For the first time ever, mobile payments in Sweden have overtaken cash as the preferred method of payment when it comes to monthly payments. With cashless payments growing in Sweden and all over the world it is clear that mobile payment methods are going to increase in our everyday lives. As elders tend to have more difficulties learning and understanding software, it is not unlikely that this will affect the adoption of mobile payment methods. As cash is rapidly disappearing as a payment method in Sweden it is important to gain insight into which factors affect the acceptance of mobile payment methods among senior citizens, as they are the most frequent users of cash today. This is a qualitative case study where five seniors have been interviewed about their opinions on mobile payments based on a theoretical model of mobile adoption consisting of eleven variables. The interviews came to center around the Swedish mobile payment application Swish as it was the only mobile payment service that the participants were aware of and had experience using. The study’s goal is to gain knowledge of what variables are of importance to the senior consumers when deciding whether or not to adopt a mobile payment system. The main findings of the study are that the variables: social influence, attractiveness of alternatives and trust are the variables that have been seen to affect the senior citizens' adoption of mobile payment the most.

The issue of fair remuneration The diploma thesis focuses on the issue of fair remuneration in the Czech Republic, or rather lack thereof. The aim of this paper is to outline and evaluate the legislation of fair remuneration that is currently in effect. It must be said that the current fair remuneration legislation, at the first sight, seems to be sufficient and effective in practice. However, that is not true yet, as one of the remaining issues of fair remuneration is the inequality in the remuneration of women and men, where women are generally paid less than men for the same work. This thesis comprises of five chapters. The first chapter provides an overview and evaluation of the legislation of fair remuneration. The second chapter attempts to define the term "fair remuneration" while also outlining other key terms. In general, fair remuneration is such that is in absolute accordance with the current legislation. However, that does not guarantee that such remuneration would be perceived as fair by the employees themselves. Therefore, each employee should know how he or she is remunerated and what specific criteria affect the amount of his remuneration. It follows that each employer should have a transparent remuneration system in place, which would indicate which criteria play a role in...

The Unified theory of Technology Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model suggest that the user acceptance before adopting a technology will greatly affect how the technology is accepted, and in effect its impact and performance in the organisation. A technology that is having an increasing presence in organisations is Procure-to-Pay (P2P) systems. P2P systems have been shown to achieve performance gains after a successful implementation in the form of increased efficiency, higher quality and better control in the procurement process. Being able to assess beforehand the performance gains of a technology before adoption is a crucial step for organisations seeking to lower uncertainties. This research assesses the importance of user acceptance as a precondition for a successful implementation of a P2P system. The research was conducted as a multiple case study at three organisations; Jernhusen, Akademiska Hus and Specialfastigheter. Jernhusen is considering adopting a P2P system. Akademiska Hus and Specialfastigheter have undergone the adoption of a P2P system. By measuring the user acceptance at Jernhusen the performance of a P2P system was assessed from a theoretical standpoint. The performance of a P2P system, and how well the implementation had succeeded was measured at Akademiska Hus and Specialfastigheter and put in relation to the measured user acceptance before adoption. This provided data to assess to what extent user acceptance is a precondition for a successful implementation of a P2P system. The study found that the user acceptance at Jernhusen, Akademiska Hus and Specialfastigheter was low before adoption. The theory indicate that this would lead to low adoption of a P2P system at Jernhusen and few performance gains. However, performance measurements made at Akademiska Hus and Specialfastigheter indicated that the P2P systems have led to medium to high performance gains respectively despite of low user acceptance before adoption. The research therefore concluded that user acceptance is not an important precondition for a successful implementation of a P2P system. / Unified Theory of Technology Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) modellen menar att användaracceptans innan en teknologi implementeras i en organisation är en avgörande faktor på hur organisationen kommer ta till sig teknologin och i sin tur teknologins effekt på organisationen. En teknologi som är allt mer framstående inom större organisationer är Procure-To-Pay (P2P) system. Effekterna av ett P2P system efter en framgångsrik implementation har påvisats vara förbättrad kvalité samt ökad effektivitet och kontroll av ingående steg av inköpsprocessen. Att kunna utvärdera systemets inverkan på en organisation i förhand är avgörande för organisationer som ämnar att minimera osäkerheter och risk vid systemimplementation. Denna studie utvärderar vikten av användaracceptans som en förutsättning för en lyckat implementation av ett P2P system. Studien var genomför som en flertalig fallstudie hos 3 organisationer; Jernhusen, Akademiska Hus och Specialfastigheter. Jernhusen överväger införandet av ett P2P system. Akademiska Hus och Specialfastigheter har infört ett P2P system. Genom att mäta användarnas acceptans hos Jernhusen utvärderades effekterna av införandet av ett P2P system ur ett teoretiskt perspektiv. Effekterna av ett P2P system och hur framgångsrik implementationen varit utvärderades vid Akademiska Hus och Specialfastigheter, och dessa effekter sattes i förhållande till användarnas acceptans innan införandet av systemet. Detta tillgängliggjorde data för att utvärdera till vilken grad användaracceptans är en förutsättning för en lyckad implementation av ett P2P system. Studien fann att användaracceptans hos Jernhusen, Akademiska Hus och Specialfastigheter var låg innan införandet av ett P2P system. Teorin föreslår att detta är dåliga förutsättningar för en framgångsrik implementation samt svårt att uppnå de önskade effekterna av systemet. Dock visade data från Akademiska Hus och Specialfastigheter att P2P systemen hade lett till de önskade effekterna trots den låga användaracceptans. Därmed drar studien slutsatsen att användaracceptans inte är ett avgörande förutsättning för en lyckad implementation av ett P2P system.

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In the early days of e-commerce, countries took to the phenomenon at very different speeds. Researchers proved the most important factors for this to be propensity for trust and the perceived risk of online purchases. Today, the use of short-term, interest-free consumer credit, also known as ‘buy now, pay later’ (BNPL), is becoming increasingly popular. This concept, too, has gained very different footing between countries. There is a gap in the research on why, but use of short-term consumer credit offline has been proved to be related to people’s trust and attitude to risk. This study reviews several macro-environmental factors previously proven to be related to technology diffusion, risk and trust, and attempts to prove their respective impact on online shopping and the use of BNPL. Data on online shopping is collected from the Global Findex Database and includes 52 countries, while data on BNPL is collected from Swedish FinTech company Klarna and includes six countries. Out of ten macro-environmental factors examined, five showed a significant positive correlation to online shopping: individualism, long-term orientation, competitiveness, ease of doing business and political stability. Two cultural factors, individualism and uncertainty avoidance, showed a promising linear relationship with BNPL use, in the opposite sign of their respective hypothesis, although only significantly for individualism. Both these cultural dimensions are documented to affect risk behaviour. These results indicate that whatever perceived risk counteracts the diffusion of online shopping, drives the use of BNPL products. We reason that BNPL cancels some of the aspects of an online purchase proven to be perceived as risky, such as card information theft. Thus, high individualism and low uncertainty avoidance means people are less bothered by the risk of online shopping, and therefore less incentivised to mitigate them using BNPL. The main limitation of this study is the sample size of the market data on the use of BNPL, as well as the included countries being too similar in many aspects. The findings are useful for FinTech’s and e-commerce companies exploring new markets for expansion, and for policymakers attempting to regulate this emerging financial industry. / När e-handeln etablerade sig tog länder till sig detta teknikfenomen i olika takt. Forskare har visat att de mest betydande faktorerna som påverkar detta är ett lands inställning till tillit samt hur riskfyllt onlinehandel anses vara. Idag blir kortsiktig, räntefri konsumentkredit, även känt som ‘buy now, pay later’ (BNPL), alltmer populärt. Även detta koncept har fått olika fäste i olika länder. Det saknas forskning på varför, men offline har användningen av kortsiktig konsumentkredit visats vara relaterad till människors tillit och attityd gentemot risk. Denna studie granskar ett antal makrofaktorer som tidigare påvisats vara relaterade till spridningen av teknik, samt risk och tillit, och försöker bevisa deras respektive påverkan på e-handel och användningen av BNPL. Data på e-handel hämtas från Global Findex Database och inkluderar 52 länder, medan data på användningen av BNPL hämtas från det svenska FinTech-bolaget Klarna, och inkluderar sex länder. Utav de tio makrofaktorer som undersöktes visade fem en signifikant positiv korrelation till e-handel: individualism, långsiktighet, konkurrenskraft, affärsreglering och politisk stabilitet. Två kulturella faktorer, individualism och osäkerhetsundvikande, visade lovande linjära förhållanden med användning av BNPL, i motsatt riktning jämfört med deras respektive hypoteser, dock enbart signifikant för individualism. Båda dessa kulturella dimensioner har tidigare visats påverkarisk beteende. Dessa resultat indikerar att den uppfattade risk som motverkar spridningen av e-hande ldriver användningen av BNPL. Vi resonerar att BNPL motverkar vissa av de aspekter hos e-handel som visat sig uppfattas som riskabla, som kortbedrägeri. Alltså innebär hög individualism och lågt osäkerhetsundvikande att konsumenter är mindre besvärade av riskerna med e-handel, och därför mindre motiverade att mildra dessa risker genom att använda BNPL. Studiens huvudsakliga begränsningar är antalet marknader i data på användning av BNPL, samt att de inkluderade länderna är för lika i många aspekter. Studiens resultat är användbara för FinTechs och e-handelsbolag som letar efter nya marknader att expandera till, och för beslutsfattare som vill reglera denna växande finansiella bransch.

In this study, I explored the different perceptions of teachers in a large urban school district in Texas towards a pay-for-performance program used on their respective campuses between 2011-2016. In total, 97 teachers from four different middle school campuses participated in this study. A descriptive analyst was conducted on teacher responses to an online survey to answer the research questions examined in this study: 1) What are teachers' perceptions of the pay-for-performance program's impact on teacher motivation?, 2) What are teachers' perceptions of the pay-for-performance program's impact on teacher retention?, and 3) What are the differences among teachers' perceptions of the pay-for-performance programs on the participating campuses? The results indicate 48.3% and 53.4% of the participants perceive pay-for-performance programs as having a positive impact on teacher motivation and teacher retention, respectively. Additionally, the results demonstrate 47.5% of participating teachers responded positively towards the pay-for-performance program on their respective campuses. This study has implications for policymakers and school district leaders who may consider implementing teacher pay-for-performance programs. Future research studies might explore school districts of different sizes throughout Texas and across the United States to gain a broader prospective of pay-for-performance programs.

Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka och beskriva vilka likheter och skillnader som finns inom användandet av ersättningsmodellen pay for performance (P4P), inom hälso- och sjukvården, i Sverige och Storbritannien under tidsavgränsningen 1980–tal till 2000–tal.  Metod: Uppsatsen är skriven som en komparativ studie mellan två länder och materialet som samlats in har hämtats från tidigare studier och artiklar och är således en sekundär litteraturstudie.  Resultat: En av de stora skillnaderna som uppenbarats under undersökningen är att det skiljer sig stort mellan hur mycket vårdgivarna själva kan påverka den ekonomiska ersättningen och till vem den betalas ut. Det finns även kopplingar mellan införandet av prestationsbaserade ersättningsmodeller och de politiska förändringsprocesser som skett, det har visat sig att det finns kopplingar mellan den återhållsamma ekonomin som präglade 1980-talet, och införandet av P4P under 1990-talet. / Abstract  Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate and describe the similarities and differences regarding the management model Pay for performance (P4P) in health-care in Sweden and Great Britain. The chosen time delimitation for this study is the years between the 1980´s and the 21st century. Method: This thesis is a comparative study of two countries and the material collected has been taken from earlier studies and articles and is thus a secondary review.  Results: One of the big differences between the two countries, which is shown in this study, is that it differs greatly between how much the care providers themselves could influence the financial compensation, and to whom it is paid. There are also connections between the restrained economy that characterized the 1980´s and the implementation of P4P during the 1990´s.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Agricultural Economics / Hikaru H. Peterson / The U.S. wool demand has declined since 1950s due to the increasing demand for synthetic fibers. This research aims to study U.S. consumers' preferences for wool attributes to help the wool industry developing marketing strategies targeting certain groups of consumers. This research can be divided into two parts: 1) examining consumers' willingness-to-pay for wool attributes including country-of-origin, organic, animal-friendly, environment-friendly, and 2) investigating whether or not the consumer segments can be identified from consumers' demographic and psychographic characteristics on product purchasing behavior with respect to the wool attributes. In order to achieve the purpose of this research, the choice experiment was applied to examine consumers' preferences for wool attributes. Both mail and on-line surveys were conducted. The mail survey included three versions: basic version, version with definitions of attributes, and version with both definitions and information about wool attributes, with ## responses received (a 29 percent response rate). The on-line survey contained the basic version and the version with both definitions and information about wool attributes, with 514 responses received. Conditional logit and multinomial logit models were used to examine willingness-to-pay for wool attributes and consumer segments, respectively. Results indicated that a certain portion of U.S. consumers preferred wool over acrylic products. Findings also suggested that it is likely beneficial for wool producers to differentiate their products by promoting products' attributes, such as organic, animal-friendly, and environment-friendly. Further, brief information on product attributes provided with labels could increase consumers' WTPs. Results here revealed that to increase wool producers' revenues effectively, it is necessary to advertise their value-added wool products to different consumer segments.

As information regarding origin, production method, and environmental certifications characterize a progressing seafood market, scare analysis has been made to understand market responses. This study focuses on consumer preference for wild-caught and farm-raised shrimp with several attributes. These include the Homegrown By Heroes label and Best Aquaculture Practices certification, as well as other existing attributes including the Marine Stewardship Council and each state’s local label. Also considered are hypothetical labels including Community Supported Fishery (CSF) and National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This study surveys consumers in Kentucky and South Carolina while utilizing a choice experiment to elicit willingness-to-pay measures for these various product attributes. Both wild-caught and farm-raised shrimp are considered since these species have significant market potential. Like previous studies, a strong preference for fresh as well as local shrimp was found. Furthermore, preference for Homegrown By Heroes was found to be highly valued by consumers, as well as the NOAA label signifying a federally operated ecolabel. Consumers were also found to value BAP and MSC certifications, two third-party agencies currently existent in the seafood market. Marketing and policy recommendations are given based on consumer willingness to pay estimates for these various seafood attributes in both states.

The persisting gap between male and female wages in the United States offers a seemingly unusual disconnect between what is observed in the data and what is suggested by labor economics theory. Many authors have used aggregate or case methods to attempt to explain this gap. One characteristic of the earnings gap which has rarely been discussed is the large variation in female earnings as a percentage of male earnings by state. Why would median female earnings be 65% of male earnings in Louisiana while being 87% of median male earnings in New York? In this paper, using yearly Census data, I first find that the wage gap varies widely by state even when controlled for traditional determinants of wages and the gender pay gap. Then, deriving new variables to represent this controlled variation, I further find evidence that several state-specific characteristics represented by cross-section data explain a large portion of the controlled variation in gender pay gap by state. I conclude that the variables representing the structure of state economies as well as key measures of ideology and gender-related attitudes by state are significant determinant factors in why we see so much geographic variation in the gender pay gap.