När informationsmängden överskrider den mänskliga kognitiva förmågan att hantera information leder detta till information overload. Tidigare studier har visat att information overload har en negativ påverkan på förmågan att hitta det bästa alternativet. Även viljan att köpa en produkt har visats bli negativt påverkad av för många alternativ. Denna fältstudie utfördes i en online-miljö på en jämförelsesida för snabblån och undersökte om andelen besökare som klickade sig vidare till ett alternativ, det som i studien benämns som konverteringsgrad, kunde påverkas genom att antalet synliga alternativ manipulerades. Tre versioner av samma sida jämfördes med varandra. En version hade den fulla listan med 26 alternativ, en annan version visade endast fem alternativ och en tredje visade fem alternativ med en möjlighet för besökaren att genom en knapptryckning visa alla. I motsats till tidigare forskning uppvisade experimentet en ökad konverteringsgrad med fler alternativ. När besökare använde kringliggande funktionalitet, såsom filtrerings- funktioner eller knappen för att visa alla alternativ ökade konverteringsgraden. Det spelade ingen roll om besökare ökade informationsmängden genom att expandera listan eller om de minskade informationsmängden genom filtrering, båda dessa grupper visade en högre konverteringsgrad.

Årsrapporter producerade av bolag anses vara det traditionella sättet att kommunicera mellan publika aktiebolag och dess intressenter. Enligt tidigare forskning i andra länder har dock årsrapporters storlek och struktur förändrats. Uppsatsen syftar till att undersöka hur årsrapporters storlek och struktur har förändrats över en 11-årsperiod (2004-2014) i svenska noterade bolag, samt hitta motiven till varför årsrapporterna har förändrats. Väsentliga teorier valdes för att få en bättre förståelse avseende området, men även som möjliga motiv för förändrade årsrapporter. En innehållsanalys på de största noterade svenska bolagen mätt i omsättning år 2015 gjordes för att skapa en kartläggning av deras årsrapporter. Vi utgick från flera parametrar för att få en bild av förändringen, t.ex. sidantal, bilder och ord. Delar som vanligtvis ingår i årsrapporter kartlagdes även för att få en inblick i hur delarna har förändrats över tidsperioden. Studien visar på att årsrapporter i svenska noterade bolag generellt har ökat i storlek och att strukturen har förändrats från 2004 till 2014. Hållbarhetsredovisningen är den del i årsrapporter som procentuellt har ökat mest av alla delar. Vidare finner vi motiv och orsaker som kan vara påverkande faktorer för varför förändringen har sett ut som den gör. Införandet av IFRS 2005, Finanskrisen 2007-2008 samt teorierna information overload, impression management och legitimitetsteorin används för att nå resultatet. / Annual reports produced by companies are considered to be the traditional medium between limited companies and its stakeholders. However, according to previous research made in other countries, annual report size and structure has changed during the last decades. This essay aims to examine how annual reports size and structure has changed over an eleven year period (2004-2014) in Swedish listed companies, and to find the causes/reasons to why the annual reports has changed. Essential theories were mainly chosen to better understand the area, but also as possible motives for changed annual reports. A content analysis on the 25 biggest listed Swedish companies measured in revenue year 2015 was made to map how the change have looked for the companies. We started from several parameters to get a picture of the change, for example from number of pages, pictures and words. Parts that is usually included (e.g. management report, sustainable report, CEO/Chairman’s letter) in annual reports was mapped so that we could get an insight in how the parts had changed over the time period. The study shows that annual reports of Swedish listed companies generally have increased in size and that the structure has changed from 2004 to 2014. The sustainable reporting is the part of the annual reports that increased the most in percent of all the parts. Furthermore, we find motives and causes that can be seen as affecting factors to why the changes looks the way it does. The introduction of IFRS 2005, the financial crisis 2007-2008 and the theories information overload, impression management and legitimacy theory are used to reach the result of the study.

Sociala medier har ökat lavinartat sedan internet nådde människors hem under  90-talet. Enbart det sociala mediet Facebook har  243 miljoner användare i Europa. Sociala medier har även blivit ett primärt val för de flesta användare för interaktion med varandra. I en värld där informationsflödet och varje relation är konstant uppmärksammades en brist i hur sociala medier interagerar med användaren. För att undersöka hur individer upplever notifikationerna i sociala medier användes grundaffekterna av Silvan Tomkins som kompletterades via en litteraturstudie. Notifikationer på sociala medier undersöktes sedan kvalitativt med hjälp av  tester och  användare i fokusgruppsmiljö. Denna studie resulterade i ett antal definierade känslor  som  individer upplever av notifikationer  samt  åsikter kring redan befintlig funktionalitet och förslag till riktlinjer ur ett användarcentrerat perspektiv. / Social media has increased exponentially since the Internet reached people's homes during the 90's. The social media Facebook alone has 243 million users in Europe, social media also became a primary choice for most users to interact with each other. In a  world where the information flow and each relationship are constant, a flaw emerged in how the social media interacts with the user. To investigate how individuals experience notifications in social media, affect theory by Silvan Tomkins was used and then supplemented by a literature review. The notifications were then examined qualitatively  using tests and  with the help of users in a focus group setting. This study resulted in  a defined set of emotions that individuals experience of notifications as well as  opinions  about  existing  functionality  and  proposed guidelines from a user-centered perspective.

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<p>E-post har blivit en vanlig teknik för kommunikation och information inom arbetslivet såväl som privatlivet. Den här uppsatsen handlar om e-post och syftar till att undersöka hur det påverkar individer inom arbetslivet. Uppsatsen syftar också till att undersöka vad det är som kan utlösa e-poststress och vad som kan göras för att förebygga det. För att kunna undersöka detta har en enkätundersökning gjorts inom olika organisationer. Resultatet från enkäten har sedan analyserats och jämförts med tidigare forskning och teorier. Uppsatsens resultat visar att 21,1 % av respondenterna i vår undersökning känner att e-post är en bidragande faktor till stress. I analysdelen har vi tagit fram en tabell som visar att de som inte har tillräckligt med tid spenderar 2 timmar och 11 minuter per dag medan de som har tillräckligt med tid spenderar 1 timme och 47 minuter. Analysdelen presenterar också vad det är som kan utlösa e-poststress samt hur det kan förebyggas utifrån vår undersökning. I slutet av uppsatsen dras slutsatser utifrån vårt resultat och vår analys samt en diskussion över hur studien har gått.</p> / <p>E-mail has become a useful and almost indispensible communication tool for people at workplaces and in their private life. This thesis intends to examine how e-mail affects individuals work. It also refers to examine what kind of factors that can contribute to e-mail stress and how you can help prevent it. We have made a questionnaire study to help us investigate this in different organizations. We have then analyzed the data from the survey and compared it to previous studies and theories. We show in this thesis result that 21.1 % of the respondents find e-mail to be a contributing factor for stress. We present in this chapter a table where you can see that the ones who does not have enough time for email spend 2 hours and 11 minutes with email while the ones who do have enough time only spend 1 hour and 47 minutes. We also present what the cause might be and how it can be avoided with data from our survey. In the end of the thesis we draw a conclusion from our result and analysis as well as a discussion of how the study went.</p>

Samhället vi lever i idag är stark betonat av konsumtion. (Svensson, 2015) Genom konsumtion uttrycker man sin identitet och image. (Bengtsson &amp; Östberg, 2011) Inte minst när det gäller klädkonsumtion. Den massiva konsumtionen av kläder har lett till negativa effekter, inte bara på miljön utan också hos människorna som gör denna konsumtion möjlig; nämligen textilarbetarna. (Klein, 2000) I en tid då fokus ligger på att värna om miljön faller dessa arbetares livsöden i skymundan. Aftonbladet har sänt ett program under namnet Sweatshop för att återigen belysa problemet. Med hjälp av programmet vill de väcka frågan angående etiska arbetsförhållanden för textilarbetare bland människor – främst ungdomar. Syftet med studien ämnar undersöka hur ungdomar tar till sig meddelandet om etiska arbetsförhållanden i form av mediekanalen Sweatshop. Studien stärks av teorier som berör bland annat kommunikationsteori, hantering av information och retorik. Undersökningen har genomförts med hjälp av fyra stycken fokusgrupper med deltagare i åldrarna 16–19 år. Fokusgrupperna syftade till att ta reda på ungdomars generella inställning till mode och textilbranschen före och efter att de sett programmet Sweatshop, samt deras tankar om programmet som förmedlare av budskapet. Slutsatsen av studien är att Sweatshop som program är ett bra sätt att förmedla budskapet på och det gav ungdomarna en bättre förståelse för arbetsförhållandena i tredje världen. Problemen som dök upp var dock att programmet inte verkar komma fram till ungdomarna och att de flesta av dem kände att de inte kan göra någonting åt problemet. / Today’s society has a strong emphasis on consumption. We express our identity and image through consumption, especially when it comes to our clothes. The massive consumption of clothing has affected not only the environment but also the people that make this consumption possible; the textile workers. In a time when the focus seems to lie on protecting the environment, the lives of these textile workers are sidelined. Aftonbladet broadcasted a web-based series called Sweatshop to shed some light on this problem. By broadcasting the series, they want to raise the awareness about ethical working conditions for textile workers among people in general and young people in particular. This study aims to examine how young people embrace the message of ethical working conditions in the form of Sweatshop. The study is strengthened by theories that concern communication theory, information management and rhetoric. The analysis was conducted by four focus groups with participants in ages from 16-19. The aim of the focus groups was to find out young people's general attitude toward fashion and the textile industry. A discussion took place before and after they watched Sweatshop and the study examined their thoughts on the series as a mediator of the message. The conclusion of the study is that Sweatshop is a great way to convey the message. It gave the young people a better understanding of the working conditions in factories in Third World countries. However, some problems with the series occurred. The series did not seem to have reached the young people. Most of the participants felt as if there was nothing they could do about the problem after watching the series.

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Le résumé en français n'a pas été communiqué par l'auteur. / This paper studies firms’ disclosure decisions of product information in a duopoly setting, as well as the welfare implication of compulsory disclosure policy. I show that there is a problem of externality between the two firms: even if disclosure weakens price competition in the market and increases total industry profits, a firm could have incentive not to disclose product information because it decreases his market share. As a result, regulatory policy could increase total industry profits as it could rectify the problem of externality. Therefore, despite more information allows consumers to make a better choice between different alternatives, it might backfire as it could increase the average price in the market. I also present simple conditions on when providing more information could harm consumers, and when it will improve consumer welfare. This paper studies the information processing behavior of a decision maker (DM) who has limited information processing ability. More specifically, the DM can process only a subset of all available information. Before taking an action, he chooses whether to process or ignore signals about the state of the world which he receives sequentially. I show that at the optimum, the DM processes only signals which are strong enough, but will process a weaker signal if it confirms his existing strong belief or if it supports a much more desirable state of the world. This explains some phenomena which have been well documented in the psychology literature, such as preference for strong signals, confirmation bias for individuals with strong prior and wishful thinking. Moreover, I analyze how the Internet, and in general changes in information structures, affects the processing behavior of the DM. The results shed light on different issues in the information era, including polarization and media strategy. This paper studies experimentally whether confirmation bias arises when individuals are exposed to information overload, or equivalently have limited ability to perfectly update their belief with all available information. In our experiment, subjects have to form beliefs as they navigate a sequence of signals within a limited period of time. We compare belief formation under two settings, where the treatment setting imposes a larger information/cognitive load than the control setting. We find that subjects in the treatment setting exhibit a stronger confirmation bias than those in the control setting. Upon receiving a belief-challenging signal, subjects in the treatment group update their belief less than those in the control group. In contrast, upon receiving a belief-confirming signal, subjects update similarly in both settings. As a result, subjects in the treatment setting are also less likely to switch sides: once they believe that one state is more probable than another, they are less likely to switch even if they receive enough belief-challenging signals. Not only do these results show that the limited ability of information processing plays a role in the formation of confirmation bias, they also improve our understanding on the impact of information overload, for example on polarization.

This thesis reveals the potential pitfalls of relying on the Internet to communicate serious environmental issues. This exploratory research examines the consequences of aspects of the information society focusing on the effects of the Internet upon three reactions to climate communication: public understanding, perception of risk and support for climate change mitigation. It examines the implications of the rise of the information society on young people’s (18-25 year olds) consumption of media and climate science information. The information society literature emerged before the Internet, but predicted the increasing access to information that has arisen in the past two decades and its significant impacts on society and communication. An analytical framework is developed focusing on the sharing of information and the consequences of both misleading information and competition for the user’s attention. To explore the impact of the Internet upon public perception of risks posed by and their understanding of climate change, this research uses a mixed methodological approach. The qualitative approach of focus groups has been selected to establish how young people use the Internet and whether they share and actively engage with climate change information online. A quantitative approach of the experimental method has critically examined the impact of junk information (climate sceptic material) and information overload (competition for users’ attention) on reactions to climate science. The original contribution to knowledge of this thesis was the key finding that the lack of engagement with climate science online poses a more serious issue than the risk of climate sceptic information being virally shared. Simply having the information accessible is not enough when there is so much competition for users’ attention and the ease with which they can filter out climate change information.

The proliferation of online communities on the Internet nowadays may lead people to the conclusion that the development of custom-made communities for particular purpose is straightforward. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Although software providing basic community infrastructure is readily available, it is not enough to ensure that the online community will take off and become sustained. Most online communities suffer from the scarcity of the user participation in their initial phase. To address the problem, this thesis proposes a motivational mechanism to encourage user participation. The main idea is to introduce a set of hierarchical memberships into online communities and reward active users with better quality of services. The mechanism has been applied in a small-scale online community called Comtella and evaluated. The results showed that, although the mechanism was able to motivate users to participate more actively and make more contributions, it led to a deteriorating quality of user contributions, catalyzed information overload in the community and resulted in a decrease in user participation towards the end of the study. <p> Therefore, to regulate the quality and the quantity of user contributions and ensure a sustainable level of user participation in the online community, the proposed mechanism was improved so that it was able to adapt the rewards for particular forms of participation for individual users depending on their reputation and the current need of the community, thereby influencing their actions of contributing. The improved mechanism was also implemented and evaluated in the Comtella system. The results of evaluation showed that the mechanism can guarantee stable and active user participation and lower the level of information overload in the online community and therefore it can enhance the sustainability of the community.