This thesis aims to investigate the long-term behaviour of the Swedish stock market under quantitative easing (QE) between the years 2015-2019 in comparison to an equally long period before the implementation of QE. The relationship is analysed within the framework of transmission channels of monetary policy and with considerations for previous research on the topic. By the means of an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model, we conduct a regression analysis using the price level of the OMX Stockholm 30 (OMXS30), the value of Riksbank’s assets, the short-term interest rate and the industrial production index. The results show significant but weak evidence of a positive relationship between the OMXS30 index and the Riksbank’s assets value. Furthermore, we analyse the findings to provide an insight into the transmission of unconventional monetary policy to the stock market in a small open economy. Finally, we present some broad implications of our study, as well as suggestions for future research on the topic.

Background: Social media have had a big influence on consumers engagement and the upcoming of social media influencers. Social media influencers are often seen as people who are similar to their audience and could be seen as strong opinion leaders. Social media influencer marketing is becoming more and more beneficial for businesses to implement in their marketing strategy. In order to know how to choose the right SMI for the cause, it could be useful to consider four specific characteristics of social media influencers. The characteristics have previously been examined in quantitative research, focusing on the relationship between the characteristics and purchase intention. Therefore, a certain need to explore how this relationship influence consumers’ purchase intentions has been identified. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to explore how consumers purchase intentions are influenced by social media influencers characteristics. The question that was asked in the study was how does each of the characteristics of social media influencers influence consumers’ purchase intentions. Methodology: This thesis used a qualitative approach and was of exploratory nature. The data was gathered through unstructured in-depth interviews based on a purposive sample considering the age group (millennials born between 1980-1996) as well as the participants frequently consuming social media influencers. The researchers verified theoretical saturation at six interviews. Conclusion: The main findings of this thesis entail how consumers’ purchase intentions are influenced by social media influencers characteristics. What was concluded is that there are eight categories that explain how the respondents thought that social media influencers can achieve with being attractive, being perceived as similar to their consumers, being authentic and being trustworthy in order to influence their purchase intentions.

Background: Social Media Content consists of characteristics by which have been found by previous research to have an influence on consumers' purchase intention. The social media content can be created by any social media user, who are referred to as content creators, whereby the degree of impact the social media content has on consumers' purchase intention is difficult to predict. There are specifically three social media content characteristics that have been shown to be more strongly related to consumers’ purchase intention than others, which are Usefulness, Informativeness and Interactivity. Previous research suggests that further investigation regarding consumers’ purchase intention in relation to the online context is of relevance to research since social media content is an influential factor regarding consumers’ purchase intention, for an increased explanation of consumers’ purchase intention. Purpose: The purpose is to explain the relationship between social media content characteristics and consumers’ purchase intention. Methodology: This explanatory research is using the deductive approach within the quantitative study and following a cross-sectional research design in order to detect patterns from the empirical investigation. Based on a theoretical foundation of previous research, the study presents three hypotheses which by support from the empirical investigation, consisting of 239 responses to a self-completed questionnaire, were either rejected or accepted. Findings: The acceptance of one out of three hypotheses were based on the authors revealing findings about there being a significantly positive relationship between the social media content characteristic Interactivity and consumers’ Purchase Intention. The findings also provide implications that the relationship has been accepted based on a combination of certain aspects. These are that consumers have a desire to take part in online conversations, they want their voice heard by being able to express opinions and also that they will immerse themselves in a social media platform if they find the content of the platform interesting. These findings allowed for the authors to suggest a new modified research model demonstrating the relationship between the social media content characteristic Interactivity and consumers’ Purchase Intention. Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, this research provides a conclusion that there is a significant positive relationship between the social media content characteristic Interactivity and consumers’ Purchase Intention

Background: The phenomenon of CSR has become an increasingly adopted strategy among companies, as a result of the frequent discussion on climate change. At the same time, consumers have attained further awareness regarding sustainability and how consumption impacts the environment. Further, the fast fashion industry has been highlighted as one of the most harmful and unethical industries that negatively impacts the environment and lives of all. Thus, it is interesting to explore which factors influence consumers’ purchase decisions, and determine whether sustainability and CSR are taken into consideration. Purpose: This thesis aims to explore millennial consumers’ attitudes toward Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), as well as which factors consumers take into consideration when they are making purchase decisions. Method: In order to meet the research objectives, data has been collected with exploratory and qualitative methods. The research philosophy follows interpretivism, and adopts an abductive approach. Furthermore, 13 semi- structured interviews were conducted, which aim to explore and provide and understanding for consumers’ attitudes and perception. Interview participants were selected based on a purposive sampling method, with two identified criteria. Additionally, a coding system was constructed based on the literature review, which was used to analyse the data collected from the interviews. Conclusion: The results, extracted from the empirical data and analysis, suggest that there are two categories with factors influencing millennial consumers’ purchase decisions. The first category includes product related factors, whereas the other category includes a number of consumer related factors. The empirical results further conclude that the participants generally experience positive attitudes toward sustainability and CSR, while product related factors are more influential in the decision-making process.

The growing consciousness of consumers towards buying products that contain mainly natural ingredients and do not harm the health and the environment drives the growth of the natural personal care market. Additionally, men nowadays care more about their image and self-presentation which lead to an increase of the natural personal care products offered for men. As the drug store market in Germany is highly competitive, marketers need to understand the factors influencing men’s purchase decision. The attitude of consumers is an elemental influence factor on purchase intention that could lead to the actual behaviour as it predicts the intention to purchase a product. Therefore, this thesis investigates the factors influencing men’s attitude towards natural personal care products and attitude’s impact on purchase intention, particularly in the German market. This has been done through the development of an own theoretical model whereas the main idea was taken from the TPB model. Afterwards, it was extended by factors that influence attitude which were identified through literature review. To meet the purpose of this study, data were collected through a quantitative online survey which generated 207 valuable responses. In order to analyse the relationships between the different variables, descriptive statistics, factor analyses, Pearson correlation analyses as well as linear and multiple regression analyses were used. The findings of this study provide new insights about the predictors of attitude: German male consumers’ attitude towards natural personal care products is mainly predicted by their consciousness about the environment and subjective norms whereas health consciousness and product knowledge were identified to be no predictors. Moreover, the study confirmed attitude as a strong predictor for intention which is supported by the idea of the TPB model and findings in previous literature. The respondents of this study are environmentally conscious and are influenceable by others. Furthermore, they have an overall positive attitude towards natural personal care products and intent to some extent to purchase these products in the future. The study’s results provide a variety of theoretical and managerial implications as well as opportunities for future research.

Recent technological developments have changed the lifestyle of people around the world. The business sector is not an exception, and companies frequently adjust to such changes by investing in their online presence. Furthermore, the internet provides consumers with different channels to find and share their purchase experiences, and such digital interactions result in bringing forth the electronic word of mouth (eWOM). Although eWOM is an essential aspect of the overall marketing mix of modern firms, its research is heavily limited to the developed world. Thus, a qualitative study of 10 millennials from Pakistan was designed to understand how three eWOM components, i.e., Valence, Channels, and Length, affect consumer purchase intentions. The data was collected through semi-structured online interviews, and the findings show that each component has a significant impact on purchase intentions. The result confirms factors such as communicator credibility, trustworthiness, and Valence ratio as essential characteristics of the eWOM components. This study contributes to further understanding of global consumers and help companies to identify eWOM components useful for promoting and selling their products in the Pakistani market.

With the spread of covid-19 online shopping all over the globe has increased and with that the importance of E-commerce has also increased. The business managers, marketers and entrepreneurs need to know about the consumer’s preferences when are shopping online and the factors upon which their purchase decision is based. This study aims to identify the most important factors that affect the purchase decisions of consumers while shopping online. This study also aims to find that why are those factors most important for consumers and have those factors changed due to covid-19 or not. Qualitative research methodology was used which was justified on the basis of the research gaps and the nature of the research questions. 20 interviews were conducted and diversified results were noted. This study found the online reviews to be the most important factor for consumers when it came to making purchase decisions online during covid-19. After the online reviews price was found to be the most influential factor for people while making online purchase decisions followed by other factors of word of mouth, security and privacy, discounts and offers, delivery services, product pictures, product information, website design and return policy. This study gives the practical knowledge to business owners, business managers, marketers and entrepreneurs about consumer’s preferences while making purchase decisions online and will enable them to understand the decision-making processes of their customers and lead them to make better, efficient and profitable decisions for their E-commerce businesses.

Background: Globalization and the aggravation of world economic integration make lots of overseas enterprises enter the Chinese market and win the market share by integrating Chinese elements into their brand names, logos, advertisements, and products. Therefore, what should local brands do to gain market share? Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to investigate the different effects of local Chinese brands with global, foreign, or local elements on consumers' perceived brand globalness, perceived functional benefits, perceived symbolic benefits, and purchase intentions. Methods: In this study, a quantitative method was used to collect data online through a pre-test questionnaire and a formal experimental questionnaire. And then statistically analyzed for valid data using SPSS. Findings: The results of the study show that consumers have higher perceived brand globalness for local brands that incorporate global and foreign elements, and higher purchase intentions for local brands that incorporate global elements. Perceived symbolic benefits have a higher impact on purchase intentions than the Perceived functional benefits. Perceived functional benefits and symbolic benefits mediate the effect of perceived brand globalness on purchase intention.

As the digital society, built up by the internet, gradually changes people's lives, online celebrities are emerging in China and have discovered the huge business opportunities of online platforms by establishing their own brands. Many brands created by Chinese online celebrities are increasingly popular among consumers, such as Li Ziqi and Taozi Sister. Responding to the emergence and popularity of Chinese online celebrities and their brands, this study – drawing on the source-credibility model and the stimulus organism response model – will investigate the determinants of Chinese consumers’ purchase intention regarding online-celebrity brand products. Following a survey of 198 valid questionnaires of Chinese consumers, the empirical results show that the attractiveness of online-celebrity brand products and consumers’ affection for online celebrities are important factors in encouraging consumers to purchase online-celebrity brand products. The expertise of online-celebrity brand products, and consumers’ trust in online celebrities, do not significantly influence consumers' purchase intentions. This means that Chinese people's purchase behavior regarding online-celebrity brand products seems to be emotional rather than rational. This study advances understanding of online celebrity and online-celebrity brands, which contributes to the literature on celebrity effects and brands.

Background: Celebrity endorsements is a marketing strategy that has been long used bymarketers to strengthen brands' reputations. Nowadays, due to the fast growth of socialmedia, number of people using social media increase day-by-day. Hence, the use of digitalplatforms as marketing channel has increasing. Plus, a changing shift from traditionalcelebrity endorsement to influencer marketing has also been observed whereby well-knownsocial media users are employed by brands to promote their products. Those people areknown as social media influencers (SMIs) and are deemed as non-traditional celebrities.According to advertising and marketing literature, celebrity endorsement is an effectiveapproach to improve attitudes towards brands and raise buying intentions. However, thereare limited research on the impacts of different types of celebrities on social media uponcustomers, especially in the perfume industry. Therefore, this study was created to fill this gap. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of Instagram influencers onVietnamese customer’s attitude and intentions in purchasing perfume. This paper adoptedthe Ohanian model of source credibility since the authors aim to examine associationbetween SMIs’ perceived attractiveness, trustworthiness, and expertise and customerattitude. The relationship between customer attitude and purchasing intention of perfumewas then also investigated. Method: The survey method was used as the research method. Online questionnaire wasemployed to gather primary data from the respondents in Vietnam. A total of 147 sampleVietnamese Instagram users participated in the survey and collected data was analysed usingthe SPSS 28.0 version. Conclusion: The research results showed that all three dimension of source credibilitymodel, attractiveness, trustworthiness, and expertise, had significant influences on customerattitude. Findings also demonstrated a positive relationship between customer attitudetowards SMIs and their buying intention of perfumes. This study made several contributionsto both theory and practice, which were also highlighted in this paper.