The objective of this investigation is to determine whether student site location in an instructional videoconference is related to students' motives for communicating with their instructor. The study is based, in part, on the work of Martin et al. who identify five separate student-teacher communication motives. These motives, or dimensions, are termed relational, functional, excuse, participation, and sycophancy, and are measured by a 30-item questionnaire. Several communication-related theories were used to predict differences between on-site and off-site students, Media richness theory was used, foundationally, to explain differences between mediated and face-to-face communication and other theories such as uncertainty reduction theory were used in conjunction with media richness theory to predict specific differences.Two hundred eighty-one completed questionnaires were obtained from Education and Library and Information Science students in 17 separate course-sections employing interactive video at the University of North Texas during the Spring and Summer semesters of the 2001/2002 school year. This study concludes that off-site students in an instructional videoconference are more likely than their on-site peers to report being motivated to communicate with their instructor for participation reasons. If off-site students are more motivated than on-site students to communicate as a means to participate, then it may be important for instructors to watch for actual differences in participation levels, and instructors may need to be well versed in pedagogical methods that attempt to increase participation, The study also suggests that current teaching methods being employed in interactive video environments may be adequate with regard to functional, excuse-making, relational and sycophantic communication.

In order for the innovation process to be successful, not only do innovations need to be developed and reached the market, but, once they are available for users, they have to spread on a large scale. In the innovation literature, a complete explanation is lacking of why some innovations reach a phase of large-scale diffusion faster than others, including both actor- and system-level components. For instance, what drives and hinders adopters to decide to adopt the innovation on the actor and system levels, and how adopters who participate in the largescale diffusion handle the adoption process and the implementation of the innovation, are questions still unanswered. As a consequence, it remains unclear how the large-scale diffusion process can be facilitated and speeded up. This thesis addresses these issues by studying the case of renewable electricity (RE) innovations. After decades of technology development and improvements, RE innovations are now mature enough to be bought off-the-shelf by individuals and organizations. Yet, the pace of their large-scale diffusion is still too slow for countries to reach their RE generation targets and to limit global warming. Through qualitative and quantitative methods including 59 semi-structured interviews with adopters, project developers and experts in Sweden, France and Germany as well as a survey sent to the whole population of RE adopters in Sweden, an adopter perspective is taken in order to explore the adoption dynamics shaping large-scale diffusion of innovation. More specifically, the thesis identifies the drivers and challenges of adoption during large-scale diffusion and their impact on adoption decisions and strategies. The outcome of this work is presented in a compiling synthesis and six appended papers. Findings show that adopters are heterogeneous with regard to their characteristics, as well as to the drivers, challenges and strategies that affect their adoption processes. Depending on their perceptions, some adopters are more influenced by drivers and challenges than others and, as a consequence, adopters base their adoption decisions on different motives and follow different strategies to implement the innovation. Moreover, the results suggest that the dynamics that occur during the large-scale diffusion process does not only come from the actor level and the level of the system where the largescale diffusion takes place, but also from parallel systems, which are related to adopters and their contexts, including both the social networks and the industries they primarily belong. This makes adopters the central drivers of the innovation diffusion process and this distinguishes the dynamics of large-scale diffusion from the dynamics of innovation development and early diffusion, in which the innovation is the central component. Based on the findings about the adoption dynamics shaping large-scale diffusion, the thesis raises the need to consider large-scale diffusion as part of a new system, different from the innovation system and that acknowledges the specificities of this process. A tentative model accounting for the central role of adopters and for the interactions between adopters, the diffusion system and parallel systems is introduced. Finally, the implications of these findings for policy makers and managers are put forward. In particular, there is a need for policies acknowledging adopters’ heterogeneity as well as the new challenges of large-scale diffusion. Strategies developed by adopters can be a source of inspiration for policy-makers, who can for instance promote the use of intermediaries, of adopters’ task environment and networks, as well as the formation of coalitions among adopters.

I den här uppsatsen görs en studie över svenskarnas resemotiv till Mallorca. Studien utgörs av tre studieområden. Den första behandlar hur resemotiven ser ut idag, den andra ser till hur utvecklingen av resemotiv sett ut från 1960-talet och den sista fokuserar på researrangörernas syn på sina kunder och deras resemotiv till Mallorca. Uppsatsen utgörs av en kvalitativ del samt en kvantitativ del då insamlandet av empirisk data har gjorts. Den primära delen i undersökningen utgörs av den kvantitativa insamlingsmetoden. Det gjordes en enkätundersökning där 91 respondenter deltog och besvarade frågor om sina resemotiv. Den kvalitativa delen består av intervjuer som har gjorts med två researrangörer och en resebyrå som fick svara på frågor om vilka deras kunder är, deras resemotiv, hur utvecklingen sett ut över en 50-årsperiod och vilka trender man kan se inom charterturismen. Teorierna som är använda i uppsatsen utgår ifrån två olika teorifamiljer, den ena familjen handlar om teorier knutna till begreppet resemotiv och den andra om teorier knutna till begreppet resepersonligheter. Resultatet presenteras i form av diagram och text där en sammanställning av svar från intervjuer och enkätundersökning har gjorts. I resultatet syns bland annat vilka resemotiv resenärerna har nu och hur det sett ut sen 1960-talet. Därefter kommer analysdelen där teori och empiri kopplas samman och sambandet dem emellan analyseras för att förstå varför resultatet blev som det blev. I slutsatsen presenteras de resultat som uppkommit under denna undersökning. Den främsta slutsatsen är att det varma klimatet är det primära resemotivet och har varit det över hela perioden. / This thesis is a study of Swedes' travel motives to Majorca. The thesis consists of three areas of study. The first area deals with the travel motives today, the other area looks at the development of the travel motives since the 1960s and the last area focuses on the travel agent's view of their customers and their travel motives to Majorca. The essay consists of a qualitative part and a quantitative part of the empirical data. The primary component in the study consists of the quantitative collection method. It consists of a survey in which 91 respondents participated and answered questions about their travel motives to Majorca. The qualitative part consists of interviews made with two tour operators and one travel agent who answered questions about which their customers are, what their travel motives are, developments of the motives during a 50 years period and which trends can be seen in the charter tourism industry. The theories that are used in the paper are based on two different theory families; one family is about theories related to the concept of travel motives and the other dealing with the theories linked to studies of travel personalities. The results are presented in the essay in form of graphics and text that concludes responses from interviews and questionnaires. The result shows the travel motives now and the motives since the 1960s. Next up is the analysis section where we connect theories and empirical findings and find connections between them to understand why the result ended up like it did. In the conclusion, we describe what we come up with in this whole investigation. The main conclusion is that the warm climate is the primary travel motive and has been throughout the whole period.

Syfte: Tidigare forskning har visat att det finns ekonomiska, sociologiska och strategiska faktorer som kan vara motiv till outsourcing. Vidare menar forskningen att det finns begränsat med studier som fokuserat på vilka strategiska faktorer små och medelstora företag ser som motiv till outsourcing. Därför syftar denna studie till att skapa förståelse för vilka strategiska faktorer som småföretag ser som motiv för outsourcing av ekonomifunktionen samt vilken betydelse de olika motiven har. Metod: Studien utgår från ett socialkonstruktivistiskt och ett hermeneutiskt perspektiv. Vidare bygger studien på en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi och abduktiv ansats. Den teoretiska referensramen bygger på tidigare forskning och det empiriska materialet har samlats in genom tio semi-strukturerade intervjuer med respondenter från olika företag. Materialet har sedan bearbetats och analyserats för att till sist presentera ett bidrag Resultat & slutsats: Studiens resultat visar på både likheter och skillnader mot tidigare forskning. Samtliga strategiska faktorer som presenterades i det teoretiska avsnittet bekräftades som motiv till outsourcing av respondenterna i den empiriska delen. Vad som skiljer empirin mot den befintliga teorin är rangordningen över vilken faktor som anses vara det starkaste motivet till outsourcing. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Då respondenternas svar tydligt kategoriserades utifrån vilken position respondenterna hade på företagen, anser vi att det hade varit intressant att undersöka de olika kategorierna var för sig. Ett annat förslag till vidare forskning är att dela upp och studera de olika delarna av ekonomifunktionen var för sig, då vi kunde urskilja tydliga skillnader mellan respondenternas åsikter beroende på vilken del av ekonomifunktionen de outsourcade.   Uppsatsens bidrag: Studien har lämnat ett teoretiskt bidrag i den mening att resultatet från empirin skiljer sig till viss del från tidigare forskning. Studien har även lett till ett praktiskt bidrag som leverantörer av redovisningstjänster kan ha användning av i den dagliga verksamheten. / Aim: Prior research has shown that there are economic, sociological and strategic factors that affect the decision of outsourcing in companies. Research has mainly focused on outsourcing in big enterprises, why researchers asks for more studies focusing on small and medium enterprises. Therefore, the aim for this study is to provide understanding of which strategic factors small enterprises sees as motives for outsourcing and what importance the different factors have. Method: The study is based on a social constructive and hermeneutic perspective. Further the study has taken a qualitative research strategy and an abductive research approach. The theoretical framework is built on prior research and the empirical data has been collected by ten semi-structured interviews with respondents from different enterprises. The material has been processed and analyzed to present a contribution. Result & Conclusions: Study results show both similarities and differences with previous research. All strategic factors presented in the theoretical section were confirmed as the motives for outsourcing by the respondents in the empirical part. What distinguishes the empirical data from the existing theory is the rank of the factor that is considered the strongest motive for outsourcing. Suggestions for future research: Given that the respondents' answers clearly were categorized on the basis of the position of the respondents had on businesses, we believe it would have been interesting to examine the different categories separately. Another suggestion for further research is to divide and study the various components of the finance function separately, this because we could discern clear differences between respondents' opinions depending on which part of the finance function outsourced. Contribution of the thesis: The study has provided a theoretical contribution in the sense that the results from the empirical data differs somewhat from earlier research. The study has also led to a practical contribution that suppliers of accounting services could use in daily operations.

This thesis investigates the history of golf ceramics from their origins in the mid-18th century until ca. 1930. During this period the game of golf experienced enormous popularity, developing into a globally successful sport. In the modern period golf has also fostered a thriving trade for the collecting of golf memorabilia, surpassing that of any other comparable sport. The thesis traces the development and spread of one form of golf collectibles – golf ceramics – and considers both the relationship of the pottery industry to the sport and the reasons behind the achievement of the genre. The modern form of golf likely began in the 13th and 14th centuries as a short game played within town walls. Under pressure from Burgh officials and Kirk ordinances, golfers eventually moved to the linksland and developed the now characteristic long game. In 18th- century Britain, elite golf clubs for gentlemen and noblemen sprang from existing sporting societies such as the Royal Company of Archers. The first examples of golf pottery, a series of 18th - and early 19th - century convivial and commemorative punch bowls, were commissioned as a direct result of the growing competitive and social traditions of the early golfing societies. During the prosperous Victorian era, golf experienced a period of immense growth and geographic expansion, particularly during the "boom" of 1890 to 1905. As golf spread internationally, it became a game primarily for the leisure class, inspiring holiday and resort destinations for the wealthy. Exclusive clubs grew at a rate that far surpassed the availability of public golf, thereby changing the character of the game to one predominantly practised by the rich. The game's growth inspired enterprising pottery manufacturers to produce new and imaginative golf-themed pottery lines, pre-1930. Golf's burgeoning popularity, combined with the affluence of its practitioners, created the ideal consumer audience for decorative and non-utilitarian wares. Between 1895 and 1930, eighty-five or more manufacturers were actively developing golf wares. As the pottery industry recognized the potential of the golf market, inventive new lines were developed that utilized original artwork from renowned illustrators of the era, such as Charles Dana Gibson, Howard Chandler Christy, Palmer Cox, Mabel Lucie Attwell, and Harrison Fisher. This commitment to quality golf imagery indicated that potteries placed the game in a higher institutional priority than other traditional sporting themes, such as cricket, tennis, rugby, or football. Royal Doulton, for example, generated no fewer than twenty ranges specifically for the golf market or adapted to meet the demands of its expanding following. Doulton wares featured illustrative images produced by Gibson, Charles Crombie, Henry Mayo Bateman, Will H. Bradley, and Barbara Vernon (Bailey). Doulton’s commitment to prominent illustration reflected golf’s importance to the financial good footing of the firm. The substantial catalogue of historical golfing wares produced during the period of examination experienced unparalleled success in secondary markets throughout the 20th century. Prominent institutional and individual golf collections emerged, leading to the formation of international golf collecting societies, and golf-specific museums and archives. Interest in golf collectibles advanced to the level where golf became a stand-alone auction speciality. In 2000 and 2001 alone, twenty-three major international golf sales were held. Golf pottery values escalated commensurate with the increased notoriety, availability, and competition. Certainly, no other traditional sport can claim such an extensive collection of wares, or a more enduring legacy in the worldwide ceramics and fine art pottery industry.

The MICE-industry is a relatively new phenomenon that is currently in a strong growth period, fairs are included in this industry. There is a great deal of interest and a variety of motives for people to visit fairs for various reasons. The exhibitors' and visitors' motives differ according to several studies, which shows the problems that exists about what the visitors' actual motives are. This study investigates why visitors in private, educational and business purposes choose to participate in fairs, and identifies what the influencing motive is behind the visitor's decision to participate in a fair. This is examined through a quantitative and qualitative research method. The result shows that there are similarities, but also significant differences between the three visitor purposes. / MICE-industrin är en relativt ung företeelse som är i en kraftig tillväxtperiod, i denna industri ingår bland annat mässor. Det finns ett stort intresse och en rad olika motiv för människor att i olika syften besöka mässor. Utställarnas och besökarnas motiv skiljer sig enligt flera studier åt, vilket visar på den problematik som finns kring vilka besökarnas egentliga motiv är. I denna studie undersöks varför besökare i privat, utbildnings- och företagssyfte väljer att delta i mässor, samt identifiera vad som är det påverkande motivet bakom besökares beslut att delta i en mässa. Detta studeras genom en kvantitativ och kvalitativ undersökningsmetod. Resultatet visar på att det finns likheter, men också betydande skillnader mellan de olika besökssyftena.

Why do people run for elective office? Indeed, it is a central topic in political science that arguably is controversial to reveal, but always appealing since public authority remains in office. This study provides an explorative analysis to investigate local elites’ motives running for local parliament and village offices respectively in Kebumen, Indonesia. In examining individual’s motives, experiences and meanings of candidates are analysed using thematic analysis methods to capture emerging ideas of initial motives, enabling and constraining factors that affect the motives, and how both motives alter. The empirical findings of this study show that “people demand” and “community service” are both socially driven motives which act as a catalyst for the initial motives in candidacy process. In contrast, “monetary incentives” and “personal satisfaction” are both individually driven motives, which in turn replace the initial motives in response to high-cost political competition, that is so-called money politics. This study also captures the emergence of religious motive in the shifting process of the socially driven to the individually driven motives. Eventually, the study affirms that both motives, in combination, constitute a political motive as a desire of power to hold an elective office.

Streamed media is becoming more and more a part of our daily lives and companies like Netflix is competing with linear television for consumers. It is hard to deny that there is a shift in the media industry and streamed media is progressing, within the last three years the number of subscribers has almost been doubled. With this in mind it is both interesting and necessary to study motives and content in users to gain a better understanding of this yet very little explored phenomenon that is streamed media. This report contains a qualitative study of motives behind the use of streamed media and how the content affects our choice of streaming service. We interviewed seven young adults between the ages of 21-26 at the Linneaus University in Kalmar. The result suggests that the user’s motives and the content depend on economy and generation factors, such as social situation and personal interests.

This manuscript is a collection of short fiction pieces workshopped in creative writing classes throughout my undergraduate and graduate career at Florida Atlantic University, influenced by the experimental and form-driven nature of some of the writing workshops as well as other courses I took during my years at the university. This work is especially preoccupied with the opposed and intertwined natures of genre fiction and literary fiction. Other themes include human nature, humor, food and cooking, tabletop games, and exploration of form in short fiction. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.F.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Purpose: This paper aims to explore if organizational affiliation as a private and public organization influences the motives behind utilizing management consulting. Our topic, management consulting, has been widely discussed both in academic and non-academic settings and the client perspective in management consulting have to some extent received academic attention. We found it interesting to explore the client perspective through a lens about the effect organizational affiliation has on organization's motives on utilizing management consulting. Methodology: This study has a qualitative research method with an inductive research approach. Our data collection was conducted through interviews with participants from both the public and the private sector that was involved in purchasing management consultants in their organizations. We analyzed our empirical material with a qualitative content analysis that help us code and develop categories in our material. Findings: The findings in our study implicates that motives behind utilizing management consultants differ between public and private sector in how they perceive management consulting and what their expectations on the consultant are. Through our empirical material and data analysis we have been able to detect differences in how the private and public sector perceives management consulting and influencing factors, which in turn affects the motives for purchasing management consulting services in the organization.