<p>Risk- och beredskapsfrågor är idag mycket aktuella inom olika verksamheter. Studien undersökte hur barnomsorgspersonal i Örebro betraktade risk och beredskap i arbetet samt hur känslan av sammanhang (KASAM) samt arbetsrelaterade faktorer som krav, kontroll och stöd påverkade dessa upplevelser. Studien baserades på enkäter byggda på frågeformulären QPS-Nordic 34+, 13 frågors KASAM samt egna frågor. 53 personer deltog. Resultatet visade att den upplevda beredskapen var god i förhållande till den upplevda risken. Krav, kontroll, stöd och KASAM vara alla signifikant relaterade till beredskapsfaktorerna. Endast KASAM hade samband med riskupplevelser. Personer med hög KASAM och högt stöd i kombination upplevde generellt mindre risk samt bedömde beredskapen som bättre. Höga värden på dessa faktorer bidrar till en tryggare arbetsmiljö och bör således prioriteras.</p> / <p>Risk and preparedness issues are currently of interest for many sectors. This study investigated how staff in Örebro’s childcare viewed risk and preparedness and how a sense of coherence (SOC) and requirements, control and support in work influenced these views. The study was based on polls containing items from the questionnaire OPS-nordic 34+, 13 SOC questions and original questions. 53 people participated. The result shows assessed preparedness as high compared to perceived risk. Requirements, control, support and SOC were significantly related to preparedness. Only SOC was related to perceptions of risk. Combined high levels of SOC and support generally make for lower perceived risk and higher assessment of preparedness. This contributes to a safer workplace and should be prioritized.</p>

Risk- och beredskapsfrågor är idag mycket aktuella inom olika verksamheter. Studien undersökte hur barnomsorgspersonal i Örebro betraktade risk och beredskap i arbetet samt hur känslan av sammanhang (KASAM) samt arbetsrelaterade faktorer som krav, kontroll och stöd påverkade dessa upplevelser. Studien baserades på enkäter byggda på frågeformulären QPS-Nordic 34+, 13 frågors KASAM samt egna frågor. 53 personer deltog. Resultatet visade att den upplevda beredskapen var god i förhållande till den upplevda risken. Krav, kontroll, stöd och KASAM vara alla signifikant relaterade till beredskapsfaktorerna. Endast KASAM hade samband med riskupplevelser. Personer med hög KASAM och högt stöd i kombination upplevde generellt mindre risk samt bedömde beredskapen som bättre. Höga värden på dessa faktorer bidrar till en tryggare arbetsmiljö och bör således prioriteras. / Risk and preparedness issues are currently of interest for many sectors. This study investigated how staff in Örebro’s childcare viewed risk and preparedness and how a sense of coherence (SOC) and requirements, control and support in work influenced these views. The study was based on polls containing items from the questionnaire OPS-nordic 34+, 13 SOC questions and original questions. 53 people participated. The result shows assessed preparedness as high compared to perceived risk. Requirements, control, support and SOC were significantly related to preparedness. Only SOC was related to perceptions of risk. Combined high levels of SOC and support generally make for lower perceived risk and higher assessment of preparedness. This contributes to a safer workplace and should be prioritized.

The prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the United States is still high despite advances in prevention and therapies. Among all races and ethnic groups, African Americans are the most severely affected and face a disproportionate burden. African Americans account for a higher proportion of HIV infections and deaths than other races and ethnicities. In addition, one of the fastest growing segments of AIDS cases is patients more than 50 years of age. This segment receives little attention concerning HIV infection and as the U.S. population continues to age, it is important to be aware of specific HIV-related risks faced by these older African Americans and to ensure that they get information and services to help protect them from infection. This study aims to understand and compare the social network characteristics, perceived risk of getting HIV infection and HIV risk behaviors between younger (18 to 49 years of age) and older (50 plus years of age) African Americans living in high HIV prevalence zip codes of Atlanta, Georgia. The study population included 897 African Americans. Controlling for socio-demographic variables, multivariate analyses revealed that older African Americans have significant higher proportion of injection drug use, are less likely to get tested for HIV and more likely to have a risky sex partner (i.e., exchange sex for money or drugs); however, older African Americans were less likely to engage in sexual risk behaviors. Groups did not differ in terms of their perceived risk for HIV and social network characteristics. More research is necessary to understand their HIV-related risk behaviors, both sexual and drug use, and the specific needs for primary prevention effort of HIV/AIDS transmission among older African Americans.

Date: May 30, 2011 Program: MIMA – International Marketing Course name: Master Thesis (EFO 705) Title: Consumer behavior towards private label brands: A study of  Thai undergraduate students' experience Method: Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. Quantitative method was used to collect the primary data for this research. Moreover, qualitative method was also used to support the results from questionnaires. Conclusion: The research attempts to examine the different factors that influence consumers' purchasing intentions of private label brands among Thai undergraduate students. Five important factors were identified; there are collectivist culture, perceived risk, price, quality and store loyalty. Collectivist culture and perceived risk were found out to be important background factors which affect the other three factors. Furthermore, the result shows that price and quality of private label brands are highly related as most of the target consumers tend to associate expensiveness with high quality and vice-versa. However, the effect of store loyalty on consumers' (Thai undergraduate students)purchasing intention was found out to be insignificant.

Pharmaceutical companies experience new challenges in the face of steadily increasing costs for drug production coupled with a decrease in the number of approved drugs. While the pharmaceutical industry remains tentative in Sweden, it is extensively growing in China. Chinese businesses are now on the lookout for foreign experience and know-how in production and R&amp;D. This provides an opportunity for both parties to engage in strategic alliances. Nevertheless, strategic alliances present risks that partner firms need to be aware of. This study investigates how Swedish pharmaceuticals can manage perceived risks when cooperating with Chinese pharmaceutical firms. Through academic journals, two main mechanisms were identified as being of particular influence in the management of perceived risk: trust and control. A qualitative study of nine interviews was conducted in order to determine how Swedish pharmaceutical companies manage risk when engaging in strategic alliances with Chinese partners. Six men and women employed in three different pharmaceutical companies were interviewed along with three experts from the industry. The empirical investigation results in a description of a sequence of trust-enhancing activities and control mechanisms. Network and communication are found to be essential trust-enhancing activities, enabled by a Chinese employee. The study conclusively determines that a Chinese connector is the key in the management of perceived risk.

The essence of online group-buying is to lower the price by gathering orders However, the process is filled with uncertainty and risks, such as the number of joining members, the final price, the quality of products, and even the trustworthiness of the initiators. Generally speaking, consumers tend to reduce risks by searching more information. The more uncertainties there are, the more information seeking should be. Online feedback mechanism is often adopted as a strategy to lower risks and uncertainties. Both e-Bay and Yahoo provide such feedback mechanisms. In addition, the larger the number of accumulated orders is, the higher possibilities to lower the price and risk will be. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to explore how the online feedback mechanism and the number of accumulated orders impact consumers¡¦ perceived risk and trust in the initiator and furthermore, how the perceived risk and trust impact consumers¡¦ behavior in online group buying. The study shows that the content of the online feedback mechanism has significant impact on consumers¡¦ perceived financial risk, performance risk, total risk and the trust in initiator as well. The more negative the content is, the more risks the consumers perceive and the less trust in the initiators the consumers have. Furthermore, different contents will result in different kinds of risks perceived by consumers. With larger number of accumulated orders, consumers have more trust in initiators. Additionally, consumers have higher intentions to join group-buying when they perceive lower risk and more trust in initiators. Therefore, consumers¡¦ intentions to join group-buying have significant impact on their actual behavior.

Online shopping involves more uncertainty and risk than traditional shopping. These phenomena are even obvious in online group-buying. One of the main factors causing the uncertainty and risk is the role of the initiator. Since it is quite often that the initiators themselves are consumers, the initiators are not as huge and professional as the sellers. Clearly the trust in initiator becomes a major concern when joining the online group-buying. Based on the theory of planned behavior, the purpose of this research is to understand how initiator¡¦s reputation, interactions with initiator, consumers¡¦ perceived risk and personal characteristics impact consumers¡¦ trust in the initiators and then how the consumers¡¦ perceived trust in the initiators, subjective norm and familiarity with online group-buying together impact the consumers¡¦ behavior in group-buying. The study result indicates that the perceived initiator¡¦s reputation, interaction with initiator, perceived risks in online group-buying, and subjective norm impact the trust in initiator. Moreover, based on TPB, the trust has significant effects on consumer¡¦s intention to join online group-buying. Subjective norm has impacted the consumer¡¦s intention to join online group-buying not only directly but also through the trust in initiator indirectly. However, the familiarity with online group-buying has no significant effects on consumer¡¦s intention to join online group-buying.

The aims of the current study are to examine the relation of risk taking behaviors (RTBs) with perceived risk, perceived benefit, and impulsivity and also to investigate the moderator role of impulsivity on the relationships between engagement in RTBs and the predictors of the engagement in RTBs (i.e. perceived risk and benefit) after controlling the effects of age, gender, and self esteem. In order to measure engagement in RTBs, perceived risk, and perceived benefit, Modified Risk Involvement and Perception Scale (&Ouml / zmen, 2006) was adapted to Turkish culture in Study 1 by using Middle East Technical University (METU) students. The sample of Study 2 was composed of 234 METU students and a questionnaire set including demographic information sheet, Modified Risk Involvement and Perception Scale (M-RIPS) (&Ouml / zmen, 2006), Barratt Impulsiveness Scale version 11 (BIS-11) (G&uuml / le&ccedil / et al., 2008), and Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale (RSES) (Rosenberg, 1965) was administered. Multiple hierarchical regression analysis was conducted with perceived risk, perceived benefit, and impulsivity as independent variables and engagement in RTBs as the dependent variable. The findings suggested that perceived risk was negatively whereas perceived benefit and impulsivity was positively related to risk taking behaviors. Moreover, as compared to perceived risk, perceived benefit was a more powerful predictor of RTB. However, it was not found any moderator role of impulsivity on the relationships between engagement in RTBs and its predictors. The strengths and limitations, as well as implications of the findings were discussed.

Fear of crime is a phenomenon which affects individuals&#039 / standard of living and influences their everyday behaviors. In this sense, it can be said that if a person has high fear of crime, this will have a negative effect on his or her standard of living. Fear of crime does not always bear resemblance to the crime rate of the society. From this standpoint, residents of a region where crime rate is high do not always have high fear of crime. Similarly, the residents of a region where crime rate is low may have high fear of crime. This situation points out the need of an extensive analysis on fear of crime as a significant variable regarding individuals&#039 / standard of living. This study aims to examine the relationship between perceived risk of victimization and fear of crime. Studies about fear of crime mainly focus on gender differences, social inequalities and physical incivilities. all of this factor are important element to grasp its nature and dimensions of fear of crime. In addition to this factors fear of crime is affected by individuals risk perception of victimization. Our study aims to deal fear of crime concept among students in a multidimensional approach. In this respect, it will evaluate how much the students are afraid of and uncomfortable with being exposed to a crime rather than the assessing merely the possibility of being exposed to a crime. The study will measure the concept of fear of crime over the concept of anticipated fear according to Ferraro&rsquo / s (1995) model. The advantage of this approach is that it allows the measurement of fear of crime the individuals show as a result of contacting other person and environment rather than the instantaneous fears. Our study will evaluate the Metu students&rsquo / fear of crime in terms of specific crimes rather than a general evaluation of crime in line with the approach of risk perception. In this sense, our study seeks to measure the fear of crime over certain crimes such as theft, robbery, simple attack, serious attack and sexual abuse.

Along with increasing users and contents, the Internet has gradually become the main channel for customers to acquire information of products and services. Yet the development of the Internet has brought about information overload problems. When facing oversized information, consumers tend to solicit for others¡¦ help. Under such circumstance, reviewing systems and forums on the Internet are flourishing. With the popularization of Internet technologies, these Internet customer review systems have gradually become critical necessary information when consumers are making purchase decisions. This research took two experiments as the methodology used in examining the relation between Internet customer reviews and customers, tourism was selected as the condition of experiment. The first experiment discussed about general Internet customer reviews, including the dispersion of reviews, reviewing scores, number of reviewers and so on and examined the relation between different levels and customers¡¦ trust in the reviews. The second experiment examined the relation between personal risk attitude, perceived risk and customers¡¦ level of trust and willingness of purchase. Outcomes indicate that: 1.The lower dispersion of reviews, the higher the level of customers¡¦ trust in the reviews. 2.The higher review scores, the higher the level of customers¡¦ trust in the reviews. 3.The more reviewers, the higher the level of customers¡¦ trust in the reviews. 4.Dispersion of reviews, review scores and number of reviewers possess reciprocation relations with customers¡¦ trust in the reviews, and the level of influence is score > dispersion > number of reviewers. 5.Personal risk attitude and perceived risk play roles in explaining consumers¡¦ trust in reviews and willingness of purchase.