The obligation to maintain and develop professional competence throughout an individual’s career is a fundamental requirement of a maintaining a professional accounting designation. Accountants can select their continuing professional development (CPD) from a number of modalities. The study was a cross sectional sample created by self selection from a researchers' email invitation to accountants in Canada to determine which modalities accountants preferred, and the selection factors they used in making those selections. A total of 428 accountants from across Canada completed the online survey. The results found that the accountants had taken courses in all modalities presented with live seminar and live webinar being the most popular modalities. Accountants preferred synchronous over asynchronous courses. The factors most important to accountants are content, cost and CPD hour requirements. Generally, the differences found in selection factors for distance versus face-to-face modalities related to the flexibility of the distance course to reduce time away from work. The ranking of selection factors for synchronous courses in general did not differ from those for asynchronous courses with the exception of self-paced courses where the pace and time away from work were ranked higher than for other courses. Further research is suggested to determine the value of both live and recorded seminars and webinars, as well as potential opportunities for mobile modality use for CPD courses. Additional research should be conducted to determine why differences were found in ranking in demographics in order to ensure that future CPD courses are offered in modalities that provide benefits for all respondents. / 2012-06

The main purpose of this study was to explore how second-generation young adults with foreign background understand their ethnic identities and how they relate to their national identities. Semi-structured interviews with 7 second-generation young adults with foreign background were conducted. The basis for our analysis was social identity theory, identity theory and previous research. As the result shows, the participants in this study had developed an understanding of their ethnic identities in relation to their national identities based on influential factors. The influential factors that elicited these understandings of their ethnic identities in relation to their national identities were: influential people and cultural influences. On the basis of these influential factors, it had become easier for some participants to identify themselves more with their ethnic identities. However, for other participants, the understanding of their ethnic identities did not influence their feelings of belongingness to the host society, which means they have considered themselves to belong to both their ethnic and national identities. For those participants who could not identify themselves with both their ethnic identities and relate to their national identities chose to identify themselves with something else, which in this case religion.

Diese Studie konzentriert sich auf eine vergleichende Erforschung über lebenslange Lernmotivation und deren Einflussfaktoren in China und Deutschland. Da das lebenslange Lernen ein weithin anerkanntes System ist, welches internationale Bedeutung, reichliche Konnotation, Multiplex-Programmen und komplexe Verzweigungen enthält, scheinen die Erforschung und Analyse über das lebenslange Lernen und konkretes Lernverhalten, Strategien, Theorien, Performanz und Einflussfaktoren immer extrem schwierig zu sein. Zum Analysieren der konkreten Lernerfahrungen sowie Einstellungen und Gedanken von normalen Personen über das lebenslange Lernen werden biographische Erzählung Interview als Instrument der Datenerhebung und die Erforschung Schritte vom Grounded Theory als Forschungsmethode verwendet. Insofern ist eine empirische Theorie auf unseren Forschungsgegenstand zu entwickeln. Die interviewten Personen für dieser Studie besteht aus 20 ausgewählten chinesischen und 20 ausgewählten Deutschen mit unterschiedlichem Hintergrund und Konventionen. Untersucht werden die ganzen Lernerfahrungen und Ansichten von ihnen über die Motivationen und Einflussfaktoren auf ihr eigenes lebenslanges Lernen. Basiert auf einen Analyseprozess von offenen, axialen und selektiven Codierung kann man feststellen, dass die Lernmotivationen und Einflussfaktoren auf lebenslanges Lernen vor allem aus vier Hauptgruppen, nämlich Familie, Gesellschaft, Individuum, sowie Schulen bzw. Mitschüler und Lehrer kommen. Zum Beschreiben der Zusammenhänge zwischen diesen Faktoren und den typischen Kategorien von Einflussfaktoren in den einzelnen Ländern zu beschreiben, werden sie in „Postmoderne“, „Scandinavian“, „Transformation“ und „Traditionelle Asiatische“ Typen mit dem „Ideal-Typ“ als Leitgedanke eingeteilt . In der konkreten Analyse der Arten der Motivation und Einflussfaktoren auf lebenslanges Lernen von Deutschen und Chinesen, werden die „Autonome“ und „Autoritären“ Features auf der y-Koordinate, und die „Individuell“ und „Sozial“ Faktoren auf die x-Koordinate beschriftet, damit die Cluster-Formen der Faktoren in den einzelnen Ländern auf die Diagramme zeichnet werden können. Die konkrete Analyse der Einflussfaktoren und Motivationen beruht auf dem allgemeinen Hintergrund der nationalen Bedingungen und der Realität der Bildungsentwicklung in jedem Land. Jede Hauptkategorie der Einflussfaktoren und Motivationen hat seinen tiefen Grund von der konkreten Makro-, Meso- und Mikrorealität, wie die nationalen Geschichte, Gesetzessystem, Bildungseinrichtungen, Lehr- und Lernpraktiken, wirtschaftliche Situationen, Gesamt Figuration und Bildungskulturen, sowie das Bildungssystem. Durch Analysieren und Vergleichen kann festgestellt werden, dass jedes Land oder Region ihre eigenen Eigenschaften, Implementierungsmethode oder Merkmale des lebenslangen Lernens sowie ihrer Bildungspolitik, Bildungserfahrungen, Lernmethoden, Prinzipien, Lern- und Lehrerfahrungen hat. Zur Verbesserung der Bildungsreformation und deren Fortschritt könnte man erfolgreiche Erfahrungen und Geschichte als Referenz verwenden, damit eigenes erfolgversprechendes Bildungssystem bzw. erfolgversprechende Bildungspolitik gründet werden könnte. Auf der Grundlage von Schlussfolgerungen und Ergebnisse dieser Erforschung sind Vorschläge und Anleitung für die Förderungen des lebenslangen Lernens zu erschließen, die sich in der Zukunft nicht nur in China und Deutschland, aber auch in anderen Industrie- und Entwicklungsländern für verbesserte Leistungen in diesem Bereich anbieten.

För att kunna sträva efter en hållbar utveckling och lämna över en god miljö till nästa generation krävs ett samordnat arbete kring de källor som utgör påverkan på naturen och miljön. Jordbruket är en sektor som påverkar naturen och miljön genom dess näringsläckage till mark och vatten.  För att minska näringsläckaget krävs styrmedel som har till syfte att effektivisera för ett mer hållbart jordbruk. Greppa Näringen är ett tyrmedel i Sverige som startades som ett projekt för att stoppa framförallt utlakning av kväve från svenska åkermarker. En bättre förståelse av vad som ligger bakom lantbrukares val att inte ansluta sig till Greppa Näringen är avgörande för att kunna designa ett optimalt program anpassat för lantbrukarna. Denna studie har genomförts utifrån kvalitativa intervjuer för att identifiera faktorer och bakomliggande aspekter som ligger till grund för att lantbrukare inte väljer att ansluta sig till Greppa Näringen. Fem lantbrukare har intervjuats och de faktorer som har identifierats är kunskap, engagemang, tid, förtroende, påverkan utifrån och ekonomi. De mest betydande aspekterna som lantbrukarna nämnde var att verksamheten inte är relevant för Greppa Näringen (kunskap), att lantbrukarna har prioriterat annat inom verksamheten (engagemang och tid) samt att lantbrukarna inte tar till sig den informationen som Greppa Näringen ger ut (engagemang). Faktorerna ekonomi och påverkan utifrån har endast nämnts av en lantbrukare. / n order to strive for a sustainable development and hand over a good environment to the next generation, a coordinated work requires on the point- sources that has great impact on nature and the environment. The agriculture is a sector which has great impact on nature and the environment through its leaching of nutrients to soil and water. To reduce the leakage of nutrients, a set of instruments is required. Instruments, which aim to improve the efficiency of a more sustainable agriculture. Greppa Näringen is an instrument in Sweden that started as a project to mainly stop the leaching of nitrogen from Swedish arable land. A better understanding of what is behind farmers' decision not to participate in Greppa Näringen is crucial to be able to design the most ideal program adapted for the farmers. This study has been conducted from qualitative interviews to identify the factors and underlying aspects that explain why farmers choose not to participate in Greppa Näringen. Five farmers were interviewed and the factors that have been identified are, knowledge, commitment, time, trust, influence from the society and economy. The most commonly mentioned aspects were; that the farm is not of relevance for Greppa Näringen (knowledge), that farmers have prioritized other things within the farm (commitment and time) and also that farmers do not adopt information from Greppa Näringen, even though it is presented to them (commitment). The factors economy and influence from the society has only been mentioned by one of the farmers.

Abstract Background: Female entrepreneurship in China is a practice which scholars have explored severally in recent years. Just as many Asian countries, the role of Chinese women has been undermined for a longer period. However, the 20 th century marked a positive turn in Chinese culture. The rate of discrimination and seclusion of women from economic empowerment started reducing significantly. Today, Chinese women are struggling to compete effectively with their male counterparts in entrepreneurial sector. The purpose of having women empowerment on the market economy is to generate more income to the country. Also, the practice lessens the rate of unemployment and high rate of dependency in China. Hence, it is apparent that the entrepreneurial actions in China are motivated by a number of factors that are presented in the paper. Purpose: The primary aim of the study is to determine influential and motivational factors for female entrepreneurs in China. Methods: The research has employed a qualitative research approach to determine influential factors and motivating aspects of female entrepreneurship in China. Random sampling tactic has been chosen as the methodology to discover data of women that have succeeded in the country. This approach can help to analyze a broader population of women entrepreneurs in China. Meanwhile, a semi-structured interview was involved in collecting data so that first-hand and unbiased information is obtained from interviewees. Findings: From the study of the influential factors and motivation for female entrepreneurs in China, it has been noted that the process of entrepreneurship among the current female entrepreneurs in the country can be categorized as either passive or initiative. While looking at the passive entrepreneurship among the female entrepreneurs, it is noted that those people are driven by the daily needs of their families. On the other hand, initiative entrepreneurship relies much more on human capital and social capital. The zeal and motivation that they possess lead them to developing far-sighted enterprises, hence contributing to the economic development of the country.

This research takes the perspectives of employees¡¦ perception towards Organizational Change; explore the influential factors of Career Development of Marsh insurance brokers and its relationship with Emotional Intelligence. Besides, this research takes personal differences of population variable as independent variable, independently explore each influential factor and analyze its variance. Having gone through the process of literature review, consulting professionals and interviewing with the employees, the research framework was then finalized. Taking into account the issue of language and terminology differences, apart from consulting four insurance professional on questionnaire design, comment from the head of Human Resources of each country was also sought. Finally it was decided to have 3 versions of questionnaire, i.e. the Traditional Chinese version, Simplified Chinese version and English version. 107 valid questionnaires were finally collected with a valid sample return rate of 36.27%. Regarding the statistical analysis, firstly a confidence analysis was done on each variable factor to validate its confidence. Those inapplicable questions were then deleted. Then other statistical tools like Independent T Test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation analysis, multiple regression analysis were employed to perform further analysis. It is shown that there are only a few findings of significant variance on personal background of population statistics and its independent variables, dependent variables, moderating variables. This matches with the characteristics of cultural difference. Besides, in the aspect of ¡§Perception towards Organizational Change¡¨, there are only a few factors which have significant relations on ¡§Influential Factors of Career Development¡¨, implying that personal factor and the need for teamwork are the key factors. This also matches with the fact that servicing corporation emphasizing team-spirit, but not only heroic individualistic operation. Finally, in the relationship of Emotional Intelligence on ¡§Perception towards Organizational Change¡¨ and ¡§Influential Factors of Career Development¡¨, it appears ¡§Emotion¡¨and¡§Behavior¡¨with moderating effect on partial Influential Factors of Career Development. This shows that personal elements and teamwork have significant impact on interpersonal relationship. Hence, effectively enhance the interaction of employees with the participation of senior management and team leaders take care of subordinates will help to build good team spirit and working environment.

During the last twenty years, Total Quality Management and Business Excellence Models [BEMs] have been very attractive to organisations as an improvement strategy, as there has been a push by governments to encourage this trend in both public and private sector organisations through the development of national quality awards. There remain difficulties in the successful implementation of BEMs, as there have been high implementation failures rates in various industrial settings. It appears that these failures have been the result of a failure to identify key influential factors that might be incorporated into organisations’ BEM implementation guidelines. Therefore, this research attempts to identify the key influential factors for the successful implementation of a BEM and then examines the role of these factors when they are incorporated with the implementation strategy of a BEM in a public sector organisation in the United Arab Emirates, the Abu Dhabi Police. The research takes a mixed-methods approach including a systematic literature review, a questionnaire survey of 300 employees and 25 interviews with top managers and BEM implementation team members in the Abu Dhabi Police. The quantitative data is assessed using descriptive and inferential statistical analysis. A paired-samples t-test is used to compare perceptions and the actual presence of key influential factors. Additionally, the correlation between these factors and the implementation efficiency of the BEM is investigated by using a Pearson’s correlation coefficient analysis. The interviews are also subjected to thematic analysis. The key findings are that there are 18 key influential factors which significantly impacted on the successful implementation of the BEM in this public sector organisation; therefore they should be considered as a whole during any such implementation. These factors can be grouped into associated stages of commitment, implementation and measurement, leading to the development of a conceptual framework to be used as a roadmap for the implementation of BEMs by public sector organisations.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / David S. Allen / Haijun Kang / Using technology effectively has been proven to enhance education. The status quo in Saudi Arabia reflects low-level usage of technology in K-12 classrooms. Preparing 21st Century teachers to integrate technology in their future classrooms for meaningful learning requires College of Education faculty to model using technology effectively. This study investigated the technology integration practices of faculty members in the College of Education at Taibah University, particularly to what extent these practices are aligned with ISTE NETS-T standards and what factors predict these practices. Based on the literature, the factors examined include attitudes towards technology use, pedagogical beliefs, technical skills, workload, professional development, technology access, technical support, and leadership support. The population of the study was the 257 faculty in the College of Education at Taibah University. The study used a web-based survey containing 66 closed-ended items to collect data, and 170 valid responses were obtained (66% response rate). Descriptive and multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to analyze data. Findings from the first research question revealed that faculty members’ technology integration practices were well-matched with ISTE NETS-T standards since the overall mean of these items was (M= 4.25, SD= .64). This indicates that faculty members had awareness of using technology effectively based on these standards to engage students in meaningful learning. Results from the multiple linear regression analysis revealed that the overall model was significant as it explains 43% of the variability in faculty members’ technology integration practices. Three significant factors statistically predicted faculty members’ technology integration practices based on ISTE NETS standards. Faculty members’ attitude toward technology had a positive relationship with faculty members’ technology integration practices [β=.35, p=.00]. Faculty technical skills had also a statistically significant positive relationship with faculty members’ technology integration practices [β=.19, p=.00]. However, leadership support was found to have a statistically significant negative relationship with faculty members’ technology integration practices in teaching based on ISTE NETS-T standards [β=-.23, p=.00]. These results, in addition to the means of the independent variables, showed that the highly rated technology integration factors, including technology attitudes and technical skills, predict their high technology integration practices based on ISTE NET-T standards. However, faculty members still need more support in several technology integration factors including professional development, technology access, workload, and leadership support. The study recommends education faculty members to model the effective use of technology for pre-service teachers through providing them with opportunities to observe it in a variety of instructional models and practice the constructivist use of technology in lesson plan assignments and projects during the program, which helps in developing positive attitudes toward technology use among pre-service teachers. College of Education leaders are recommended to have a clear shared technology vision and offer the resources and support needed to make instructional technology integration successful. Recommendations for future studies are also discussed.

Although saving plays an important role in our everyday lives, including the lives of children, we know little about how this capacity develops, including the factors affecting it and the most effective means to measure it. This study examines the impact of age, a verbal prompt to save, and how internal (children’s inhibitory control, impulsivity, attentional focus) and external factors (household income, parents’ level of education, parents’ saving practices with their child, and parents’ beliefs about the importance of saving) influence both children’s saving in a novel laboratory saving task and parent-reported saving. 187 children between 3 to 7 years of age participated in this study. In the laboratory saving task, which was based on the saving task by Metcalf and Atance (2011), children received tokens that they could exchange for a less desirable reward now, or save for a highly desirable reward three minutes later. Children were assigned to either the “prompt” or baseline condition. Children in the baseline condition only received basic instructions for completing the task, whereas children in the prompt condition received the additional reminder, before beginning the task, that they could save if they wanted to. Parent-reported saving was assessed with a questionnaire, asking parents about their child’s saving at home. The internal and external factors were also measured using questionnaires completed by parents. Results show that assigned condition was associated with whether or not children saved (“saving status”), and that higher inhibitory control and parents’ saving practices predicted increased parent-reported saving. These results show that internal and external factors impact children’s saving behaviour and provides a new paradigm for assessing saving in young children. Implications for future research and limitations are discussed.

Globalization has opened up new markets. Companies have now endless opportunities to expand their business reachwith sportsclubs being no exception. Internationalization in sports has its beginnings with foreign players joining a team and changed in 1995 with the Bosman ruling. After the Bosman ruling, the transfer of international players became easier. Not only can one notice the internationalization of sports teams by the transfer of players but also by the expansion of the sports itself. The NFL plays home games in London, the NBA in Mexico City and FC Bayern Munich has opened subsidiaries in the US and China. Yet, this all seems like the whole sports industry is expanding. However, the influences behind this drive are unclear. The purpose of this thesis is to gain an understanding of internationalization in the sports industry. As the current literature indicates several gaps regarding the internationalization of sports clubs such as the limited view on one sport at the time or the data usage of clubs in their internationalization process, this thesis focuses on offering a broaderpicture. Therefore, the research question formulated for this thesis is:What influences the internationalization in the sports industry?For answering the research questions and fulfill the purpose of this thesis, an inductive approach was selected with a qualitative exploratory research study. By mixing the pur-posive and self-selected sampling, six semi-structured interviews were conductedamong different sports clubs. The findings indicate that there are several different influences in the internationalization process of sports clubs. Leagues and their ambitions are one direct influence. Here, the leagues statutes seem to be guidelines forthe clubs and their perspec-tives on growing. Another influence are the market conditions, where one can distinguish between the home market and foreign market conditions. There are some markets that do not allow much for further grow, as another sport is dominating the industry. For that reason, expanding internationally becomes necessary. Yet, some clubs see more potential on the home market to expand their scope and are thus, not thinking of internationalizing soon. Also influencing the internationalization are partnerships. Partnerships, either new or existing ones, offer the benefit of having knowledge or a business network the club can potentially benefit from. This study contributes to the literature of sports teams’ internationalization by adding the underlying concept of influences in the process. Understanding the influences will not only support the eventual internationalization but also offers the opportunity to unite or-ganizations in their efforts.