No description available.

Existing research practices in gifted education have many areas for potential improvement so that they can provide useful, generalizable evidence to various stakeholders. In this article, we first review the field’s current research practices and consider the quality and utility of its research findings. Next, we discuss how open science practices increase the transparency of research so readers can more effectively evaluate its validity. Third, we introduce five large-scale collaborative research models that are being used in other fields and discuss how they could be implemented in gifted education research. Finally, we review potential challenges and limitations to implementing collaborative research models in gifted education. We believe greater use of large-scale collaboration will help the field overcome some of its methodological challenges to help provide more precise and accurate information about gifted education.

Influencer marketing has made its way to the forefront of online marketing due to the rapid expansion and usage of social media platforms. Despite the increased adoption of influencer marketing, the effect of sponsorship disclosure on source credibility remains under-researched in academia. This study aimed to address this research gap in two parts. Firstly, by evaluating the characteristics and significance of social media influencers. Secondly, by investigating the effect of sponsorship disclosure on consumers perception of source credibility and the likelihood to recommend organic hair care products. The selected social media platform for this study was Instagram, due to its growing popularity and increased usage by influencers. The hair care retail business as a proven multi-billion dollar industry, set itself as a valuable industry for the purposes of this study. The research methodology involved the collection of primary data from existing literature on influencer marketing strategies and social media influencers. Ohanian's Source Credibility model was found to be of relevance to the research objectives, therefore, it was used a theoretical framework for the study. Secondary data was collected by exploring the relationships between sponsorship disclosure, source credibility and electronic word-of-mouth marketing. Quantitative data was collected through a structured questionnaire which was issued online to University of Cape Town students. To ensure that the research contributed to existing academic literature, the target population chosen for the study was the Generation Z. The data collected was analysed using inferential statistical methods in order to test the hypotheses. A structural equation model was used to analyse the relationship between variables and the results indicated that all hypotheses were found to be supported, depicting that sponsorship disclosure has an impact on perceived source credibility. Additionally, the results indicated that respondents were more likely to participate in word-of-mouth recommendations for products endorsed by influencers that they regarded to be credible. The overall research findings provide valuable insights on consumer perception towards the credibility of social media influencers. This information can be used in marketing practice to aid marketers to develop appropriate strategies for sponsored influencer marketing campaigns. Furthermore, this study contributes to academia by adding empirical data to the existing body of literature on influencer marketing.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the constructions of sexuality, which are produced when judgments concerning asylum are made, based on an asylum seeker’s sexual orientation. The question formulations are the following: Which constructions of sexuality are produced when necessary condition, fear of persecution due to sexual orientation, is applied in judgments regarding refugee status? Furthermore, how constructions of sexuality differ in the judgments where the asylum seeker has been consented and rejected is investigated. The empirical material consists of 13 judgments, which were announced between the years 2009-2013 by the Migration court. A critical discourse analysis is applied in order to answer the question formulations. By examining the linguistic representations in these judgments, the aim is to visualize the statements and positions that are made possible within the discourse. The discourse analysis is mainly based on a queer theoretical perspective with selected concepts from Foucault. The concepts that the analysis is based on are the following; object and subject positions, heteronormativity, performativity and the heterosexual matrix. The results show that constructions of sexuality within the legal discourse, are based on heteronormative perceptions around sexuality. In 8 of 13 judgments, the asylum applicant’s sexual orientation is questioned and they are made to prove their homosexuality. Homosexuality is not given legitimacy within the discourse when the asylum seeker has given descriptions of a heterosexual life according to the judge definition, such as when the person has been in relationships with the opposite sex and have children. A bisexual practice is therefore, not given any legitimacy. Homosexuality is given legitimacy only when the asylum seeker is living in a homosexual relationship. In addition, homosexuality is given credibility when the narrative includes descriptions of homosexuality as an insight involving strong emotions. The result also shows how the asylum seeker is requested to hide their homosexuality in cases where the sexual orientation is criminalized in the person’s home country. In the judgments where the asylum seeker has been rejected, there are constructions of sexuality, which accept the prevailing heteronormativity as well as conceal resistance against oppression. In the judgments in which the asylum seeker has been given refugee status, the definition of sexuality is set in a larger context focusing on the social structures prevalent in the asylum seeker’s home country.

This thesis explores the role aesthetics plays in informational websites. In commercial interfaces, aesthetics (the perceived visual appeal and appropriateness of an object) has shown to correlate positively with many aspects of usability and emotional satisfaction. This thesis examines whether aesthetics has similar positive correlations in informational websites. Heuristics or guidelines for evaluating informational websites are developed based on empirical research and practitioner expertise. Categories for heuristic evaluation include usability, credibility, visual clarity, visual richness, and emotional satisfaction. A class of graduate students browsed three academic websites, evaluated them, and critiqued the heuristics. Results indicate that aesthetics does correlate with overall impression, usability, satisfaction, and credibility. The data also suggests that there are two dimensions of aesthetics: visual richness and visual clarity. Overall impression correlated with the average of all categories. The heuristics used in this pilot study are now ready to be tested on a larger population.

Non-professional investors often rely on information obtained from social media to make investment decisions. Extant literature has not examined the most effective strategy for the target company to counter the rumors so that investors will be more willing to continue investing in the target firm. Drawing on source credibility theory and the moral intensity model, I propose that the most effective strategy would vary given different agents who are selected to counter the rumor. After conducting a 2 x 3 (counter-rumor source x counter-rumor strategy) experiment with 272 non-professional investors recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk, my study shows that when an internal agent (e.g., the CEO) acts as a counter-rumor source, shareholders are more willing to invest in the company when the internal agent utilizes a denial strategy rather than a reassociation or a questioning strategy. In contrast, when an external agent (e.g., a famous food blogger) serves as the counter-rumor source, the external agent can also use a questioning strategy in addition to a denial strategy to motivate shareholders to be more willing to invest in the company; however, the external agent still needs to avoid from engaging a reassociation strategy. Moderated serial-mediation analysis shows that the persuasiveness of the counter-rumor information and investors' perceived rumor intensity serially mediate the effect of counter-rumor source on investors' willingness to invest, and this effect is conditioned on the different strategy used to counter the rumor. Overall, the main effect of counter-rumor source suggests that external agents are perceived as more persuasive, which leads investors to perceive less rumor intensity, making them more willing to invest in the target company. The results of my paper can thus inform companies' social media policy.

Today, in a world after COVID-19 the office needs to have a different meaning for employees, the office has to compete with the comfort and flexibility of working from home. Therefore this thesis paper researched the topic of how the interior of an office can be used to signal different things to employees. Signals are something that we humans both use and receive all day to communicate something without using words to do this. They are also used by companies to attract and share different things with both existing and potential employees. The theory that explains how signals are used is called the signaling theory and the signaling timeline model is the specific framework used. When a person goes on a job interview they will show (signal) how right they are for this job, this in regards to the way they dress, act, and how the resume looks. In regards to the timeline model, it is a way to explain how a signal ”travels” from the signaler to the receiver and then feedback returns to the signaler. For this thesis, and the signing timeline, the concept of design has been used as the signal and employer brand and brand credibility in the form of the feedback. The signaler has been the company and the receiver the employees. With this in mind two research questions were developed, how do companies work with signals when designing their offices? and are the signals sent by a company as those received by employees? To answer the questions, semi-structured interviews and observations were conducted with two different companies in different countries. In order to cover both questions interviews were held with both facility managers (or equivalent) and employees. The interviews and observations gave us a result proving that there are many signals that a company sends out to employees, some intentional and some unintentional. Companies signal more with a holistic view while an employee sees more in the details. There were five signals found, team, calm and environmentally friendly that the company tried to send. Employees did not perceive the environmentally friendly but found considerate to private matters and utility to be two other important ones. Another interesting finding was that one of the companies interviewed had decided to have their new office small in order to come back to their roots and to work with their brand image. / Idag, i en värld efter COVID-19, måste kontoret ha en annan betydelse för de anställda, kontoret måste konkurrera med bekvämligheten och flexibiliteten med att arbeta hemifrån. Därför har detta examensarbete undersökt hur interiören på ett kontor kan användas för att signalera olika saker till anställda. Signaler är något som vi människor både skickar och tar emot hela dagarna för att kommunicera något utan att använda ord. De används också av företag för att attrahera och kommunicera olika saker med både befintliga och potentiella medarbetare. Den teori som förklarar hur signaler används kallas för ”signaling theory” och “signaling timeline model” är det specifika ramverk som används. När en person går på en anställningsintervju kommer de att visa (signalera) hur rätt de är för det här jobbet, detta med avseende på hur de klär sig, agerar och hur CV:t ser ut. När det gäller “timeline model” är det ett sätt att förklara hur en signal "färdas" från signalisten till mottagaren och sedan återkopplas till signalisten. I den här uppsatsen, och i ”signaling timeline”, har begreppet ”design” använts som signal och ”employer branding” och “brand credibility” i form av feedback. Aktören som har skickat signalerna har varit företaget och mottagarna till dessa är anställda. Med detta i åtanke utvecklades två forskningsfrågor, hur arbetar företag med signaler när de utformar sina kontor? och är det samma signaler som skickas av ett företag som tas emot av de anställda? För att besvara frågorna genomfördes semistrukturerade intervjuer och observationer med två olika företag i olika länder. För att få svar på båda frågorna hölls intervjuer med både ”facility manager” (eller motsvarande) och anställda. Intervjuerna och observationerna gav oss resultatet att det finns många signaler som ett företag sänder till sina anställda, vissa avsiktliga och andra oavsiktliga. Företag signalerar med en mer holistisk syn medan en anställd ser mer i detaljerna, vilket påvisades i de fem signalerna som hittades. Företagen försökte skicka tre signaler: ”team”, ”calm” and ”environmentally friendly” samtidigt som de anställda inte uppfattade ”environmentally friendly” men istället tyckte att ”considerate to private matters” och ”utility” var två signaler som skickas. En annan intressant upptäckt var att ett av de intervjuade företagen hade bestämt sig för att ha sitt nya kontor litet för att komma tillbaka till sina rötter och arbeta med sin varumärkesimage.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.