Most individuals indicate a strong preference to remain in their homes and communities as they age. Aging in place can offer both economic and health benefits. As the population continues to age, it is especially critical that communities facilitate aging in place. This study aims to inform local policy by addressing two goals. First, determine potential unmet needs of older adults in Fulton County, Georgia through conducting a descriptive analysis; and second, determine predicting factors of community satisfaction through estimating a logistic regression model, based upon an adaptation of Bronfenbrenner’s social-ecological framework. Descriptive findings showed that local senior centers and meal services are prevalent. However, potential unmet needs include housekeeping, home repair, transportation, social involvement, and awareness of a senior resource hotline. The regression model revealed home repair services and demographics including marital status, education, race, and income were statistically significant predictors of overall community satisfaction in this study.

The purpose of this thesis is to be able to conclude which of the two, cause fit communication or cause commitment communication, is the best strategy for companies to adapt when looking to reduce consumer skepticism when communicating their CSR. CSR is nowadays a core component in every business yet so many managers find it hard to justify because they do not reap the benefits from engaging in CSR (Porter & Kramer, 2006). CSR has to be communicated in order for companies to reap the benefits from their endeavors (McElhaney, 2009). However, when companies do this consumers tend to get skeptical about the CSR motives of the company, which results in companies not gaining any benefits from their CSR at all (Bhattacharya, 2010). To solve this problem, researchers have suggested many different communication strategies to reduce consumer skepticism when companies communicate their CSR. In this thesis we test the consumer skepticism reducinge ffects of Cause Fit Communication and Cause Commitment Communication to conclude which of the two is the most efficient at reducing consumer skepticism. To fulfill our purpose we have used a quantitative method and constructed a survey where we have asked people about their perception of different companies’ CSR communication when the companies used Cause Fit Communication or Cause Commitment Communication. The answers from the respondents were analyzed through which we could conclude which of the two strategies is better. From our findings it was very hard to conclude which of the two communication strategies was the best at reducing consumer skepticism. However, we could see that Cause Commitment Communication had the highest consumer skepticism reducing effects. After having conducted this research we truly believe that the two communication strategies can be just as efficient at reducing consumer skepticism as long as one follows the guidelines we have provided in this thesis.

Students’ intention to stay within the higher education system is decreasing by the year, and even though more students are enrolling at universities annually, the percentage of students completing their studies is not satisfactory. The low completion rate is a concern not only in South Africa, but worldwide. Trends are identified as to why students do not complete their studies. This study seeks to focus on perceived social support, the students’ academic fit, the psychological conditions of meaningfulness and availability as well as the students’ engagement levels, and then to investigate if these constructs will influence their intention to stay. The proposed engagement model of May, Gilson, and Harter (2004) originally designed by George Kahn (1990), was used to determine whether social support and academic fit correlates positively with the psychological conditions, which may lead to engagement and increase a student’s intention to stay. A quantitative research design was used to investigate the universal challenge at hand, and it was descriptive in nature in order to gather specific information from the first-year students. A crossectional design was used. The research method consists of a literature review and an empirical study, presented in one research article. A convenience sample was used, and a total of 304 students completed the questionnaires. These questionnaires were based on the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, the Psychological Conditions Scale, Academic Fit Scale, the Work Engagement Scale and the Intent to Leave Scale. Structural equation modelling methods were used, and implemented in AMOS to test the measurement and structural models. The fit-indices used to test if the model fit the data included the absolute fit indices such as Chi-square statistic, the Standardized Root Mean Residual (SRMR), and the Root-Means-Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA). The incremental fit indices which were used included the Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) and the Comparative Fit Index. It was found that social support did not have an impact on the psychological conditions of meaningfulness and availability, but it had a direct and indirect (via academic fit) effect on intention to stay. This implies that the amount of support students receive has an influence on their intention to stay, and also increased their sense of belonging in their field of study. Academic fit was positively associated with the psychological conditions of meaning and availability, which means that if the student’s personality and field of study is aligned the student will feel that the course is meaningful to him, and he will invest more energy in his studies. Academic fit had direct effects on students’ intention to stay, which means that students who feel they belong in their field of study will also be more likely to stay at the educational institution. It was also found that if students experience a sense of psychological meaningfulness and availability they will be more engaged in their studies, which impact their intention to stay / MCom, Industrial Psychology, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2012

The work of industrial/organisational (I/O) psychologists presents an interesting context for studying meaning and engagement (as eudaimonic components of happiness). (I/O) psychologists spend more than 88% of their working day with people, and they are primary role models for happiness and change in the workplace. Information about the manifestation of their meaning and work engagement is therefore needed. The aim of this study was to determine how (I/O) psychologists experience the meaning of their work and to investigate the relationships between their experiences of work-role fit, meaning of work, psychological meaningfulness, and work engagement. The research method consisted out of a literature review and empirical study. A survey design with a convenience sample (n = 106) was taken from a sample of registered (I/O) psychologists. A biographical questionnaire, the Work-role Fit Scale (WRFS), Work-life Questionnaire (WLQ), Psychological Meaningfulness Scale (PMS), Work Engagement Scale (WES) and a self-developed survey measuring the actual and desired time spent on six broad categories of work were administered. The statistical analysis was carried out by means of SPSS (2009). Exploratory factor analyses showed one factor models for work-role fit, psychological meaningfulness and work engagement. A two factor model for the meaning of work (a job/calling and career orientation) was found. Cronbach alpha coefficients ranging from 0,80 to 0,93 were obtained. The results showed that a discrepancy exists between the actual time and desired time spent on the six broad categories of work (see Benjamin & Louw-Potgieter, 2008). Furthermore, the results showed that half the 1/0 psychologists view their work as callings. Whereas only 16% view their work as a career and 6,6% as a job. Regression analyses indicated that work-role fit predicts psychological meaningfulness and work engagement. The job/calling orientation predicted both psychological meaningfulness and work engagement. Work-role fit predicted the job/calling orientation. Psychological meaningfulness did not mediate the relationship between work-role fit and work engagement. Work-role fit mediated the relationship between the meaning of work and psychological meaningfulness. Work-role fit partially mediated the relationship between a calling orientation and work engagement / Thesis (M.Comm. (Industrial Psychology)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

The work of industrial/organisational (I/O) psychologists presents an interesting context for studying meaning and engagement (as eudaimonic components of happiness). (I/O) psychologists spend more than 88% of their working day with people, and they are primary role models for happiness and change in the workplace. Information about the manifestation of their meaning and work engagement is therefore needed. The aim of this study was to determine how (I/O) psychologists experience the meaning of their work and to investigate the relationships between their experiences of work-role fit, meaning of work, psychological meaningfulness, and work engagement. The research method consisted out of a literature review and empirical study. A survey design with a convenience sample (n = 106) was taken from a sample of registered (I/O) psychologists. A biographical questionnaire, the Work-role Fit Scale (WRFS), Work-life Questionnaire (WLQ), Psychological Meaningfulness Scale (PMS), Work Engagement Scale (WES) and a self-developed survey measuring the actual and desired time spent on six broad categories of work were administered. The statistical analysis was carried out by means of SPSS (2009). Exploratory factor analyses showed one factor models for work-role fit, psychological meaningfulness and work engagement. A two factor model for the meaning of work (a job/calling and career orientation) was found. Cronbach alpha coefficients ranging from 0,80 to 0,93 were obtained. The results showed that a discrepancy exists between the actual time and desired time spent on the six broad categories of work (see Benjamin & Louw-Potgieter, 2008). Furthermore, the results showed that half the 1/0 psychologists view their work as callings. Whereas only 16% view their work as a career and 6,6% as a job. Regression analyses indicated that work-role fit predicts psychological meaningfulness and work engagement. The job/calling orientation predicted both psychological meaningfulness and work engagement. Work-role fit predicted the job/calling orientation. Psychological meaningfulness did not mediate the relationship between work-role fit and work engagement. Work-role fit mediated the relationship between the meaning of work and psychological meaningfulness. Work-role fit partially mediated the relationship between a calling orientation and work engagement / Thesis (M.Comm. (Industrial Psychology)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

The term ontology is defined as the explicit specification of a conceptualization. While much of the prior research has focused on technical aspects of ontology management, little attention has been paid to the investigation of issues that limit the widespread use of ontologies and the evaluation of the effectiveness of ontologies in improving task performance. This dissertation addresses this void through the development of approaches to ontology creation, refinement, and evaluation. This study follows a multi-paper model focusing on ontology creation, refinement, and its evaluation. The first study develops and evaluates a method for ontology creation using knowledge available on the Web. The second study develops a methodology for ontology refinement through pruning and empirically evaluates the effectiveness of this method. The third study investigates the impact of an ontology in use case modeling, which is a complex, knowledge intensive organizational task in the context of IS development. The three studies follow the design science research approach, and each builds and evaluates IT artifacts. These studies contribute to knowledge by developing solutions to three important issues in the effective development and use of ontologies.

The goal of this paper is to outline the issue of organizational voluntary turnover in today's society as not only a financial problem but also an overarching issue that impacts departments across the entire organization. The most effective way to solve this problem is to cultivate a core set of values and beliefs that the organization will truly entrench into its practices and habits. Once this is accomplished, an organization can conduct a unique interview process that carefully and intentionally selects employees based on values congruence person-organization fit, which studies show will result in higher job satisfaction and organizational commitment, leading to increased retention.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of logotypes within the visual identity and identify possible reasons that motivate companies to change their logo. This paper should also clarify how different parts of the visual identity affect each other and how they are interconnected. The thesis research question is formulated with the purpose in mind and has led to the following question: How can a logo change contribute to enhanced visual identity?   Since we wanted to obtain a better understanding of the chosen research area with help of interviews have we chosen a qualitative method for this thesis. During the process we have let the empirical material control the chosen theories. Our gathered theories are from secondary data and the empirical material has been collected from semi-structured interviews.  In order to obtain a wider range of our research topic, we have selected the interviewed respondents from different industries and areas of work. In our work process, we have analyzed and discussed the impact of a logo and how a logo change could impact on the visual identity. Our research showed that a single logo change would not necessarily have an impact on the visual identity but would improve with a combined match of the identities other components. During our process we also identified three main ingredients that a good logo should contain. Finally, we have developed a theory that shows how visual identity components are interconnected.

This article aims at the statistical assessment of time series with large fluctuations in short time, which are assumed to stem from a continuous process perturbed by a Lévy process exhibiting a heavy tail behavior. We propose an easily implementable procedure to estimate efficiently the statistical difference between the noisy behavior of the data and a given reference jump measure in terms of so-called coupling distances. After a short introduction to Lévy processes and coupling distances we recall basic statistical approximation results and derive rates of convergence. In the sequel the procedure is elaborated in detail in an abstract setting and eventually applied in a case study to simulated and paleoclimate data. It indicates the dominant presence of a non-stable heavy-tailed jump Lévy component for some tail index greater than 2.

The notion of person-organization fit (P-O fit) is concerned with identifying the antecedents and consequences of compatibility between employees and the organizations in which they work, as part of interactional psychology. Literature on consequences of P-O fit has demonstrated significant relationships with various individual outcomes. The main purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of P-O fit operationalized as value congruence between the employee and the organization, on job satisfaction, organizational commitment and performance of employees working in a public organization at both individual-level and cross-level analysis by utilizing multiple measures of fit. The secondary purpose was to compare multiple measures of fit in terms of their power in predicting individual outcome variables and investigate the level of association between direct and indirect fit and whether direct fit contributed to prediction over and above indirect fit measures. One hundred and eighty employees of a public organization filled out the questionnaire. Cross-level analysis could not be performed because of inadequate level of agreement between respondents. Results revealed that both direct and indirect fit measures were significant predictors of individual outcome variables at individual-level analysis except for supervisor ratings of task performance and overall performance, which were solely predicted by direct fit. Direct fit was the most consistent and effective predictor of individual outcome variables and made a consistent unique contribution to prediction of outcome variables over and above indirect fit measures. The results and implications of the study were discussed and limitations of the study were addressed.