Prior research indicates that management forecast strategies affect investors' perceptions of management, which, in turn, influence investors' judgments about the firm. The current study hypothesizes and demonstrates that decisions about the completeness and form of management's forecast disclosure affect venture capitalists' (VCs) investment screening judgments. In an experiment, 53 experienced VCs indicate whether they would recommend conducting due diligence on a new venture. I manipulate the completeness (inclusion vs. omission of quantitative data about the components of earnings) and form (point vs. range forecast values) of management's financial forecasts in a 2 X 2 between-subjects design. When management is more (less) complete in its forecast disclosure, participants make more (less) favorable investment screening judgments. Additionally, when managers provide less complete disclosures, the use of point rather than range forecasts leads to particularly unfavorable screening judgments, whereas when managers provide more complete disclosures, the use of point rather than range forecasts leads to particularly favorable screening judgments. Taken together, these results indicate that the completeness of forecast disclosure increases the favorability of screening judgments and decisions about the form of financial forecasts can offset some of the adverse consequences of less complete disclosure. / Ph. D.

Especially during times of intense change, managers may negatively impact the quality of employee-manager relationships by breaching or violating psychological contract terms and exhibiting unfair treatment (i.e., interactional injustice) in the workplace. A psychological contract is conceptualized as an exmployee's perception or individualistic belief about the reciprocal and promissory nature of the employment relationship (Argyris, 1960; Levinson, Price, Munden, Mandl, & Solley, 1966; Rousseau, 1989, 1990, 1995; Schein, 1965, 1994). Misperceptions surrounding contractual changes and perceived misalignments between managers' words and deeds have contributed to employee perceptions of contract breach and violation, which are linked to negative employee attitudes and behaviors (Andersson, 1996; Morrison & Robinson, 1997; Pate, Martin, & Staines, 2000; Rousseau, 1995). Employees may simultaneously experience interactional injustice when managers act in disparaging ways and fail to provide adequate explanations (Bies, 1989; Bies & Moag, 1986). Leadership literature has provided evidence that high-quality leadership can positively influence employees' behaviors and attitudes and increase perceptions of workplace fairness (Dirks & Ferrin, 2002; Kickul, Gundry, & Posig, 2005; Kouzes & Posner, 2003). However, the relational role of leadership credibility, within the context of psychological contract breach and violation and interactional justice, has not been examined in leadership, psychological contract, and organizational justice literatures. This study was designed to explore the relationships between leadership credibility, interactional justice, and psychological contract breach and violation. The results of the study confirmed that employees' perceptions about leaders' credibility does strongly relate to managerial violation, interpersonal justice, and informational justice. / Ph. D.

Firms seek independent assurance from accountants on their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) disclosures for various reasons, including to enhance the credibility of such disclosures or to enhance the reliability of management's CSR report. However, there are multiple levels of assurance available for CSR disclosures. The forthcoming clarified U.S. attestation standards re-frame the two levels of assurance on non-financial information as reasonable (higher) and limited (lower). While not currently addressed by U.S. standards, accountants also issue hybrid reports with both reasonable and limited assurance on CSR disclosures. I conduct an experiment to identify differences in nonprofessional investors' perceptions of CSR disclosures when reasonable, limited, or hybrid assurances are provided and manipulate firm CSR performance as a possible moderator for the influence of assurance. Findings indicate that nonprofessional investors find CSR disclosures on greenhouse gas emissions to be credible, and the degree of credibility does not vary significantly based on the firm's performance in controlling emissions or on the level of assurance provided by an accountant. However, nonprofessional investors do differ in their perceptions of the overall reliability of representations made in management's CSR report. While management's CSR report supported by hybrid assurance is generally perceived to be as reliable as when only limited or only reasonable assurance is provided, the perceived reliability differs between limited and reasonable assurance. Supplemental analyses reveal an interaction such that management's CSR report is perceived as more reliable with limited assurance rather than with reasonable or no assurance for firms with better performance at controlling greenhouse gas emissions; this association reverses for firms with worse performance. This interaction may be due, in part, to language in limited assurance reports that makes it clear higher assurance was available but not pursued by management. Results address a gap in the literature for hybrid assurance and show that nonprofessional investors find management's CSR report with hybrid assurance to generally be as credible and reliable as when either limited or reasonable assurance is provided. Further, results offer insight into the interactive effects of firm performance and level of assurance on nonprofessional investors' perceptions of the reliability of management's CSR report. / Ph. D.

The marketing process has undergone significant changes over the years, due to new technologies. Among these advancements, artificial intelligence (AI) has been increasingly used to generate advertising messages and images. This study examines consumers' perceptions of AI-generated advertisements, with a focus on the influence of age. Participants were divided into two groups, with one group believing the ads were human-created and the other assuming they were AI-generated. Results indicated that perceived ad falsity led to more negative perceptions. However, younger individuals exhibited more favorable attitudes toward AI-generated ads compared to older individuals. Despite an overall negative bias towards AI-generated ads, one AI-generated ad was received as most positively across all age groups, supporting prior research that AI-generated content can be well-received. A theoretical model was built and tested to explore the relationship between age and ad perception, suggesting that prior experience with AI, attitudes towards AI, and AI credibility sequentially mediate this relationship. While the effect of machine heuristics was found to be nonsignificant, it did influence AI credibility, indicating potential avenues for future research.

Yes / Open research practices seek to enhance the transparency and reproducibility of research. Whilst there is evidence of increased uptake in these practices, such as study preregistration and open data, facilitated by new infrastructure and policies, little research has assessed general uptake of such practices across psychology university researchers. The current study estimates psychologists’ level of engagement in open research practices across universities in the United Kingdom and Ireland, while also assessing possible explanatory factors that may impact their engagement. Data were collected from 602 psychology researchers in the UK and Ireland on the extent to which they have implemented various practices (e.g., use of preprints, preregistration, open data, open materials). Here we present the summarised descriptive results, as well as considering differences between various categories of researcher (e.g., career stage, subdiscipline, methodology), and examining the relationship between researcher’s practices and their self-reported capability, opportunity, and motivation (COM-B) to engage in open research practices. Results show that while there is considerable variability in engagement of open research practices, differences across career stage and subdiscipline of psychology are small by comparison. We observed consistent differences according to respondent’s research methodology and based on the presence of institutional support for open research. COM-B dimensions were collectively significant predictors of engagement in open research, with automatic motivation emerging as a consistently strong predictor. We discuss these findings, outline some of the challenges experienced in this study, and offer suggestions and recommendations for future research. Estimating the prevalence of responsible research practices is important to assess sustained behaviour change in research reform, tailor educational training initiatives, and to understand potential factors that might impact engagement. / Research funding: Aston University. Article funding: Open access funding provided by IReL.

Yes / The aim of this research is to synthesise findings from existing studies on the characteristics of source credibility of electronic word of mouth (eWOM) communications in a single model by using meta-analysis. Findings from 20 research papers show that source expertise, trustworthiness, and homophily significantly influence perceived eWOM usefulness and credibility, intention to purchase, and information adoption. The results of this study add to existing knowledge of the influence of source characteristics on consumer behaviour, which will advance our understanding of information processing. Marketers can use the findings of this meta-analysis to enhance their marketing activities.

In the contemporary communication landscape, sustainable social media influencers play a vital role in advocating for sustainability campaigns initiated by companies. However, audience trust in these influencers can be challenged by perceived biases. This study examines how sustainable social media influencers maintain authenticity and credibility when collaborating on sustainability campaigns. Internal and external challenges are identified, and strategies such as strong self-identity, co-creation, and consistency are employed to address them. The findings underscore the importance of transparency and ethical communication in fostering trust and driving positive social change. This research sheds light on the critical role of influencers in promoting authenticity and credibility, particularly in the context of sustainability advocacy.

The purpose of this study was to develop a web application where users can advertise home-cooked meals for other users to buy while focusing on identifying the critical design and technological features that enhance navigability and credibility in a web application designed for advertising and selling home-cooked lunch boxes to students, and how these features contribute to optimising the purchasing process. Based on a pre-study where market analysis, user testing on similar applications, and prototypes were examined the team defined an outline for the agile development process. The development followed some best practices regarding version handling, development methodology, database management, etc. The research culminated in a fully functional and aesthetically pleasing web application where the results and conclusions were solidified by extensive user and unit testing. Concluded by the research study, a navigable and credible web application can be created by implementing a simple base layout with a few interactive elements, carefully chosen colours, and creating credibility through user ratings and high-quality pictures. Moreover, the analysed factors are proved to streamline the purchasing process. / Denna forskning genomfördes som en kandidatuppsats vid Linköpings universitet. Syftet var att utveckla en webbapplikation där användare kan annonsera hemlagade måltider för andra användare att köpa. Fokuset låg på forskningsfrågan där analysen syftar till att identifiera kritiska design- och teknikaspekter som förbättrar navigerbarheten och trovärdigheten i en webbapplikation utformad för att annonsera och sälja hemlagade lunchlådor till studenter, och hur dessa funktioner bidrar till att optimera köpprocessen. Baserat på en förstudie där marknadsanalys, användartester på liknande applikationer och prototyper undersöktes, definierade teamet en agil utvecklingsprocess. Utvecklingen följde vissa ”best practices” avseende versionshantering, utvecklingsmetodik, databashantering etc. Forskningen kulminerade i en fullt fungerande och estetiskt tilltalande webbapplikation där resultaten och slutsatserna stärktes genom omfattande användar- och enhetstester. Konkluderat var att en navigerbar och trovärdig webbapplikation kan skapas genom att implementera en enkel baslayout med ett fåtal interaktiva element, noggrant utvalda färger och skapad trovärdighet genom användarbetyg och högkvalitativa bilder. Dessutom visade sig de analyserade faktorerna effektivisera köpprocessen.

The term crisis of journalism is widely discussed nowadays. This paper examines whether journalism is in crisis, or whether it is a development caused by changes in the digital world. It also examines possible causes of this crisis and transformation in the digital world. One of the main causes of this is a perceived loss of credibility of the information given to the public. Therefore, there is a deeper interpretation of what trust and trustworthiness is and what can dis/trust cause in the society. In the context of the changes which journalism faces today, it describes the transformation of the role of the audience to active self-editor and outlines how the audience must orientate in the news itself. Otherwise, the media focused on earnings will continue to thrive on sensationalism and moral panics that will negatively effect social reality. In the empirical part this paper deals with the case of Břeclav in 2012, which is an exemplary example of moral panic with consequences.

Syftet med uppsatsen var att förklara hur svenska kvinnliga Millennials attityd och köpintention påverkas av influencers på Instagram inom modebranschen. För att besvara syftet har influencerns effektivitet analyserats genom fyra variabler; dessa är source credibility, source attractiveness, product match up och meaning transfer. Studien har grundats i teorier om celebrity endorsement och influencer marketing och olika sätt att mäta hur effektiva endorsern är. Hypoteser formades för att kunna bekräfta samband mellan de fyra variablerna och attityd och köpintention. Empirin samlades in via enkäter till kvinnliga Millennials i Norrbotten där respondenterna fick besvara frågor baserat på en bild och utifrån bilden besvara vilket ord som stämde bäst överens med deras åsikt. Uppsatsen testade nio hypoteser och fem av dessa kunde styrkas. Resultatet visade att source credibility påverkar köpintentionen, det finns ett samband mellan source attractiveness och attityd men attraktivitet är inte en tillräcklig stark källa för att övertyga konsumenter till köp. Product match up påverkar Millennials köpintention, meaning transfer har ett positivt samband till konsumenternas attityd och attityd påverkar köpintention. För vidare forskning föreslås en kvalitativ undersökning för att få djupare förståelse av Instagram-influencers påverkan paå Millennialskonsumenter. / The purpose of this report was to explain how Swedish female Millennials attitudes and their purchase intention were affected by influencers on social media. This has been done by analyzing four variables; source credibility, source attractiveness, product match up and meaning transfer. The study was based on theory about celebrity endorsement, influencer marketing and different ways of measuring how effective the endorser is. Hypotheses were formulated to be able to confirm relationships between the four variables, and attitudes and purchase intention. The data were gathered from female Millennials in Norrbotten via an online survey and the respondents got to answer questions based on a picture and answer what word which best described their opinion of the picture. The report tested nine hypotheses and five of these could be confirmed. The result showed that source credibility affects the purchase intention. There is a relationship between source attractiveness and consumer attitude, however attractiveness is not a strong enough source to convince the purchase intention of consumers. Product match up affects Millennials purchase intention, meaning transfer has a positive relationship towards consumer attitude, and attitude affects purchase intention. For future research, it is suggested to make a qualitative study in order to gain deeper understanding the effect of Instagram-influencers on Millennial consumers.