Aim: The purpose of this study is to examine and analyze how insurance companies work to create value and confidence in their brands and then compare whether consumers perceive brands as companies seek. Method: The study is a gap analysis of both qualitative and quantitative in nature containing both interviews with insurance companies and a survey carried out on consumers. The study has been developed by analytical induction. Data: Consists of interviews with representatives from the insurance companies and survey responses from 99 consumers. Conclusion: From the study it can be concluded that the insurance industry is unique in its kind as a difficulty and complexity is obviously applicable to convey an overall impression to the consumer, which in turn will produce a brand value to the company. Creating a high brand value through good marketing where it maintained a good congruence between firms striving and consumer perception, is according to the scientists complicated because the lack of perceived quality affects the the big picture.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Technology: Business Administration, Durban University of Technology, 2014. / This thesis integrates social capital and ‘reasoned action’ theory to construct a theoretical model for investigating the factors which predict an individual’s intention to share tacit knowledge in a University of Technology. It utilizes Nahapiet and Ghoshal (1998: 243) definition and conception of social capital. They define social capital as “the sum of the actual and potential resources embedded within, available through, and derived from the network of relationships possessed by an individual or social unit”. This study examined tacit knowledge sharing behaviour (i.e., knowledge that is shared between individuals) within the context of social capital. The specific type of tacit knowledge that is being studied relates to work experience ‘know-what’ and ‘know-how’. ‘Know-what’ refers to the basic mastery of a discipline that professionals achieve through education and training. ‘Know-how’ refers to procedural knowledge about a business process and the individual’s capability to perform an action with an understanding of why the action is appropriate in the particular context, (i.e., action skill or applied competence). Specifically, this study examines the relationship between the structural, relational and cognitive dimensions of social capital and the individual’s attitude towards the sharing of tacit knowledge. It further examines the relationship between the individual’s attitude towards tacit knowledge sharing, their perceived norms and perceived behavioural control over the sharing of tacit knowledge (mediating variables) and their intention to share tacit knowledge. It is a case study which consists of a mixed methods research design, incorporating nine research interviews and five hundred and fifty four self administered questionnaires. The theoretical model is examined using structural equation modeling (SEM) and as a result of the findings, the initial model is revised into a set of theoretical models, which are tested using SEM and found to be consistent with the data (i.e., a good fit). The direct, indirect and total effects of the identified predictor (social capital) and mediating variables (‘reasoned action’) on the individual’s intention to share tacit knowledge, in each model, is examined and the results are presented. Each dimension of social capital is found to be significant for predicting the criterion variable ‘attitude towards tacit knowledge sharing’. The individual’s attitude towards tacit knowledge sharing is found to be highly significant for predicting the individual’s intention to share tacit knowledge but the ‘reasoned action’ variables are found to be not as significant, particularly perceived behavioural control over the sharing of tacit knowledge. The results of this study enrich our collective understanding regarding social capital and tacit knowledge sharing behaviour.

Background: Rectal cancer 5-year survival has increased from 58% of those diagnosed in 1987-1989 to 68% of those diagnosed in 2003-2009. Rectal cancer patients commonly receive one of two surgical treatments: permanent ostomy (a resection of tumor following by a stoma) or anastomosis (a resection followed by a reconnection with or without a prior temporary ostomy). The multifaceted consequences of both types of surgery potentially can affect both long-term psychological well-being and financial concerns of patients and their families. The overall goal of this dissertation is to increase the understanding of the impact of depression on the quality of life of rectal cancer survivors. Methods: The research data were based on a quality of life survey conducted in 2010-2011 among long-term survivors (≥ 5 years post-diagnosis) of rectal cancer. Participants were identified through the Kaiser Permanente (KP) health systems in Northern California and Southwest Washington/Oregon. Data included both the 2010/2011 survey data and KP electronic medical records (EMRs). Results: 1) The 24.7% prevalence of self-reported current depression among long-term rectal survivors was observed with a higher prevalence of 31% among those with permanent ostomies. Although average perceived financial burden level was low in this population of insured cancer survivors, 20% still reported moderate-to-high burden. Perceived financial burden was especially high among those who recalled having depression immediately after surgery and reported depression at the time of survey.2) All self-reported measures showed low sensitivity varying from 26% to 56% and high specificity from 77% to 82.7% against either diagnostic scheme from EMRs. Using either diagnostic scheme, the MCS-12 measure, a Mental Composite Summary (MCS) score from the 12-item Short-Form Health Survey with a cut-off point of≤45.6 for a self-reported depression, performed better as compared to the other two self-reported measures. 3) Approximately one in six rectal cancer survivors experienced depression after their surgery of sufficient severity to result in a depression diagnosis. Among survivors with recurrent depression diagnoses, those with a permanent ostomy reported significantly lower psychological well-being than those with an anastomosis. Conclusions: Depression burden is elevated after receiving surgery and remains a problem long after cancer diagnosis and treatment. Types of rectal cancer surgery received and gender of survivors may complicate the extent of depression burden. Among long-term rectal cancer survivors, having depression is associated with higher perceived financial burden. Chronic or recurrent course of depression may exist in this group of rectal cancer survivors and has significant impact on long-term psychological well-being. Self-reported measures for depression, such as MCS-12 measure with a cutoff point≤45.6, have the potential to be utilized for epidemiological studies when common screening instruments, electronic medical records, or administrative databases are not available. Implications: These findings underline the significance of depression assessments after surgery for this population of rectal cancer survivors and the importance of symptoms monitoring throughout the cancer survivorship continuum. Depressive symptoms should be monitored and managed as early as after cancer diagnosis and surgery to optimize survivors' long-term emotional well-being. In addition, depression screening and treatment as well as discussion of financial issues may have important roles in long-term survivorship care planning, particularly for those with permanent ostomies.

This research examined several independent variables and their prediction of perceived freedom in leisure (PFL). Four instruments were utilized to collect data from research subjects regarding the independent variables of shyness, extroversion, gender and activity preference style and the dependent variable, PFL. Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficients were calculated for each scale employed in the research. Reliabilities for the scales within this research were as follows: Stanford Shyness Survey (.78), Adult Short Form of the Leisure Diagnostic Battery (.92), three scales from the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire - Extroversion (.85), Neuroticism (.79), and LIE (.75), and the Activity Preference Style Scales - Active (.45), Group (.53), and Risk (.67). Due to the low alpha reliabilities of two of the Activity Preference Style Scales, Active and Group, factor analysis was performed in an attempt to construct new sub-scales with higher alpha reliabilities. This resulted in some of the new sub-scales, as well as the original Active and Group scales being used in the data analysis. The sample was comprised of 325 undergraduate students enrolled in a required history or English class. The age of the sample ranged from 17 to 50 with a mean age of 20.4. Questionnaires were given out during class time and students were instructed to complete them at home and return them to their instructor. Respondents were categorized into six non-independent groups: all subjects, not shy subjects, shy subjects, and three shyness sub-groups — shy now and in the past, shy now but not in the past and shy in the past. Stepwise multiple linear regression analysis was employed with four different sets of Activity Preference Style scales and sub-scales in the prediction of PFL for the six subject groupings. Regardless of a subject's level of shyness, extroversion, and in several other cases, one of the activity style variables were the only significant predictors of PFL. The best predictor of PFL for not shy subjects was risk.

This study examines the phenomenon of the usage of e-commerce in relation to firms’ internationalization process. Consequently, the study investigates risks and psychic distance in relation to prior research within International business, Internationalization and e- commerce, while focusing on the latest era of academia, namely “Internetalization”. The study investigates how e-commerce and its tools reduce perceived risks associated with firms’ internationalization process and what challenges Swedish SME’s identify while using e- commerce as a tool for internationalization. The study takes a qualitative, multiple case study approach focusing on Swedish SME’s operating in foreign markets within the retail industry. The findings indicate that e-commerce has the potential to generate international market expansion for Swedish SME’s. Further findings show that e-commerce and its tools are leveraged by Swedish SME’s to source, access and exchange valuable information whilst reducing perceived risk related to internationalization since it gives SME’s access to essential information needed for further expansion. Two main challenges are identified. Firstly, trustworthiness and secondly transforming gathered information into valuable information and knowledge. Consequently, the main challenge identified in the internationalization process of Swedish SME’s, resides in coping with the underlying presence of “psychic distance” or “virtuality trap”.

Pornografi har med internets framväxt blivit mer lättillgängligt och fått mer extrem karaktär. Forskning visar att pornografikonsumtion positivt korrelerar med riskbeteenden som sexuell aggression, men även genererar positiva självupplevda effekter hos individer genom exempelvis ökad sexuell självkänsla med bl.a. upplevd realism som bidragande faktor. Aktuell studie undersökte pornografikonsumtion relaterat till upplevd realism av pornografi, upplevda effekter av pornografikonsumtion samt sexuell självkänsla hos fem grupper, dels en sexnegativ grupp samt en grupp med anknytning till BDSM-kulturen. Antal deltagare var 423, varav 334 kvinnor. Resultat från internetbaserad enkätundersökning visade bl.a. högre positiva effekter hos män, högre negativa effekter hos kvinnor, samt positivt samband mellan mängd pornografikonsumtion och positiva effekter. Negativt samband uppmättes mellan sexuell självkänsla och upplevda negativa effekter av pornografikonsumtion. Resultaten överensstämmer mycket med tidigare forskning men kan även bidra till ökad kunskap om vad som kan påverka bl.a. sexuell självkänsla hos individer baserat dels på kön och inställning till pornografi.

The effects of disability on individuals, their parents and their family as a whole have been extensively researched. However, the specific effects on siblings have not been given adequate attention by mainstream society until recently. Consequently, few services have been available for siblings in our community. Of the research that has explored sibling needs, most have relied on parental reports or used measures developed for alternate populations measuring more general variables such as psychopathology. This research project is concerned with the development of a self-report measure of Perceived Effect of Disability for teenage siblings (12 -17 years) of children with an intellectual disability and the development and pilot of an intervention that aimed to assist the positive adjustment of teenage siblings. The development of the measure involved three stages. First, an extensive item pool was constructed from past literature with 150 potential items identified. To ensure the validity of the item pool for siblings themselves, a sample of 24 teenage siblings rated the importance of the items and subscales. This reduced the number of items. Next, focus groups were run with an alternate sample of 41 teenage siblings for further evidence that all pertinent issues were included and to explore items identified as having low importance in Stage 1. The last stage involved testing the measure’s psychometric properties with a further 80 siblings. Exploratory factor analyses were conducted to determine the measure’s underlying factor structure. Results identified four factors underlying the measure, Positive Influence of Disability, Family Differences, Worry About What Others Think and Lack of Time With Others, all of which exhibited high internal consistency and test-retest reliability over a six-week period. / The final measure included 40 items and included two parts, the impact on family life and the impact on social life for siblings. The issues identified through the development of the Perceived Effect of Disability measure were then used to develop a pilot intervention that aimed to assist the positive adjustment of teenage siblings. The result was a 6-week program, consisting of 90-minute groups covering Sharing My Story, Exploring Differences and Disabilities, Exploring and Communicating Feelings, Coping Skills I, Coping Skills II and Finding Meaning. The impact of the program was piloted with two groups, consisting of 16 teenage siblings (aged 12-17 years). A matched comparison sample was also used to determine if the intervention resulted in improved perceptions of the effect of disability on siblings using the Perceived Effect of Disability (PED) subscales. There was no significant interaction between time and group on any of the PED subscales. A main effect was found for time on the Lack of Time With Others subscale only. The non-significant time x group interaction, however, indicates that the main effect of time on Lack of Time With Others scores applied to both groups. There was no significant change in family functioning or self-esteem from pre to post-test for the intervention group. However, extensive qualitative data provided strong support for the importance of such an intervention for this unique group of individuals in our community.

Syfte och frågeställningar Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur fysisk aktivitet och socialt stöd påverkar fyra elevers upplevelse av mental hälsa med fokus på negativ stress. -          Hur påverkar fysisk aktivitet upplevd stress hos fyra elever i årskurs 9? -          Hur påverkar socialt stöd upplevd stress hos fyra elever i årskurs 9? Metod Studien har genomförts som en kvalitativ undersökning med utgångspunkt i hermeneutiken. För att besvara frågeställningarna har intervjuer med halvstruktur genomförts på fyra elever i årskurs 9. Intervjuerna genomfördes med ljudinspelning och varade mellan 15 och 30 minuter. Materialet transkriberades och analyserades med hjälp av Krav- Kontroll- Stödmodellen. Resultatet jämfördes sedan med tidigare forskning kring ämnet. Resultat Överlag uttryckte de intervjuade eleverna kontroll över vardagliga situationer och socialt umgänge samt upplevde inte besvär av negativ stress. Kopplat till fysisk aktivitet var detta inte en betydande faktor för upplevelsen av negativ stress. Upplevelsen av socialt stöd verkar, hos de intervjuade eleverna, vara en bidragande faktor för den upplevda mentala hälsan. Slutsats Avsaknad av socialt stöd framstår som en betydande stressor för eleverna i studien. Stort socialt stöd verkar ha en mildrande effekt av upplevd negativ stress. Samtidigt tyder resultatet på att en avsaknad av fysisk aktivitet inte behöver betyda att individen är mer benägen att uppleva stress, dock syns att de elever i studien som bedriver regelbunden fysisk aktivitet är benägna att kunna hantera stressen bättre, en sorts sköld mot negativ stress.

Syftet med denna uppsats var att undersöka om det finns något samband mellan upplevd ensamhet och exekutiva funktioner hos äldre. Urvalet bestod av 98 ålderspensionärer mellan 65 och 75 år. Upplevd ensamhet mättes med Three-Item Loneliness Scale (TILS). Exekutiva funktioner mättes med nio olika test som avsåg mäta de tre processerna inhibering, shifting och uppdatering. Inhibering mättes med testerna Flanker, Simon och Stroop. Shifting mättes med Local Global, Color Shape och Number Letter. Uppdatering mättes med Letter Memory, Matrix Monitoring och Numerical 2-back. Andel korrekta svar samt responstid användes som utfallsvariabler. Data analyserades med hjälp av korrelationsanalyser där signifikanta samband analyserades vidare i hierarkiska regressionsanalyser. Resultatet visade på ett signifikant samband mellan upplevd ensamhet och responstid för Number Letter, där högre skattad ensamhet var associerad med längre responstid. Ensamhet förklarade 4% av variansen i responstid. Denna uppsats ger därmed stöd åt att det verkar finnas ett samband mellan upplevd ensamhet och nedsatt prestation bland vissa exekutiva funktioner, i detta fall shifting mätt genom responstid för Number Letter. Framtida studier bör undersöka detta vidare. Detta blir särskilt relevant med tanke på att världens befolkning blir allt äldre, tillsammans med det faktum att många äldre upplever ensamhet. Om upplevd ensamhet är associerad med försämrade exekutiva funktioner kan interventioner som syftar till att minska ensamheten vara till stor nytta både för den enskilda individen och samhället i stort. / The aim of this paper was to investigate whether there are any associations between perceived loneliness and executive functions in older people. Participants consisted of 98 senior citizens between the ages of 65 and 75. Perceived loneliness was measured with the Three-Item Loneliness Scale (TILS). Executive functions were measured with nine different tests aimed at measuring the three processes of inhibition, shifting and updating. Inhibition was measured with Flanker, Simon and Stroop task. Shifting was measured with Local Global, Color Shape and Number Letter task. Updating was measured with Letter Memory, Matrix Monitoring and Numerical 2-back task. Proportion of correct answers as well as response time were used as dependent variables. Data was analysed by correlation analyses where significant correlations were further analysed in hierarchical regressions. Results showed a significant association between perceived loneliness and response time in the Number Letter task; higher reported loneliness was associated with longer response time. Loneliness explained 4% of the variance in response time. This paper thus supports that there appears to be an association between perceived loneliness and reduced performance in certain executive functions, in this case shifting as measured through response time in the Number Letter task. Future studies should investigate this further. This becomes particularly relevant considering that the world's population is getting older, along with the fact that many elderly experience loneliness. If perceived loneliness is associated with deteriorating executive functions, interventions aimed at reducing loneliness may be of great benefit both to individuals and society as a whole.

Doctor of Education / Department of Educational Leadership / Royce Ann Collins / Judith F. Favor / As higher education populations are changing, institutions are forced to find new ways to meet students’ needs and schools’ declining budgets. Institutions have found that changing their business models by creating accelerated learning programs and extended campuses are assisting in this area. An outcome of these modifications is increased usage of adjunct faculty. These extended sites typically have small staffs and adjunct faculty members usually have little connection to the main campus, work a primary job, and have limited teaching experience. This research explored adjunct business faculty members teaching face-to-face at a private institution's off campus locations to understand their motivation level and perception of organizational support, as well as if the two interrelate. Multiple regression was completed to further explore the relationship of their demographics and motivation level or perceived organizational support. Self-determination theory was used to explore adjunct faculty members’ motivations, measuring motivation along a continuum from external to intrinsic motivation when a person is not exclusively one or the other. Adjunct faculty members at this institution have an identified motivation level moving toward integration, moving from extrinsic motivation and closer to being more intrinsically motivated. These adjunct faculty members have commitment to the organization’s goals and value their work. Organizational support was used to understand workers’ commitment to their organization as well as their satisfaction. These adjunct faculty members also reported a high level of perceived organizational support. A more thorough understanding of adjunct faculty members’ motivation levels and perceived organizational support will allow for better recruiting as well as create training and development programs to retain qualified, high-quality adjunct faculty members.