How distinct implicit and explicit motive systems differ has long been unclear. Schultheiss' (2001) information processing account of implicit motive arousal hypothesized that implicit motives respond to nonverbal stimuli to influence non-declarative measures of motivation and that explicit motives respond to verbal stimuli to influence declarative measures of motivation. Moreover, in individuals high in referential competence, i.e., with the ability to quickly translate non-verbal stimuli into a verbal representation, implicit motives are thought to respond to verbal stimuli and influence declarative measures of motivation and explicit motives are thought to respond to nonverbal stimuli and to influence non-declarative measures of motivation. The present study tested these hypotheses by assessing liking ratings as a declarative response format and an affective stroop task as a non-declarative response format using emotion words as verbal and emotional facial expressions as non-verbal stimuli. Individual power, affiliation, and achievement motive dispositions were assessed via the Picture Story Excercise for implicit motives and via questionnaires for explicit motives. Referential competence was assessed via a colour-naming/-reading task. I found that as expected explicit and implicit motives overall were not correlated across subjects. Moreover, implicit and explicit motives affected declarative and non-declarative responses for verbal and non-verbal stimuli. As predicted, however, implicit motives responded to verbal stimuli and influenced declarative responses more strongly for individuals high compared to those low in referential competence. Likewise, explicit motive effects were moderated by referential competence in some - but not all - of the predicted conditions. These results show that implicit and explicit motives can influence declarative and non-declarative responses to verbal and non-verbal stimuli. They support the hypothesis that referential processing is needed for implicit motives to respond to verbal stimuli and influence declarative response formats, and they partly support the hypothesis that referential processing plays a role for the influence of explicit motives. Results for explicit motives may suggest that new measures are needed to assess the referential competence to translate verbal stimuli into non-verbal representations. Overall, the findings provide support to the information processing account of implicit motive arousal by Schultheiss' (2001), suggesting that a non-verbal and non-declarative implicit motive system and a distinct verbal and declarative explicit motive system interact via referential processing, i.e., by translating information between representational formats. / Wie sich distinkte implizite und explizite Motivsysteme voneinander unterscheiden war lange unklar. Schultheiss' (2001) Informationsverarbeitungsansatz für implizite Motivanregung hat die Hypothese aufgestellt, dass implizite Motive auf nonverbale Reize reagieren um nicht-deklarative Motivationsmaße zu beeinflussen, und dass explizite Motive auf verbale Reize reagieren um deklarative Motivationsmaße zu beeinflussen. Zudem wird angenommen, dass in Individuen mit einer hohen referentiellen Kompetenz - d.h. mit der Fähigkeit nonverbale Reize schnell in eine verbale Repräsentation zu übersetzen - implizite Motive auf verbale Reize reagieren und deklarative Motivationsmaße beeinflussen, und explizite Motive auf nonverbale Reize reagieren um non-deklarative Motivationsmaße zu beeinflussen. Die aktuelle Studie hat diese Hypothesen getested indem sie Bewertungen zum individuellen Gefallen von Reizen als ein deklaratives Antwortformat und eine affektive Stroop-Aufgabe als ein nicht-deklaratives Antwortformat unter Verwendung von Emotionswörtern als verbale Reize und emotionalen Gesichtsausdrücken als nonverbalen Reizen gemessen hat. Individuelle Macht-, Anschluss-, und Leistungsmotivdispositionen wurden durch die Bildgeschichtenaufgabe für implizite Motive und durch Fragebögen für explizite Motive gemessen. Referentielle Kompetenz wurde durch eine Farb-Nennungs/-Lesen Aufgabe gemessen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass - wie erwartet - implizite und explizite Motive über Versuchspersonen hinweg nicht korreliert waren. Zudem zeigte sich insgesamt ein Einfluss von impliziten und expliziten Motiven auf deklarative und nicht-deklarative Antworten für verbale und nonverbale Reize. Wie vorhergesagt reagierten implizite Motive auf verbale Reize und beeinflussten deklarative Antworten stärker für Individuen mit einer hohen im Vergleich zu einer niedrigen referentiellen Kompetenz. Zudem wurden explizite Motiveffekte in einigen, aber nicht in allen vorhergesagten Bedingungen von referentieller Kompetenz moderiert. Diese Ergebnisse zeigen, dass implizite und explizite Motive deklarative und nicht-deklarative Antworten auf verbale und nonverbale Reize beeinflussen können. Sie unterstützen die Hypothese, dass referentielle Verarbeitung notwendig ist damit implizite Motive auf verbale Reize reagieren und deklarative Antworten beeinflussen können, und unterstützen teilweise die Hypothese, dass referentielle Verarbeitung eine Rolle für den Einfluss von expliziten Motiven spielt. Das Ergebnis für explizite Motive könnte Nahe legen, dass neue Maße notwendig sind um die referentielle Kompetenz zu messen um verbale Reize in nonverbale Repräsentationen zu übersetzen. Zusammengefasst bieten diese Befunde Unterstützung für den Informationsverarbeitungsansatz der impliziten Motivanregung von Schultheiss (2001), welcher vorschlägt, dass ein nonverbales und nicht-deklaratives implizites Motivsystem und ein distinktes verbales und deklaratives explizites Motivsystem miteinander durch referentielle Verarbeitung wechselwirken, d.h., indem Information zwischen repräsentationalen Formaten übersetzt wird.

Kandidatuppsats 15 hp, Civilekonomprogrammet, controller fördjupningen, Ekonomihögskolan vid Linnéuniversitetet i Växjö. Titel: Hållbarhet – en integrationsfråga Kurs: 2FE24E Ämne: Ämnesfördjupande arbete, ekonomistyrning Författare: Elin Jönsson, Erik Krantz, Philip Lordh Handledare: Karin Jonnergård Bakgrund: Skogsbranschen upplever idag stort tryck gällande hållbarhetsarbetet och hållbarhet ligger i fokus i dagens samhälle. För att företag ska lyckas med sitt hållbarhetsarbete krävs det en anpassning i den interna styrning och att hållbarhet involveras i företags prestationsmätning. Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att analysera och jämföra utformning, förmedling och uppföljning av mål och mått, samt undersöka vilka motiv som ligger bakom valet att arbeta med hållbarhet. Metod: Studien utgår ifrån en kvalitativ forskningsdesign och ett iterativt tillvägagångssätt. Flerfallstudier har använts och det empiriska materialet är insamlat genom semi-strukturerade intervjuer med relevanta personer på de företag i skogsbranschen som vår studie berör. Den teoretiska referensramen är insamlad utifrån böcker och vetenskapliga artiklar. Vidare ligger en analysmodell till grund för den analys som gjorts. Slutsats: Den slutsats som kan dras är att företag inom skogsbranschen integrerar mål och mått med hänsyn till hållbarhet i sin interna styrning genom sin styrmiljö, riskbedömning, kontrollaktiviteter, informationsförmedling och uppföljning. De har ett väl utvecklat hållbarhetsarbete och där integreringen av hållbarhet i den interna styrningen är framgångsrik på flera punkter. Nyckelord: Skogsbranschen, hållbarhet, intern styrning, prestationsmätning, externa motiv, interna motiv, informationsförmedling, uppföljning. / Bachelor Thesis 15 hp, Program of Master of Science in Business and Economics, School of Business and Economics at Linnaeus University in Växjö. Title: Sustainability – a question of integration Course code: 2FE24E Subject: Subject Profounding Work, Management Accounting Authors: Elin Jönsson, Erik Krantz, Philip Lordh Advisor: Karin Jonnergård Background: The forest industry is currently experiencing great pressure on their sustainability work and sustainability is a hot topic in today’s society. In order for companies to succeed in their sustainability efforts, there has to be an adjustment in their internal management and that sustainability is involved in companies performance measurements. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze and compare the design, instrumentality and follow-up of goals and measurements, as well as investigate the motives behind the choice of working with sustainability. Method: The study is based on a qualitative research design and an iterative approach. Multivariate studies have been used and the empirical material is collected through semi- structured interviews with relevant individuals in the forest industry. The theoretical frame of references is collected from literature and scientific articles. Furthermore, an analysis model forms the basis for the written analysis. Conclusion: The conclusion is that companies within the forest industry integrate goals and measurements with regard to sustainability in their internal management through their management environment, risk assessment, control activities, instrumentality and follow-up. They have a well-developed sustainability work and the integration of sustainability in the internal management is successful in several areas. Keywords: Forest industry, sustainability, internal management, performance measurements, internal motives, external motives, instrumentality, follow-up.

Doctorat en philosophie et lettres / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Marine tourism has been growing over the years to a diverse and large industry providing for a variety of markets. Across the world tourists enjoy activities of different types including kayaking, scuba diving, snorkelling, surfing and travelling to beaches for leisure reasons. Travelling to coastal towns with the purpose of visiting a beach has always been a great attraction for people across the world. Not only resulting in beaches becoming one of the tourism industry’s biggest markets but also a great contributor to local economies. In 200,1 South Africa adopted the Blue Flag Programme, a beach award which focuses on clean bathing water and pollution free environments. The programme was first established on the French coastline in Europe by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE). Since then 244 beaches and 208 marinas across 10 countries now boast with a Blue Flag award. The award requires beaches to adhere to four sets of criteria. These are water quality, environmental management, environmental education and information and safety and security. The programme also has specific periods allocated to beaches in which the beach has to meet all the stipulated standards.  Previous research has stated that the programme has great drawing power for tourists.  In contrast, other studies revealed that it has no benefits for the tourism industry, whatsoever.  Some studies have stated that it is a symbol of quality recognised by all across the world. The literature review conducted for this study revealed that the programme holds great benefits for conservation of the environment. Seen from a tourism point of view, however, it is still unclear whether the programme benefits the tourism industry or has any impact on it whatsoever. The primary goal of this dissertation is to determine the influence of Blue Flag status on the decision-making process of beach visitors when they select a beach, thereby determining whether or not the Blue Flag programme adds any value to the tourism industry. A literature review was conducted on important aspects concerning this study, namely the Blue Flag Programme, the tourist decision-making process, travel behaviour of tourists and tourist behaviour, to gain insight into the type of research. Thereafter an empirical study was conducted on six beaches in KwaZulu-Natal which involved the distribution of a self-administered questionnaire. The sampling method used for the study was quantitative, probability sampling with systematic sampling which involved the fieldworkers to approach every second person/group of people on the beach. The survey took place from 28 March to 4 April 2013. A total of 572 usable questionnaires was collected from a sample of 600 beach visitors. The data was captured using Microsoft™ Excel™ 2010 and analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 21). Exploratory factor analyses were performed as well as a linear mixed-effect model analysis to analyse the impact of the Blue Flag Programme on tourism. To achieve the goal set for this study, two articles were produced. The aim of chapter 3 (article 1) was to determine the push and pull motives of beach visitors. The results revealed the profile of respondents to be female, married with an average age of 39 years and originating from Gauteng. They have a diploma or degree from a tertiary institute and like to visit the beach for an average of eight nights at a time. To identify the push and pull motives of beach visitors, the travel motives were first identified by means of a principal axis factoring analysis, with Oblimin and Kaiser Normalisation. The aspects yielded three factors, familiarity, family relaxation and escape and beach characteristics. The most important factor was determined to be familiarity. The analysis further revealed two push and two pull motives. The push factors are escape and relaxation (most important push motive) and familiarity. The pull motives are beach attributes (most important pull motive) and cognizance. This article showed that the familiarity of a beach plays an important role as to the motives of beach visitors as well as the fact that visitors to these beaches want to escape and relax away from everyday life. The aim of the chapter 4 (article 2) was to identify the influence of Blue Flag status on visitors’ decision-making when selecting a beach as well as to determine whether any statistically significant differences exist between the visitors to Blue Flag beaches and visitors to non-Blue Flag beaches. A principal axis factoring analysis was conducted to determine the decision-making aspects of beach visitors. This analysis yielded five actors, environmental education, safety and access, cleanliness, landscape and popularity. The most important factor was identified as cleanliness with a mean value of 4.37. Furthermore, a linear mixed-effect model analysis was conducted which identified one statistically significant difference with the factor popularity, which has a p-value of 0.002. No other differences were identified. This study thus found that Blue Flag status does not influence visitors’ decision in selecting a beach. What was interesting was the fact that the aspects which are of importance to beach visitors (such as cleanliness) form part of the criteria on which the programme is based (environmental education and information, environmental management, safety and security and water quality). Thus having Blue Flag status does impact positively on tourism. Since this was the first study of its kind in South Africa, it can benefit all beach destinations in the country. From the findings it is clear that marketing needs to be conducted regarding the Blue Flag programme and the benefits that could be reaped for both the local community and beach visitors. Furthermore, beach management can make use of the motives identified in chapter 3 as well as the decision-making aspects identified in chapter 4 to increase visitor numbers to the beach and gain competitive advantage. Tailor-made marketing strategies can be implemented which will improve the efforts of beach managers and municipalities as well as managers of the Blue Flag Programme to market the programme and raise awareness. Recommendations are made regarding further study on the Blue Flag programme to identify ways in which awareness of the programme amongst the public can be raised. Similar research can also be conducted on other environmental and tourism award systems, such as the Seaside award. This research contributes to the literature on marine tourism, seeing as this was the first time such a study was conducted in a South African setting. / MCom (Tourism Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Marine tourism has been growing over the years to a diverse and large industry providing for a variety of markets. Across the world tourists enjoy activities of different types including kayaking, scuba diving, snorkelling, surfing and travelling to beaches for leisure reasons. Travelling to coastal towns with the purpose of visiting a beach has always been a great attraction for people across the world. Not only resulting in beaches becoming one of the tourism industry’s biggest markets but also a great contributor to local economies. In 200,1 South Africa adopted the Blue Flag Programme, a beach award which focuses on clean bathing water and pollution free environments. The programme was first established on the French coastline in Europe by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE). Since then 244 beaches and 208 marinas across 10 countries now boast with a Blue Flag award. The award requires beaches to adhere to four sets of criteria. These are water quality, environmental management, environmental education and information and safety and security. The programme also has specific periods allocated to beaches in which the beach has to meet all the stipulated standards.  Previous research has stated that the programme has great drawing power for tourists.  In contrast, other studies revealed that it has no benefits for the tourism industry, whatsoever.  Some studies have stated that it is a symbol of quality recognised by all across the world. The literature review conducted for this study revealed that the programme holds great benefits for conservation of the environment. Seen from a tourism point of view, however, it is still unclear whether the programme benefits the tourism industry or has any impact on it whatsoever. The primary goal of this dissertation is to determine the influence of Blue Flag status on the decision-making process of beach visitors when they select a beach, thereby determining whether or not the Blue Flag programme adds any value to the tourism industry. A literature review was conducted on important aspects concerning this study, namely the Blue Flag Programme, the tourist decision-making process, travel behaviour of tourists and tourist behaviour, to gain insight into the type of research. Thereafter an empirical study was conducted on six beaches in KwaZulu-Natal which involved the distribution of a self-administered questionnaire. The sampling method used for the study was quantitative, probability sampling with systematic sampling which involved the fieldworkers to approach every second person/group of people on the beach. The survey took place from 28 March to 4 April 2013. A total of 572 usable questionnaires was collected from a sample of 600 beach visitors. The data was captured using Microsoft™ Excel™ 2010 and analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 21). Exploratory factor analyses were performed as well as a linear mixed-effect model analysis to analyse the impact of the Blue Flag Programme on tourism. To achieve the goal set for this study, two articles were produced. The aim of chapter 3 (article 1) was to determine the push and pull motives of beach visitors. The results revealed the profile of respondents to be female, married with an average age of 39 years and originating from Gauteng. They have a diploma or degree from a tertiary institute and like to visit the beach for an average of eight nights at a time. To identify the push and pull motives of beach visitors, the travel motives were first identified by means of a principal axis factoring analysis, with Oblimin and Kaiser Normalisation. The aspects yielded three factors, familiarity, family relaxation and escape and beach characteristics. The most important factor was determined to be familiarity. The analysis further revealed two push and two pull motives. The push factors are escape and relaxation (most important push motive) and familiarity. The pull motives are beach attributes (most important pull motive) and cognizance. This article showed that the familiarity of a beach plays an important role as to the motives of beach visitors as well as the fact that visitors to these beaches want to escape and relax away from everyday life. The aim of the chapter 4 (article 2) was to identify the influence of Blue Flag status on visitors’ decision-making when selecting a beach as well as to determine whether any statistically significant differences exist between the visitors to Blue Flag beaches and visitors to non-Blue Flag beaches. A principal axis factoring analysis was conducted to determine the decision-making aspects of beach visitors. This analysis yielded five actors, environmental education, safety and access, cleanliness, landscape and popularity. The most important factor was identified as cleanliness with a mean value of 4.37. Furthermore, a linear mixed-effect model analysis was conducted which identified one statistically significant difference with the factor popularity, which has a p-value of 0.002. No other differences were identified. This study thus found that Blue Flag status does not influence visitors’ decision in selecting a beach. What was interesting was the fact that the aspects which are of importance to beach visitors (such as cleanliness) form part of the criteria on which the programme is based (environmental education and information, environmental management, safety and security and water quality). Thus having Blue Flag status does impact positively on tourism. Since this was the first study of its kind in South Africa, it can benefit all beach destinations in the country. From the findings it is clear that marketing needs to be conducted regarding the Blue Flag programme and the benefits that could be reaped for both the local community and beach visitors. Furthermore, beach management can make use of the motives identified in chapter 3 as well as the decision-making aspects identified in chapter 4 to increase visitor numbers to the beach and gain competitive advantage. Tailor-made marketing strategies can be implemented which will improve the efforts of beach managers and municipalities as well as managers of the Blue Flag Programme to market the programme and raise awareness. Recommendations are made regarding further study on the Blue Flag programme to identify ways in which awareness of the programme amongst the public can be raised. Similar research can also be conducted on other environmental and tourism award systems, such as the Seaside award. This research contributes to the literature on marine tourism, seeing as this was the first time such a study was conducted in a South African setting. / MCom (Tourism Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Purpose The purpose of this research is to investigate online WOM in terms of its practice and the effect it can have on movie consumers. What are the motives moviegoers have in generating eWOM? Where can eWOM on movies be found online, and how does it impact its readers? Design/methodology/approach In order to develop our aim and research questions, the main concepts about WOM in general and WOM in the film industry were reviewed. Furthermore, the method of research was quantitative and was conducted on Business students at the University of Gävle, Sweden. An online survey was put at their disposal by mail as well as social media. Findings With the help of the results of our study, we discovered that our respondents had a positive attitude towards generating online WOM if given the opportunity. We identified the main motives movie consumers have, when it comes to generating eWOM, positive as well as negative. The effect of eWOM on moviegoers was also analyzed and we could conclude that positive eWOM can influence moviegoers to consider a specific movie and negative eWOM can either have no impact on filmgoers or make them disregard the specific movie. Finally, our findings also suggest that social media and review websites are the most used platforms for eWOM on movies. Theoretical & Practical implications This research offers a base for further research as it specifically focuses on consumer behavior towards eWOM, specifically in the film industry. The behavior of the consumers was examined from both the negative and the positive aspects of eWOM to deeper understand the effect it has in the film industry. Furthermore, the willingness to generate eWOM, motives, platforms of generation and effect were also key aspects of our research. Originality/value This research is unique in its kind due to its consideration of differentiating on both negative and positive aspects of eWOM. Previous research tends to focus only on the general phenomena of WOM, which did not give the possibility to understand the different ways it affects the consumers.

An important event in people´s lives is graduating from high school, which opens new possibilities. One of them is to be able to move to a new place, whether it is within the same municipality, to another region or even another country. Several motives can affect the decision-making process in terms of where the individual chooses to move and why. The aim of this paper is to study these motives and how a decision can be explained with Weber’s social action theory and the push/pull-theory   The method used to investigate this subject is a survey study in terms of a questionnaire with high school students in Luleå municipality. The answers were thereafter analyzed in two parts. The first part by using quantitative methods to create statistics regarding the chosen population, how they rank different motives and their opinions regarding different factors. The second part of the questionnaire was analyzed with qualitative methods to investigate the answers on a more complex level since different factors are taken into account in the reasoning behind a decision.   The result of this study shows that the main motive for moving is further education and the main motive to stay is social motives like family and friends. Other motives also come into play in this complex decision making process, such as a change of environment to experience new things. Where and why people choose to move can also be explained by push/pull-factors where the current condition in Luleå municipality is fairly good concerning employment and education but does not have the program or courses they want to study at the university and this functions as a push-factor for some in the studied group. Family and friends function as the main pull-factor to stay and is sometimes given as the only motive to stay. Where they want to move is mainly metropolitan areas or larger cities in the south of Sweden with the given explanation that this would offer more possibilities with a wider range of higher education, meeting new friends, access to more entertainment and experiencing city life. This decision can also be explained by the social action theory regarding how the individual chooses to act and it is usually based on the goal-oriented type where the individual chooses to move to reach a set goal.

The purpose of this thesis is to understand how implicit processes determine individual and organisational behaviour in the context of business to business (B2B) decision making. A broad literature review suggests that implicit cognition has a significantly more powerful influence than therefore assumed. The author calls for further research into the motivations driving professional behaviour in B2B situations as new study challenges the classical economic theory of the homo economicus, and focuses on the role of implicit motives as a possible driver. As a first objective, the study attempts to reveal a typical structure of implicit motives based on hierarchy and gender. The second objective is to delineate the interplay between the implicit motives and the decision making process in B2B. The third objective is to examine the consequences and implications for business to business marketing. The methodology is based on an interdisciplinary mixed method approach. To address the gaps in existing knowledge, an experiment and a survey (n=175) in different sectors were conducted. For the analysis, a variety of techniques such as operant motive tests, cluster- and multivariate analysis were employed to analyse the empirical response. Semi-structured qualitative in-depth interviews (n=8) were carried out to detect the consequences and the implications of the new findings for practice. The findings of the research indicate that marketing is much more a selective communication as assumed. The impact of marketing communication is not always consciously perceived by customers and the most part is implicit. In conclusion, there seems to be an interplay between implicit motives and the B2B decision making process. Hypotheses about the interplay of implicit motives and business to business decision making were confirmed in personal, management and group decision experiments. As a contribution to existing theory on the subject, it can be postulated that rational choice in B2B decision making may play a limited role. In addition marketing experts from various industry sectors emphasise the importance and the potential impacts for future B2B marketing. Experts stress the need to reveal the real motivational drivers in marketing communication.

The English Premier League is regarded as one of the most prominent sporting competitions in the world. In the last decade the league (and by definition it’s member clubs) have become highly attractive to wealthy foreign investors, having taken ownership of a number of clubs across the league. This thesis seeks to investigate the motivations and consequences behind this foreign direct investment (FDI). The study uses a multi-method approach not commonly found within the sports economics or FDI literature combining both quantitative and qualitative methods. The thesis has generated responses from ‘elite’ level respondents at Premier League clubs together with members of the supporters’ movement. Existing data from club sources and market reports has been collected in order to assess the motivations and consequences of FDI. The thesis finds the motives behind football FDI to be somewhat different to those held by other forms of business organisation. Football is a mostly loss-making industry, but despite this weakness, some investors have purchased Premier League clubs for economic reasons. The importance of non-economic motives, such as profile enhancement, and the notion of the trophy asset were also found to be influential motives behind some football FDI. These aspects are not strongly reflected in the FDI literature, and they imply football is different to other forms of investment. FDI is shown to be mostly beneficial for the clubs receiving the investment, but for non-acquired clubs negative consequences are found in terms of wages, transfer costs, profits, and debt. For the Premier League itself, FDI has been positive in terms of enhancing the league’s stature, revenues, and the quality of matches. Some benefits were found at the regional level. This thesis covers the gap within the literature surrounding FDI and football, and also raises wider points about the generalizability of FDI theory to all industries.

Företag är i dagens tillvaro ständigt på jakt efter tillväxt och överlevnad. En metod för att lyckas med detta som har börjat ske mer och mer frekvent de senaste åren är att företag köper upp andra företag i form av ett företagsförvärv. Men forskning och litteratur har samtidigt pekat på att företagsförvärv i mer än 50 procent av fallen inte har hjälpt företag att nå fram till rena ekonomiska vinster. Trots detta har antalet företagsförvärv fortsatt att öka år efter år, och ökningen pågår än. Mycket forskning har tittat på en specifik aspekt av företagsförvärv, nämligen den kulturella aspekten. Forskare menar att kulturkrockar och andra problem med kulturen kan ha varit ett av problemen som påverkat och lett till den låga grad av framgång som har nåtts. Samtidigt finns det en bransch som har växt explosionsartat den senaste tiden, nämligen IT-branschen. Informationsteknik har utvecklats mycket i samband med det moderna samhällets tillväxt och det har nu till och med blivit en källa för rikedom som företag mer än gärna tar del av. Inom IT-branschen blir företagens kultur en viktig del att titta på, eftersom en dålig kultur kan få stora konsekvenser om den kunskapsrika personalen påverkas på ett negativt sätt. Denna studie avser därför att ta kännedom av hur svenska IT-företag som genomgått ett företagsförvärv förhåller sig till kulturen och kulturskillnader mellan företagen. I studien har integrationsprocessen undersökts genom intervjuer och skriftliga förfrågningar med åtta personer från sju olika företag inom IT-branschen. I uppsatsen har det också lagts fokus på företagens motiv bakom det gällande förvärvet. Dessutom har företagens årsredovisningar studerats. Resultatet visade att många av de förvärvande företagen absorberade det uppköpta företaget, med vilket menas att det förvärvade företagets arbetsprocess och kultur förändrades för att likna det nya moderbolagets. Undersökningen visade att de mest lyckade företagsförvärven hade ekonomiska motiv i grunden och att majoriteten av de med strategiska motiv ännu inte visat på någon framgång. / Companies today are in constant pursuit of market growth and survival. One possible method to achieve this, M&A, has become more frequent over the years as more and more companies acquire one another. At the same time, researchers have been pointing to the fact that mergers and acquisitions have been failing more than 50 per cent of recorded cases. Despite this, the number of M&A has had a continuous growth that is still going on today. At the same time, the IT-sector has experienced significant growth over the last years. Information technology has developed alongside the modern society’s advancement and has become a source of income for the corporate world. The Swedish IT-sector has been through a number of M&A:s as of late, and with numerous scientists pointing out possible cultural difficulties that can occur during mergers and acquisitions, this area becomes interesting to study. This essay seeks to explore how Swedish knowledge based IT-companies work around these cultural differences between the companies. Eight interviews have been held with mainly CEO:s, discussing their view of the cultural integration between companies during the acquisitions. Questions have also been asked about their motives behind the decision to go through such an expensive affair. The result showed that while the majority of the interviewed companies had a strategic motive, they were not the most successful. Instead, it was the organizations with economic reasoning that generated the most financial success. The study also showed that the most frequent form of integration was absorption.