Consumer-to-consumer (C2C) online auctions represent an important new marketplace from which consumers can access the goods they require, an alternative marketplace to bricks-and-mortar and online retail stores. Sellers are often ordinary consumers and the items on sale are often second-hand household items, although, modern C2C auction sites also accommodate small businesses selling unused products. Consumer behaviour in online C2C auctions is unlike consumer behaviour in bricks-and-mortar or online retail stores. While considerable research has been conducted into the dynamics of bidding in online C2C auctions little research has addressed the motives for consumers’ ongoing participation in this marketplace. The concept of consumer involvement may explain the amount of time and money consumers are spending in online C2C auctions and the frequency of their visits to auction sites. In the context of this thesis, involvement is defined as the long-term and enduring relevance, connection and relatedness of online auctions to a consumer’s life. The aim of this research is to explore the ways in which the consumer involvement construct offers an explanation for variation in buyers’ ongoing use of online auctions. The thesis also seeks to discover which consumer motives contribute to buyers’ enduring involvement with online auctions. TradeMe is New Zealand’s most popular online C2C auction site. In a country of just four million people, the TradeMe auction site has more than 2 million members and accounts for more than 50 per cent of Internet traffic originating from New Zealand websites. This study of buyers who use the TradeMe auction site, offers the opportunity to study online auction consumers in this unique context. Based on an extensive literature review, eighteen propositions were developed regarding buyer motives for enduring involvement with online C2C auctions. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty TradeMe users, to test these propositions and to identify any further motives for enduring involvement with auctions that had not been revealed in the literature review. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed in full. NVivo8 qualitative data analysis software was used to code the interview transcripts. Thematic analysis reveals six themes representing buyer motives for enduring involvement with online auctions. The significant contribution of this thesis is to identify involvement as a useful construct for explaining consumer behaviour in online auctions. In addition to utilitarian and hedonic motives for involvement with online auctions, the interviews reveal that the buyers have a number of social and personal motives for involvement with online auctions. Analysis of the qualitative dataset also reveals a set of marketer activities which encourage ongoing use of the auction site, and a number of factors (anti-motives) which discourage use of the auction site. The research reveals the existence of an off-line community of auction users who value the social contact they experience with one another outside the auction site. Ongoing buyer-seller relationships are also shown to develop outside the auction site, prompted by an initial auction transaction. TradeMe users often express loyalty to the TradeMe website because they are proud of its New Zealand origins, feel secure in using a local auction website, believe they are supporting small New Zealand businesses by buying from TradeMe, and believe they are practicing sustainable consumption behaviour by purchasing second-hand goods. Future research should develop a multi-item, quantitative measure of buyers’ enduring involvement with online auctions and test the validity of this measure with further empirical data.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Mathematics, August 2000. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Mathematics, December 2000. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

abstract: As the number of travelers around the world grows, the importance of managing tourism destinations in a sustainable manner becomes increasingly important. Sustainable tourism has long been discussed as necessary for managing tourism responsibly, yet adoption of sustainable strategies and operationalization has been slow. Initiatives and programs often focus on environmental components of sustainability and the role of large companies. Certification programs are one way in which destinations are operationalizing community-wide sustainable tourism and small businesses are engaging in sustainability initiatives and recognition. Using social cognitive theory as the research framework, this study examined internal and external motives and their influence on small business participation in sustainable tourism certification and sustainability practices. Incentives for behavior, modeling of other businesses, company values, and self-efficacy were examined as motives and barriers. Regression analysis and independent samples t-tests were used to examine statistical relationships. This study partnered with the Alaska Travel Industry Association (ATIA) to study businesses that hold Adventure Green Alaska sustainable tourism certification or are viewed as prospects for certification. From a list of 77, 44 Alaska tourism businesses responded to an online questionnaire to participate in this study. Businesses were categorized into those with certification (n = 31) and those without (n=13). Results indicated participation in sustainability practices to be higher among certified businesses than non-certified. Internal motives indicated to be more significant than external motives for participation in sustainable practices and certification. Company values were of high importance to both certified and non-certified businesses in implementing sustainable practices and certification. Consumer interest and marketing benefits were important incentives for participation in sustainability strategies. These findings have implications for tourism industry associations and organizations interested in the operationalization and development of sustainable tourism. This study is expected to aid in marketing and retention efforts for sustainable tourism certification programs, as well as future direction for development of sustainable tourism certification. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Community Resources and Development 2017

This longitudinal investigation examined motives for alcohol use, alcohol consumption, and alcohol-related consequences in a Vancouver, British Columbia youth sample (n = 405). Secondary analyses were performed on data that were collected at two time points (1995-1996 and 2003-2004). Sociodemographic variables included age, gender, adoption status, parent education, household moves, and family net worth. Bivariate correlations and structural equation modeling were used to examine associations between social, enhancement, and coping motives, alcohol consumption and alcohol-related consequences. The social motives included drinking to be sociable and drinking to add to the enjoyment of meals. Enhancement motives included drinking to feel good. Coping motives included: drinking to help you relax, drinking to forget worries, and drinking to feel less shy and inhibited. In the final longitudinal structural equation model combining T1 motives and both T1 and T2 alcohol consumption and alcohol-related consequences, results showed endorsement at T1 of drinking to forget worries was predictive of the alcohol-related consequences latent factor at T1. Moreover, T1 consequences were predictive of alcohol-related consequences at T2. The data show a positive relationship between T1 endorsement of drinking to feel good and the alcohol consumption latent variables at both T1 and T2, but no relationship between drinking to feel good and the alcohol-related consequences emerged. Additionally, the data yielded a negative relationship between the variable, “drink to be sociable” and the alcohol-related consequences latent factor at T1. Certain self-identified motives for drinking may be risk factors for continued alcohol use and subsequent misuse. Therefore, differentiating between specific motives for alcohol use may be a helpful marker for Child and Youth Care workers and other professionals to initiate conversations about alcohol use and consequences. / Graduate

The aim of this thesis is a description of the development of a company through acquisitions and mergers. The work is divided into two parts, the first part describes the M&A concepts, their types, properties and motives that lead companies to be merged. At the same time the theoretical part describes the course of the pre-acquisition analysis, valuation in the acquisition process and audit of financial statement. The second part focuses on the real cases of mergers and acquisitions, which took place in recent years. The aim of this section is to determine whether the mergers and acquisitions have accomplished its mission, according to the financial results, and profitability and market position of the company have improved.

The China-African relations have a tradition of several centuries. However, in last two decades, the character of their relations changes and is getting the dimension of a phenomenon. Currently, China is in a very advantageous position - one leg in the developing world, the other in the developed one. Its economic growth reaches about ten percent a year and its economy has enlarged beyond the state's frontiers. China thus becomes dependent on the international trade in both export and import of sources. The African continent can offer both. This situation, however, is hardly compatible with the role of a superpower which China desires and which is attributed to it by many specialists. This thesis analyses three motives of mutual cooperation - commerce, raw materials and political and strategic interests. Its aim is to give a compact and comprehensive picture which will prove the trueness of the three motives. For better accession and understanding, case studies of selected countries are an integral part of the thesis.

Two impulsivity-related traits, negative and positive urgency (i.e., the tendency to act rashly in the face of extreme negative and positive emotions, respectively) are important risk factors for alcohol use escalation during college and for problematic and disordered level alcohol use, in part through increasing motives for alcohol use. The majority of research to date has focused on the causal direction from trait to motives to alcohol consumption. The goal of the current study was to conduct an initial test of how continued and escalating alcohol use may drive increases and shifts in positive and negative urgency, and how such changes drive subsequent increased drinking motives over the first year of college. Data were analyzed using an archival dataset of 418 first-year college students (age 18-21) enrolled in an introduction to psychology course at a large Midwestern university. Participants were sampled at three timepoints: at the beginning of the fall semester, the end of the fall semester, and the end of the spring semester. A series of hierarchical multiple regression and mediation analyses were used to test study hypotheses. Changes in alcohol use did not predict later changes in positive and negative urgency. Results did replicate previous research showing that changes in positive and negative urgency predicted later changes in drinking motives. Finally, there was some evidence that alcohol use at baseline predicted changes in enhancement drinking motives through changes in positive urgency; but this pattern was not seen with negative urgency. This work extends existing work with urgency theory, which has primarily focused on the effects of urgency on subsequent alcohol consumption and not the inverse. The fact that alcohol use drives subsequent changes in positive urgency and drinking motives can help to better identify mechanisms contributing increased risk for transition to problematic levels of alcohol consumption, can lead to better identification of those at risk for problematic alcohol use and can set the stage to better integrate urgency theory with other well-established alcohol risk models.

A description of the artistic education and development of the author, William Harold Hopper, along with an account of how he conceived of and created several paintings. / "August, 1960." / Typescript. / "Submitted to the Graduate School of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science." / Advisor: Karl Zerbe, Professor Directing Paper.

A discussion of the artistic education and development of the author, Stanley Boris Pransky, along with a commentary on the paintings of his one man exhibition. / "August, 1960." / Typescript. / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts." / Advisor: Karl Zerbe, Professor Directing Paper.