Much work and research has been carried out on effective school cultures, accountability and relationships. Underlying all that happens in schools, is the notion of trust. But what do we understand about trust? Is the definition of trust consistent amongst everyone? How is trust defined? Is trust a valued or even an identified component of successful leadership? Does trust underpin all that we do and what, if any, are the commonalities of trust? Central to this thesis is the notion that trust and trusting relationships play a pivotal role in the culture of a school and that without trust a school ceases to be as effective as it has the potential to be. The purpose of this study was to consider existing research and information and to attempt to establish a definition of trust, while identifying the place that trust is perceived to have in an effective school culture. While seeking to establish a baseline understanding of trust and peoples' perceptions of trust, it was also the purpose of this study to examine the dichotomy of trust and accountability. This looked at the challenge of building and maintaining trust while meeting individual and school accountability tasks. Consideration was also given to high-trust/low-trust situations and to whether they are actually the same situation, just seen through different eyes. The literature review examined what an effective school culture might look like and how trust impacts on this culture and, ultimately, on student learning. The literature review also defined trust and the skills, actions or emotions which contribute to trust and for whom these aspects of trust are a reality. The understanding that trust in the school situation is based on having common values and goals was evident in the literature. Trust was defined as being critical in the role of leadership and it is inherent in the way that principals act and lead and that it impacts greatly on the effectiveness of the relationships within a school and on student learning. Eight principals from a range of school sizes, with a gender balance of participants, took part in this research. All were involved in separate, semi-structured interviews, which provided the data for grounded theory analysis. Three distinct findings emerged from this process. These were the notion of what it means to be trustworthy, the role of the principal in extending trust and the dichotomy of trust. The results of this qualitative study suggested that the modelling of trust through daily actions and the empowering of staff were found to be important aspects in developing and maintaining trust within schools as was the competence, experience and knowledge of the principal. Walking the talk and valuing staff as individuals as well as professional members of the school organisation, were critical aspects to effective leadership. Prior experiences in which low trust was evident, informed the practice of these principals to develop philosophies of high trust. Within the final chapter in the Recommendations for Further Study which could add to current research by considering in more depth, specific relationships involving high trust. Six recommendations for further study were discussed in this final section. This study concludes that trust is significant in effective school cultures. It is a fragile emotion and action that can quickly be undermined and decimated and conversely, needs to be actively worked on to be maintained and developed to a high trust model. Being aware of and considering trust will assist principals and their colleagues to enhance effective school cultures, which will impact positively on student learning outcomes.

This research offers an analysis of two concepts: subjective well-being and social capital. I examine each concept separately, looking at their underlying determinants and characteristics, and I also look at the links between these two notions, as there is theoretical support for their interdependent relationship. I have conducted data analysis of five samples, all part of the World Values Survey 1995-1996. The WVS 1995-1996 offers vast data for Spain and for four autonomous regions - Basque Country, Andalusia, Galicia and Valencia. For the national sample N= 1211. Regional sampling is as follows: Basque Country (N=2205), Andalusia (N=1803), Galicia (N=1200), and Valencia (N=501). The subjects of all the surveys are citizens of both sexes, aged 18 and older.

Trust management is an important issue in the analysis and design of secure information systems. This is especially the case where centrally managed security is not possible. Trust issues arise not only in business functions, but also in technologies used to support these functions. There are a vast number of services and applications that must accommodate appropriate notions of trust. Trust and trust management have become a hot research area. The motivation of this dissertation is to build up a comprehensive trust management approach that covers the analysis/modelling of trust relationships and the development of trust management systems in a consistent manner. A formal model of trust relationship is proposed with a strict mathematical structure that can not only reflect many of the commonly used notions of trust, but also provide a solid basis for a unified taxonomy framework of trust where a range of useful properties of trust relationships can be expressed and compared. A classification of trust relationships is presented. A set of definitions, propositions, and operations are proposed for the properties about scope and diversity of trust relationships, direction and symmetry of trust relationships, and relations of trust relationships. A general methodology for analysis and modelling of trust relationships in distributed information system is presented. The general methodology includes a range of major concerns in the whole lifecycle of trust relationships, and provides practical guidelines for analysis and modelling of trust relationships in the real world. A unified framework for trust management is proposed. Trust request, trust evaluation, and trust consuming are handled in a comprehensive and consistent manner. A variety of trust mechanisms including reputation, credentials, local data, and environment parameters are covered under the same framework. A trust management architecture is devised for facilitating the development of trust management systems. A trust management system for federated medical services is developed as an implementation example of the proposed trust management architecture. An online booking system is developed to show how a trust management system is employed by applications. A trust management architecture for web services is devised. It can be viewed as an extension of WS-Trust with the ability to integrate the message building blocks supported by web services protocol stack and other trust mechanisms. It provides high level architecture and guidelines for the development and deployment of a trust management layer in web services. Trust management extension of CardSpace identity system is introduced. Major concerns are listed for the analysis and modelling of trust relationships, and development of trust management systems for digital identities. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Relationship Marketing is relatively unknown in construction, but is widely researched in non project disciplines and applied similarly. Relationship marketing as a sub-component of marketing provides valuable and reliable tools that a manager can use to enhance a service that is being provided to a range of clients. It provides a better solution to client interaction than traditional marketing due to its focus on mutual attainment of common goals. The purpose of relationship marketing is to attract new clients and ensure that existing clients are looked after in a collaborative engagement where objectives are identified and mutual goals set. Overall collective aims of venture participants are identified and achieved. The aim of the research is to identify key relationship factors that should be considered when selecting a construction service. This is achieved through a number of steps that include: examining the principles of marketing and its association with RM; examining alliance principles and construction RM principles, supply chain and service selection issues and relationship development constructs; interviewing a number of construction actors to theorise issues that are important to construction, its connections and relationships. Other activities include interviewing a substantial body of construction actors that have experience of Alliance projects and are able to comment on the relationship development process and observe activities undertaken at a number of alliance development and alliance lessons learned (outcome) workshops. The research identifies methods that enable relationships to be developed and a model that gives buyers the ability to pre-qualify and select contractors that are committed to providing value is provided. The main findings from the research show that RM has many attributes that should be applied to construction; indeed several aspects of RM are currently being applied in alliance projects. The particular form that RM takes in alliance projects is in the relationship development of the stakeholders. These stakeholders eventually become the virtual team who manage the project. In particular the development of trust, commitment and mutual goals in alliance projects form a close parallel with similar constructs in RM. Four themes were discovered to make a difference in relationship development in construction. They were the process of the relationship development workshop; the underlying attributes associated with the development process, in particular trust, trust building, commitment and communication; the outcome for the team; and organisational issues associated with individuals in the relationship development workshops. The particular contribution that the research identifies is in the various models of relationship development that have been constructed throughout the research period. The first, an interim model, identifies a marketing continuum that forms a framework and provides an insight into the ways in which RM may reduce stress and reasons for conflict in a construction project team. At the same time the model shows how increased trust, commitment and satisfaction for the stakeholders, together with value adding potential in the supply chain, may be attained with the use and application of RM principles. The second interim model builds on the first model and applies an organisational focus to the original project based model described earlier. Ongoing relationships based on project success are identified. A third and final interim model identifies the association between process (project) and product success with transactional and relationship marketing. The model identifies how a RM approach provides a long term project success that may be translated to marketing success in a particular industry sector through ongoing relationships. Finally, building on the aforementioned interim models a construction relationship development model is proposed. It is suggested that these models develop and contribute to emerging theory on RM in a project environment and its application to construction. The models also contribute to relationship development theory applied to project driven and temporary organisations. These temporary organisations are particular to the construction industry and they stand to benefit greatly from this research.

This thesis investigated trust over the Internet to seek a better understanding of trust and ways to increase trust in online transactions. The focus of this investigation was consumer-to-consumer transactions at online auctions where key actors were virtually anonymous to each other. The perceptions of a broad range of online auction community members support this thesis. Normative and grounded theoretical perspectives of trust and factors that affected trust were considered, compared and contrasted as part of this research. Concept mapping and the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) were used to underpin the grounded theoretical perspective of trust developed as part of this thesis. Online auction cases were selected and analysed to check the grounded theoretical perspective of trust developed. This thesis provided a better understanding of trust, provided new insights into trust and distrust, added to the body of theory for trust and identified ways to increase trust in online transactions. This thesis provided better understandings of: trust; moral obligations; network decision structures; power; fairness; and perceived behavioural controls at online auctions. A grounded theoretical model of trust based in TPB was developed that was specific to online auctions. This model of trust developed appeared to provide clearer and richer insights into online auction trust. The model of trust developed identified factors and constructs that affected trust rather than the magnitude of any affects. The model developed and findings of this thesis can be applied to new or specific online auction sites to help practitioners build better online environments to encourage more people to transact rather than just browse online. The grounded theoretical perspective of trust and findings of this thesis may be relevant to other online consumer-to-consumer transactional environments.

Water scarcity and water pollution are ongoing problems that require a rethinking of water use in the community. This calls for cooperation between the expert systems of water supply and sewerage as well as some level of public involvement. It is the interaction between the experts or providers, and the public as users or customers, that is the focus of this study on the experience of recycling water sourced from sewage effluent. This cross-national research explores the drivers behind water reuse; the way water reuse is presented to the public for consideration; the public response to water reuse; the influence of environmental and public health risk concerns; and the function of trust in the acceptance of potable water reuse and the sustainability of non potable reuse. The absence of social science published literature relating to the experience of recycled water guided a grounded theory approach to this research, using a triangulation of methods for data collection and case study analysis. The social-psychological studies of Bruvold (1972-1988), located in water industry literature, were consulted to organise an audit of secondary, survey data obtained through industry contacts and fieldwork. In this way, acceptance of potable and non potable water reuse in the USA, UK and Australia is mapped to provide background data for a set of minor case studies that explore the experience of potable reuse. Residential water reuse experience is investigated through embedded case study research. Primary data were collected at two residential sites in Adelaide and two in Florida. Recycled water is used for garden watering and toilet flushing at New Haven, and is planned for Mawson Lakes in Adelaide. Altamonte Springs and Brevard County in Florida recycle water for garden watering and outdoor uses only. Twenty residents were interviewed at each site involving semi-structured interviews: in-depth, face-to-face interviews in Adelaide and telephone interviews on site in Florida. Individual managers of the recycled water systems were also interviewed and, at New Haven, additional key stakeholders were consulted. Qualitative data analysis, employing a grounded theory approach, discovered the value of Sztompka�s (1999) framework for the �social becoming of trust�. This research illustrates that the positive historical culture of trust at the Florida sites, coupled with robust structural support for residential water reuse that encourages positive provider-customer interactions, develops trust in non potable reuse and uses involving a higher level of contact. In the Adelaide sites, weak structural support induces reliance on informal structure that increases the public health risk, jeopardising the sustainability of residential reuse. In relation to potable reuse experience that centres on the Californian experience, a social dilemma is created through a strategic, marketing approach to public consultation and the lack of public communication on current water sources. Sztompka�s (1999) framework for trust as an ongoing process is expanded to include principles of public participation that will further consolidate trust in water reuse to achieve sustainable outcomes.

This thesis examines the way a change management entity facilitated a deep and lasting business transformation, undertaken as a major program of projects that were engaged in business process re-engineering, logistics supply change management and formation of joint ventures and forms of alliance. It takes a project management perspective with a strong focus on how the Corridor project achieved change through leadership, co-learning strategies and collaboration. It takes place within the context of a unique historical period of economic transition for Latin America. The research focuses on the Corridor as a single entity using five case studies of different complexity. The Corridor Project developed as a dynamic community of practice with project management office characteristics where a number of projects were born and evolved through their different life cycles as business transformation outcomes. The Corridor could become a model to put into practice in other regions of the world where production and consumption asymmetries are found or where infrastructural asymmetries could call for a Corridor-like project to overcome trade imbalances or increase regional trade - all this leading to a series of business transformation opportunities to let corporations become more competitive by making a strategic use of knowledge sharing and transfer.

<p>This study aims at investigating the spousal relationships of persons who have been diagnosed with dementia and are living in a nursing home. Eight spouses’ descriptions of their relationship, spousal interaction and the relationship´s impact on the spouse´s life were captured through qualitative interviews. The results show three main types of interaction patterns: one of spousal joy and happiness; a combination of both happiness and sadness; and a pattern of no positive reactions. The strength of the relationship was based on the analysis of trust, intimacy and commitment to the relationship. The spouses who described their relationships as most meaningful were strongly committed and expressed trust. Intimacy was generally low. When asked about plans for the future the results showed that some spouses included the person with dementia, while others excluded. This combined with the view of how the dementia disease affects the person, shows that in meaningful interactions the spouse separated the disease from the person. The relationships where interactions were more problematic showed that this separation did not occur in the same way.</p>

<p> </p><p>Millions of dollars change hands daily through online auction markets. Online trading communities like eBay and Amazon.com are emerging as increasingly important factors of the economy. Various Reputation systems are important components in such electronic markets. Existing evidence suggests that there are a number of problems with such systems. This paper presents an empirical exploration of reputation systems. Two studies of Tradera’s discussion forums are reported. The result of the first, pilot study suggests that both sellers and buyers are worried about getting a retaliatory negative feedback if they leave a negative feedback for an unsatisfactory transaction from their trading parties. Retaliation from the non-paying bidders seems to be the most severe threat and trouble for sellers. A set of negative feedbacks were then gathered from Tradera and data were manually analyzed in order to verify the results from the preliminary study. The results from the second study confirmed the result of the pilot study. A general evaluation of Tradera’s current reputation system is made based on the results of the second study. This paper aims to make a contribution to the literature on online reputation system by developing a typology of seller complaints about Tradera buyers and providing a tentative definition of retaliatory negative feedback based on the findings of both studies. Proposed solutions to the problems of non-payment and feedback retaliation are also presented.</p><p> </p>

<p>The great technological development under the last decade has given the organizations new possibilities to market them self. Mobiles phones, smart phones and the new ultraportable laptops which make it possible to for organizations to send advertisement consumers 24/7. This has led to a steady increase in research during the last decade concerning mobile advertising. The research has mainly been focused on how problems with negative attitudes towards mobile advertising can be changed in to positive ones. Mobile advertising suffers from the same problems as several recently introduced marketing channels have done e.g. ecommerce like trust, privacy and risks. Beside the negative aspects, mobile advertising research has focused on identifying factors that will stimuli consumer willingness to receive mobile advertisement and identified a target group for this marketing channel. The target group has been identified to be young adults in the ages of 18-35. We will in our research´focus on this area about this different problem factors with mobile advertising and try to find which factors that are most important and affecting consumers attitudes towards mobile advertising we further want to develop ideas for how marketers can construct mobile advertising so that consumers accept it as a marketing channels. To examine this, quantitative method was used with a sample of 198 15-19 year old high school students in Umea responding to our survey. The sample was chosen because we believe that this age group will be the ones that are the target for mobile advertisers when the business have picked up more speed in a few years time. This group has also been identified by other researchers as an interesting segment to investigate. We have a positivistic approach to the study and therefore we have worked out six hypotheses that will be tested and then compared with our theoretical framework using a deductive method.</p><p>Our findings confirmed five out of six hypotheses. Consumers are negatively affected by factors as risk, lack of trust and privacy. The attitudes can change towards more positive ones if consumers perceive the advertisement relevant, entertaining, valuable functional and if they get some form of incentives for receiving advertisement. The hypothesis that we were not able to confirm concerned the consumer factors where only three of five factors were significant in our tests.</p>