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This study investigates the correlation between Millennial workers' sense of belonging and a company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives. Bearing in mind the gap in academic research on the introspective impact CSR has on a company’s employees, this study aims to explore how the Millennial workers at one of the biggest banking and insurance companies operating in Bulgaria understand and relate to companies’ philanthropic endeavours. To do so, this paper has used a theoretical framework, which combines four pillars that interact with and amplify one another. Two of them are empirical and present CSR and the Millennials as a generation. The other two are theoretical with social identity theory (SIT), which explains the sense of belonging innate to the Millennials, and corporate citizenship and shareholder value theory, which represent the polar opposites of what CSR should be about. As such, the thesis probes the hypotheses that, on one hand, if a company engages in genuine CSR initiatives, this will lead to an increased sense of belonging from the Millennial employees. However, on the other hand, if the company engages in greenwashing instead, this will lead to a diminished sense of belonging in the target group.  The findings infer that the Millennial workers at the banking and insurance company have strong opinions favouring their company utilizing genuine CSR practices. In addition, the majority of them have shared that if the company started utilizing CSR as means of greenwashing, this would lead to their overall disappointment and a diminished sense of association with the employer. However, the data has also shown that there might be different reasons for why people are joining CSR initiatives. These findings were produced with the help of mixed-method research combining quantitative survey plus qualitative semi-structured individual and focus group interviews.

This study tested a self-generated utility value intervention aimed at increasing undergraduate statistics students’ motivation and achievement. The intervention was based on Situated Expectancy-Value Theory (Eccles & Wigfield, 2020) and encouraged students to make relevant connections between statistics learning content and their lives, primarily emphasising the content’s usefulness to the student, or utility value. In testing a self-generated utility value intervention within the domain of undergraduate statistics, the study extended research previously conducted in high school and undergraduate sciences (psychology and biology) and replicated Hulleman et al. (2017) which tested the role of frequency of students’ connections between the learning content and their lives in their motivation and achievement. In addition to transferring a self-generated utility value intervention to the domain of statistics, the study’s main contribution was made by investigating the role of connection quality—the quality of utility value connections undergraduate statistics students made between the learning content and their lives in their motivation and achievement. The study used collected data from a blindly randomised longitudinal field experiment conducted with undergraduate business school students from a research-intensive university located in the north-eastern USA. The students were of two differing sections of the same 15-week introductory statistics course. The self-generated utility value intervention consisted of prompts, twice during the semester, which instructed stud¬¬ents to write 2-3 paragraphs in response to. Data collected was comprised of students’ gender, first-generation status, initial/final achievement assessments, pre/post self-reports on motivation (expectancy, cost, intrinsic value, utility value) and connection frequency, and researcher scaled ratings coding on student intervention responses for connection quality. Part I Results from this study suggest that the intervention significantly increased students’ achievement (d = .42)—an approximately 7-percentage point difference between intervention and control group conditions. Furthermore, the intervention was found to be especially effective at increasing at-risk, low initial achievement, students’ motivation (expectancy, d = .54) and achievement (d = .87)—an approximately 14.5-percentage point difference between group conditions. Study results also suggest that the intervention’s impact on at-risk students’ achievement was mediated via motivation increases—through students’ expectancy for success, though, not through students’ utility value. The Part I results were confirmatory of Hulleman et al.’s (2017) findings—the intervention effected students’ achievement, but the pathway of indirect effects traversed through students’ expectancy, not their utility value which Hulleman et al. (2017) and this study both hypothesised it would do instead. Part II Results attempted to explain the intervention’s pathways of effects through expectancy to achievement by creating new measures, connection quality measures. Connection quality measures were constructed to capture students’ utility value more effectively than the self-reported utility value survey measure. This study’s Part II Results suggest that the intervention was found, again, to significantly increase students’ achievement (d = 1.46), but the indirect intervention effects traversed a pathway to affecting students’ achievement, not through their expectancy, but through their utility value (as captured via the newly minted connection quality measures), to their motivation (cost and interest), and then to their achievement. The new connection quality measures, exploratorily, were found to capture students’ utility value more effectively than the self-reported utility value survey measure, enabling the self-generated utility value intervention’s effects on students’ achievement and motivation to be further explained. / Math & Science Education

Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur gymnasieelever använder matematikboken för att få en utökad förståelse för matematikboken som verktyg i undervisningen och lärandet. Vidare var syftet att synliggöra eventuella samband mellan motivationen till att studera matematik och hur matematikboken används. Både kvantitativ- och kvalitativ metod användes i undersökningen och datamaterialet samlades in via en digital enkät. Den teoretiska utgångspunkten för att undersöka gymnasielevernas motivation till matematik var förväntan-värdeteorin. Sammanlagt deltog 133 gymnasieelever från tre skolor som låg i Norrbotten och Västernorrland. Resultatet pekade på att gymnasieleverna främst arbetade med uppgifter i matematikboken, teoriavsnittet och exempeluppgifterna lästes inte lika frekvent men det förekom. Vidare använde en majoritet av gymnasieeleverna matematikboken flera gånger i veckan under lektionerna, medan det inte var lika vanligt att den användes utanför skolan. Kostnadsvärdet var den motivationstyp som korrelerade med flest aktiviteter med matematikboken. Det visade sig bland annat att de som ofta använde matematikboken utanför skolan hade högre kostnadsvärde än de som aldrig eller sällan gjorde det. / The purpose of the studie was to investigate how high school students’ use the mathematics textbook to gain an expanded understanding of the mathematics textbook as a tool in teaching and learning. Furthermore, the aim was to make visible any connections between the motivation to study mathematics and how the textbook is used. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used in the studie and the data was collected via a digital survey. The theoretical starting point for investigating high school students' motivation for mathematics was the expectency-value theory. A total of 133 high school students participated from three schools located in Norrbotten and Västernorrland. The results indicated that the high school students mainly worked with tasks in the mathematics book, the theory section and the example tasks were not read as frequently, but it did occur. Furthermore, a majority of high school students used the mathematics textbook several times a week during lessons, while it was not as common that it was used outside of school. Cost value was the motivation type that correlated with the most activities with the textbook. Among other things, it turned out that those who often used the mathematics textbook outside of school had a higher cost value than those who never or rarely did so.

<p>Situated Expectancy-Value Theory (SEVT) calls for motivation researchers to treat learning and motivation as inseparable from context. Previous research has examined students’ expectancies and values in specific disciplines, showing dynamic changes over time. Limited research has examined students’ processes of change, considered the influence of students’ disciplinary identities, or solicited characteristics of the disciplinary environment that influence change. Additionally, current frontiers of the field aim to race-reimage motivational constructs. By situating motivation research in the race and gender experiences of historically marginalized students (i.e., Black, Latinx, Hispanic, Indigenous, women), the field can expand motivation theories to support a diversifying population, instead of relying on theories primarily based on the experiences of White individuals. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to examine the processes of motivational and identity change and situate students' identity and motivation negotiations in their disciplines, race, and gender. Using a qualitative, single case study design, eight undergraduate students of color majoring in science or engineering and who were on academic probation were interviewed. Results identified three processes of negotiating their identity and motivation that students employed in response to being on probation. Students reported challenges to their identity and motivation negotiations situated in their race and gender experiences. However, they also shared cultural assets that supported their continued identification with, expectancies for success in, and valuing of their science and engineering disciplines. Findings propose theoretical and methodological implications considering communal values in the SEVT model. Practical implications are discussed for instructors and student success personnel to integrate students’ social identities and communal motivations into their</p> <p>disciplinary engagement.</p>

One of today’s financial trends is securitization. Evaluating Securitization risk requires some strong quantitative skills and a deep understanding of both credit and market risk. For international securitization programs it is mandatory to take into account the exchange-rates-related risks. We will see the di˙erent methods to evaluate extreme variations of the exchange rates using the Extreme Value Theory and Monte Carlo simulations. / Värdepapperisering är en av dagens finansiella trender. Att utvärdera vär-depapperisering risk kräver starka kvantitativa kunskaper och en förståelseför både kredit- och marknadsrisk. För internationell värdepapperisering ärdet obligatoriskt att hänsyn tas till valutarisker. Vi kommer att se de olika metoder för att utvärdera extrema variationer i valutakurser med hjälp av extremvärdesteori och Monte Carlo-simuleringar.

The aim of this thesis is to explore consumer perceptions regarding the emerging trend among traditional clothing stores in Gothenburg, Sweden, where a section of their retail space is dedicated to reselling pre-loved clothing. Additionally, it seeks to investigate the factors influencing consumers' preference for these sections over conventional thrift stores. Employing a qualitative approach, the study conducts 10 shop-along sessions comprising semi-structured interviews and unstructured observations in four traditional clothing stores, each featuring an integrated pre-loved section. The theoretical framework encompasses consumer value theory, supplemented by the Means-End Chain Theory, which is utilized to analyze the findings. Results reveal a positive response from participants toward pre-loved initiatives, indicating an overall favorable perception. Findings show that consumers perceive pre-loved initiatives as multiple valuable, including economic savings, functional quality, social value, and an enjoyable, empowering, and satisfying experience. Furthermore, various factors such as curated pieces, well-organized sections, unique garments, and diverse assortments influence consumers, leading to different consequences and values such as feeling efficient, self-fulfillment/self-expression, and enjoyment, thus favoring pre-loved initiatives over conventional thrift stores. In conclusion, the study sheds light on the growing preference for pre-loved initiatives among consumers in traditional clothing stores.

What remains after digitalization? Audio-visual documents are today at risk of deteriorating because of the fragilematerial they consist of, and although the process of transferring the information onto a digital format is oftenused to preserve the data they contain, the question of what becomes of the remaining analogue data carrier isnot raised in modern research.This thesis has examined how old and fragile sound recordings are kept and managed in an archive afterthey have been digitized. A case study was used to investigate how an archival institution view the remainingdata carriers and what becomes of them today when the information they carry is available on another format.The fragility of the recording was of importance for the study, because it means that it is not possible to play iton an analogue play back device without damaging it, and its status as an archival document can be questioned.The archive which this thesis investigated consisted of the Institute for Languages and Folklore in Uppsala,Sweden, which houses a great deal of old and fragile sound recordings which were collected on a phonograph asearly as 1896. This makes these recordings the oldest ones in Sweden that has been collected for recordkeepingpurposes. By examining the role, function and value of the recordings, this study investigated whether they holdan importance for the archive as historical objects, or as functional documents. The study consisted of a triangulationmethod, where interviews, a document analysis as well as an object biography method were combined tocompare and analyze the empirical findings in conjunction with each other. The results indicated that althoughsome documental properties still existed, the old sound recordings kept in the archive were mostly seen as historicalobjects. However, a theoretical analysis indicated that the recordings could be seen as a hybrid of both documentand artefact. This is a two years master’s thesis in Archival Science.

[pt] Após as recentes crises financeiras que se abateram sobre os mercados financeiros de todo o mundo, com mais propriedade a de 2008/2009, mas ainda a crise no Leste Europeu em Julho/2007, a moratória Russa em Outubro/1998, e, no âmbito nacional, a mudança no regime cambial brasileiro, em Janeiro/1999, as instituições financeiras incorreram em grandes perdas em cada um desses eventos e uma das principais questões levantadas acerca dos modelos financeiros diziam respeito ao gerenciamento de risco. Os diversos métodos de cálculo do Value-atrisk, bem como as simulações e cenários traçados por analistas não puderam prever sua magnitude nem tampouco evitar que a crise se agravasse. Em função disso, proponho-me à questão de estudar os sistemas de gerenciamento de risco financeiro, na medida em que este pode e deve ser aprimorado, sob pena de catástrofes financeiras ainda maiores. Embora seu conteúdo se mostre tão vasto na literatura, as metodologias para cálculo de valor em risco não são exatas e livres de falhas. Nesse contexto, coloca-se necessário o desenvolvimento e aprimoramento de ferramentas de gestão de risco que sejam capazes de auxiliar na melhor alocação dos recursos disponíveis, avaliando o nível de risco à que um investimento está exposto e sua compatibilidade com seu retorno esperado. / [en] After recent financial crisis that have hit financial markets all around the world, with more property on 2008/2009 periods, the Eastern Europe crisis in 2007, the Russian moratorium on October/1998, and with Brazilian national exchange rate regime change on January/1999, financial institutions have incurred in large losses on each of these events and one of the main question raised about the financial models related to risk management. The Value-at-Risk management and its many forms to calculate it, as well as the simulations and scenarios predicted by analysts could not predict its magnitude or prevent crisis worsened. As a result, I intent to study the question of financial systems management, in order to improve the existing methods, under the threat that even bigger financial disasters are shall overcome. Although it s content is vast on scientific literature, the Value-at-Risk calculate is not exact and free of flaws. In this context, there is need for the development and improvement of risk management tools that are able to assist in a better asset equities allocation of resources, equalizing the risk level of an investment and it s return.

Thesis (MComm)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Accurate estimation of Value at Risk (VaR) and Expected Shortfall (ES) is critical in the management of extreme market risks. These risks occur with small probability, but the financial impacts could be large. Traditional models to estimate VaR and ES are investigated. Following usual practice, 99% 10 day VaR and ES measures are calculated. A comprehensive theoretical background is first provided and then the models are applied to the Africa Financials Index from 29/01/1996 to 30/04/2013. The models considered include independent, identically distributed (i.i.d.) models and Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (GARCH) stochastic volatility models. Extreme Value Theory (EVT) models that focus especially on extreme market returns are also investigated. For this, the Peaks Over Threshold (POT) approach to EVT is followed. For the calculation of VaR, various scaling methods from one day to ten days are considered and their performance evaluated. The GARCH models fail to converge during periods of extreme returns. During these periods, EVT forecast results may be used. As a novel approach, this study considers the augmentation of the GARCH models with EVT forecasts. The two-step procedure of pre-filtering with a GARCH model and then applying EVT, as suggested by McNeil (1999), is also investigated. This study identifies some of the practical issues in model fitting. It is shown that no single forecasting model is universally optimal and the choice will depend on the nature of the data. For this data series, the best approach was to augment the GARCH stochastic volatility models with EVT forecasts during periods where the first do not converge. Model performance is judged by the actual number of VaR and ES violations compared to the expected number. The expected number is taken as the number of return observations over the entire sample period, multiplied by 0.01 for 99% VaR and ES calculations. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Akkurate beraming van Waarde op Risiko (Value at Risk) en Verwagte Tekort (Expected Shortfall) is krities vir die bestuur van ekstreme mark risiko’s. Hierdie risiko’s kom met klein waarskynlikheid voor, maar die finansiële impakte is potensieel groot. Tradisionele modelle om Waarde op Risiko en Verwagte Tekort te beraam, word ondersoek. In ooreenstemming met die algemene praktyk, word 99% 10 dag maatstawwe bereken. ‘n Omvattende teoretiese agtergrond word eers gegee en daarna word die modelle toegepas op die Africa Financials Index vanaf 29/01/1996 tot 30/04/2013. Die modelle wat oorweeg word sluit onafhanklike, identies verdeelde modelle en Veralgemeende Auto-regressiewe Voorwaardelike Heteroskedastiese (GARCH) stogastiese volatiliteitsmodelle in. Ekstreemwaarde Teorie modelle, wat spesifiek op ekstreme mark opbrengste fokus, word ook ondersoek. In hierdie verband word die Peaks Over Threshold (POT) benadering tot Ekstreemwaarde Teorie gevolg. Vir die berekening van Waarde op Risiko word verskillende skaleringsmetodes van een dag na tien dae oorweeg en die prestasie van elk word ge-evalueer. Die GARCH modelle konvergeer nie gedurende tydperke van ekstreme opbrengste nie. Gedurende hierdie tydperke, kan Ekstreemwaarde Teorie modelle gebruik word. As ‘n nuwe benadering oorweeg hierdie studie die aanvulling van die GARCH modelle met Ekstreemwaarde Teorie vooruitskattings. Die sogenaamde twee-stap prosedure wat voor-af filtrering met ‘n GARCH model behels, gevolg deur die toepassing van Ekstreemwaarde Teorie (soos voorgestel deur McNeil, 1999), word ook ondersoek. Hierdie studie identifiseer sommige van die praktiese probleme in model passing. Daar word gewys dat geen enkele vooruistkattingsmodel universeel optimaal is nie en die keuse van die model hang af van die aard van die data. Die beste benadering vir die data reeks wat in hierdie studie gebruik word, was om die GARCH stogastiese volatiliteitsmodelle met Ekstreemwaarde Teorie vooruitskattings aan te vul waar die voorafgenoemde nie konvergeer nie. Die prestasie van die modelle word beoordeel deur die werklike aantal Waarde op Risiko en Verwagte Tekort oortredings met die verwagte aantal te vergelyk. Die verwagte aantal word geneem as die aantal obrengste waargeneem oor die hele steekproefperiode, vermenigvuldig met 0.01 vir die 99% Waarde op Risiko en Verwagte Tekort berekeninge.