é definitiva. Dentre as opções de uso das ontologias, encontra-se a avaliação de confiança nas transações comerciais na web. Assim, buscou-se um modelo teórico de ontologias de confiança, sobre o qual foi realizada uma implementação computacional e sua verificação. O modelo apresenta uma ontologia genérica de confiança, e três específicas: confiança nos agentes, confiança nos serviços e confiança nos produtos. Usou-se a ferramenta Protégé para implementar as classes, os atributos e as relações da ontologia genérica e das ontologias específicas. A verificação se deu pelo método de Baumeister e Seipel e pela realização de alguns exemplos, com adaptações. A partir dos experimentos computacionais conclui-se que o modelo de ontologias para confiança na web testado pode ser usado em um sistema de informação com restrições, uma vez que apresenta deficiências. / The advance of World Wide Web has changed the way businesses are conducted between organizations. Semantic Web is the next step in web evolution. It joins semantic meaning to its content, making it more accessible to machines. One of Semantic Web components are the ontologies. They are knowledge representation commonly agreed in a particular domain, in a form of classes, attributes and relations. The ontology knowledge must be shared and its structure is not definitive. One of the uses for ontologies is the trust evaluation in web businesses transactions. So one theoretical model of trust ontologies was used, it was computationally implemented, and verified. This model presents one generic trust ontology, and three specific ontologies: agent trust, service trust and product trust. Protégé tool was used to implement the classes, attributes and relations of generic ontology and of specific ontologies. Verification was performed using Baumeister and Seipel’s method by doing some examples, with adaptations. From the computational experiments it was concluded that the model of ontologies for web trust can be used in an information system with restrictions, since it has some deficiencies.

Submitted by MAURILIO NUNES DA CONCEIÇÃO (nunes113@hotmail.com) on 2015-12-09T15:51:12Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao MAURILIO NUNES 09-12-15 VERSÃO SUBMISSÃO FINAL.pdf: 878949 bytes, checksum: f68e3a03f15c6bc2f7cd728d3e199c02 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Janete de Oliveira Feitosa (janete.feitosa@fgv.br) on 2016-01-28T11:28:21Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao MAURILIO NUNES 09-12-15 VERSÃO SUBMISSÃO FINAL.pdf: 878949 bytes, checksum: f68e3a03f15c6bc2f7cd728d3e199c02 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marcia Bacha (marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2016-02-01T11:25:48Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao MAURILIO NUNES 09-12-15 VERSÃO SUBMISSÃO FINAL.pdf: 878949 bytes, checksum: f68e3a03f15c6bc2f7cd728d3e199c02 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-02-01T11:26:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao MAURILIO NUNES 09-12-15 VERSÃO SUBMISSÃO FINAL.pdf: 878949 bytes, checksum: f68e3a03f15c6bc2f7cd728d3e199c02 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-11-30 / O objetivo deste trabalho foi aprofundar a compreensão do modelo de coordenação informal no Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais da Polícia Militar do Estado do Rio de Janeiro - BOPE/RJ, uma unidade policial de operações especiais. Numa primeira etapa, conduzimos uma análise bibliográfica e documental sobre a confiança e seus antecedentes, tomando como base estudos anteriores realizados nesta unidade. Posteriormente, realizamos uma análise quantitativa, utilizando um banco de dados existente, fruto de esforços de pesquisa anteriores quando foi aplicado um questionário para os policiais desta unidade. Ao final de nossas análises, confirmamos a existência de uma relação direta e negativa entre distância de poder e confiança profissional no líder, ou seja, quanto maior a distância de poder, menor é a confiança profissional no líder. Comprovamos também que, quanto maior a percepção de acessibilidade, confiabilidade e transparência da informação compartilhada com os membros de uma equipe, maior é a confiança pessoal no líder. Além disso, quanto maior a percepção de compartilhamento e delegação de autoridade no processo de decisão do BOPE/RJ maior a confiança pessoal no líder. / The objective was to deepen the understanding of informal coordination model the Special Police Operations Battalion of the Military Police of Rio de Janeiro State - BOPE/RJ, a police special operations unit. As a first step, we conducted a bibliographical and documentary analysis of the trust and its antecedents, based on previous studies in this unit. Subsequently, we conducted a quantitative analysis using an existing database, the result of previous research efforts when a questionnaire was applied to officers of this unit. At the end of our analysis, we confirm the existence of a direct and negative relationship between power distance and professional confidence in the leader, that is, the higher the power distance, the lower the professional confidence in the leader. Also proved that the greater the perception of accessibility, reliability and transparency of information shared with members of a team, the greater the personal trust in the leader. In addition, the greater the sense of sharing and delegation of authority in the decision process of BOPE/RJ largest personal trust in the leader.

O avanço da World Wide Web tem mudado a forma como os negócios são conduzidos entre as organizações. A Web Semântica é o próximo passo na evolução da web. Ela trata de agregar significado semântico ao seu conteúdo, tornando-o mais acessível a máquinas. Dentre os componentes da Web Semântica encontram-se as ontologias, que são representações do conhecimento comumente acordados em um determinado domínio na forma de classes, atributos e relações. O conhecimento presente na ontologia deve ser compartilhado e sua estrutura não é definitiva. Dentre as opções de uso das ontologias, encontra-se a avaliação de confiança nas transações comerciais na web. Assim, buscou-se um modelo teórico de ontologias de confiança, sobre o qual foi realizada uma implementação computacional e sua verificação. O modelo apresenta uma ontologia genérica de confiança, e três específicas: confiança nos agentes, confiança nos serviços e confiança nos produtos. Usou-se a ferramenta Protégé para implementar as classes, os atributos e as relações da ontologia genérica e das ontologias específicas. A verificação se deu pelo método de Baumeister e Seipel e pela realização de alguns exemplos, com adaptações. A partir dos experimentos computacionais conclui-se que o modelo de ontologias para confiança na web testado pode ser usado em um sistema de informação com restrições, uma vez que apresenta deficiências. / The advance of World Wide Web has changed the way businesses are conducted between organizations. Semantic Web is the next step in web evolution. It joins semantic meaning to its content, making it more accessible to machines. One of Semantic Web components are the ontologies. They are knowledge representation commonly agreed in a particular domain, in a form of classes, attributes and relations. The ontology knowledge must be shared and its structure is not definitive. One of the uses for ontologies is the trust evaluation in web businesses transactions. So one theoretical model of trust ontologies was used, it was computationally implemented, and verified. This model presents one generic trust ontology, and three specific ontologies: agent trust, service trust and product trust. Protégé tool was used to implement the classes, attributes and relations of generic ontology and of specific ontologies. Verification was performed using Baumeister and Seipel’s method by doing some examples, with adaptations. From the computational experiments it was concluded that the model of ontologies for web trust can be used in an information system with restrictions, since it has some deficiencies.

Marknadsföring idag ser inte ut som den har gjort tidigare, digitaliseringen har medfört en stor förändring och många nya möjligheter för företag och privatpersoner att marknadsföra sig. Word-of-mouth har gått från att vara mellan två eller flera personer i en konversation där exempelvis en produkt eller tjänst diskuterats. Detta har också förändrats och flera olika typer av online word-of-mouth (eWOM) har tillkommit, denna studie kommer behandla två typer av eWOM som finns, mer exakt influencers och recensioner online. Undersökningen kommer gå in på det förtroende som konsumenter har för just influencers och recensioner online och även undersöka om detta förändras om konsumenten står inför ett hög- eller lågengagemangsköp. Forskningsfrågor ställs även för att få reda på vilka faktorer som spelar in för att förtroendet för influencers och recensioner skall påverkas och om förtroendet förändras om konsumenten ställs inför ett köp av en produkt istället för en tjänst. Undersökningen sker genom en kvalitativ metod där intervjuer hålls med sex respondenter och frågor anknutna till syftet och forskningsfrågorna ställs till dem. Resultatet från dessa intervjuer visar att förtroendet för influencers inte är lika starkt som det förtroende konsumenterna har för recensioner online, däremot förklarar respondenterna att det finns faktorer som kan både öka och minska förtroendet både för recensioner och influencers. Det kan exempelvis vara så att en influencer mer många följare kan kännas mer trovärdig och att en okänd hemsida med recensioner kan tappa trovärdighet. Respondenterna har varit överens om att influencers fungerar bättre som inspiration till produkter och tjänster, däremot är det recensioner som får dem att ta beslutet när det gäller ett köp. / Marketing today doesn’t look like it has done before, the digitization has resulted in a big change and lots of new opportunities for companies and individuals to advertise. Word-of-mouth has changed from something being said about a product or service in a conversation between two or more people to also be available online. There are a lot of different types of online word-of-mouth (eWOM), and we’re going to target influencers and online reviews. The study will look into the trust for influencers and online reviews perceived by the consumers and also examine how or if the amount of trust will alter depending on if the consumer approaches a high- or low involvement purchase. The study will be of a qualitative method where interviews will be held with six respondents. The questions will be cohere to the purpose of the study and the research questions. The result from this study shows that the consumer trust for influencers isn’t as significant as the trust for online reviews, despite that several of the consumers points out that there is factors that can change the amount of trust for both influencers and online reviews. For example an influencer with a lot of followers can appear to be more trustworthy than one with less, and a not that well known website with online reviews can appear less trustworthy. The respondents have agreed that influencers work better as inspiration for products and services, although they all thought that reviews are the deciding factor to making a purchase.

This paper has had the ambition to answer the question does people’s perception of group difference affect their sense of societal cohesiveness? Using survey data from a Swedish 2015 study conductedby the SOM-institute this study looks at people living in Sweden’s perceptions of differentgroup identities to see which elements come at play in forming an over-all sense of societal cohesion.This study combines theories on social capital in relation to group identities to create anadvanced model to test the data in. The analysis confirmed that people’s discernment of other groups indeed affects the level of societal cohesiveness, and that respondents who felt a stronger emotional connection towards groups with another economy, education and culture were more likely to feel like a part of the Swedish society and to be more trusting of others.