Internationally, as well as locally, the trend is for companies to use call centres as their preferred method of service delivery. The increase in the use of call centres as a service delivery mechanism thus provides many more employment opportunities. Within call centres, service is primarily delivered by frontline employees referred to as customer service representatives (CSRs). While nothing seems to stop the growth of call centres and the increase of employment opportunities within them, working in call centres is not necessarily experienced as pleasant. Working in a call centre is frequently seen as stressful and the work in such a centre can foster burnout. Burnout is considered to be a pathogenic construct. The first purpose of this study was to describe and investigate the contribution of six central characteristics (antecedents) of call centre work environments and their influence on burnout, affective commitment and turnover intentions. These characteristics were work overload; electronic performance monitoring; lack of career and promotion opportunities, lack of skill variety and emotional labour. An incidental sample of customer service representatives (N=146) was obtained from the inbound service call centre of a large financial company. AU six independent variables were found to be significantly related to the experience of burnout, affective commitment and turnover intentions. Multiple regression analysis made it possible to establish that work overload, lack of career and promotion opportunities and skill variety, and emotional labour were the most important predictors of burnout, whereas lack of career and promotion opportunities was the most significant predictors of both affective commitment and turnover intentions. Burnout had a direct effect on turnover intentions and was not mediated by affective commitment. One antecedent that is often associated with the development of burnout is daily hassles, but daily hassles as an antecedent of burnout in call centres has not been studied before. The second purpose of this study was to develop a short Call Centre Daily Hassle Diagnostic Questionnaire that could be used to identify the most common daily hassles that call centre agents experience in their working lives, both within the work environment and within their day-to-day personal lives, and to determine the relationship between it and burnout. A cross-sectional survey research design was used with an accidental sample (N=394) taken from a service and sales call centre. An exploratory factor analysis of the data resulted in a six-factor model of daily hassles within call centres that significantly predicted exhaustion. The factors were daily demands, continuous change, co-worker hassles, demotivating work environment, transportation hassles and inner concerns. In the third part of this research thesis there is a shift away from the pathogenic paradigm towards a more salutogenic/fortigenic paradigm. Very little previous research has been done on adult resilience. The purpose of the third study was to explore the concept of adult resilience and to identify and describe the protective and vulnerability factors that play a role in adult resilience. Through the use of an exploratory factor analysis, eight factors were identified that played a role in adult resilience. They were Confidence and Optimism, Positive Reinterpretation, Facing Adversity, Support, Determination, Negative Rumination, Religion and Helplessness. Based on the findings of this research, some practical recommendations were made for the management of call centres to reduce the development of burnout and turnover intentions, on how to utilise the Hassle-based Diagnostic Scale and on how to apply the Adult Resilience Indicator in the training and development of resilience. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology) )--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Internationally, as well as locally, the trend is for companies to use call centres as their preferred method of service delivery. The increase in the use of call centres as a service delivery mechanism thus provides many more employment opportunities. Within call centres, service is primarily delivered by frontline employees referred to as customer service representatives (CSRs). While nothing seems to stop the growth of call centres and the increase of employment opportunities within them, working in call centres is not necessarily experienced as pleasant. Working in a call centre is frequently seen as stressful and the work in such a centre can foster burnout. Burnout is considered to be a pathogenic construct. The first purpose of this study was to describe and investigate the contribution of six central characteristics (antecedents) of call centre work environments and their influence on burnout, affective commitment and turnover intentions. These characteristics were work overload; electronic performance monitoring; lack of career and promotion opportunities, lack of skill variety and emotional labour. An incidental sample of customer service representatives (N=146) was obtained from the inbound service call centre of a large financial company. AU six independent variables were found to be significantly related to the experience of burnout, affective commitment and turnover intentions. Multiple regression analysis made it possible to establish that work overload, lack of career and promotion opportunities and skill variety, and emotional labour were the most important predictors of burnout, whereas lack of career and promotion opportunities was the most significant predictors of both affective commitment and turnover intentions. Burnout had a direct effect on turnover intentions and was not mediated by affective commitment. One antecedent that is often associated with the development of burnout is daily hassles, but daily hassles as an antecedent of burnout in call centres has not been studied before. The second purpose of this study was to develop a short Call Centre Daily Hassle Diagnostic Questionnaire that could be used to identify the most common daily hassles that call centre agents experience in their working lives, both within the work environment and within their day-to-day personal lives, and to determine the relationship between it and burnout. A cross-sectional survey research design was used with an accidental sample (N=394) taken from a service and sales call centre. An exploratory factor analysis of the data resulted in a six-factor model of daily hassles within call centres that significantly predicted exhaustion. The factors were daily demands, continuous change, co-worker hassles, demotivating work environment, transportation hassles and inner concerns. In the third part of this research thesis there is a shift away from the pathogenic paradigm towards a more salutogenic/fortigenic paradigm. Very little previous research has been done on adult resilience. The purpose of the third study was to explore the concept of adult resilience and to identify and describe the protective and vulnerability factors that play a role in adult resilience. Through the use of an exploratory factor analysis, eight factors were identified that played a role in adult resilience. They were Confidence and Optimism, Positive Reinterpretation, Facing Adversity, Support, Determination, Negative Rumination, Religion and Helplessness. Based on the findings of this research, some practical recommendations were made for the management of call centres to reduce the development of burnout and turnover intentions, on how to utilise the Hassle-based Diagnostic Scale and on how to apply the Adult Resilience Indicator in the training and development of resilience. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology) )--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Abstract A housing society’s annual report is referred as the main document in which buyers can obtain information about the housing society’s financial position. However, previous research shows that households find it difficult to understand the financial information in an annual report.  In addition, the investigation on strengthened consumer protection in the cooperative flat market (SOU 2017:31) shows that buyer’s in Sweden have insufficient ability to understand the risks combined with a tenant-owner acquisition, which could have far-reaching consequences. One reason why households do not understand the annual report can be that the report does not contain sufficient descriptive information, which can demonstrate a prevailing information gap between the producer of information and its receivers. The purpose of this study is to create an adjusted annual report based on information from interviews with interest organizations for housing societies, and then examine whether a buyer’s financial understanding can be increased based on the expanded information in the adjusted management report.  In this study, qualitative interviews with individuals at different interest organizations to housing societies have been conducted, which has resulted in relevant information being added in a housing society’s management report, hoping to make the annual report more understandable. The adjusted annual report has then been tested in a quasi-experiment. In the experiment, participants in an experimental group received the adjusted annual report while participants in a control group received the original un-adjusted annual report. The participants in respective group then responded to questions about which extent they considered to understand the information in specific annual report. The results for each group have then been analyzed to measure and compare the understanding between both groups to see if there is a connection between extended information and increased understanding in an annual report. The result of the completed experiment showed that the average understanding of the annual report’s content was 81 percent higher in the experimental group compared to the control group. The conclusion is, therefore, that there is a connection between expanded information and increased understanding of the information in the adjusted annual report for the participants in the experiment. / Sammanfattning En bostadsrättsförenings årsredovisning ses som det huvudsakliga dokument där bostadsrättsköpare kan erhålla information om föreningens finansiella ställning. Ändå uppvisar tidigare forskning att hushåll har svårt att förstå den finansiella informationen i en årsredovisning. Dessutom påvisar utredningen om stärkt konsumentskydd på bostadsrättsmarknaden (SOU 2017:31) att bostadsrättsköpare i Sverige har en bristande förmåga att förstå de risker som ett bostadsrättsförvärv medför, något som kan få långt gående konsekvenser. En av anledningarna till att hushåll inte förstår årsredovisningen kan vara att rapporten inte innehåller tillräckligt med beskrivande information, vilket kan påvisa ett rådande informationsgap mellan utgivaren av information och användaren. Syftet med studien är att skapa en justerad årsredovisning utifrån information som intervjuer med individer hos bostadsrättsmarknadens intresseorganisationer genererat, för att sedan pröva om det går att öka en bostadsrättsköpares finansiella förståelse utifrån den utökade informationen i den justerade förvaltningsberättelsen. I denna studie har kvalitativa intervjuer genomförts med individer hos intresseorganisationer till bostadsrättsföreningar vilket har resulterat i att relevant information utökats i bostadsrättsförenings förvaltningsberättelse i hopp om att göra årsredovisningen mer förståelig. Den justerade årsredovisningen har därefter prövats i ett kvasi-experiment. I experimentet fick deltagarna i en experimentgrupp ta del av den justerade årsredovisningen medan kontrollgruppen fick ta del av den ojusterade årsredovisningen. Därefter svarade deltagarna på frågor om i vilken grad de ansåg sig förstå informationen i specifik årsredovisning. Resultatet för respektive grupp har sedan analyserats för att mäta och jämföra förståelsen mellan de båda grupperna för att se om det finns ett samband mellan utökad information och ökad förståelse i en årsredovisning. Resultatet av det genomförda experimentet visade att den genomsnittliga förståelsen av årsredovisningens innehåll var 81 procent högre hos experimentgruppen jämfört med kontrollgruppen. Slutsatsen är därmed att det finns ett samband mellan utökad information och ökad förståelse av informationen i den justerade årsredovisningen för experimentets deltagare.

The first chapter defines the liquidity and determines the cost forming the illiquidity discount. The second chapter assesses the various methods and studies relating to estimation of the discount for lack of marketability for minority interests within the U.S. markets. The third chapter identifies the effects of factors that influence the discount in the in the Czech Republic differently from the U.S. markets. The fourth chapter focuses on factors affecting the level of the discount within převiously observed range and determines the basic method for calculating the discount for lack of marketability for minority interest in the Czech Republic. The fifth chapter deals with the possibility of converting the discount for lack of marketability into risk premium in the CAPM model. The last chapter focuses on determination of the discount for lack of marketability for majority interests.

This thesis adresses the topic to discounts on minority shareholder level for lack of control and marketability. Separate chapter give a comprehensive view of their application and also discusses the problems of private companies.

The thesis analyses causes of the lack of medical workers providing nursing care in inpatient facilities and observes in broader connections the progress of present staff condition. By means of managerial methods for determining number of nursing staff, it discovers, whether it is possible to define the number of nurses in inpatient medical facilities as insufficient, or whether the present number of nurses is critical with its origin in lack of other nursing employees. This thesis is supposed to show that the lack of nurses is not only a problem in the last few years, but it has been here since the beginning of the 20th century and it has been connected with all social events to present days. Starting point of the evaluation of the situation will be a brief historical excursus with a brief analysis of professional, legislative and social impacts which influenced the number of nursing employees in the past and their consequences up to now. It studies the methods of determining, attracting and hiring the nursing emplyees. The theoretical part will state and analyse determination of necessary nursing employees for inpatient wards according to managerial viewpoint. After 1989, there was an attempt to change the planned health care system by implementing modern namagerial activities. In the end, the...

Recently digital transformation has become imperative that organizations must embrace to cope with today’s digital world’s new demands. Previous research has been investigating the opportunities provided by digital transformation but still, there is a gap when it comes to digital transformation challenges. This thesis addresses the main challenges faced by restaurants during their digital transformation journey. A qualitative research method with semi-structured interviews has been used to investigate digital transformation challenges in the restaurant industry in the following countries: Sweden, Sri Lanka, Australia, and Korea. Our findings show that restaurants mostly face a lack of resources, culture change, and lack of knowledge. This study has a double contribution. On the one hand, this thesis provides practitioners with the main challenges restaurants face during their digital transformation journey, on the other hand, this study provides literature to fill the gap that exists in digital transformation challenges.

This study explores possible contributing factors to why some people don’t engage in playing digital games. The purpose of this paper is to gain a deeper understanding of why they don’t participate in this activity. The objective was to examine the social aspect, the time facet and the technical requirement of mastery as hindering barriers. A strategic selection of eight participants was made in Stockholm between October 2015 and November 2015. Focus group discussion was chosen for its potential to get a rich data set and to get answers to questions that the respondents had no way to prepare answers to. Three follow-up individual interviews were carried out a few weeks later to get access to a more personal and insightful material. The focus group discussion lasted two hours and the individual interviews for approximately 30–60 minutes; and painstaking transcriptions began the day after the focus group conversation had taken place, and after each and every interview had been conducted. The empirical thematic analysis resulted in four themes that show that many different factors may interact and result in peoples disinterest in playing digital games. Communications limitations in various forms have an impact, as well as the social sphere, and that many games provide an insufficient feeling that reflects the physical reality. Gaming is also perceived as unhealthy, and a waste of time if it does not occur within a limited frame. The meaning of performance in this context, as well as negative feelings about failures and the time that must be devoted to be able to master gaming is also hampering the motivational efforts to play. And when the respondents state that they do not have time to play digital games, this can be considered synonymous with the view that a different activity, they could devote themselves to instead, is more meaningful in their life-world. / Denna studie utforskar vilka tänkbara faktorer som bidrar till att en del människor inte spelar digitala spel. Syftet med uppsatsen är att få en djupare förståelse för varför icke-spelare väljer bort denna aktivitet. Målet var att undersöka den sociala aspekten, tidsaspekten och tekniken som hindrande barriärer. Ett strategiskt urval av åtta deltagare gjordes i Stockholm mellan oktober 2015 och november 2015. Intervjuer baserades på semistrukturerade frågor. Fokusgruppssamtal valdes som metod för fem av respondenterna i samband med pilotstudien som ligger till grund för denna studie. Fokusgruppssamtalet valdes för att få ett rikt datamaterial och få svar på frågor som respondenterna inte på förhand getts möjlighet att tänka ut svaren på. Tre uppföljande enskilda intervjuer genomfördes några veckor senare för att få tillgång till ett mer personligt och djupgående material. Fokusgruppssamtalet varade i två timmar och de enskilda intervjuerna i cirka 30–60 minuter; och omsorgsfulla transkriberingar påbörjades dagen efter fokusgruppssamtalet samt varje intervju hade genomförts. Den empiriska tematiska analysen resulterade i fyra teman som visar att många olika faktorer kan samspela och resultera i att vissa individer inte intresserar sig för att spela digitala spel. Kommunikationsbegränsningar i olika former påverkar, liksom den sociala umgängeskretsen och att många spel ger en otillräcklig känsla av att avspegla den fysiska verkligheten. Spelandet uppfattas också som osunt och som slöseri med tid om det inte sker inom begränsade ramar. Prestationens betydelse i sammanhanget, liksom negativa känslor inför misslyckanden och den tid som måste ägnas åt att lära sig behärska spelandet fungerade också hämmande för motivationen att spela. Och när respondenterna uppger att de inte har tid att spela digitala spel så kan detta anses vara synonymt med att de anser att en annan aktivitet, som de skulle kunna ägna sig åt istället, är mer meningsfull i deras livsvärld. / <p>Den här studien placeras inom ramen för spelstudier.</p>

This study examines the factors appear to lead to the failure of small businesses in the Kagiso Township. The high failure rate can be partially attributed to the lack of support that the small, medium and micro-enterprises (SMMEs) receive from support institutions as well as to their own internal weaknesses. Strategies are recommended that will help small businesses be more successful. The study was exploratory, descriptive and qualitative in nature. Semi-structured interviews were used to gather data. Results indicated that the most common causes of business failure were lack of knowledge regarding legal matters, lack of funding and a general lack of business acumen. The study recommends that government should improve the effectiveness of its support mechanisms and that record keeping and cash flow management training is critical for SMEs. These recommendations, if applied properly, will ensure small businesses' success in Kagiso and the rest of South Africa. / Economics / M.Tech. (Business Administration)

Under de senaste åren har det skett en ekonomisk tillväxt vilket bidragit till att människan konsumerar mer än någonsin. Den ökade konsumtionen har en negativ påverkan på miljön där exempelvis livsmedelsbranschen står för ungefärliga 44-57 procent av de totala växthusutsläppen. Då överkonsumtionen har en negativ påverkan på världen har det blivit allt viktigare att konsumenter blir medvetna om deras konsumtion och dess påverkan på miljön. Forskare menar att konsumenter bör ta till sig ett mer miljöanpassat konsumentbeteende där ett alternativ är att börja konsumera ekologiskt. Tidigare forskare har identifierat att det finns ett attitydgap hos konsumenter gällande ekologisk konsumtion. Attitydgapet innebär att konsumenter uppger sig ha en positiv attityd gentemot att konsumera ekologiska produkter men när de väl ska konsumera väljer de i flesta fall att konsumera konventionella produkter. Varför detta attitydgap existerar har blivit diskuterat av ett flertal forskare. Ett flertal faktorer har blivit identifierade och en gemensam faktor som ett flertal forskare identifierat är informationsbrist (kunskapsbrist). Studier visar att konsumenter möjligtvis inte besitter den kunskap som är nödvändig för att få dem att välja att konsumera ekologiska produkter. En anledning till varför dem möjligtvis inte besitter denna kunskap är då informationen angående innebörden av att konsumera ekologiskt är bristfällig samt att den information som företag använder inte är effektiv. Vår studie har studerat vilken kunskap konsumenter faktiskt besitter gällande KRAVmärkta livsmedelsprodukter, vilket är Sveriges största ekologiskt certifierade märke. Vidare har vår studie studerat om konsumenterna uppfattar att det finns en informationsbrist gällande innebörden av att konsumera KRAV samt vilken sorts information som är mest effektiv för livsmedelsföretagen att använda i deras marknadskommunikation. Studiens resultat visar att respondenterna besitter en relativt låg kunskap gällande KRAV och dess innebörd. Majoriteten av respondenterna uppger korrekta svar i enkätfrågorna men samtidigt uppvisar dem att de flesta känner en stor osäkerhet på om deras angivna svar varit korrekt eller inte. Detta resulterar i att vi författare tolkar att dessa respondenter har en måttlig kunskapsbrist då de inte är säkra på att deras svar varit korrekta. Vidare visar resultatet av vår studie att respondenterna uppfattar att företag kommunicerar innebörden av att konsumera KRAV-märkta livsmedelsprodukter i låg grad. Ytterligare visar studien att den mest effektiva metoden företag inom livsmedelsbranschen bör använda i dess kommunikation av KRAV-märkta livsmedelsprodukter är negativ information. Negativ information innebär att företag använder information i dess marknadskommunikation som triggar konsumenternas negativa känslor. Resultatet av studien visar även att den negativa informationen endast är effektiv att använda om den är ”moderat”, det vill säga måttlig. Om information är extrem visar resultatet att den inte är effektiv att använda för att kommunicera KRAVmärkta livsmedelsprodukter.