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.

The aim of this thesis was to examine the extent, and correlates, of self-regulation of driving behaviour among a sample of South Australian older drivers (aged 60 or more). The first of four studies was an analysis of official crash statistics in South Australia over a period of five years. The patterns of crash involvement for South Australian older drivers were found to resemble those reported in the literature for other jurisdictions. Lower levels of crash involvement for older drivers in difficult driving situations (peak hour, rain, darkness) were interpreted as indirect evidence for self-regulation of driving behaviour. The second study involved pilot testing a measure developed specifically for assessing the visual attention of older adults (the Computerised Visual Attention Test - CVAT). The CVAT assesses visual attention by measuring target detection and reaction time for central and peripheral stimuli, and in conditions requiring selective and divided attention. The third study involved assessing the test-retest reliability, construct validity and predictive validity of the CVAT. It was concluded that the CVAT is a reliable measure of abilities including, but not restricted to, attention, and that it is correlated with on-road driving ability. The fourth study involved an examination of the driving behaviour and attitudes of 104 drivers aged over 60, with avoidance of difficult driving situations providing an index of self-regulation. These drivers also completed a battery of tests measuring psychological factors, vision, physical functioning, various cognitive abilities, and attention (the CVAT). Ninety participants additionally completed an on-road assessment of driving ability. It was found that older drivers most often avoided reverse parallel parking and driving at night in the rain, while driving alone was avoided least often. Measures of visual attention, medication use and visual acuity were most predictive of levels of self-regulation, while poorer driving ability was only associated with avoidance of a small number of specific situations. Functional deficits related to poorer driving ability but not to self-regulation included poorer contrast sensitivity, speed of information processing and spatial memory. Such deficits could identify drivers who may need to restrict their driving more than they do. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Department of Psychology, 2004.

Spending time at work, with family/whanau, and communities takes up a large proportion of Maori women's lives. Finding a balance can often be complex and challenging, due to surrounding environmental influences that are continually changing. This thesis explores those challenges, and considers whether 'being Maori' affects the way they manage their lives around the dimensions of work family/whanau and community.The study interviewed Maori women over 20 years of age, in paid work, and who were active members in two urban Maori communities of Auckland, namely Te Whanau o Waipareira Trust and Manukau Urban Maori Authority.It was anticipated that information gleaned could be used to consider positive strategies to facilitate the better management of their time given the constraints imposed on them by modern existence without compromising their cultural obligations as Maori actively involved in their communities.Overall, it was found that being Maori does have an affect on how the women manage their lives around work, family/whanau, and community. A number of factors are identified that help balance work and everyday life including whanau and community support as well as individual strategies and personal assistance. For example, flexible employers that valued Maori beliefs and culture helped reinforce and facilitate the achievement of this balance. Similarly, quality childcare was invaluable. Further research is suggested as to how Maori women balance competing priorities from community and whanau demands.

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.

Diss. Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniv., 2003.

Thesis (Ed. S.)--Miami University, Dept. of Educational Psychology, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 35-36).

O presente estudo teve por objetivo investigar a experiência e a prática da paternidade na adolescência, desde a gestação até o primeiro ano de vida do bebê. Participaram deste estudo três casais de adolescentes, cuja gestação estava no terceiro trimestre no momento do primeiro contato. Os participantes tinham idades entre 16 e 19 anos e, no momento da gestação, estavam namorando ou morando juntos, e eram de nível sócio-econômico baixo. Foi utilizado um delineamento de estudo de caso coletivo (Stake, 1994), de caráter longitudinal, sendo cada caso investigado em três diferentes etapas: terceiro trimestre de gestação, após três meses e após um ano de vida do bebê. Os relatos dos participantes foram submetidos à análise de conteúdo qualitativa e agrupados em torno de dois eixos temáticos: experiência e prática da paternidade. Em relação à experiência da paternidade, os resultados revelaram que os pais do presente estudo relataram mudanças importantes em suas vidas com o advento da paternidade, as quais foram também confirmadas pelos relatos maternos, com destaque para a percepção das mães de uma maior responsabilidade e maturidade dos companheiros com a chegada das filhas. No que diz respeito à prática da paternidade e, mais especificamente, ao envolvimento paterno, os jovens pais mostraram-se, de modo geral, bastante envolvidos na vida de suas filhas. Entretanto, tal participação parecia dar-se mais no nível das brincadeiras e do sustento da família do que em relação às tarefas de cuidado, que ficavam mais à cargo das mães. Foram identificadas importantes repercussões da paternidade sobre a vida destes jovens, em especial no que diz respeito à situação laboral e ao aumento da responsabilidade. Já no que diz respeito ao exercício da função paterna, os pais foram identificados como importantes fontes de apoio emocional para suas jovens companheiras, tanto no período da gestação, quanto no puerpério, apesar de algumas dificuldades em relação ao exercício de outras funções tenham sido identificadas. No entanto, apesar das dificuldades, os participantes do presente estudo, embora jovens, avaliavam positivamente suas experiências de paternidade e, de modo geral, mostravam-se envolvidos e implicados em sua prática enquanto pais, pelo menos ao longo do primeiro ano de vida de suas filhas. / This study aimed to investigate the experience and practice of fatherhood in adolescence from pregnancy through the infant’s first year. The study included three teenage couples in the third trimester of pregnancy at the time the first contact. Participants were 16 to 19 years old and were dating or living together, and were of low socioeconomic status. A collective-case study design (Stake, 1994) was used in which each case was investigated longitudinally at three different stages: the third trimester of pregnancy, and at infant´s third month and first year. The participants answers were analysed through qualitative content analysis and grouped around two central themes: experience and practice of fatherhood. In relation to the experience of fatherhood, results revealed that, in spite of being young, fatherhood brought significant changes in fathers´ lives , which were also identified in maternal reports, especially in mother’s perception of a greater responsibility and maturity of the spouses withthe arrival of their daughters. With regard to the practice of fatherhood and, more specifically, paternal involvement, young parents of this study were generally quite involved in their daughters’ lives. However, such participation seemed to be more on the level of play and breadwinner than in relation to care tasks, which were more the mothers’ responsibility. A significant impact of fatherhood was identified on these teenagers’ lives, especially concerning employment status and increased responsibility. As far as paternal role exercise is concerned, the fathers of this study were identified as important sources of emotional support to their young wives, both during pregnancy and the puerperium, despite some difficulties in relation to the exercise of other functions. Although being young, participants of the present studies evaluated positively their experience of fatherhood and, in general, were engaged and involved in their practice as parents, at least in their daughther’s first year.

abstract: ABSTRACT The purpose of this research is to provide insight into immigrant Latino parents' perspectives on parental involvement in elementary school settings as influenced by the Title I Family Literacy Program (TFLP). A comparison is made of Latino parents who have been participating in the TFLP for more than one year, participants new to the program and Latino parents who chose not to participate in the TFLP. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected via a survey and individual interviews of randomly selected members of each comparison group. All research participants were immigrant Latino parents with children at one of ten Title I elementary schools operating a TFLP. The schools are part of a large, urban school district in the Southwest. Findings indicate the TFLP has a positive effect on parental involvement practices of immigrant Latino parents. Participating parents showed increased confidence in their ability to support their children's education and program participants are more engaged in school activities. The results of this study imply participation in the program for one year or more has the most impact on families. Parents who participated for more than one year communicated a high sense of responsibility toward their influence on their child's education and upbringing and an understanding of strategies needed to effectively support their children. This research also identifies barriers parents face to participation in the TFLP and parental involvement in general. Implementation of family literacy programs in other districts would need to follow guidelines similar to this TFLP to achieve comparable results. More research is needed on the effects of this program on parents, children, and school staff. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Educational Administration and Supervision 2012

O presente estudo teve por objetivo investigar a experiência e a prática da paternidade na adolescência, desde a gestação até o primeiro ano de vida do bebê. Participaram deste estudo três casais de adolescentes, cuja gestação estava no terceiro trimestre no momento do primeiro contato. Os participantes tinham idades entre 16 e 19 anos e, no momento da gestação, estavam namorando ou morando juntos, e eram de nível sócio-econômico baixo. Foi utilizado um delineamento de estudo de caso coletivo (Stake, 1994), de caráter longitudinal, sendo cada caso investigado em três diferentes etapas: terceiro trimestre de gestação, após três meses e após um ano de vida do bebê. Os relatos dos participantes foram submetidos à análise de conteúdo qualitativa e agrupados em torno de dois eixos temáticos: experiência e prática da paternidade. Em relação à experiência da paternidade, os resultados revelaram que os pais do presente estudo relataram mudanças importantes em suas vidas com o advento da paternidade, as quais foram também confirmadas pelos relatos maternos, com destaque para a percepção das mães de uma maior responsabilidade e maturidade dos companheiros com a chegada das filhas. No que diz respeito à prática da paternidade e, mais especificamente, ao envolvimento paterno, os jovens pais mostraram-se, de modo geral, bastante envolvidos na vida de suas filhas. Entretanto, tal participação parecia dar-se mais no nível das brincadeiras e do sustento da família do que em relação às tarefas de cuidado, que ficavam mais à cargo das mães. Foram identificadas importantes repercussões da paternidade sobre a vida destes jovens, em especial no que diz respeito à situação laboral e ao aumento da responsabilidade. Já no que diz respeito ao exercício da função paterna, os pais foram identificados como importantes fontes de apoio emocional para suas jovens companheiras, tanto no período da gestação, quanto no puerpério, apesar de algumas dificuldades em relação ao exercício de outras funções tenham sido identificadas. No entanto, apesar das dificuldades, os participantes do presente estudo, embora jovens, avaliavam positivamente suas experiências de paternidade e, de modo geral, mostravam-se envolvidos e implicados em sua prática enquanto pais, pelo menos ao longo do primeiro ano de vida de suas filhas. / This study aimed to investigate the experience and practice of fatherhood in adolescence from pregnancy through the infant’s first year. The study included three teenage couples in the third trimester of pregnancy at the time the first contact. Participants were 16 to 19 years old and were dating or living together, and were of low socioeconomic status. A collective-case study design (Stake, 1994) was used in which each case was investigated longitudinally at three different stages: the third trimester of pregnancy, and at infant´s third month and first year. The participants answers were analysed through qualitative content analysis and grouped around two central themes: experience and practice of fatherhood. In relation to the experience of fatherhood, results revealed that, in spite of being young, fatherhood brought significant changes in fathers´ lives , which were also identified in maternal reports, especially in mother’s perception of a greater responsibility and maturity of the spouses withthe arrival of their daughters. With regard to the practice of fatherhood and, more specifically, paternal involvement, young parents of this study were generally quite involved in their daughters’ lives. However, such participation seemed to be more on the level of play and breadwinner than in relation to care tasks, which were more the mothers’ responsibility. A significant impact of fatherhood was identified on these teenagers’ lives, especially concerning employment status and increased responsibility. As far as paternal role exercise is concerned, the fathers of this study were identified as important sources of emotional support to their young wives, both during pregnancy and the puerperium, despite some difficulties in relation to the exercise of other functions. Although being young, participants of the present studies evaluated positively their experience of fatherhood and, in general, were engaged and involved in their practice as parents, at least in their daughther’s first year.

Este trabalho investigou o envolvimento de pais de bebês nos seis primeiros meses de frequência à creche. Baseado no conceito de envolvimento paterno, buscou-se investigar as transformações na interação, disponibilidade e responsabilidade dos pais sobre seus bebês com a entrada na creche. Para tanto, por meio de um estudo de caso coletivo de caráter longitudinal, quatro pais responderam a entrevistas em três momentos de coleta de dados, a saber: entrada do bebê na creche, um mês após a entrada e 6 meses após o ingresso na escola de educação infantil. Análise de conteúdo qualitativa indicou que tanto a creche quanto o desenvolvimento do bebê foram aliados do pai para a retomada do trabalho e da vida pessoal. O pai passou a interagir menos de acordo com os aspectos maternos da interação, uma exigência que vai muitas vezes além das suas capacidades. O presente estudo mostra a importância de se levar em consideração as necessidades e capacidades do pai que está envolvido no cuidado ao bebê. / This study investigated father involvement with their babies during the first six months in a child care center. Based on the concept of father involvement, we aimed to investigate the changes in fathers’ interaction, availability and responsibility concerning their babies over time. To this end, through a collective case study, with a longitudinal design, four fathers answered an interview in three times of data collection: entry in the child care center, one month and six months later. Qualitative content analysis indicated that the day care center and the baby's development helped the father to turn more to his work and to recover his personal life. The father was able to interact less according to the maternal aspects of the interaction, which may be beyond his capacity. The present study shows the importance of taking into consideration the needs and capacity of fathers involved in infant care.