In light of the pressing sustainability challenges, new solutions are needed in all aspects ofsociety. Sustainable public procurement (SPP) plays a crucial role in aligning publicorganizations' own actions with political goals and ambitions. In this paper, we focus on thefirst stages of procurement processes in order to realize the potential of SSP to contribute to amore sustainable society. We also acknowledge the potential advantages of the StrategicSustainable Development (SSD) approach, including a common definition for sustainability,promoting a more holistic understanding and these together enabling organizations to actmore strategically. To realize these advantages in practice, we propose an applicable tool for analyzingprocurement needs through an SSD lens. The tool guides procurers to consider sustainabilityaspects and to apply strategic and systemic thinking early on in procurement projects. Weargue that this supports more efficient use of resources, including not only the benefits ofincreased sustainability considerations, but also use of public funds. We further argue thatdespite current challenges of insufficient resources allocation to proper SPP considerations, itis essential to include foundational considerations such as what the need is and what optionsexist to meet the given need in every procurement project.

This three-essay dissertation extends previous research on social influence and examines social influence’s impact on consumption, particularly in the contexts of collective goals and brand preferences. Essay 1 focuses on collective marketing campaigns, which are not shared equally by all customers. Two studies demonstrate that the framing of collective progress in such campaigns can broaden participation by highlighting the large area of progress toward the goal, emphasizing progress achieved for campaigns in their late stages and progress remaining in their early stages. Essay 2 examines the effects of brand age on consumer preferences and choices. Six studies demonstrate that consumers’ preferences for younger brands increase with perceptions of product category innovativeness or the extent to which the product category is perceived to have evolved and is likely to evolve in the future. Findings reveal that younger (vs. established) brands are likely to be preferred when perceptions of product category innovativeness are high (vs. low). Essay 3 examines the effects of perceptions of product category innovativeness and consumer traits, such as novelty seeking and need for uniqueness, on consumers’ preference for young versus established brands. This dissertation provides theoretical and managerial contributions. / Business Administration/Marketing

How to design effective persuasive information security messages to motivate individuals’ engagement in recommended protective security behaviors has become a top priority in the information security field. Although fear appeals have been shown to be an effective means to influence individuals’ security-related protective behaviors, recent information security research has called for a deeper understanding of recipients’ information processing of messages to design effective fear appeals. Previous IS security research has explored two individuals’ information processing routes of security messages, the central route, and the peripheral route, and has investigated the impacts of central variables, perceived argument quality, and peripheral variables, perceived source credibility, on individuals’ security protective behaviors. However, it is not clear how personal disposition influences the process. Drawing on the elaboration likelihood model (ELM), this dissertation identifies need for cognition as an important factor that influences employees’ information processing (Study 1). Results show that need for cognition significantly moderates the relationship between perceived security argument quality and individuals’ behavioral intention. In addition, although most of the previous research has emphasized the importance of perceived argument quality (the central route) in influencing individuals’ security protective behaviors, the understanding of how to improve individuals’ perception of argument quality is far from conclusive. Thus this dissertation takes the view that the preference matching between message characteristics and recipients’ preference is one of the key mechanisms that increase individuals’ perceived security argument quality and behavioral intention. In particular, I conducted a multi-group experiment design to examine how preference matching, the matching between the rhetoric of a security message and recipients’ preferences for rhetoric (Study 2), influences individuals’ perception of security argument quality and behavioral intention to adopt the recommended security behavior. I found that preference matching significantly influences perceived argument quality and behavioral intention. The results have important theoretical and practical implications for designing effective information security messages to improve information security management in both personal and work environments

In light of recent persuasive appeals which promote a food product's health or nutritional benefits in advertisements, this exploratory study investigates the ways in which individuals read and understand health and nutrition-related claims in advertising and make subsequent judgments about the product, brand, and purchase intentions. Using the Elaboration-Likelihood model of persuasion, this study looks at how motivational (e.g., health consciousness, need for cognition) and ability (nutrition knowledge) factors influence attitudes toward three food products following exposure to manipulated advertisements containing a nutrition-related claim. Although the results do not demonstrate much support for the predicted relationships, the findings nonetheless provide researchers useful information that may benefit future studies. / Master of Arts

Need for Cognition is a personality trait that describes an individual’s inclination to seek out and enjoy cognitive effort. This disposition has been of interest to psychological research for multiple decades now, and findings show that it is related to more engagement in learning, higher self-efficacy, and higher academic achievements. However, it has long been established that effort is something that is generally avoided, so the individuals and scenarios which deviate from this general rule are of great interest to behavioural science. Finding out why effort is sought out, in which ways it is perceived differently, whether this is context-dependent, and what kind of consequences this has for everyday life—all these aspects are necessary to better understand individual differences in cognitive effort preference. This understanding has important implications for theoretical and practical applications, ranging from educational strategies and workplace dynamics to health interventions. Such interventions could maintain or increase well-being, a concept that encompasses several dimensions, including hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Hedonic well-being refers to the pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain, while eudaimonic well-being centres on the pursuit of meaning, personal growth, and self-fulfilment, which requires more effort. As an investment trait, it is therefore likely that Need for Cognition is related to the kind of activities that individuals engage in to increase their well-being. The goal of this thesis is to examine the role of Need for Cognition in well-being, to shed light on the specific relationship between these two constructs and the factors and mechanisms that might be involved in it. In Study 1, we reviewed over 140 studies on the association of Need for Cognition and various aspects of well-being, combining a qualitative literature review with nine meta-analyses. The meta-analyses yielded small to medium effects, showing that higher Need for Cognition was associated with reduced neuroticism, depression, anxiety, burnout, negative affect, and public self-consciousness, and increased positive affect, satisfaction, and private self-consciousness. Higher Need for Cognition fostered active, interest-driven behaviours, which enhanced knowledge acquisition, self-efficacy, and thereby self-confidence in dealing with academic, personal, and interpersonal challenges. However, under some circumstances, the impact of Need for Cognition on well-being appeared to be dependent on third variables such as self-control or the social environment. In other situations, Need for Cognition was associated with lower well-being, suggesting the possibility of a sense of overconfidence in one’s abilities and resources which leads to more noxious behaviours. This possibility of an overestimation of one’s own resources depending on Need for Cognition was further explored with preregistered analyses in Study 2 using questionnaire data from 180 teachers from the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. We first replicated an analysis of possible mediators between Need for Cognition and a reduced sense of personal efficacy, an aspect of burnout. Neither self-control, nor habitual use of reappraisal or suppression as an emotion regulation strategy reached significance as a mediator, which was not in line with the findings of Grass et al. (2018) in teacher trainees. When including the years of teaching experience in the model, self-control mediated between Need for Cognition and the sense of personal efficacy, suggesting that the mechanisms that in- or decrease a teacher’s burnout risk depend on the career stage. In a structural equation model we then found that teachers with higher Need for Cognition had lower burnout scores because they perceived their own resources as more fitting to their job’s demands and felt less overwhelmed by these demands, while the opposite pattern was associated with higher burnout scores. A sense of boredom in the form of one’s resources exceeding the demands was neither related to Need for Cognition nor to burnout scores. The perception of demands and resources fully mediated between Need for Cognition and burnout, indicating that dispositional cognitive effort investment has important protective effects for one’s sense of self-efficacy, but bears the risk of overestimating oneself nonetheless. In Study 3 we applied these practical insights to foundational research in a Registered Report, examining how Need for Cognition affects effort discounting behaviour. We adapted an existing effort discounting paradigm by Westbrook et al. (2013) to enable the computation of subjective values for different task levels without resorting to the objective effort for reference. Online questionnaires, an inlab working memory task with four difficulty levels, and the adapted paradigm were completed by 116 university students. We found that over a third of participants preferred a more difficult level over the easiest one, and that participants with higher Need for Cognition valued the most difficult level higher and the easiest level lower than participants with lower Need for Cognition did. The difficulty level itself and the accuracy of responses during the working memory task predicted the subjective values of the levels, while reaction time did not, a pattern that stayed consistent across 63 different data processing pipelines. An exploratory analysis showed that even though participants with higher Need for Cognition valued difficult levels higher and found them less aversive, there were no differences in subjective effort, reaction time, or accuracy compared to participants with low Need for Cognition, which further supported the possibility of overestimation. In conclusion, the findings of this thesis have advanced our understanding of the role of Need for Cognition in well-being. One of the main findings is the overestimation of one’s own resources in individuals with high Need for Cognition, which is facilitated by an increased level of self-control and self-efficacy beliefs. This self-perception is evident both in the workplace and in a basic research paradigm. It can be assumed that the inflated perception of own resources results from differences in the type of task engagement between individuals with higher and lower Need for Cognition. Those with higher Need for Cognition engage more frequently in actual tasks, which result in an increase in resources through skills and experience. More importantly, they engage much more frequently in hypothetical tasks, which result in a perceived increase in resources even though no actual skills were tested and no actual experience was gained. This task engagement pattern promotes a heightened but less accurate sense of self-efficacy in individuals with higher Need for Cognition. In the long term, this overestimation can have a negative impact on well-being but is offset by the predominantly positive associations of Need for Cognition with various aspects of well-being. Further research can now address the question of what influences this overestimation and how it can potentially be mitigated to derive implications for theory and practice. The data and analysis code from all three studies are openly available so that others can reproduce the results, explore patterns, or test new hypotheses.

The full text will be available at the end of the embargo: 10th April 2027

Studien syftar till att utforska de faktorer som påverkar svenska konsumenters val avelfordon. Genom en syntes av olika teoretiska perspektiv och empirisk forskninganalyserar studien den ekonomiska, infrastrukturella och beteendemässiga kontextensom formar beslutsprocessen kring köp eller icke-köp av elfordon i Sverige. Viktigafaktorer som påverkar beslutet är den höga initiala investeringskostnaden, otillräckligtillgång till laddningsinfrastruktur, rädsla för räckviddsbegränsningar och osäkerhetkring batteriets livslängd och underhållskostnader. Trots att miljöaspekter ofta vägs in,visar forskningen att ekonomiska och praktiska överväganden oftast har störstpåverkan på konsumentbeslut gällande bilköp.Studien framhäver även betydelsen av statliga incitament och policyåtgärder,teknologisk innovation samt variationer i attityder bland olika samhällsgrupper för attöka antalet elfordon på vägarna. Genom att adressera dessa utmaningar kan en merhållbar transportsektor realiseras i Sverige. Vidare identifierar studien områden förframtida forskning, inklusive djupare undersökningar kring konsumentpreferenser ochattityder gentemot elfordon, effektiviteten av statliga incitament samt den fortsattautvecklingen av batteriteknologi och laddningsinfrastruktur. / The study aims to explore the factors that influence Swedish consumers' choice of electric vehicles. Through a synthesis of different theoretical perspectives and empirical research, the study analyses the economic, infrastructural, and behavioural context that shapes the decision-making process around the purchase or non-purchase of electric vehicles in Sweden. Important factors influencing the decision are the high initial investment cost, insufficient access to charging infrastructure, fear of range limitations, and uncertainty about battery life and maintenance costs. Although environmental aspects are often taken into account, research shows that economic and practical considerations often have the greatest impact on consumer decisions to buy a car.The study also highlights the importance of government incentives and policies, technological innovation, and variations in attitudes among different social groups in increasing the number of electric vehicles on the road. By addressing these challenges, a more sustainable transport sector can be realised in Sweden. Furthermore, the study identifies areas for future research, including deeper investigations into consumer preferences and attitudes towards electric vehicles, the effectiveness of government incentives, and the further development of battery technology and charging infrastructure.

[ES] Constituye el objeto de esta tesis establecer un proceso de reflexión sobre determinados conceptos naturalizados históricamente por la ciencia urbanística y ambiental, de tal manera que pueda llevarse a cabo una revisión de los mismos -y, consecuentemente, de la legislación que los adopta filosóficamente- en el sentido de, frente a la situación de cambio climático y depredación territorial, permitirnos proceder a cuestionar un sistema que establece el desarrollo como un elemento de progreso económico en términos de crecimiento ilimitado, y proponer la posibilidad real de establecer un desarrollo en equilibrio con el medio. Para ello, se define el contexto evolutivo de la formación del concepto Ordenación Territorial, llegándose a la conclusión de que el significante tradicionalmente aceptado resulta más propio de un modelo basado en la generación de plusvalías, que en la determinación de su propia ordenación, derivada ésta de sus determinaciones intrínsecas, para poder, posteriormente, generar la planificación de los usos y actividades que sobre éste deben o pueden llevarse a cabo. Se trata de reflexionar en cómo considerar el territorio como un recurso ya ordenado en sí mismo, constituido por lo que denominamos sus invariantes, el cual va a ser utilizado por la sociedad -desordenándolo necesariamente-, para poder extraer respetuosamente de él los beneficios que precisa para el propio desarrollo social, todo ello alternativamente al modelo de explotación económica -corregida en base a criterios de «sostenibilidad»- tratado como un mero tablero de actuación, sobre el que planificar usos y actividades. Esta mencionada «sostenibilidad» viene instrumentalizada por el denominado Desarrollo Sostenible, término al que calificamos de oxímoron, por cuanto «desarrollo» -obviamente, en nuestro contexto, desarrollo económico- es un término que se contrapone a «límite», indicador que se debe considerar inherente al concepto de sostenibilidad. Entenderemos, por tanto, que la Ordenación Territorial vinculada a criterios de Desarrollo Sostenible implica la incapacidad, en la evolución territorial, de considerar el equilibrio necesario para poder recuperar y mantener aquellos elementos territoriales, sus recursos, para considerar unos niveles de bienestar aceptables. Consecuentemente, cualquier evolución hacia el límite, que no implique recuperación de lo agostado, con mayor o menor celeridad -desarrollo en «sostenibilidad» -, implicará, indefectiblemente, aproximación a la depleción definitiva. Revisar un sistema basado en el crecer por crecer, implementando un sistema de Estabilidad Continuada, que, en la situación de exaltación de políticas expansivas, sólo será alcanzable mediante un proceso de decrecimiento, senda de reversión hacia posiciones intralímite. Es así, por tanto, como se proponen nuevas figuras territoriales previas a la planificación urbanística basadas en lo que denominamos Capacidades Funcionales de Acogida, figura que vinculamos a la naturaleza intrínseca del territorio y su capacidad para mantenerse en un cierto equilibrio. Capacidades que vienen vinculadas para su activación a la real y verificable Necesidad Social, sin la cual carece de sentido la transformación del patrimonio común. Ello implica, por otro lado, instrumentos básicos limitativos a implementar en la legislación, de manera que el criterio vire hacia posiciones no expansionistas: desterrar la clase de suelo urbanizable; considerar el suelo rural, con sus diferentes aptitudes desarrollables, como alternativa; desclasificación, descalificación e, incluso, desurbanización, ante el expansionismo; determinaciones como ciudad cuidadora, ciudad mediterránea, compacta, mixta, cohesionada, localizabilidad de los recursos; el derecho al aprovechamiento, con recuperación social de plusvalías reales; renaturalización, revegetación y desmovilidad -movilidad no motorizada, proximidad- como ítem proyectual, serían incorporados como proceso cultural de decrecimiento. / [CA] Constitueix l'objecte d'aquesta tesi establir un procés de reflexió al voltant de determinats conceptes naturalitzats històricament per la ciència urbanística i ambiental, de tal manera que puga dur-se a terme una revisió dels mateixos -i, conseqüentment, de la legislació que els adopta filosòficament- en el sentit de, enfront de la situació de canvi climàtic i depredació territorial, permetre'ns procedir a qüestionar un sistema que estableix el desenvolupament com un element de progrés econòmic en termes de creixement il·limitat, i proposar la possibilitat real d'establir un desenvolupament en equilibri amb el medi. Per a això, es defineix el context evolutiu de la formació del concepte Ordenació Territorial, arribant-se a la conclusió que el significant tradicionalment acceptat resulta més propi d'un model basat en la generació de plusvàlues, que en la determinació de la seua pròpia ordenació, derivada esta de les seues determinacions intrínseques, per a poder, posteriorment, generar la planificació dels usos i activitats que sobre aquell deuen o poden dur-se a terme. Es tracta de reflexionar en com considerar el territori com un recurs ja ordenat en si mateix, constituït pel que denominem les seues invariants, el qual serà utilitzat per la societat -desordenant-ho necessàriament-, per a poder extreure respectuosament d'ell els beneficis que precisa per al propi desenvolupament social, tot això alternativament al model d'explotació econòmica -corregida sobre la base de criteris de «sostenibilitat»- tractat com un simple tauler d'actuació, sobre el qual planificar usos i activitats. Esta esmentada «sostenibilitat» ve instrumentalitzada pel denominat Desenvolupament Sostenible, terme al qual qualifiquem d'oxímoron, doncs que «desenvolupament» -òbviament, en el nostre context, desenvolupament econòmic- és un terme que es contraposa a «límit», indicador que s'ha de considerar inherent al concepte de sostenibilitat. Entendrem, per tant, que l'Ordenació Territorial vinculada a criteris de Desenvolupament Sostenible implica la incapacitat, en l'evolució territorial, de considerar l'equilibri necessari per a poder recuperar i mantenir aquells elements territorials, els seus recursos, per a considerar uns nivells de benestar acceptables. Conseqüentment, qualsevol evolució cap al límit, que no implique recuperació d'allò ja agostat, amb major o menor celeritat -desenvolupament en «sostenibilitat» -, implicarà, indefectiblement, aproximació a la depleció definitiva. Revisar un sistema basat en el créixer pel créixer, implementant un sistema d'Estabilitat Continuada, que, en la situació d'exaltació de polítiques expansives, només serà assolible mitjançant un procés de decreixement, senda de reversió cap a posicions intralímit. És així, per tant, com es proposen noves figures territorials prèvies a la planificació urbanística basades en allò que denominem Capacitats Funcionals d'Acolliment, figura que vinculem a la naturalesa intrínseca del territori i la seua capacitat per a mantenir-se en un cert equilibri. Capacitats que venen vinculades per a la seua activació a la real i verificable Necessitat Social, sense la qual manca de sentit la transformació del patrimoni comú. Això implica, d'altra banda, instruments bàsics limitatius a implementar en la legislació, de manera que el criteri vire cap a posicions no expansionistes: bandejar la classe de sòl urbanitzable; considerar el sòl rural, amb les seues diferents aptituds desenvolupables, com a alternativa; desclassificació, desqualificació i, fins i tot, desurbanización, davant l'expansionisme; determinacions com a ciutat cuidadora, ciutat mediterrània, compacta, mixta, cohesionada, localizabilitat dels recursos; el dret a l'aprofitament, amb recuperació social de plusvàlues reals; renaturalització, revegetació i desmovilidad -mobilitat no motoritzada, proximitat- com a ítem projectual, serien incorporats com a procés cultural de decreixement. / [EN] The object of this thesis is to establish a process of reflection on certain concepts historically naturalized by urban and environmental science, in such a way that a review of them can be carried out -and, consequently, of the legislation that adopts them philosophically- in the sense of, in the face of the situation of climate change and territorial predation, allowing us to proceed to question a system that establishes development as an element of economic progress in terms of unlimited growth, and to propose the real possibility of establishing development in balance with the territorial environment. To get this, the evolutionary context of the formation of the Territorial Planning concept is defined, reaching the conclusion that the traditionally accepted signifier is more typical of a model based on the generation of capital gains, than on the determination of its own planning, derived from this of its intrinsic determinations, in order to subsequently generate the planning of the uses and activities that must or can be carried out on it. It is about reflecting on how to consider the territory as a resource already ordered in itself, made up of what we call its invariants, which will be used by society -necessarily disordering it-, in order to respectfully extract from it the benefits it needs. for social development itself, all of this alternatively to the economic exploitation model -corrected based on "sustainability" criteria- treated as a mere action board, on which to plan uses and activities. This aforementioned "sustainability" is instrumentalized by the so-called Sustainable Development, a term that we describe as oxymoron, since "development" -obviously, in our context, economic development- is a term that is opposed to "limit", an indicator that must be considered inherent to the concept of sustainability. We will understand, therefore, that Territorial Planning linked to Sustainable Development criteria implies the inability, in territorial evolution, to consider the necessary balance to be able to recover and maintain those territorial elements, their resources, to consider acceptable levels of well-being. Consequently, any evolution towards the limit, which does not imply recovery of what has been exhausted, with greater or lesser speed -development in "sustainability"- will inevitably imply an approach to definitive depletion. Review a system based on growth by growth, implementing a system of Permanent Stability, which, in the situation of exaltation of expansive policies, will only be achievable through a process of decrease, a path of reversion towards intra-limit positions. This is, therefore, how new territorial figures are proposed prior to urban planning based on what we call Functional Acceptance Capabilities, a figure that we link to the intrinsic nature of the territory and its capacity to maintain a certain balance. Capacities that are linked for their activation to the real and verifiable Social Need, without which the transformation of the common heritage is meaningless. This implies, on the other hand, basic limiting instruments to be implemented in the legislation, so that the criterion turns towards non-expansionist positions: banishing the type of developable land; consider rural land, with its different developable abilities, as an alternative; disclassification, disqualification and even disurbanization, in front of expansionism; determinations such as caring city, mediterranean city, compact, mixed, cohesive, localizability of resources; the right to get urban benefits, with social recovery of real capital gains; renaturalization, revegetation and demobility -non-motorized mobility, proximity- as a project item would be incorporated as a cultural process of degrowth. / Pérez Lores, LD. (2024). Ordenación del territorio y sostenibilidad. Análisis del concepto en el ámbito cultural occidental interpelación legislativa para un nuevo modelo en el caso valenciano [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/203401

Background: Loss experiences such as the loss of a spouse, a close relative or significant others become more likely in old age and may be strongly related to specific unmet health care needs. These unmet needs may often remain undetected and undertreated followed by a negative impact on well-being and social role functioning. The present study aims at exploring the relationship between loss experiences and specific unmet care needs in old age. Methods: As part of the study „Need assessment in the oldest old: application, psychometric examination and establishment of the German version of the Camberwell Assessment of Need for the Elderly (CANE)”, the adapted German version of the CANE was used in a population-representative telephone survey in a sample of 988 individuals aged 75+ years. Loss experiences within the last 12 months were assessed within the structured telephone survey. Descriptive and interferential statistical analyses were run in order to examine the association between loss experiences and occurring unmet care needs. Results: Overall, 29.7% of the oldest old reported at least one social loss with other relatives losses being the most frequent (12.5%), followed by non-family losses (10.7%). A significant relationship between loss experiences and a higher number of unmet care needs was observed, especially for close family losses. Other risk factors for unmet care needs were age, marital status, depression, social support and morbidity. Conclusions: This study provides, for the first time in Germany, data on the association between loss experiences and unmet needs. These findings may substantially contribute to the development of loss-specific interventions, effective treatment and health care planning for the bereaved elderly.

A survey was done in order to identify the predictors that contribute to satisfaction with qowl. A positive correlation was found between satisfaction with facets of work life and overall satisfaction with qowl. No significant difference was found between overall satisfaction and the mean of the satisfaction with the facets of work life. Organisational climate seemed to have the greatest influence. Significant predictors are identification with the organisation, participation, communication, resource management, work group functioning, reward system, health and safety aspects, job security and the rate of pay. Significant differences were found between rank, occupational, race and age groups. When need non-fulfilment scales are added to facets of work life measures, increase in the prediction of overall satisfaction is significant. The need to do work that supports moral values contributed most significantly to overall satisfaction. The most frequent preference was for financial security, followed by recognition, relationships and for achievement. / Psychology / M.A.