In the first 3 years of the Obama Administration, 2009-2011, the number of warning letters issued to pharmaceutical firms for manufacturing and quality issues increased by 81% to 49 letters. Only 9 letters were issued in the last 3 years of the George W. Bush Administration. Shortfalls in compliance and product quality led to medicine shortages that affected patients' treatment and health. This quantitative study sought to learn to what extent, if any, the independent variables, management behaviors and financial indicators at pharmaceutical firms in the United States, correlated with, or predicted, the dependent variable, compliance with the FDA regulations. FDA's enforcement actions on the firms were the treatment event. A shift in the relationship between the variables occurred after the FDA interventions, which highlighted a new level of compliance. Of the 1144 SurveyMonkey invitations sent to the members of the International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineers, only 21 completed the survey's 133 questions. Three research questions were addressed using correlations and linear regressions. The theory of planned behavior was applied to correlate behavioral constructs with the compliance of the firms leading to the rejection of the null hypothesis. By establishing an inverse relation between financial indicators and the firms' level of compliance, the study offers awareness and insight to senior leaders regarding their behaviors and the decision-making process. Enhancing managers' decision-making processes in light of their beliefs, along with their control over financial indicators, could reinforce the presence of effective quality systems among pharmaceutical manufacturers minimizing medicine shortages.

Marijuana is the most common illicit drug that is abused by pregnant women, and recently many states have adopted various levels of relaxed marijuana policies. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a potential association between residing in a state that allows medical marijuana use and maternal marijuana usage. Grounded in the theory of planned behavior, this study evaluated the prevalence and extent of maternal marijuana use in states that allow and states that do not allow medical marijuana use using the National Survey of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). It was anticipated that more lenient subjective norms toward marijuana use and increased availability would support an increase of maternal marijuana use. The 2014 NSDUH was queried and analyzed using chi-square and logistic regression. The study revealed an increase of maternal marijuana use in states where medical marijuana was allowed, but the increase was not statistically significant. An increase of heavy users was observed in states where medical marijuana was allowed (54% versus 37%). Consistent with other research findings, this study revealed that young (OR = 3.56; 95% CI: 1.379, 9.213; p = 0.009) and unmarried (OR = 6.81; 95% CI: 2.485, 18.661; p < 0.001) pregnant woman were at higher risk for past month maternal marijuana use and had similar results for past year use. The unintended consequences of increased in utero marijuana exposure and its subsequent negative public health effects have been missing from the discussion of the relaxation of statewide marijuana policies. This study will provide policy makers responsible for changing marijuana policy with useful evidence on the unintended consequences of increased maternal marijuana use in areas where medical marijuana is allowed.

A failure of a small business has a negative impact on the economic health of the community where the small business operates. Small businesses are significant entities in economies around the world, but small businesses have a high failure rate. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore what financial strategies small business manufacturing leaders use to increase productivity and profitability to sustain the business for longer than 5 years. The population for this study was three small manufacturing business owners in Pennsylvania who have been in business over 5 years and have used financial strategies to increase productivity and profitability. The theory of planned behavior was the conceptual framework for the study. Data were collected using semistructured interviews and direct observation. Methodological triangulation was used to analyze the data. Four themes emerged after the data was coded in NVivo: the importance of company data, planning for a sustainable future using capital expenditures, cash flow management, and owner/employee collaboration in decision-making. The potential for positive social change includes increasing the survival rates of small businesses. The increase in small business survivals may potentially contribute to increases in employment rates in the community of small manufacturing businesses, leading to increased family incomes and improved overall economic health of the community.

Employee absenteeism costs organizations billions of dollars annually in losses in revenue and productivity, temporary labor costs, and low morale. The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore the strategies information technology (IT) managers in the manufacturing industry used to reduce employee absenteeism. The theory of planned behavior provided the conceptual framework for the study. Data collection included semistructured interviews with 5 IT managers in Maryland and a review of organizational documents addressing nutritional education information, employee participation rates in health programs, and physical activity. Data were analyzed using compilation, disassembly, reassembly, interpretation, and development of conclusions. Through thematic analysis, 4 themes emerged: workplace wellness and health programs, employee engagement, work-life balance programs, and organizational culture. Findings of this study may be used by IT managers to bring about positive change by reducing employee absences, encouraging employment opportunities, contributing to organizational sustainability, and improving quality of life for community members.

Influenza vaccination is recommended for persons with high-risk health conditions such as chronic diseases to prevent flu-related complications and death. African Americans 65 years and older have consistently been reported to have the lowest influenza vaccination rates compared to all other racial groups, despite having higher rates of chronic diseases. A review of the literature indicated that there is a dearth of qualitative studies examining the grounds for these low rates. In this study, 15 African Americans 65 years and older were interviewed to explore the factors that contribute to low rates of flu vaccination among this racial group. Research questions using the constructs of the theory of planned behavior gathered the behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs (social norm), and control beliefs affecting low influenza vaccination uptake among older African Americans. Data analysis yielded 5 major themes: (a) fear of illness, (b) vaccine does not work, (c) self-advocacy, (d) have access to flu vaccine, and (e) education needed. These findings suggest that older African Americans would benefit from system, organization, and policy changes that support improved provider efforts and community interventions specifically targeting their concerns about flu vaccination. Implementation of strategies supported by evidence found in this study may improve understanding of flu vaccination from the perspective of older African Americans, and potentially increase the rates of influenza vaccination among this racial group to bring about positive social change.

[Truncated abstract] Current literature about university teaching argues that online teaching requires online social learning based on social interaction to be effective. This implies a shift in pedagogy based on engagement and collaboration, instead of trying to reproduce face-to- face teaching, in online environments. However, when a university adopts an elearning platform (or Learning Management System, LMS), most teachers tend to reproduce their traditional teaching, delivering, through the LMS, educational material. This study explored factors which influence university teachers to adopt teaching models based on online social interaction (OSI) when an e-learning platform is used to complement undergraduate classroom teaching. Online teaching model adoption was considered in the framework of technology adoption and post-adoption behavior, i.e., adoption and use by individuals after an organization has adopted an ICT-based innovation (Jasperson, Carter, & Zmud, 2005). Behaviors were investigated using a model based on Ajzen's (1991) Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). In total, 26 university teachers 15 from Australia and 11 from Italy holding undergraduate courses, were recruited. They responded to a semi-structured interview based on the TPB, built on purpose for this research. Teachers were divided into three different groups on the basis of their approach to online teaching, corresponding to three different levels of adoption of OSI. The three different online teaching models were:

A significant risk area for project sponsors is managing unplanned change. Theorists of organisational behaviour have attempted to understand the circumstances of how activity change occurs on projects and have identified the significant impact that time has on activity. This current research takes the study of cognition into the real world setting of project management at a level of analysis that is viable across diverse projects and industries to study project manager regulation of unplanned change. The project managers' cognitive representation of meaningful aspects of a project (their 'cognitive schemata'), which guides activity change during the project, was investigated and the effect of feedback evaluated in order to address the central research question of what triggers change on group projects. In the present research, leading edge projects from six major Australian industries (telecommunications, banking and insurance, information technology, railway signalling, inorganic chemistry and construction) were monitored at three key points through their lifecycle to understand how feedback impacts on project activity through the project manager’s cognition leading to change. Six key categories of feedback were identified, which potentially represented the foci of project-related schemata, within a project management mental model. These were validated as important indicators for project management performance by a panel of Australia's leading experts in project management. Sixteen project managers participated in the field study, with their verbal reports being collected through structured interviews (incorporating a 'laddered' interview technique), which were developed and piloted across diverse projects for this purpose. Interview data were coded for analysis in terms of sensitivity to each of the six feedback foci and one control category, for five types of feedback and five types of change. Reliability of the content coding was checked through independent coding and found to be high. The research investigation was conducted within a schematic information processing conceptual framework developed for application within the domain of project management. Strong evidence was found that linked key schemata to the hypothesized effects of feedback. Overall, the effects were found to be general across all industries, individuals and projects. A contrasting effect was observed for one type of feedback where schemata were poorly developed in inexpert project managers, which raised the issue of measurable differences in behaviour arising from project management competency. The findings of strong relationships between the variables led to the proposed model of project manager cognition, which reveals an underlying structure in the schemata between key areas of sensitivity to feedback and unplanned change. The model is proposed as underpinning observed behaviour in this and prior research and suggests a relationship between competency and change regulation.

<p>Uppsatsen presenterar två studier som med den socialpsykologiska modellen ’teorin om planerat beteende’ (Ajzen, 1991) undersöker hur väl en webbaserad måltidsplaneringstjänst lyckas med att få dess användare att regelbundet äta varierat.</p><p>Tjänsten bestod huvudsakligen av en sökbar receptdatabas på 250 recept, en kalender för att planera in recepten i, och en inköpslista som genererades automatiskt utifrån recepten i kalendern. Tjänsten byggdes under tiden som uppsatsen skrevs, och författaren deltog som interaktionsdesigner i detta projekt.</p><p>I  uppsatsen presenteras  två sekventiella studier för att mäta användarnas intention till beteendet. I vardera studie presenteras först webbtjänsten och den funktionalitet den hade vid tiden för testet. Detta följs av en hypotes om tjänstens påverkan över användarnas vilja att äta varierat. I vardera studie genomfördes sedan ett användartest av tjänsten, där 13 respektive 15 personer fick använda webbsidan och svara på enkätfrågor. Enkäterna mätte attityd, subjektiv norm, upplevd beteendekontroll och intention till beteendet att regelbundet äta varierat, och en mätning gjordes före och en efter användartestet av tjänsten.</p><p>Testen visade på signifikanta ökningar för användarna givet att de skulle använda tjänsten; för upplevd beteendekontroll i den första studien; för subjektiv norm i den andra studien, och för intention i båda studierna.</p><p>Uppsatsen presenterar också interaktionsdesignsbeslut tagna för att anpassa tjänsten efter resultaten av mätningarna av användarnas intention. Avslutningsvis lyfter författaren fram forskningsfrågor för framtida studier i ämnet att förjupa sig i.</p> / <p>This report used the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991); a model from social psychology, to determine how well an online meal planning service succeeds in making its users regularly eat varied.</p><p>The service consisted mainly of a searchable recipe database of 250 recipes, a calendar to schedule the recipes, and a shopping list that was generated automatically from the recipes in the calendar. The service was being constructed during the time that this report was written, and the author participated as an interaction designer in this project.</p><p>The report consists of two sequential studies to measure the users’ intention to the behavior of interest. In each study are first presented the meal planning service and its current functionality by the time of the testing; followed by a hypothesis about the effect it should have on the user's intent to regularly eat varied. In each study were then held a user testing of the product, where 13 and 15 people, respectively, were using the website and answering survey questions. The questionnaires were measuring attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control and intention to the behavior to regularly eat varied, and these measurements were made once before and once after the user test of the product.</p><p>The tests showed significant increases for the users given that they would use the service; for perceived behavioral control in the first study; for subjective norm in the second study, and for intention in of both studies.</p><p>The report also presents interaction design decisions made to adapt the service due to the results of the measurements of the users' intention. Finally, the author presents his proposals for future research work in this domain.</p>

<p>Syftet med studien var att undersöka ungdomars uttryckta attityder gentemot alkoholrelaterade handlingar samt att ta reda på hur de upplever den subjektiva normen från föräldrarna. Frågeställningarna var: Vilken attityd uttrycker ungdomen gentemot alkoholrelaterade handlingar? Hur uppfattar ungdomen den subjektiva normen från föräldrar och vänner när det gäller alkoholrelaterade handlingar? Finns det något samband mellan ungdomens uttryckta attityd gentemot alkoholrelaterade handlingar och upplevelsen av föräldrarnas attityd gentemot alkoholrelaterade handlingar? Hur skiljer sig de uttryckta attityderna åt mellan ungdomarna beroende på kulturell bakgrund och kön? Den kvantitativa utgångspunkten valdes för studien och Theory of Planned Behaviour användes som teoretisk utgångspunkt. Resultatet visade att respondenterna uttrycker främst negativa attityder gentemot alkoholrelaterade handlingar. Respondenterna upplever en negativ subjektiv norm från föräldrarna. Resultatet visade inga större könspecifika skillnader, dock framkom det skillnader beroende på kulturell bakgrund. Studien visade att både föräldrars och vänners attityder har inflytande över ungdomar samt över hur de formar sina attityder.</p>

<p>The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the police organizational culture in Sweden. Previous research on Police in Sweden has focused largely on Police Chiefs and police officers. It has ignored a major element in the organisational culture of the police – civilian employees. This thesis revisits the organisational culture of the Swedish Police Service in its entirety. The thesis reports the change, steering and management issues that arose from the introduction of ’planned change’, via quality management, into the organisational culture of the police. To clarify these issues, it focuses on a recent reform initiative – community policing in the period between 1993 and 2004. Fieldwork and other data on a quality project were collected between 1995 and 1998. The results of this initiative were uneven. It was difficult to accomplish planned change. Much time was taken up with ’muddling through’. These results are then compared earlier accounts of planned change and ’muddling through’, taken from the international literature on organisational cultures. Overall, the research suggests that the organisation of Police Chiefs, police officers, and civilian staff are not fully integrated, and boundaries between these groups are a source of internal, time-consuming discussion, all of which have an impact on the Swedish police service. In sum, organizational culture of the Swedish police service can be understood in terms of its relationships with different sub-cultures and in term of its relationship with the outside world. These features give the service a unique character.</p>