Yes / Having its origin in public administration, trustworthiness is a significant concept in digital government research, influencing the relationships between citizens and governments. However, the interrelationships between the facets of trustworthiness are given inadequate attention. Therefore, the aim of this research was to develop a theory detailing the factors affecting citizens’ perceptions of e-government trustworthiness. A comprehensive review of public administration and information systems literature highlighted 20 pertinent variables. The interrelationships of these variables were identified and categorized according to their driving and dependence power by employing interpretive structural modelling. The proposed model was then drawn based on the level partitioning of variables and interrelationships of the variables determined using the final reachability matrix. The findings reveal that current conceptualizations of digital government trustworthiness take a too narrow view. The findings can help government policy makers with understanding the interrelated factors associated with trustworthiness in the context of digital government services and implement them in effective strategic planning.

The use of celebrity endorsers is a popular marketing strategy in many countries. Typically, many marketers believe that using celebrities is a viable marketing strategy for attracting customers, increasing market share and improving sales for their market offerings. The celebrity endorsement strategy using local celebrities is increasing in South Africa. Many South African marketers are now using popular local black celebrities in an attempt to attract the prosperous black emerging middle class, known as Black Diamonds. Black Generation Y students offer great promise to marketers in the South African market as their tertiary education is likely to lead to higher future earning potential and subsequent entry into the already prosperous black emerging middle class segment. Given the increased use of local black celebrities and the market potential of the black Generation Y cohort in South Africa, it is important to investigate whether this marketing strategy may be effective when used in this segment. Celebrity endorsement may work effectively if the correct celebrity is chosen to promote a product but may have costly results if an inappropriate celebrity is chosen. Ohanian (1990) developed a scale to facilitate the selection of celebrity endorsers. The scale is based on the source credibility model that includes the source attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise model. This study set out to determine whether the black Generation Y students have positive perceptions of local black celebrity endorsers using the celebrity endorsers‟ credibility scale developed by Ohanian (1990). Furthermore, the scale was validated using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling in order to ascertain whether the scale remains applicable when used in the South African context. A non-probability convenience sample of 880 (440 per institution) black students aged between 18 and 24 years was taken in 2012 from the two registered public higher education institutions in the Gauteng province of South Africa. Following a top-of-the-mind-awareness test, four local black celebrities were identified, namely Connie Ferguson, Black Coffee, DJ Sbu and Zahara. In a second top-of-the-mind-awareness test to determine which product types each celebrity is considered to most suitable to endorse, Connie Ferguson was linked to cosmetics, Black Coffee to hot beverages, DJ Sbu to men’s clothing and Zahara to traditional African clothes and jewellery. The relevant primary data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire that had four versions – one per identified celebrity. Lecturers at the two public HEIs were contacted and asked if they would distribute the questionnaires (four versions) to their students to complete during lecture periods. The questionnaires were hand delivered to the relevant lecturers and those completed were immediately collected. The questionnaire requested respondents to indicate on a six-point Likert scale their perceptions of the four selected celebrities‟ attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise in endorsing their selected product types. In addition, respondents were asked to provide certain demographic data. Findings from the study indicated that black Generation Y students have positive perceptions of the selected local black celebrity endorsers‟ attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise in endorsing their selected product types. In addition, the results of both the confirmatory factor analysis and the structural equation modelling suggest that the scale developed by Ohanian (1990) to be a valid measure for selecting celebrity endorsers when applied in South Africa. Insights gained from this study will assist both marketing academics and practitioners understand the perceptions of the black Generation Y students towards the use of local black celebrities in product promotions in the South African market. / MCom, Marketing Management, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2013

Cette thèse propose deux approches pour améliorer la qualité des réponses d'un système de raisonnement à partir de cas (RàPC) utilisant des connaissances produites par une communauté en ligne. La première approche concerne la mise en œuvre d'un modèle permettant de gérer la fiabilité des connaissances produites par la communauté sous la forme d'un score. Ce score de fiabilité est utilisé d'une part pour filtrer les connaissances non fiables afin qu'elles ne soient pas utilisées par le système de RàPC et d'autre part pour classer les réponses retournées par le système. La deuxième approche concerne la représentation de la typicalité entre sous-classes et classes dans une organisation hiérarchique. La typicalité est alors utilisée pour réorganiser les connaissances hiérarchiques utilisées par le système de RàPC. L'apport de ces deux approches a été évalué dans le cadre de eTaaable, un système de RàPC qui adapte des recettes de cuisine en utilisant des connaissances produites par une communauté en ligne. L'évaluation montre que la gestion de la fiabilité des connaissances produites par la communauté améliore la qualité des réponses retournées par eTaaable. De même, l'évaluation montre que l'utilisation par eTaaable des hiérarchies des connaissances réorganisées en exploitant la typicalité améliore également la qualité des réponses / This research work presents two approaches to improve the quality of the results returned by a case-based reasoning system (CBR) exploiting knowledge produced by an e-community. The first approach relies on a new model to manage the trustworthiness of the knowledge produced by the e community. In this model, the trustworthiness is represented through a score which is used to filter untrustworthy knowledge so that the CBR system will not use it anymore. Moreover, the trustworthiness score is also used to rank the CBR results. The second approach addresses the issue of representing the typicality between subclasses and classes in a hierarchy. The typicality is used to change the hierarchical organization used by the CBR system. Both approaches have been evaluated in the framework of eTaaable, a CBR system which adapts cooking recipes using knowledge coming from an e-community. The evaluations show that managing the trustworthiness of the knowledge produced by an e-community improves the quality of the results returned by eTaaable. The evaluations also shows that eTaaable returns also better results when using knowledge reorganized according to typicality.

O Código Civil, tal como disciplinado atualmente, confere os dispositivos necessários à proteção da confiança, à proibição do comportamento contraditório e demais institutos relacionados à confiança. Para tanto, o direito brasileiro adotou a técnica legislativa da cláusula geral para introduzir em sua normatividade a ética como regra de conduta exigida das partes, cabendo ao Juiz a função integrativa para determinar qual é a conduta adequada em cada caso concreto. Os deveres anexos ou laterais, consagrados pela função criadora de deveres jurídicos da boa-fé objetiva, impõem aos contratantes o cumprimento de obrigações acessórias para que a obrigação principal seja adimplida. A vedação do comportamento contraditório, seu conteúdo, forma de caracterização e aplicação consiste na proteção à confiança e os princípios da dignidade da pessoa humana, da solidariedade e boa-fé objetiva, que norteiam o ordenamento jurídico pátrio. Ao negociar, sabedora das limitações de informações das partes contratos incompletos uma empresa certamente colocará na formação de preços uma parcela que corresponda aos custos da incerteza (riscos) gerados durante as negociações. Ao repensar a situação, e percebendo a oportunidade de eventualmente encontrar o equilíbrio no futuro, poderá a empresa optar por reduzir a parcela de preço decorrente do risco inerente à assimetria de informações, sendo, portanto, mais competitiva ao identificar que eventuais falhas, ainda que inconscientes, podem vir a ser sanadas por meio do provimento judicial. A lealdade que deve presidir as relações entre as partes faz com que os contratos empresariais, dentre outros, residam em ambiente probo, permitindo, assim, o equilíbrio da relação por ocasião das negociações preliminares (culpa in contrahendo), durante a execução do contrato (teoria dos atos próprios - venire contra factum proprium e tu quoque), e após a execução contratual, como ocorre na hipótese da responsabilidade post pactum finitum. / The Civil Code, as enacted, provides the necessary tools to protect the trustworthiness, the prohibition of contradictory behavior and other institutes related. Therefore, Brazilian law adopted a legislative technique which introduces the general clause as a normative rule of conduct required from the parties, providing the Judge with an integrative function aiming at determining which rule would fit each case. The lateral duties, considered legal duties by the good faith, require contractors to meet certain accessory obligations. Forbidding the contradictory behavior, its content and characterization consists in a protection of the trust and the principles of human dignity, solidarity and good faith. During any negotiation, being aware of the limitations of information - incomplete contracts - a company certainly increases the price to cover the costs of uncertainty (risk) generated during the negotiations. By finding the opportunity to reach the balance the risk, the company may reduce the share price due to the risk inherent in asymmetric information, and therefore become more competitive by identifying any faults that, although unconscious, could be remedied through judicial appointment. The loyalty that should govern relations between the parties put business contracts, among others, in a honest environment, thus allowing the balance of the relationship during the preliminary negotiations (culpa in contrahendo) during performance of the contract (through the theory of the acts, venire factum proprium and tu quoque), and after contract execution, through the theory of post pactum finitum liability.

Bakgrund: Internet används globalt inom många områden och aktuell forskning visar att gravida kvinnor använder Internet till att söka information om graviditet och förlossning. En graviditet innebär många frågor hos kvinnan och kvinnor söker efter information för att få en trygghet och försäkran om att allt är normalt med deras hälsa och barnet i magen. Syfte: Syftet är att undersöka gravida kvinnors informationssökning via Internet avseende graviditet och förlossning. Metod: Beskrivande tvärsnittstudie. Datainsamling skedde via en enkätundersökning och data analyserades med deskriptiv och jämförande ansats. Resultat: Nästan alla kvinnor i undersökningen använde Internet för att söka information om graviditet och förlossning. Kvinnorna söker information om barnets utveckling, kost/näring och graviditetslängd i hög utsträckning. Högutbildade kvinnor har andra kriterier för trovärdighet på hemsidor än kvinnor med lägre utbildning. Slutsats: Barnmorskor bör vara medvetna om gravida kvinnors användning av Internet samt själva skapa sig en uppfattning om informationen som de gravida kvinnorna läser på Internet. Vår studie visar att barnmorskors rekommendation av hemsidor på Internet har stor betydelse för gravida kvinnor. / Background: Internet is used globally in many areas and current research shows that pregnant women use the Internet to search for information about pregnancy and childbirth.  A pregnancy holds many questions and women seek information to get a sense of security and assurance that everything is “normal” with their health and the baby. Purpose: To investigate pregnant women´s use of the Internet to receive information about pregnancy and childbirth. Method: Descriptive cross-sectional study. Data was collected through a survey and were analyzed using descriptive and comparative approach. Results: Almost all women used the Internet for information about pregnancy and childbirth. Pregnant women seek information about child-development, diet/nutrition and gestational age to a great extent. Highly educated women have different criteria for credibility on websites than women with less education. Conclusion: Midwifes should be conscious to pregnant women`s usage of Internet and self-create an perception about the information the pregnant women read on the Internet. Our study shows that the midwives recommendation about websites on Internet has great significance to the pregnant women.

The trust for online vendors is something that is really important for e-commerce to function. For a long time the user interface has long been thought of as the main solution for solving the problem with unprofitable online stores. Even though a better usability for a online store will improve it and perhaps lead to some success. Usability will not alone be the one solution to the problems that a online store might have. However the low credibility for Web sites doesn't stop us from going online and making transactions with online vendors. In this thesis it is shown how a cross media concept could enhance the trustworthiness for e-commerce and online vendors. Based on the findings form two empirical studies and literature, four elements are presented that I believe would assist in making e- commerce feel more safe and secure.

The development of virtual sponsored communities has created great possibilities for people and companies to interact on shared platforms. To create interaction in the community, it is essential to create the perception of trustworthiness of the community. The purpose of this study is to examine which concepts of trust-building constitute the perception of trustworthiness of virtual sponsored communities. A theoretical framework based on previous studies on trust-building in virtual communities is used to provide the basis for our empirical studies. The paper examines the virtual sponsored community of an online video game, World of Warcraft, with both quantitative surveys and qualitative netnographical observations to determine the important concepts which affect the perception of trustworthiness of the community from the perspectives of the sponsor and the gamers. Our findings show that the concepts of quality content, privacy policy, interaction, knowledge growth, satisfaction, embeddedness, shared value and perceived responsiveness constitute the perception of trustworthiness of the virtual sponsored community. The findings also show implications for causal relationships between the concepts affecting the perception of trustworthiness for future studies.

This research is trying to understand the relationship between spokesperson and athletic products. With the increasing competing markets, major athletic brands are focusing on marketing strategies in order to attract and obtain consumers. Among them, brand¡¦s marketing is extremely important to sports industry. This is because the enterprise can attract consumer¡¦s attention through its spokesperson and represent their unique characteristics to promote its products. Using spokesperson to endorse its brand is a bridge to communicate with the consumers. The successful career of a professional sports endorser will create an image for the brand, which will lead the consumers belief by wearing the products will have the similar and expected results. When a brand decides on its spokesperson, it is based on the spokesperson¡¦s public image and personal characteristics. First of all, the enterprise will consider if the spokesperson¡¦s image is positive, then they will review if his/her characteristics fit well with their athletic products. This research will related spokesman from western countries for examination on the relationship of the spokesperson with brands and regarding the buying effects on consumer. According to Ohanian¡¦s (1991) research paper, celebrity endorser¡¦s source credibility, contains three dimensions: attractiveness, trustworthiness, and expertise, has positive impact on consumers¡¦ purchase intent. This research proved that the source credibility theory applies to sports brands¡¦ marketing in Taiwan market as well. The research findings not only confirm with Ohanian¡¦s theory, but also discovered one additional factor, exposure, that affect consumers¡¦ perception on endorser¡¦s credibility, but also influence consumers¡¦ intention to purchase. Based on the initial findings, the study then designed questionnaire for survey for the consumers. The survey results proved that endorser¡¦s exposures have significant impact on the consumers. When the Exposure Effect enhances the endorser¡¦s attractiveness, the endorser¡¦s source of credibility affects consumer¡¦s buying perception. Thus, the study suggests the sports brand marketers, for better marketing values, to investigate the endorser¡¦s media exposures, in order to elevate consumers¡¦ buying intention.

The pro-sociality of humans is manifested by the existence of cooperation in levels not common with any other species. Previous studies suggest that snap judgements of individuals are enough to determine if someone is a potential partner for cooperation. In addition to the often studied facial characteristics affecting cooperativeness and trustworthiness attribution (kin resemblance; attractiveness and emotional expression), the experimental work reported here examined the influence of head posture; gaze direction and skin colour on the attribution of trustworthiness and cooperation. A slightly tilted head (less than 3° downward) increased the perception of cooperativeness, especially for male and hostile looking faces. The importance of head tilt increased with decreased self-assessed dominance. Furthermore, even though some evidence that the effect of head posture is independent of gaze direction was found, gaze direction was also a strong indicator of cooperative intentions. Direct gaze and gaze slightly looking down (3°) were perceived as more cooperative than deviations of gaze outside this range (3° up or 6°- 9° down). Skin colour, a putative cue to current health status, was also found to impact on trustworthiness perception with a healthy skin colour increasing trustworthiness ratings. Additionally, as cooperative and trust decisions are vital for survival and social interactions, decisions based on facial appearance are made quickly and automatically as demonstrated by a trustworthiness modulation on an early face related component with 170 ms of exposure. Collectively, these findings suggest that facial characteristics employed to infer trust and cooperativeness help the observer to assess the motives and intentions of the individuals and assist the choice of partners that will lead to increased benefits and reduced costs in collaborative actions. Such considerations fit well with the evolutionary theory of cooperation as reciprocated social exchange.

Coordination and cooperation on public projects, as well as trust among society members are important for economic, social and political activities. This dissertation presents essays on the role of gradualism - increasing the stakes of projects slowly over time rather than starting with large-stake projects immediately - in coordination and trust building under various settings. The first two essays are on simultaneous coordination games when there are multiple equilibria in the one-shot game; the third essay is on sequential trust games when the only subgame perfect equilibrium in the one-shot game predicts that no cooperation occurs at all. The first essay, One Step at A Time: Does Gradualism Build Coordination? (joint with Sam Asher, Lorenzo Casaburi, and Plamen Nikolov), uses a multiple-period binarychoice weakest-link coordination experiment and finds that gradualism leads to better coordination in high-stake projects. The findings point to a voluntary mechanism to promote coordination when the capacity to impose sanctions is limited. This second essay, Gradualism, Weakest Link and Information: Theory and Coordination Experiments, extends the first essay and compares the effects of gradualism under various information and payoff structures. It proposes a belief-based learning framework to explore why and when gradualism may help coordination. It compares the role of gradualism in two weakest-link games under two different information structures: a limited information structure when subjects are only informed whether all group members contribute, and a richer information structure when they are informed exactly how many group members contribute. It finds that richer information feedback facilitates later coordination for the big-bang approach when a group is close to success, thus shrinking the advantage of gradualism. Finally, in a third experiment it finds that allowing free riding worsens coordination in all treatments, and gradualism with imperfect monitoring does not perform better. The third essay, Does Gradualism Build Trust? Evidence from A Multi-round Experiment, examines the effect of gradualism in trust building using a multi-round binarychoice trust (investment) experiment. It finds that gradualism leads to higher trustworthiness at the beginning and higher subsequent trust. However, trustworthiness and trust for all treatments sharply decrease in the end; even gradualism cannot avoid this end-of-game effect.