abstract: The paper reviews some of the models of consequentialist justice, the nature of social contracts, and the social coordination of behaviors through social norms. The challenge with actualizing justice in many contemporary societies is the broad and often conflicting individual beliefs on rights and responsibilities that each member of a society maintains to describe the opportunities and compensations they attribute to themselves and others. This obscurity is compounded through a lack of academic or political alignment on the definition and tenets of justice. The result of the deficiency of commonality of the definition and tenants of justice often result in myopic decisions by individuals and discontinuity within a society that reduce the available rights, obligations, opportunities, and/or compensations that could be available through alternative modalities. The paper begins by assessing the challenge of establishing mutual trust in order to achieve cooperation. I then examine utility enhancement strategies available through cooperation. Next, I turn to models that describe natural and artificial sources of social contacts, game theory, and evolutionary fitness to produce beneficial results. I then examine social norms, including the dual inheritance theory, as models which can selectively reinforce certain cooperative behaviors and reduce others. In conclusion, a possible connection among these models to improve the overall fitness of society as defined by the net average increase in available utility, rights, opportunities, and compensations is offered. Through an examination of concepts that inform individual choice and coordination with others, concepts within social coordination, the nature of social contracts, and consequentialist justice to coordinate behaviors through social norms may illustrate an integrated perspective and, through additional examination, produce a comprehensive model to describe how societies could identify and foster just human coordination. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Philosophy 2019

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The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) has been suggested to be of great importance for moral decision-making. It has been suggested that during moral decision-making, lesions to the vmPFC increases what researchers term “utilitarian” decision-making. This systematic review summarizes four peer-reviewed studies that were filtered and selected from the databases Web of Science, Scopus and Medline EBSCO. The studies selected compared participants with vmPFC lesions to controls during moral decision-making. One study tested moral evaluation through moral transgressions and distractions. Two studies tested moral responses during personal, impersonal and non-moral dilemmas. One study tested whether direct involvement in a dilemma alters the utilitarian response. The overall results all point towards the vmPFC being directly involved in moral decision-making and that higher rates of utilitarian decision-making were shown in patients with vmPFC lesions compared to controls.

Consumer loyalty is generally considered the ultimate goal of relationship marketing. Although accepted definitions of loyalty include both behavioral and attitudinal aspects, the fact is that little is known about the components of behavioral and attitudinal loyalty and their relationship. In addition, hedonic and utilitarian attitudes are important antecedents of consumer behavior that can be manifested in behavioral loyalty. However, little is known about the relationship between hedonic and utilitarian attitudes and different loyalty components. To investigate the above mentioned theoretical gaps, this study identifies and tests several components of attitudinal and behavioral loyalty in a comprehensive model. This model investigates the effect of various hedonic and utilitarian attitudes, and trust, on each attitudinal and behavioral loyalty component. Moreover, it looks at the relationship of each attitudinal loyalty component to each behavioral loyalty component. In the proposed model, attitudinal loyalty components are (1) relationship satisfaction, (2) continuance commitment, (3) affective commitment, and (4) identification, and the behavioral loyalty components are (1) repurchase intention, (2) word-of-mouth (WOM), and (3) cooperation. The survey approach was implemented to collect data in a pretest (80 participants), a pilot study (177 participants), and a main study (1028 participants). Results of the analyses, using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), confirmed that consumer’s hedonic and utilitarian attitudes affect behavioral loyalty directly, and indirectly through the mediation by trust and attitudinal loyalty components. / February 2016

With the South African retail industry being a major and attractive industry, marketers and retailers are pressured to obtain and maintain a competitive advantage by developing marketing strategies that appeal to various consumers. Retailers need to focus on satisfying consumers’ needs, as well as offering a full shopping experience. Shopping entails more than the mere selection of products. Consumers’ motivation or driving force behind the act of shopping is embedded in satisfying internal needs. These motivations are grouped into two collections, namely hedonic and utilitarian shopping motivations. Consumers driven by hedonic shopping motivations are interested in the shopping experience, as well as the experiential and emotional aspects thereof. However, consumers driven by utilitarian shopping motivations are goal-oriented and concerned with the task-related value and the functional aspects of shopping. Marketers and retailers may use consumer-shopping motives to divide the market into segments and develop strategies to target specific segments. Published literature on the consumer behaviour of the South African black Generation Y cohort is limited and an absence occurs with reference to the shopping motivations of this cohort. In the South African context, individuals born between 1986 and 2005, labelled Generation Y, account for 38 percent of the total South African population, and the black Generation Y individuals represent 83 percent of the total Generation Y cohort. Individuals within the black Generation Y cohort attaining tertiary qualifications are likely to represent the future ‘Black Diamonds’, enjoying higher earnings and a higher social status, which together is likely to make them opinion leaders amongst their peers. For that reason, the black Generation Y student cohort is an exceptionally attractive market segment, and it is critical for retailers and marketers to understand their shopping behaviour and motivations in order to develop effective marketing strategies. The purpose of this study was to determine South African black Generation Y students’ utilitarian and hedonic shopping motivations. The target population of this study comprised full-time undergraduate black Generation Y students; aged between 18 and 24 years and enrolled at South African registered public higher education institutions (HEIs). The sampling frame comprised the 23 registered South African public HEIs. A non-probability judgement sample method was utilised to select one traditional university and one university of technology in the Gauteng province, from the sampling frame. For this study, a convenience sample of 600 black Generation Y students enrolled at these two South African HEIs during 2013 was drawn. The relevant primary data was obtained by means of a self-administered questionnaire, which was hand delivered to the contacted lecturers at each of these two HEIs. These lecturers distributed the self-administered questionnaire during one lecture period. This questionnaire requested the participants to indicate on a six-point Likert scale the level of their agreement or disagreement on 26 items designed to measure their utilitarian and hedonic shopping motivations, as well as to provide certain demographic data. The findings of this study indicate that within the hedonic subscale, black Generation Y students found value and adventure shopping to be the strongest motivators for shopping. Within the utilitarian subscale, black Generation Y students found achievement to be the strongest motivator for shopping. Previous research found gender to have an influence on the hedonic and utilitarian shopping motivations of consumers. This study confirms previous findings where statistically significant differences were found between the shopping motivations of male and female black Generation Y students. The study found significant differences concerning the first-, second- and third-year black Generation Y students’ hedonic and utilitarian shopping motivations. Insights gained from this study will help both marketers and retailers understand the current black Generation Y consumers’ motivations for shopping with reference to hedonic and utilitarian shopping motivations. / MCom (Marketing Management), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

Background: Every fifth physical electronics store has been closed during the period between 2011 to 2017, and 30 % of all electronic products are now purchased online. As digitalization has affected both the number of physical stores negatively, but also loyalty towards firms among consumers, as price has become a more crucial role in decision making online, there is a need for physical stores to exploit the advantages that cannot be facilitated online to stay competitive. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to extend the understanding of how the valuation of sensory cues is related to consumer types in an electronics retail store context.Research Questions: To what extent are consumers in an electronics retail store utilitarian and hedonic in their needs and behavior? How do these consumers, in comparison to each other, value sensory cues in an electronics retail store environment?Methodology: The study uses a quantitative research approach with a cross-sectional research design and collects data through an online questionnaire. Findings: Consumers in an electronics retail store context tend to possess a higher degree of utilitarian traits and valued the importance of addressing the human senses significantly lower than consumers with a higher degree of hedonic traits. A significant difference between the groups is found for sight, sound and smell. Touch was found to be the most important sense for both groups. Managerial Implications: Contributes to knowledge managers could consider when relating the human senses to the strategic build-up of a store concept or the design of a retail environment.Further Research: Further research could investigate how the relationship, interplay and potential overload of stimuli affect consumers, either based on hedonic and utilitarian characteristics or other factors such as age and gender. Originality: To the best of the author’s knowledge, no other studies is researching the valuation of sensory cues in an electronics retail store environment from the consumers perspective. Keywords: Sensory Marketing, Consumer Types, Utilitarian, Hedonic, Atmospherics, Electronics Store, Retail Marketing

Background: Most current research on consumption events like Black Friday has been done in an US context. Black Friday do not have any cultural heritage or any other social connection to Sweden, however, it is already considered as the second most significant sales opportunity annually in the country. Additionally, research has confirmed that online retailing has been faster than offline retailing regarding adoption to consumption events. Therefore, to qualitatively investigate motivation towards Black Friday consumption online, in a Swedish context, would provide new insight in the field. Purpose: This research serves to contribute to the research of motivation towards consumption events online, viewed upon from the consumers perspective. By uncover meanings for utilitarian and hedonic motivation dimensions towards consumption events online, using Black Friday Weekend as an empirical example, this research aims to, besides adding to previous research, clarify ambiguous situations and provide valuable insights for online retailers that may lead to potential business opportunities. Method: In order to achieve in-depth understanding of the topic, a qualitative study with exploratory design was conducted. Data was gathered through focus group interviews with participants chosen through a purposive sampling technique. The data was analyzed through thematic analysis which generated the empirical findings. Conclusion: Throughout this research, sixteen themes related to motivation emerged, eight utilitarian and eight hedonic. The themes offer more accuracy and a deepened understanding of motivation towards consumption events online for the empirical foundation researched by explaining meanings of the motivation dimensions in this particular context, namely Black Friday Weekend in Sweden.

In the wake of Brexit in 2016, the conception of Frexit was born and received an impetus in the French presidential election campaigns in 2017. The scepticism toward the European Union once again found expression as Eurosceptic political parties gained ground and supporters amongst French citizens. With attitudes toward the EU in France seemingly variable and impressionable of political currents, it is important to understand from where these originate as well as what a positive or negative attitude imply in practice. Therefore, this study aims to map out attitudes among young French citizens: A group with an overall positive attitude toward the EU as well as the generation in charge of the future European Union. The study is conducted in the form of a case study, with the framework of Functional Attitude Theory guiding the analysis. The main findings include an obvious lack of knowledge on the union among the interviewees, connected to a feeling of exclusion from the same. However, benefits and rights provided by the EU are considered grounds to stay within the union. Finally, the findings are discussed and ideas for further research are suggested.

In my art practice, collecting materials from personally significant locations has become a way to subtly reconnect people with places, nature, natural materials and processes. I produce well-made objects, with the end goal of allowing the viewer to feel and interact with traditional forms of beauty through craft, which is increasingly rare in our mechanized world. Raw materials are a direct link to nature and earth, a link which people in general can benefit from in essential ways. The processes of collecting and using naturally occurring materials to form links between objects and places resembles human relationships, and the connections between places, things, and people set the stage for the performance of beauty.

To be present online is seen, in recent time, as a necessity for fashion companies in order to sustain on the market. Since online shopping lack the opportunity for customers to try on purchased products it entails a risk of experiencing dissatisfaction when orders are received. Through this, customers demand determinants that ensure safety within the purchase. Different kinds of customers might, however, possess various motivations for purchasing, stressing the requirements for variety in service value deliverance. Therefore, purchase and return policies comprise a significant importance in order to create attractiveness towards customers. The problem, though, consists of the balance between offering lenient purchase and return policies, to create competitiveness, but still considering excessive purchasing and depreciation of product value. There are several determinants affecting the shopping experience online. These were combined, with components of an online purchase, in a theoretical model to empirically test the key conceptual ideas embedded in the consumption system perspective. Further, primary data was conducted through company interviews and focus group interviews, with the aim to explore customer behavior online. Findings, from interviews compared with secondary data, analyzed through the theoretical model, indicates that the right of withdrawal and its additional components such as charges, time and inconvenience is interpreted differently by different customers. Further, it is up to e-tailers to discover the benefits and drawbacks of different policies in order to detect the most suited policy for them and their customers.