Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T14:56:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao_CarlosNakao.pdf: 495219 bytes, checksum: 156e616f024ce4417621c5cacbb2e109 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-04-18 / The present work aims to discuss the importance of Central Bank's reputation and credibility inside the Inflation Target Regime. The theory that this monetary solution coordinates the market's expectation is tested using one index that quantifies credibility and Person's coeficient. The numerical data between 1999 and 2004 was extracted from Market's Expectation System. The preliminary findings (once that this time period is very short to definitive conclusions) show the strong relationship between credibility-reputation economic theory and market's inflationary expectation. / O presente trabalho estuda a importância da credibilidade e da reputação do Banco Central dentro do regime de metas para a inflação. Para isso, investiga a premissa de que tal arranjo monetário é poderoso coordenador de expectativas, por meio de um índice de credibilidade e do coeficiente de variação amostral de Pearson. Foram utilizados os dados do sistema de expectativas de mercado, no período de 1999 a 2004. As conclusões, em caráter preliminar (dado que as séries históricas são relativamente curtas), giram em torno da assertiva de que, dentro do regime de metas para a inflação, o binômio reputação-credibilidade das autoridades monetárias tem papel crucial na formação das expectativas inflacionárias dos agentes econômicos.

Today the amount of online medical information sources in Swedish is steadily increasing. The information is convenient and always at hand. People who turn to Google and other search engines are, however, not always knowledgeable about how to identify trustworthy information, or how search algorithms work. The main purpose of this study is to :ind out how Swedish students in the ages of 18-35 search for medical information online. One aspect of this is to gain a better understanding of how they navigate the internet, and how they prioritize and value different information sources. We also look at what sources they turn to for medical information and whether source credibility is crucial in their choices. Our study is based on an online survey at Umeå University. The survey was conducted among eight different study programs with students in the ages of 18-35. In total, we received 305 responses, of which 163 (53,4%) were women, 139 (45,6%) were men, and 1% de:ined as others. The main conclusion of this study is that the target group is most likely to turn to information sites provided by authorities. These sites are considered to be the most trustworthy. The study also showed that the target group was well aware of Sweden’s biggest online doctors, Kry in particular, and rated them as trustworthy as well. The target group would, however, not turn to these sites for medical information. We can also notice that the target group consider themselves to be critical of information online and good at evaluating source credibility.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka vilken betydelse influencer marketing på sociala medier har på unga kvinnor i åldern 18-25 år, samt om det har någon inverkan på unga kvinnors köpintentioner. För att uppfylla syftet har två forskningsfrågor undersökts och denna empiriska studie har baserats på en kvalitativ undersökning genom en enkätstudie och två fokusgrupper. Influencer marketing anses vara ett effektivt marknadsföringsverktyg som innebär att företag använder sig av influencers för att nå ut till fler konsumenter och sprida företagets produkter och tjänster. Resultatet av studien visar på att influencers öppenhet och trovärdighet påverkar unga kvinnors uppfattning av influencer marketing samt på deras köpintentioner. Influencer marketing ansesvara mer trovärdigt än traditionell reklam, vilket även bidrar till att konsumenterna köpintentioner ökar i en eftersträvan efter gemenskap, tillhörighet eller enbart inspiration. Hur unga kvinnor påverkas i deras köpintentioner av influencer marketing på sociala medier är bådevarierande och individuellt. Konsumenter tar till sig informationen från influencer marketing på olika sätt, vilket leder till en varierad påverkan på unga kvinnors köpintentioner. / The purpose of this study was to investigate the significance of influencer marketing on social media for young women between the ages of 18-25 years old, and whether it has any impact on young women's buying intentions. To meet the purpose, two research questions have been investigated and this empirical study has been based on a qualitative research through a survey and semi-structured interviews in the form of two focus groups. Influencer marketing is considered an effective marketing tool which indicates that companies use influencers to reach out to a bigger number of consumers and spread the information about the company's products and services. The result of the study shows that the influencers openness and credibility affect young women's perception of influencer marketing and also their buying intentions. Influencer marketing is considered more credible than traditional advertising, which also contributes to consumers increasing buying intentions in the pursuit of solidarity, belonging or just for inspiration. The way that young women are affected in their buying intentions of influencer marketing on social media are both varied and individual. Consumers process the information from influencer marketing in different ways, which leads to a varied impact on young women's buying intentions. This study is written in Swedish.

M.Tech (Marketing, Faculty of Management Sciences) Vaal University of Technology / Given the pervasive use of celebrity endorsements and the high costs involved in this marketing strategy, it is important for marketers to have knowledge of the right set of procedures to follow in selecting an ambassador to market their products. This study draws from the undertones of Ohanian’s (1990:46) Source attributes theory, comprising elements of the Source credibility theory as well as the Source attractiveness theory. Whereas the former (trustworthiness and expertise) influences consumer attitudes and behaviour through a process called internalisation, the latter (attractiveness) influences receivers of marketing communication messages through a process called identification. The theory is useful when applied during the initial phase of selecting which celebrity to use to endorse products, to avoid costly mistakes of choosing celebrities that do not possess the right set of attributes for persuading consumers. The purpose of this study was to apply the Source attributes theory in understanding the key attributes towards consumers’ evaluations of the credibility of an athlete-celebrity endorser. Moreover, the influence of athlete endorser credibility on consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions towards the celebrity endorsed advertisement. A quantitative study comprising a non-probability snowball sample of 456 consumers was conducted in 2016, in and around the five major towns of Southern Gauteng province in South Africa. The structured-self administered questionnaire requested participants to indicate their perceptions regarding the attributes of nominated athlete-celebrity, namely, trustworthiness, expertise and attractiveness in endorsing the selected product. In addition, the questionnaire related to consumers’ evaluations of the credibility of the selected athlete-celebrity, consumers’ attitude towards the advertisement where the athlete-celebrity appears and purchase intentions towards the endorsed product. Findings from the study indicated that South African consumers have positive perceptions of the selected athlete-celebrity’s trustworthiness, expertise and attractiveness. In addition, the measurement model was verified using statistical accuracy tests, thereby confirming that the purchase intentions model was a six-factor structure comprising trustworthiness, expertise, attractiveness, endorser credibility, attitude towards the advertisement and purchase intentions. The results of both the confirmatory factor analysis and the structural equation modelling suggest that the three dimensions are valid measures of the overall credibility of the athlete- endorser (R2=0.60). This finding provided support for the scale developed by Ohanian (1990) to be a valid vi measure for selecting celebrity endorsers when applied in South Africa. Moreover, the structural model validated the existence of significant, direct impacts of athlete-endorser credibility on attitude towards the advertisement (path estimate=0.704) and attitude towards the advertisement on purchase intentions (path estimate=0.741). Insights gained from this study will assist both marketing academics and practitioners to understand the perceptions of consumers towards the use of athlete-celebrities in product promotions in the South African market. In this regard, if a determination is made that a celebrity could enhance the marketing campaign, marketers should determine to what extent the celebrity should be used. The correct use of the right celebrity, selected in line with these findings, can help ensure greater consumer persuasion.

L’encyclopédie Wikipédia se caractérise par un mode d’élaboration ouvert et collaboratif. La singularité de son modèle éditorial amène à s’interroger sur la crédibilité que lui attribuent ses lecteurs ainsi que sur l’activité normative de la communauté wikipédienne pour la garantir. Une hypothèse serait ainsi que le référencement est un moyen de renforcer la crédibilité des informations encyclopédiques, ce qui pose la question de l’identification de la fonction de ce procédé rhétorique par le lecteur. Pour appréhender les questions relatives à la valeur épistémique de l’information, un modèle de communication documentaire articulant autorité cognitive, confiance, crédibilité et référencement est proposé. Une enquête par questionnaire auprès de jeunes scolarisés (11-25 ans) montre que la confiance envers Wikipédia varie selon le niveau de scolarité. Elle est influencée par la réputation académique, majoritairement négative, de l’encyclopédie. Par la suite, les effets d’un projet pédagogique dans lequel des lycéens deviennent des contributeurs à l’encyclopédie sont analysés. Une évolution positive de la confiance envers l’encyclopédie est relevée tant chez les professeurs que chez les élèves, ceux-ci prenant conscience de l’importance des règles communautaires et du référencement. Enfin, les évolutions des règles relatives au référencement au sein de la Wikipédia en langue française et les débats que ces règles ont suscités entre 2002 et 2013 sont étudiés. L’approche anthropologique et historique adoptée met en évidence le rôle central attribué au référencement pour faire face aux problèmes de confiance épistémique rencontrés par la communauté wikipédienne. Elles révèlent également les tensions inhérentes à ce projet éditorial. / Wikipedia is an open-content encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Its editorial process is unique. Thus this study is focused on the users’ perception of its credibility and on the wikipedian community policy to guaranty it. One hypothesis might be that referencing is a way of guaranteeing the content's credibility which naturally leads to another question: how do the users/readers identify this rhetorical device? To approach the matter of the epistemic value of information, a documentary communication model combined with cognitive authority, trust, credibility and referencing is proposed. Firstly, a survey of 11 to 25 year-old students highlights that their trust for Wikipedia varies according to the level of studies. This level of trust is also influenced by the overall negative reputation of this encyclopedia in the academic community. Secondly we observe the effects of a project where students become editors to the encyclopedia. There is a clear improvement in the trust toward Wikipedia amongst students and teachers as they realize the importance of community policies and referencing. Finally, we analyze the changes in referencing policies and guidelines in the French Wikipedia as well as the controversies they provoked between 2002 and 2013. The historical and anthropological approach highlights how key the role of referencing to the wikipedian community is, in order to face the issues of epistemic trust. It also reveals the tensions inherent to the editorial policy of this project.

L'indépendance des banques centrales, thème qui galvanisa les économistes et les exécutifs macro-économiques dans le dernier quart du XXe siècle, a été longue à se concrétiser au Royaume-Uni: ce n'est qu'en 1997 que la Banque d'Angleterre, pourtant l'une des plus anciennes et prestigieuses banques centrales du monde, acquit le droit de mener la politique monétaire sans interférence gouvernementale. La genèse de cette réforme offre une perspective précieuse sur le système politique et économique britannique, sur ses évolutions récentes et les influences étrangères qui les favorisèrent: celle des Etats-Unis fut déterminante. L'indépendance de la Banque d'Angleterre a symbolisé la fin du consensus macro-économique qui prévalait dans la mère-patrie du Keynésianisme depuis la fin de la Seconde Guerre mondiale: elle consacrait la priorité donnée à la lutte contre l'inflation. Ce changement de perspective nécessita un aggiornamento au sein des grands partis de gouvernement, chez les Conservateurs puis chez les Travaillistes. L'autre entrave à l'indépendance de la BoE tenait au système institutionnel britannique, basé sur la suprématie du parlement de Westminster. Le New Labour, qui mit en oeuvre l'indépendance de la BoE, sut contourner cet obstacle, tout en faisant de cette réforme le symbole de sa nouvelle crédibilité économique. / Central bank independence, a leading theme among economists and macro-economic executives during the last quarter of the 20th century, was slow to materialize in the U.K.: only in 1997 was the Bank of England, one of the world's oldest and most prestigious central banks, granted the right to set monetary policy without interference from the government. The genesis of this reform gives a precious insight into the British political and economic system, its transformations and the foreign influences that brought them along: The U.S. played a key role in that process. The BoE independence embodies the demise of the macro-economic consensus that reigned supreme in Keynes' motherland since the end of World War II: it sealed a change in economic priorities that made inflation the No1 enemy. This required an aggiornamento within leading political parties, whether Conservative or Labour. The other obstacle on the way to an independent Bank of England was institutional, as such a reform clashed with the supremacy of the Westminster Parliament. New Labour, which set the Bank of England free, displayed much skill in clearing that hurdle, while making that reform the symbol of its new economic credibility.

<p>Disertacija se bavi uticajem odnosa s medijima (MR) na pojedine organizacione i poslovne performanse, u preduzećima u Srbiji. Konkretno, diesrtacija obuhvata uticaj odnosa s medijima (MR) na zadovoljstvo komunikacijom (CS), korporativni kredibilitet (CC), finansijske performanse (FP), distancu moći (PD), orjentaciju ka budućnosti (FO) i su&scaron;tinsko transformaciono liderstvo (CTL). Podaci su dobijeni anketiranjem N = 394 srednja menadžera iz 123 preduzeća u Srbiji. Od metoda statističke obrade podataka kori&scaron;ćeni su: deskriptivna statistika, korelaciona analiza, regresiona analiza, t-test i hijerarhijska regresiona analiza. Osnovni zaključci istraživanja su: 1. Korelacije između uticaja odnosa s medijima i organizacionih i poslovnih performansi su statistički značajne, snažne i pozitivne, u najvećem broju slučajeva. Najveći uticaj na organzacione i poslovne performanse imaju savremeni mediji. 2. Odnosi s medijima imaju mali uticaj na korporativni kredibilitet, a taj uticaj se ostvaruje, pre svega, preko savremenih medija. 3. Među finansijskim performansama, odnosi s medijima naročito pozitivno utiču na trži&scaron;ni udeo i rast prodaje. 4. Za povećanje organizacionih performansi, preduzeća bi posebno trebala da posvete pažnju savremenim medijima, kao i prisutnosti direktora u medijima. 5. Za povećanje finansijskih performansi, preduzeća bi posebno trebala da posvete pažnju, kako savremenim, tako i tradicionalnim medijima, pri čemu prisutnost preduzeća u medijima ima prednost nad prisustvom direktora u medijima. 6. Unapređenjem odnosa s medijima, preduzeće stvara dobru osnovu za podizanje nivoa organizacionih i poslovnih performansi.</p> / <p>The dissertation deals with the impact of media relations (MR) on certain organizational and business performances in Serbian companies. Specifically, the dissertation deals with the impact of media relations (MR) on communication satisfaction (CS), corporate credibility (CC), financial performance (FP), power distance (PD), future orientation (FO) and core transformational leader behaviour (CTL). The data were obtained using questionnaires completed by N = 394 middle managers from 123 companies in Serbia. The statistical methodologies that were used in the data analysis are: descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, regression analysis, t-test and hierarchical regression analysis. The main conclusions of the study are as follows. 1. The correlations between the media relations items and organizational and business performance are statistically significant, strong and positive, in most cases. Modern media have the greatest impact on organizational and business performance. 2. Media relations have little impact on corporate credibility, and that influence is achieved primarily through modern media. 3. In terms of financial performance, media relations have a particularly positive influence on market share and sales growth. 4. To increase organizational performances, companies should pay close attention to modern media, as well as to the presence of the CEO in the media. 5. To increase business (financial) performance, companies should pay considerable attention to both modern and traditional media, while the company&rsquo;s media presence has an advantage over that of the CEO.</p>

The purpose of this study was to examine individual reactions to environmental messages based on three message frames. The frames include shock or fear, humor, and emotional frames. The intent of the study was to document, through the use of pre- and post-questionnaires, individuals' reactions to the three types of messages by measuring attitude or perception change, credibility of the message, and importance of the issue. In this study, baseline knowledge levels and beliefs about environmental issues were examined using a pre-questionnaire. How variable treatments affect attitudes or create perception change with regard to the environmental messages were explored. This study was questionnaire based, with results based on one time pre- and post questionnaires of mass communications undergraduate students at the University of South Florida. Along with message framing, McGuire's Information Processing Theory is useful in determining an individual's psychological context, and the steps an individual will take after a message is presented. This theory gives a "good overview of the attitude change process, reminding us that it involves a number of components" (Severin & Tankard, 2001, p. 175). Using these two theories as underpinning, exploration of the effects of different types of Greenpeace messages is possible. Determining which types of frames promote a behavior change in individuals adds to environmental persuasion research, and ultimately assists the designers of environmental messages and the deliverers of environmental communication.

This paper studies the endogenous evolution of investment behaviour under the various macroeconomic circumstances, which might be relatively constructed by free-float, fixed and target zone regimes as the economic stability policy. It applies the issues of stock price target zone policy to a simultaneous stochastic differential equation system. We construct the stochastic macro model which utilized the basic conception of Dornbusch [1976] with the different price adjustment mechanism. In addition, we intend to apply the topological method which used by Miller and Weller [1991] to analyze the general economic property from the non-recursive model. The main purpose of this paper is to discuss how the public’s expectation affects the dynamic loci of commodity and stock price when the public agents have the perfect or imperfect credibility. We utilize this model to investigate whether stock price target zone regime will have honeymoon effect or not, when the government announce to execute the stock price target zone policy in the various situations. Moreover, we discuss whether stock price target zone can simultaneously stabilize other variables in the different situations.

The aim of this thesis is to study how television spot and product placement compare in terms of gaining the target audience’s attention, having control over the marketing message and creating credibility for a product or a brand. The context of the study is Finnish television from advertisers’ point of view. Three major theories used are: AIDA, Generic Communications Process and Two-Step Communications. Twelve hypotheses are built based on the theories, the main hypothesis being: “Although a marketing message sent through product placement gains the target audience’s attention better and creates higher credibility for a product or a brand than a television spot, advertisers are keener on sending the marketing message through a television spot than through product placement because they have more control over the message in a television spot and because it historically has a more stable legal position.” Five experts on the field were interviewed to test the hypotheses. In general, the hypotheses were supported.