Enterprise Information Portals (EIPs) have become crucial components in contemporary organisations, including universities. Campus portals (CPs) have found their way into the academic environment and universities are increasingly implementing these technologies. While there are many studies concerning EIPs in organisations, there are few studies that touch this issue in the academic environment. This study investigates factors affecting the adoption, implementation and utilisation of CPs from the implementers’ and users’ perspectives. It adopts a comparative approach based on multiple case studies in some Saudi and UK universities. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and documentation, which was analysed using hermeneutics and other qualitative data analysis techniques. Findings show that adoption and implementation of CPs are affected by factors including: technological, organisational, environmental, financial, innovation and user-related factors. Results from the users perspective reveal that although CPs are perceived to be useful in terms of accessing information and services, there are many concerns related to system, content and service quality. Moreover, the study has identified two main gaps between users and the implementers: a communication gap and an expectations gap. Consequently, users complained about a lack of user involvement and poor communication. Findings are interpreted using elements from institutional theory. Development of CPs is affected by many institutional factors such as coercive, mimetic, normative and competitive pressures. Furthermore, the introduction of CPs could lead to a clash of institutional logics among various stakeholders. Institutional arguments are likely to arise between portal teams and other campus constituents such as service providers and users. This study has three major contributions. First, it used institutional theory to investigate CPs adoption and implementation. As a result, it extends the line of research on the use of this theory to study IS in organisations. Second, it responds to calls from other IS researchers to study portals by conducting in-depth field investigation using qualitative research. Third, it addresses issues related to the development of bilingual portals in universities.

Sammanfattning 4FE17E Examensarbete Redovisning 30hp, Civilekonomprogrammet, Ekonomihögskolan vid Linnéuniversitetet, VT 2016 Författare: Julia Kindvall & Frida Nilsson Handledare: Biträdande professor Timurs Umans Examinator: Docent Anna Stafsudd Titel: Employer branding – en uppsats om revisionsbyråers attraktionskraft mot generation Y. Bakgrund: Revisionspliktens avskaffande har medfört en högre konkurrens på marknaden för revisionsbyråer. Revisionsbyråerna måste därför hitta ett sätt att särskilja sig för att kunna attrahera de mest kompetenta medarbetarna. Generation Y är en ny generation på väg in på arbetsmarknaden, därför behöver revisionsbyråer vara medvetna om hur de ska använda sitt employer brand. Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att förklara hur revisionsbyråernas externa och interna employer branding påverkar redovisningsstudenters samt revisorsassistenters, från generation Y, sannolikhet att ansöka samt stanna kvar. Metod: Underlaget till enkäterna samlades in genom en förstudie om hur revisionsbyråernas employer branding ser ut, genom intervjuer och mejlkonversationer med Big Four. För att mäta sannolikhet att ansöka samt stanna kvar utformades enkäter till redovisningsstudenter och revisorsassistenter. Uppsatsen tillämpar en kvantitativ metod och en deduktiv ansats. Slutsats: Uppsatsens resultat påvisar att det inte råder något samband mellan sannolikheten att ansöka samt stanna kvar, gentemot påverkan av revisionsbyråers employer branding, när det gäller aspekterna professionalitet, framgång eller etiska värderingar. Däremot påverkar inställning deras sannolikhet att ansöka samt stanna kvar. / Abstract School of Business and Economics at Linnaeus University Växjö, 4FE17E Master Thesis in Accounting 30 ECTS, Spring term 2016 Authors: Julia Kindvall & Frida Nilsson Supervisor: Postdoctoral Researcher Timurs Umans Examiner: Associate Professor Anna Stafsudd Title: Employer branding – A thesis about audit firms attractiveness against generation Y. Background: The Audit requirement abolished has resulted in higher competition in the market for audit firms. This means that they must find a way to differentiate themselves to attract the most competent employees. Since it is a new generation entering the labor market, accounting firms needs to be aware of how they use their employer brand. Purpose: The purpose in this paper is to explain how the audit firms external and internal employer branding affects the accounting students and auditor assistants, from generation Y, likelihood to apply and stay. Method: To gather data for the surveys a feasibility study was conducted on how the audit firms employer branding works through interviews and email conversations with the Big Four. To measure likelihood to apply and stay we designed questionnaires to accounting students and auditor assistants. The thesis applies a quantitative method and a deductive approach. Conclusion: The results of the thesis demonstrate that there is no correlation between the likelihood to apply and stay, and the influence of audit firms employer branding, when it comes to aspects of professionalism, success or ethical values. However, attitude affects their likelihood to apply and stay

Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att beskriva och analysera hur kommunala energibolag resonerar vid val av avskrivningsmetod samt hur kommunala energibolag har förberett sig inför införandet och hur de förhåller sig till implementeringen av komponentavskrivningar. Teorier: De teorier som använts i uppsatsen finner vi vara relevanta och applicerbara utifrån studiens syfte och frågeställningar. Vi har bl.a. använt oss av Burns & Scapens ramverk som ingår i den institutionella teorin, vilket är den teori som studien utgått ifrån. Metod: Studien utgår ifrån den kvalitativa ansatsen med hjälp av semi-strukturerade intervjuer och dokumentgranskning. Empiri: Empirin innefattar intervjuer med 5 kommunala energibolag inkluderande granskning av relevant dokumentation. Slutsatser: Studien har visat att de kommunala energibolagen upplever avskrivningsval som en svårbedömd process som präglas av en inre tröghet på grund av påverkande faktorer och inrotade regler och rutiner. I och med tolkningen och införandet av BFNs regelverk avseende komponentavskrivningar har ett internt motstånd byggts upp på grund av svåra och godtyckliga bedömningar. Detta har bidragit till en spretighet, vilket har påkallat behovet av tydligare rekommendationer och direktiv. Trots det något haltande implementeringsarbetet, ställer sig alla respondenterna positiva till införandet och kan se ett värde i det även om det initialt innebär ett merarbete. / Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze how municipal energy companies reason in the choice of depreciation method and how municipal energy companies has prepared for the introduction and implementation of component depreciation. Theory: The theories used in this study, we find to be relevant and applicable to the specific research purpose and research questions. We have among other things, used the Burns & Scapens Framework that is part of the institutional theory, which is the theory that the study assumed. Method: The study is based on the qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews and document review. Empirics: The empirical data includes interviews with five municipal energy companies including review of relevant documentation. Conclusions: The study has shown that municipal energy companies are experiencing depreciation choice as a process that is difficult to estimate, and is characterized by inertia due to influencing factors and ingrained rules and routines. With the interpretation and implementation of BFNs regulation relating to component depreciation has an internal resistance due to difficult and arbitrary assessments, been built up. That has contributed to a wide range of estimations, which has demand the need for clearer recommendations and directives. Despite the halting implementation work, all respondents welcomed the introduction and can see a value in it even if it initially involves extra work.

ABSTRACT Leadership consultants bring specialized knowledge into their clients' organizations. Advisor leadership consultants (ALC) trained as psychotherapists apply concepts from human behavior theories as advisors to business leaders. They also bring service-oriented professional norms and values of objectivity, neutrality, and lack of self-interest. Their business clients in the market sector operate according to norms and values of pragmatism, financial self-interest, and advocacy. In order to establish credibility in the organizational field of business clients, leadership consultants must negotiate between these different value systems. This study is a grounded theory inquiry using narrative analysis tools to study how ALCs navigate across the boundaries of psychotherapy practice and consultation in the corporate setting. How do they describe their practice choices as well as the principles and theoretical framework underlying those choices? In-depth interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of 10 leadership consultants credentialed and experienced as psychotherapists. A snowball method of participant recruitment from my social and professional network yielded a group of 10 ALCs aged 50 to 86. Each of these ALCs entered their careers with a predisposition for business from their families. They each experienced significant loss in early life and followed divergent educational and career pathways. They have built their leadership consulting practices accepting business practices to gain access to clients while incorporating important relationship principles. As institutional entrepreneurs, they managed conflict with values in both the service and the marketplace sectors through innovative therapy, consulting and business practices.

This research seeks to connect the philosophical focus of the agency-structure debate with the practice of management through a comparative study of organisational decision-making in situations involving stakeholder consultation. Set in the context of decision-making following an airport master plan consultation, the study considers how the stakeholder framework can be integrated within institutional theory using institutional logics as a theoretical link between these two literatures. This thesis, which adopts a critical realist perspective, takes a comparative case approach of four airports, each owned in different ways. Interviews with airport managers are supplemented by discussions with stakeholders and industry experts. Two sets of a priori themes were identified from the literature. The first focuses on the institutional logics prevailing in the field and their influence on managers as they make decisions. The second considers four decision-making strategies managers might employ in this situation. Findings centre on the causal powers acting upon airport managers as they make their decisions. Whilst normative isomorphic pressure enables stakeholder consultation, the coercive pressure on the decision-making process deriving from English planning law, the adversarial and oscillating nature of Central Government policy, and a mimetic response to the nature of local authority development plans constrain the actions of airport managers. Indeed, the current bureaucratic form of capitalism limits stakeholder contribution to final master plans. This research makes four main contributions: Firstly, reflecting upon the agency-structure debate from a critical realist perspective has facilitated development of a model integrating the stakeholder framework within institutional theory. Secondly, it improves our understanding of how stakeholder contribution is managed in master planning. Thirdly, the study adds to the growing body of work that employs a critical realist perspective. Lastly, since reconciling conflicting stakeholder opinions may well be of vital importance to the future of the UK’s airport infrastructure, this work has practical significance for airport managers, government policy-makers and stakeholders as they strive to formulate worthwhile airport consultations.

The dissertation analyses changes in the role of editors-in-chief in ten leading Norwegian and Swedish media houses – today owned by either Bonnier or Schibsted – in light of the potential tensions between journalistic ideals and market demands. This duality is studied over a period of 30 years, from 1985 to 2015. The most defining changes in the structural framework under which editors-in-chief work are the ongoing technological revolution, the transformation from an analogue into a digital society, and structural, economic changes related to this development. Methodologically, the study builds on data from qualitative in-depth interviews, mainly with 33 past and present editors-in-chief. It also contains a study of how the role of editors-in-chief has been reported and discussed in the magazines of two media branch organisations. The changing role of editors-in-chief is analysed within an institutional perspective. The main empirical results are as follows: (1) Owners and company management have considered the recruitment of editors-in-chief to be highly important throughout the period, and they have used their influence actively. Internal recruitment processes are a standard procedure. Very few of those chosen are women; men recruit other men. The last decade shows a recruitment process becoming more centralized and professionalized. (2) Most editors-in-chief represented in the study have a background in the newsroom. This has traditionally been the main qualification. (3) Regular meetings have structured most of the working hours for editors-in-chief. From an institutional perspective, meetings have played a norm-setting and ritualised role. During the last decade, some of those meetings have included not only journalists but also employees from other departments. (4) Those respondents who were active during the last period investigated perceive the increased speed of work on a daily basis and the more complex editorial role as the main changes and challenges. (5) Many of the respondents are so-called ‘silent’ editors. Due to a lack of time, they do not write much in their own papers. Lately, this has changed to some extent, especially among Swedish editors. This finding is one of the major differences between Norwegian and Swedish editors-in-chief. (6) Editors are still responsible for journalistic content, but demands on the part of commercial management have gradually become more important, and strategic decisions have become more centralized. The metaphor about the need to balance the demands of the ‘Marketplace and Cathedral’ has been replaced by the metaphor ‘We are all in the same boat’. The journalistic institution is under pressure. (7) Despite the immense technological and economic changes in the business and in the structural framework, there is also stability in the role due to the robust nature of journalism as an institution. The role of editor-in-chief is complex, and during the last 30 years, it has become even more so. The structural conditions have affected the role in various ways. While the basic tasks of editors-in-chief remain rooted in editorial work, downsizing and market demands have simultaneously undermined the autonomy and power of editors-in-chief, especially in relation to central media group management.

Antalet företag som använder någon form av molnbaserade affärssystem växer ständigt och molnbaserade tjänster innebär ofta stora ekonomiska fördelar kontra ett traditionellt affärssystem, i och med att det dramatiskt minskar kostnader i form av stora investeringar såsom hårdvara och infrastruktur. Molnbaserade system är dock inte utan kontroverser med, i media, välrapporterade attacker som skett de senaste åren där stora företag som Apple, Target, Home Depot, Sony och det amerikanska skatteverkets (IRS) molnbaserade system varit måltavlor. Därför har vi i den här interpretativa fallstudien valt att undersöka vad som påverkat en organisations beslut av övergå till en molnbaserad infrastruktur, trots de risker som förknippas med detta. Fallstudien är utförd hos PostNord, som i skrivande stund är i fas att övergå till en molnbaserad infrastruktur och vi har undersökt vilka fördelar hos en molnbaserad infrastruktur som är de viktigaste för PostNord, varför just dessa fördelar är viktiga och vilka risker som tagits i beaktande kring en molnbaserad infrastruktur inför beslutet. Vi har undersökt vad som ligger till grund för beslutet, med en risk-belöningdiskussion, och med hjälp av institutionell organisationsteori dragit slutsatser kring de bakomliggande beslutsprocesserna som påverkat beslutet. Syftet med arbetet har därmed varit att med hjälp av en kvalitativ fallstudie och datainsamling (via halvstrukturerade, kvalitativa intervjuer), och genom att tematiskt analysera det empiriska materialet, fastställa vilka faktorer som varit betydande inför övergången till en molnbaserad infrastruktur. Efter genomförd studie har vi funnit att det som drivit beslutsprocesserna har varit att möjliggöra reduktioner av kostnader för IT, ökad flexibilitet i IT-driften, att molnleverantörer kan erbjuda bättre säkerhet och att molntjänstemarknaden har hunnit mogna varpå det är lättare för organisationer att träffa gynnsamma avtal. Vi har även funnit att det framför allt varit två styrande isomorfer som bidragit till beslutet; den normativa och den styrande isomorfen: att exekutivt ansvariga fattar beslutet att en förändring mot molnstruktur är strategiskt nödvändig, samt att marknaden ställer krav som nödvändiggör förändringen.

Syfte Syftet med den här undersökningen är studera vad som driver företagen inom banksektorn till att upprätta en hållbarhetsredovisning och vad en hållbarhetsredovisning kan tillföra till företaget. Vidare ska undersökningen granska om lagen om hållbarhetsredovisning i årsredovisningslagen som infördes juli 2016 har påverkat utformningen på hållbarhetsredovisningen för banksektorn. Metod Studien har en fallstudiedesign med två kvalitativa datainsamlingsmetoder. Undersökningen har genomförts på fem utvalda företag inom banksektorn. Insamling av data sker via telefonintervjuer med de undersökta företagen samt kvalitativa innehållsanalys på respektive företags hållbarhetsredovisningar som upprättats från år 2015 fram till år 2018. Resultat Undersökningens insamlade data visade på att företagen hållbarhetsredovisar för att det är naturligt. De främsta motiven till att upprätta en hållbarhetsredovisning är påtryckningar och förväntningar från intressenter och bibehåll av legitimitet. Att upprätta en hållbarhetsredovisning har genererat fler positiva effekter än negativa, som exempelvis intern och extern legitimitet och ett starkt rykte och varumärke. Studien har även visat att lagkravet som infördes juli 2016 gällande hållbarhetsredovisningen har inte haft någon väsentlig påverkan på utformningen av företagens hållbarhetsredovisning, utöver att vissa områden som lagen innefattar har blivit mer spetsade i hållbarhetsredovisningarna. Originalitet/värde Studien bidrar till en ökad förståelse kring vad som driver företag inom banksektorn att hållbarhetsredovisa och vad det sedan har tillfört till företagen. Den har även bidragit till att få en djupare förståelse kring lagkravet som infördes juli 2016 som en ny företeelse. Lagen är relativt ny och därav har inte mycket forskning gjorts på området kring hur lagen faktiskt påverkat företaget. / Purpose: The aim of this study is to research what motivates companies in the banking sector to establish sustainability accounting reports, and what these reports can add to a company from a business perspective. The perspective is linked to three different theories: stakeholder theory, legitimacy theory and institutional theory. Furthermore, this study will examine whether the law on sustainability accounting in annual reports, issued in July 2016, has influenced the formation of sustainability accounting reports within the banking sector.Methodology: This essay has a case study design. The research has been conducted on five selected companies within the banking sector. Two different methods of qualitative data collection were used: telephone interviews, and qualitative content analysis on reports prepared between 2015 and 2018.Result: The collected data showed that companies produce sustainability accounting reports because it is natural. The main reasons for establishing a sustainability accounting report are pressure and expectations from stakeholders and the maintenance of legitimacy. Establishing a sustainability accounting report has generated more positive effects than negative, such as internal and external legitimacy and a strong reputation and brand. The study has also shown that the legal requirement that was introduced in July 2016 regarding sustainability accounting has not made a significant impact on the formation of the companies' sustainability accounting reports, besides becoming sharper in all areas covered by the law.Originality/value: The study contributes to an increased understanding of what motivates companies within the banking sector to engage in sustainability accounting and what it has subsequently added to companies. It has also contributed to a deeper understanding of the legal requirements introduced in July 2016 as a new phenomenon. The law is relatively new and therefore much research has not been done in the area of how the legal requirements have actually affected companies.

Det blir allt vanligare för företag att publicera hållbarhetsrapporter som innehåller krav från intressenter. Tidigare studier genom denna kommunikationskanal har fokuserat på innehållet och inte på hur rapporterna konstruerar företagets hållbarhet. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur en organisation kommunicerar i sin hållbarhetsrapport för att anses legitim genom specifika diskursiva strategier. I fallstudien används diskursiva strategier som en teoretisk referensram, men även som metodisk utgångspunkt. Dessutom undersöker fallstudien datamaterial som hämtats från företag som verkar inom kläd- och flygindustrin, publikationer från tidigast 2017. Analysprocessen som används i denna uppsats är genom en diskursanalys där resultatet visar att företagen tillämpar olika diskursiva strategier som ett legitimerande verktyg genom hela sin hållbarhetsrapport. Det gör att företagen framstår som hållbara. / increasingly common for companies to produce sustainability reports containing demands from stakeholders. Previous studies through this communication channel has focused on the content and not on how constructions of the company's sustainability are made in their report. The purpose of this study is to examine how an organization communicates in its sustainability report in order to perceive as legitimate through specific discourses. The authors of this case study use discourses as a theoretical point of view which is also used as a method. This case study examines empirical material retrieved from companies operating in the apparel and aviation industry published after 2017. The analytical process used in this essay is through a discourse analysis which shows that companies apply various discourse strategies as a legitimacy device throughout their sustainability report. Companies can therefore appear sustainable as a result of gaining legitimacy. This paper is written in Swedish.

Notre objectif est de comprendre comment les acteurs qui prennent part à la gouvernance d’une méta-organisation interviennent dans l’émergence et le maintien d’un contexte institutionnel favorable à la confiance dans les relations inter-organisationnelles (RIO). Nous réalisons deux études de cas qualitatifs de clusters des industries culturelles et créatives, en France et au Canada. Pour le cas français nous pointons les difficultés relatives à la confiance et le travail postérieur de construction de nouvelles frontières, avec une conciliation entre besoins économiques et esprit de création artistique. Pour le cas canadien : un climat initial peu propice à la confiance et un travail postérieur d’institutionnalisation de l’idée que le cluster agit dans l’intérêt de toute l’industrie. Nous proposons un cadre conceptuel pour analyser les pratiques de création et maintien d’un contexte institutionnel favorable à la confiance dans les RIO, dans une perspective structurationniste (relation récursive institutions/action). Nous distinguons des dimensions du contexte et deux types de pratiques : « d’activation » (les acteurs font intentionnellement appel à des éléments institutionnels jugés pertinents vis-à-vis de la confiance par rapport à l’interaction) ; et « de structuration », (ils structurent progressivement les bases institutionnelles de la confiance pour des interactions, actuelles et futures). Nous proposons des éléments pour une « compétence liée à la confiance », comme une capacité liée au déploiement, dans une manière perçue comme authentique, de comportements liés à la confiance et jugés appropriés vis-à-vis du rôle de l’acteur dans un contexte institutionnel donné / The aim of the research is to understand how the actors involved in the governance of a meta-organization intervene in the emergence and maintenance of an institutional context favorable to trust in inter-organizational relations (IOR). Following a qualitative approach, we carried out two embedded case studies of clusters operating within the cultural and creative industries in France and Canada. Regarding the French case, we highlighted the difficulties of trust and later work by some actors aimed at adopting new boundaries that involves new sectors, which included the search for conciliation between economic needs and the spirit of artistic creation. As for the Canadian case, we highlighted the initial climate not propitious to trust and the subsequent institutionalization work of the idea that the cluster acts in the interest of the whole industry. We propose a conceptual framework to analyze the practices of creating and maintaining an institutional environment favorable to trust in IOR, within a structurational perspective (recursive relation institutions/action). We distinguish dimensions of the context, and two types of practices: of “activation” (actors intentionally call upon institutional elements considered as relevant to trust in the current interaction); and of "structuration" (actors gradually structure the institutional bases of trust for current and future interactions). In the conclusion, we propose elements for a "trust-related competence" as a capacity related to the deployment, in in a manner perceived as authentic, of behaviors related to trust and considered as appropriate regarding the role of the actor in a given institutional context