Communication methods in the corporate environment must change. Organisations can no longer expect effective communication when using intranet sites or sending employees countless emails. This type of communication does not create the learning environment and most employees either do not read the intranet sites, or there is just too much email which could be seen as spam by the employee. These types of technologies also create a culture where organisations are lead from the top and there is not a culture or platform to create feedback loops. Most large corporate organisations have a tendency where many silos are created and cliques are formed, which is not in line with the culture of a learning organisation. Although there are a number of studies which look at how Internet based micro-blogging affect social connectedness, there is however limited information as to the effect that micro-blogging, if used internal to the organisation, would have on employee engagement, or how it can affect the competitive nature to the organisation. The research is exploratory in nature and set out to review what impact internal micro-blogging has on the organisation. The research uses Vodacom, one of the leading Information and communications technology (ICT) and telecommunications companies in South Africa, as the case study, as micro-blogging was recently introduced into this organisation.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Special Education, Counseling and Student Affairs / Doris W. Carroll / On-campus college students are enrolling in online courses at a greater rate than ever before for a variety of reasons, from needing a more flexible schedule for work to keeping their degree progress on track when on-campus sections fill before they can enroll to utilizing a modern modality for coursework. In order for online courses to help students successfully meet learning outcomes, the courses need to be well-designed for all students, including on-campus students who may be more comfortable in on-campus classrooms and less skilled in how to learn and engage academically in online courses. The purpose of this case study was to explore the experiences of multiple participants who all participated in an online communications course, either as students earning on-campus degrees at the same institution, as teaching assistants, or as the faculty member at a mid-sized land grant institution in the midwestern United States. The participants were selected with both criterion- and purposeful-based sampling. The participants’ experiences were viewed using the theoretical framework of symbolic interactionism. Individuals’ worlds are made of objects that may be physical, social, or abstract. The objects in this study are the elements within an online communications course; the participants shared about the elements that they perceived as most engaging. The data collected from this study is useful in building more engagement into courses that have high on-campus student enrollments, which the literature indicates will continue to grow. Participants specifically shared the importance of course organization, strategic course relationships, and relevancy of content in creating the necessary engagement that helps students learn to not just endure but to embrace the subjects they are studying online.

This research aims to investigate the role of consumer engagement in influencing loyalty and word-of-mouth through a user generated brand community on Facebook by collecting evidence from both quantitative and qualitative studies. A quantitative study is adopted to test the engagement dimension and its relationships with other constructs, such as participation, loyalty, and word-of-mouth, with a sample size of 551 collected among Facebook users in the UK. The empirical analysis from the quantitative data supports the ABC (i.e., affective, cognitive, and behavioural) dimensions of engagement as assumed in the study and finds a positive relationship between engagement, participation, loyalty, and word-of-mouth. Similarly, a qualitative study is adopted in the form of a semi-structured interview held with six user Apple brand champions from an Apple user generated online brand community on Facebook. A thematic analysis is conducted to analyse the engagement dimensions and their relationship to participation, loyalty, and word-of-mouth. In addition, the application of both the methods (i.e., the quantitative and qualitative studies) to investigate the main aim helps the research to attain complementarity. The combination of both methods provides evidence to justify the engagement dimensions and their relation to participation, loyalty, and word-of-mouth. The quantitative study supports the argued engagement dimensions and their relationship with other constructs, whereas the qualitative study explores other components of engagement and their relationship with similar constructs, as well as helping to enhance the relationships and dimensions of engagement. Moreover, this study contributes to marketing literature by empirically validating customer loyalty and word-of-mouth as outcomes of customer participation and engagement. No study so far has empirically investigated the effect of customer engagement on loyalty and word-of-mouth in a user-generated online brand community context. This enhanced understanding of vigour, personal identity, attention, absorption, sharing, and learning suggests that marketers should concentrate on the type of information presented, as well as the format in which information is presented outside the company’s networks. Community markers, such as feelings, emotions, excitement, contribution, and interaction with peers, contribute significantly to engaging and influencing loyalty and word-of-mouth with both the brand community and the brand itself.

Background: There is increasing concern that as students move through to adolescence, motivation toward reading declines. When there is limited desire to read, less time is spent with text, which can eventually impact on literacy acquisition. A systematic synthesis of research which has measured outcomes relating to motivation and/or engagement as part of a reading intervention was conducted. Despite the wealth of literature surrounding adolescent literacy, only six studies met the inclusion criteria. The review highlighted a number of affective factors that may contribute to effective reading interventions. However, to date there has been no research on how Educational Psychologists (EPs) might work with students to address affective factors in reading. Methods/participants: An affective reading programme structured around a Motivational Interviewing (MI) based intervention was implemented with three Year 8 students in one high-school. Students were identified as having a primary reading difficulty and perceived to be disengaged or low in motivation toward reading. Five- 50-minute sessions were facilitated on a fortnightly basis by the researcher. Analysis/ findings: Quantitative outcomes from pre-, post- and three-month follow-up indicated positive outcomes for two of the three students in relation to motivation and engagement toward reading. However, for one student, quantitative data were not indicative of self-report improvements across motivation domains. Qualitative data on the other hand suggested that all three students perceived the intervention to have a range of benefits. Four super-ordinate themes emerged from thematic analysis of the qualitative data obtained from semi-structured interviews, suggesting a perceived increase in motivation and engagement toward reading, in addition to increased self-efficacy. The current findings identified key factors in addressing reading motivation with adolescent students. Conclusion/implications: The present study adds a valuable contribution to current theory and research within adolescent literacy. It raises awareness in acknowledging and addressing the needs and complexities of addressing motivation to read amongst reluctant readers. A structured dissemination strategy is discussed, along with some of the potential implications for EPs. Further, a discussion with regards to evidence-based and practice-based evidence in the context of this study is presented.

No contexto de um mundo dito “globalizado”, de um mercado de trabalho competitivo e flexibilizado, programas de intercâmbio cultural parecem ganhar força enquanto produtos e estratégias de classe para a obtenção de capital simbólico e distinção. É neste cenário que surge a AIESEC - uma organização não governamental internacional, presente em mais de 111 países e territórios - que se apresenta como “plataforma para construção e desenvolvimento de lideranças” por meio do trabalho voluntário e intercâmbios de trabalho - pautados pelo discurso da “sustentabilidade, paz mundial e impacto positivo na sociedade”. Essa pesquisa tem como objetivo principal analisar o discurso e práticas organizacionais, voltadas ao engajamento institucional e seus reflexos na construção de identidades e estilos de vida. O presente estudo, de cunho etnográfico, busca analisar processos de “consumo institucional” por parte dos membros da organização, atentando para processos de identificação e compra da mesma, passando pela sua (re)apropriação e atribuição de significado. A pesquisa tem por fundamento dados levantados por meio do trabalho de campo com os membros da AIESEC do seu escritório na cidade de Porto Alegre. Procurou-se mapear e analisar o conteúdo da comunicação, os valores institucionais e as práticas às quais estes jovens são submetidos antes do período de intercâmbio, bem como depoimentos antes e após a experiência. Visto que um dos objetivos principais da organização é “desenvolver futuros líderes”, buscamos entender quem são estes jovens, como são selecionados para entrar na organização, como se engajam e percebem questões de “liderança” e que “líderes” são esses que estão sendo formados por meio de uma “rede internacional”. / In the context of a so called “globalized” world, of a competitive and flexibilized job market, cultural exchange programs seem to gain strenght as products and class strategies for achieving simbolic capital and distinction. It is in this scenery that AIESEC appears - an international non-governmental organization, located in more than 111 countries and tetritories - which presents itself as a “plataform for leadership construction and development” through volunteer work and exchange work programs – based on the discourse of “sustainability, world peace and positive impact on society”. This research has as its main focus to analise organizational practices and discourses, oriented to institutional engagement and its reflexes on identities and lyfestyles. The present study, with its ethnographich character, seeks analyzing the processes of “institutional consumption” by the members of the organization, paying attention to the processes of identification with and purchase of it, through its (re)apropriation and meaning assigning. The reaserch has as its fundament the data collected through fieldwork with the members of AIESEC’s office located in Porto Alegre, Brasil. We sought maping and analysing the institutional communication content, its values and the practices which the members are submitted to before going on an exchange program, as well as the interviews before and after this experience. Seen that one of the main goals of the organization is to “develop future leaders”, we sought understanding who are these “young people”, how they are selected to enter the organization, how they engage and perceive matters of “leadership” and what king of “leaders” are being formed through an “international network”.

Tentando gerar inovações e maior aceitação no mercado, as vinícolas brasileiras têm investido em estrutura física que proporcione uma experiência mais satisfatória do tradicionalmente oferecido pelas redes de varejo. Com o apoio do enoturismo, essas empresas realizam degustações acompanhadas por visitas guiadas em sua propriedade. Contudo, o vinho brasileiro tem sofrido forte concorrência com países como Argentina e Chile. Expostos à concorrência, torna-se necessário que as vinícolas busquem novas alternativas para se diferenciarem. Para isso, as vinícolas buscam maior qualidade e proximidade com os consumidores. Como solução para esse problema, a cocriação possibilita a geração de inovação a partir do envolvimento do cliente. Considerando que a cocriação de valor ocorre a partir das interações das empresas com os consumidores, não é suficiente entender apenas a visão de um dos lados. Para essa investigação, considerou-se os seguintes agentes da cadeia do vinho: a vinícola, os seus intermediários e o consumidor final. Dessa forma, esse estudo teve como objetivo entender quais são os canais adequados para um processo de cocriação de valor na cadeia do vinho. Para tal, fez-se necessária a compreensão de alguns conceitos como relacionamento com o cliente, partindo da Lógica do Serviço Dominante até a cocriação de valor. Abordando, assim, aspectos importantes de quatro modelos conceituais de cocriação de valor. A primeira etapa desse estudo foi qualitativa de finalidade exploratória, para levantamento de informações a respeito de como a vinícola e seus intermediários interagem. A segunda etapa foi quantitativa com finalidade exploratória e foi realizada com os clientes da vinícola Miolo. A vinícola não é o único canal por onde o consumidor consegue obter informações e produtos, sendo assim, foram considerados: uma loja especializada (Vinum) e um e-commerce (Vinhos e Vinhos). A escolha se deu porque esses foram considerados os canais onde as possibilidades de cocriação são maiores. Na primeira etapa desse estudo a técnica de coleta de dados utilizada foi a entrevista em profundidade com um dos responsáveis pela gestão, considerando dois setores da empresa relevantes à essa pesquisa. Na segunda etapa realizou-se um levantamento com 74 consumidores da vinícola. Realizou-se análise de conteúdo na primeira etapa, utilizando-se do software Nvivo. Na segunda etapa realizou-se uma análise descritiva da amostra e testes par verificação de correlações entre as variáveis, a partir do software SPSS. Observou-se que ainda há falhas na comunicação entre as empresas estudadas e seus consumidores, principalmente ao que se relaciona ao diálogo e ao acesso. Ademais, verificou-se que as empresas têm se preocupado menos com questões relacionadas ao planejamento, aprendizagem e métricas. Contudo, observa-se que as três empresas têm feito esforços para se relacionarem com seus clientes, mas as oportunidades de cocriação de valor estão sendo pouco exploradas. / Searching for interaction with customers, trying to generate innovation and greater market acceptance, Brazilian wineries have been investing in an infrastructure able to provide a more satisfactory experience than the one based on purchases at shops and supermarkets. With the support of wine tourism, these wineries hold tastings of some of their products combined with guided tours around the property, showing the customer the wine production method and explaining some important techniques for a better appreciation of the commercialized products. Due to competition with wineries from Argentina e Chile, it is necessary that Brazilian wineries seek new alternatives that will lead to an increased consumer demand of products. For this purpose, the wineries seek greater proximity to customers as well as higher quality. As a solution to this problem, co-creation generates innovation from the engagement of consumers (). Considering that value co-creation happens from interaction between companies and customers, understanding only the consumer vision or the company’s is not enough; an analysis of both must be done. For this investigation, it was considered for the wine productive chain the winery, the intermediary and the final consumer. Two types of intermediaries were considered: shops and e-commerce, since these are the channels with better possibilities for co-creation. Thus, the objective of this study was to understand which channels are appropriate for value co-creation process in the wine productive chain. For this purpose, it’s necessary to comprehend some concepts like relationship with client, from the Service Dominant Logic to co-creation of value. An approach of important aspects of value co-creation conceptual models was made: DART model, from Phahalad and Ramaswamy (2004), Payne, Storbacka and Frow model (2008), Arnould, Price and Malshe model (2006) and Brasil, Santos and Dietrich model (2010). The first stage of this study was qualitative with an exploratory purpose (GIL, 2008) for information survey about the winery and its intermediaries. The second stage was quantitative with an exploratory purpose and was carried out with Miolo winery’s customers. The customer can acquire information and products not only from the winery, so two intermediaries were considered in this study: the e-commerce Vinhos & Vinhos and the wine store Vinum. On the first stage of this study, the data collection technique used was an in-depth interview with the person responsible for the management, considering two important company departments to this research. On the second stage, it was made a survey with 74 winery’s consumers. On the first stage, a content analysis was made using the Nvivo software. On the second stage, a descriptive analysis of the sample and correlation verification test based on the SPSS software were made. It was noted that failures exist in the communication between the surveyed companies and the consumers, mainly related to dialog and access. In addition, it was found that companies are less concerned about issues related to planning, learning and metrics. However, it was noted that the three companies have been making efforts to build a relationship with customers, but the opportunities for value co-creation are not explored enough.

INTRODUCTION: In psychosis, low engagement with mental health services is both prevalent and frequently associated with negative outcome. The overarching objective of this thesis was to investigate the role of psychological variables in service engagement in people with psychosis. A systematic review was conducted to examine the evidence for clinical and psychological correlates of engagement. An empirical study sought to investigate the association between engagement and psychological variables of a relational nature (i.e. mentalizing and interpersonal functioning). METHODS: A systematic search strategy across four electronic databases yielded seventeen journal articles. For the empirical study, forty-two people with multiple-episode psychosis completed self-report measures of service engagement, symptoms, mentalizing and interpersonal functioning, within a cross-sectional design. RESULTS: The review found relatively robust evidence supporting the association between engagement and numerous clinical variables. Eleven psychological variables were revealed as significant correlates of service engagement, encompassing developmental, individual and relational factors. Assessment of quality and risk of bias highlighted a number of limitations within included studies. In the empirical study, greater cognitive/disorganization symptomology was predictive of lower service engagement. Service engagement was significantly correlated with mentalizing, but not with interpersonal functioning. The relationship between cognitive/disorganized symptomology and engagement was not mediated by mentalizing performance. CONCLUSION: Numerous psychological variables are associated with service engagement, which has the potential to inform clinical practice in view of enhancing engagement. Qualitative and longitudinal studies with both service user and provider samples are required to capture the contextual information surrounding fluctuations in levels of engagement.

This thesis consists of three empirical studies investigating, from various perspectives, the corporate motivations to join one of the largest voluntary initiatives promoting sustainability: the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). I employ three different statistical techniques, logistic regression analysis, event history analysis and structural equation modelling. The first study provides evidence from a field experiment on shareholder engagement effectiveness in general and on which tactics are more effective in engaging publicly traded firms. The experiment consists of an invitation letter sent by the Principles for Responsible Investment Clearinghouse, one of the largest worldwide coalition of investors, to encourage companies to sign up the United Nations Global Compact. I use a theoretical model for investor salience in order to understand the impact of the engagement. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first large-scale research on engagement using randomized controlled trials in the academic literature and in practice. The aim of the second study is three fold. First, most academic literature focuses on how the adoption of the UNGC impacts on the implementation of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) performance; this study addresses how ESG performance shapes the CSR strategy, namely, the UNGC. Next, I explore to what extent the ESG performance of firms adopting the UNGC change over time. Finally, this paper investigates whether the existence of controversies is a determinant for joining the initiative. Results show that, in all cases, ESG performance is significant and positively related to the adoption of the Ten Principles. Furthermore, results show that ESG performance differs across different points in time. Contrary to my expectations, controversies have no influence on UNGC membership. The third and final study examines the effect of the characteristics of the board of directors on the adoption of the UNGC/GRI by US-based firms. I investigate whether and how a CSR oriented board chooses the UNGC/GRI as part of their firms reporting strategy. I also consider the level of environmental and social performance as a mediator for such a decision. Results show that there is a positive and significant relationship between the board and environmental and social performance, and between environmental and social performance and the adoption of voluntary CSR initiatives. This relationship is stronger for social performance and for the GRI. Overall, this thesis provides further evidence about motivations to join the UNGC. The outcomes of this thesis are of relevance for shareholders and investor coalitions, policy makers, and other groups of stakeholders. Theoretically, this thesis adds to the literature on shareholder engagement, strategy and corporate governance.

The purpose of this study was to explore mechanisms through which high school students experience and cope with perceived discrimination and how discrimination and coping mechanisms relate to psychological distress and school engagement. Framed within transactional stress and coping and sociopolitical development theories, I tested a multiple mediation model with an ethnically diverse sample of public high school students (N = 979) and a subsample of Latina/o students (n = 433) to examine the mediating effects of three coping mechanisms (perceived social support, ethnic identity, and critical consciousness) on the relationship between perceived discrimination and the outcomes of psychological distress and school engagement. Additionally, psychological distress was examined as a mediator in the link between perceived discrimination and school engagement. Measurement and structural models were tested and demonstrated an adequate fit to the data. The hypothesized structural model accounts for 54% of the variance in school engagement and 31.2% of the variance in psychological distress in the full sample. The same model accounts for 63.4% of the variance in school engagement and 26.7% of the variance in psychological distress in the Latina/o subsample. A bootstrap analysis revealed that critical consciousness and perceived social support mediate the relationship between perceived discrimination and psychological distress in the full sample. Further, critical consciousness, ethnic identity, perceived social support, and psychological distress mediated the relationship between perceived discrimination and school engagement. A bootstrap analysis in the Latina/o subsample indicated that critical consciousness and psychological distress mediated the relationship between perceived discrimination and school engagement. While there are associated risks, the results highlight critical consciousness development as a protective racism-related coping mechanism for ethnically diverse adolescents and Latina/o youth in particular. Strengths, limitations, and implications of the study are discussed.

Este trabalho pretende reconstituir o debate entre Benjamin e Brecht durante a década de 1930 em torno da relação entre recursos formais e engajamento político na produção teatral brechtiana do período do fim da República de Weimar. Para isto, realizaremos um estudo de textos e montagens de determinadas peças, buscando trazer à tona, então, questões presentes nos comentários teóricos e interpretações realizadas pelos autores. O percurso deste trabalho divide-se em quatro partes. Primeiramente, nas duas partes iniciais, trataremos da crítica de Brecht à instituição teatral em seu teor ideológico e do início do desenvolvimento de seu projeto de refuncionalização social do aparelho produtivo teatral, bem como do papel da técnica neste contexto, valorizado por Benjamin. Para isso, realizaremos, inicialmente, uma reconstituição do panorama estético-político do período histórico e trataremos dos experimentos com A Ópera dos Três Vinténs e Ascensão e Queda da Cidade de Mahagonny. Em seguida, voltaremo-nos à peça radiofônica e ao Processo dos Três Vinténs, assim como, buscando aprofundar-nos na peça de aprendizagem, analisaremos o caso da peça A Medida. Em uma terceira parte, realizaremos um estudo da peça Um Homem é um homem, central para tal debate e tomada por Benjamin como modelo do teatro épico. Por fim, abordaremos o debate dos autores acerca da parábola em Kafka, a ser confrontada, então, com o trabalho brechtiano com a parábola. Pretende-se mostrar que se há, nas primeiras partes mencionadas, uma grande aproximação das perspectivas dos autores, nas duas últimas partes deste trabalho surgem, sobretudo em torno de uma tensão, de um conflito de compreensões entre a esfera gestual e a forma da parábola, diferentes interpretações do potencial crítico e da efetividade política do teatro épico. As divergências relacionam-se, em última instância, a diferentes compreensões dos vínculos entre arte e política, bem como a diferentes noções de dialética. / This work aims to reconstruct the debate between Benjamin and Brecht in the 1930\'s on the relation between formal resources and political engagement in Brecht\'s theatre works during the end of the Weimar Republic. To achieve so we will carry out a study of texts and staging of plays, with a view to surface then issues present in theoretical comments and interpretations by the authors. The path followed by this work is divided in four parts. In the first two parts we will deal with Brecht\'s critique to theatre as institution in its ideological content and with the beginning of the development of his project for social \"refunctioning\" of the theatrical production apparatus, in addition to the role of technique within this context, which is valued by Benjamin. In order to do so we will firstly reconstruct the aesthetical and political panorama of the historical period and consider the experiments with The Threepenny Opera and Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. Subsequently, we will focus on the radio play and on The Threepenny Lawsuit, as well as on his \"learning play\" The Measures Taken. On a third part we will study the play Man equals Man, capital to such debate and understood by Benjamin as \"a model for epic theatre\". Finally, we will tackle the author debate as regards the use of parables by Kafka, which is to be compared to the use of parables by Brecht himself. It is intended to show that if at first there is a great approach of the authors\' prospects, in the last two parts of this work, different interpretations of the critical potential and the political effectiveness of epic theatre appear, especially around a tension, linked to a conflict of understandings between the gestural sphere and the form of the parable. The divergences are related, ultimately, to the different understandings of links between art and politics, as well as to the different notions of dialectics.