The purpose of this research was to explore employees’ experiences of performance management appraisals. There is an increasing need to ensure that performance appraisals realise performance improvement and professional development goals while safeguarding the dignity of employees. This study followed a qualitative research design and was conducted in a South African banking organisation with five participants at varying employment levels. Purposive, non-probability sampling was used to select the participants and a semi-structured interview was conducted with each participant. The interviews were transcribed and the data was analysed using the discourse analysis method in keeping with social constructivism. Various insights about the employees’ experiences of performance management appraisals can be drawn from the overall research findings, which are likely to benefit the field of industrial and organisational psychology and managers in various organisations in conducting more effective performance appraisals by ensuring that they are fair and ethical, and can facilitate professional growth. / Industrial & Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial & Organisational Psychology)

Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Citation analysis is an important tool in the academic community. It can aid universities, funding bodies, and individual researchers to evaluate scientific work and direct resources appropriately. With the rapid growth of the scientific enterprise and the increase of online libraries that include citation analysis tools, the need for a systematic evaluation of these tools becomes more important. The research presented in this study deals with scientific research output, i.e., articles and citations, and how they can be used in bibliometrics to measure academic success. More specifically, this research analyses algorithms that rank academic entities such as articles, authors and journals to address the question of how well these algorithms can identify important and high-impact entities. A consistent mathematical formulation is developed on the basis of a categorisation of bibliometric measures such as the h-index, the Impact Factor for journals, and ranking algorithms based on Google’s PageRank. Furthermore, the theoretical properties of each algorithm are laid out. The ranking algorithms and bibliometric methods are computed on the Microsoft Academic Search citation database which contains 40 million papers and over 260 million citations that span across multiple academic disciplines. We evaluate the ranking algorithms by using a large test data set of papers and authors that won renowned prizes at numerous Computer Science conferences. The results show that using citation counts is, in general, the best ranking metric. However, for certain tasks, such as ranking important papers or identifying high-impact authors, algorithms based on PageRank perform better. As a secondary outcome of this research, publication trends across academic disciplines are analysed to show changes in publication behaviour over time and differences in publication patterns between disciplines. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Sitasiesanalise is ’n belangrike instrument in die akademiese omgewing. Dit kan universiteite, befondsingsliggams en individuele navorsers help om wetenskaplike werk te evalueer en hulpbronne toepaslik toe te ken. Met die vinnige groei van wetenskaplike uitsette en die toename in aanlynbiblioteke wat sitasieanalise insluit, word die behoefte aan ’n sistematiese evaluering van hierdie gereedskap al hoe belangriker. Die navorsing in hierdie studie handel oor die uitsette van wetenskaplike navorsing, dit wil sê, artikels en sitasies, en hoe hulle gebruik kan word in bibliometriese studies om akademiese sukses te meet. Om meer spesifiek te wees, hierdie navorsing analiseer algoritmes wat akademiese entiteite soos artikels, outeers en journale gradeer. Dit wys hoe doeltreffend hierdie algoritmes belangrike en hoë-impak entiteite kan identifiseer. ’n Breedvoerige wiskundige formulering word ontwikkel uit ’n versameling van bibliometriese metodes soos byvoorbeeld die h-indeks, die Impak Faktor vir journaale en die rang-algoritmes gebaseer op Google se PageRank. Verder word die teoretiese eienskappe van elke algoritme uitgelê. Die rang-algoritmes en bibliometriese metodes gebruik die sitasiedatabasis van Microsoft Academic Search vir berekeninge. Dit bevat 40 miljoen artikels en meer as 260 miljoen sitasies, wat oor verskeie akademiese dissiplines strek. Ons gebruik ’n groot stel toetsdata van dokumente en outeers wat bekende pryse op talle rekenaarwetenskaplike konferensies gewen het om die rang-algoritmes te evalueer. Die resultate toon dat die gebruik van sitasietellings, in die algemeen, die beste rangmetode is. Vir sekere take, soos die gradeering van belangrike artikels, of die identifisering van hoë-impak outeers, presteer algoritmes wat op PageRank gebaseer is egter beter. ’n Sekondêre resultaat van hierdie navorsing is die ontleding van publikasie tendense in verskeie akademiese dissiplines om sodoende veranderinge in publikasie gedrag oor tyd aan te toon en ook die verskille in publikasie patrone uit verskillende dissiplines uit te wys.

Dans la littérature marketing qui s'intéresse à l'adoption d'une innovation par les consommateurs, le processus d'adoption n'est expliqué le plus souvent que par le degré d'innovativité des personnes. Tandis que les caractéristiques perçues du nouveau produit peuvent davantage expliquer son adoption que les variables individuelles comme l'ont déjà montré certains travaux. Notre recherche se situe alors dans cette deuxième perspective et contribue à l'explication des mécanismes cognitifs et sensoriels d'adoption d'un nouveau produit en prenant le soin de distinguer les effets des attributs extrinsèques et intrinsèques de celui-ci. De plus, nous avons constaté que la plupart des travaux utilisent des mesures uniques et immédiates alors qu'il apparaît nécessaire de recourir à des mesures répétées. Nous mettons alors en œuvre dans cette recherche des protocoles méthodologiques longitudinaux. Ainsi, trois expérimentations montrent que l'information non-sensorielle sur la modification d'un attribut constitutif d'un produit alimentaire (la teneur en alcool d'un vin) crée des attentes de qualité moins élevées que l'information non-sensorielle sur l'attribut non transformé. Cependant, la perception de cette première information non-sensorielle n'est pas assez négative pour diminuer la qualité perçue globale du nouveau produit qui reste proche de celle du produit habituel. Par conséquent, tant sur le plan gustatif que sur le plan conceptuel, le nouveau produit, ici le vin à teneur réduite en alcool, semble acceptable, en tout cas, tant qu'il ne s'éloigne pas trop des limites de la catégorie de produits à laquelle il appartient / In the marketing literature which focuses on innovation adoption by consumers, the adoption process is explained mostly by consumer innovativeness. However, some research works show that the new product's perceived cues can better explain its adoption than individual characteristics. Our work lies in the latter perspective and contributes to explain cognitive and sensory mechanisms of adoption, making a careful distinction between extrinsic and intrinsic effects of new product cues. Moreover, most research works use unique and immediate measurements while it appears necessary to make repeated measurements. Therefore, we implement longitudinal methodologies in this research. Three experimentations show lower quality expectations with the modified non-sensory cue (reduced alcohol content) than with the usual non-sensory cue (normal alcohol content). However, perception of this non-sensory information on modification is not sufficiently negative to reduce the overall perceived quality of the new product which remains close to that of the regular product. Therefore, both judging by its taste and conceptually, a new food product (i.e. low-alcohol wine) seems acceptable, at least as long as it does not move away too far from limits of the products category to which it belongs.

The spreading sovereign debt crisis in the Euro zone has renewed the debate about impact of credit rating agencies on financial markets. This thesis aims to explore the role played by the leading credit rating agencies by analysing the interaction between changes in sovereign ratings announced and the yield spreads of sovereign bonds, especially the short term impact and the potential contagion effect of rating changes on the highly integrated Euro zone financial market. The conducted event study and panel regression indicate that there is a significant impact of rating downgrades and negative rating outlooks on sovereign bond markets. Moreover, we have found significant contagion effect spreading from downgraded countries to non-event Euro zone members, namely not only to sovereign bond markets, but also to stock markets. JEL Classification: C23, E44, G12, G14 Keywords: credit ratings; sovereign yield spreads; rating agencies; contagion Author's email: veronika.vyskocilova@email.cz Supervisor's email: roman.horvath@gmail.com

Este estudo buscou evidenciar os efeitos da adoção mandatória do IFRS sobre a qualidade das informações contábeis relevantes para a avaliação do risco de crédito das empresas. Neste contexto foram analisados três aspectos de interesse: (1) a capacidade dos números contábeis explicarem os ratings de crédito atribuídos pelas três principais agências de classificação de risco (Moody\'s, S&P e Fitch), (2) a diferença em termos de ganhos informacionais entre países emergentes e desenvolvidos com a adoção mandatória do IFRS, e (3) a identificação de aspectos de governança nacional capazes de explicar tais diferenças. As análises se basearam nos ratings e dados contábeis anuais de 571 empresas domiciliadas em 37 países durante o período de 2005 a 2017, o que constitui uma amostra de 4.683 empresas-anos. Os aspectos 1 e 2 foram testados por meio de comparações entre as qualidades dos ajustes (goodness of fit) de modelos do tipo probit ordenado. O método de reamostragem por bootstrap foi aplicado para testar a significância estatística das diferenças entre os modelos. Para a terceira análise foram estimados modelos de MQO para o teste dos coeficientes de regressão das interações entre a adoção do IFRS e indicadores de governança nacional fornecidos pelo Banco Mundial (WGI). Os resultados sugerem que a adoção mandatória do IFRS aumentou a capacidade dos dados contábeis explicarem as notas de crédito atribuídas pelas agências de rating às empresas. Ademais, foi evidenciado que este efeito é em média mais acentuado em economias emergentes em comparação com as desenvolvidas. Quanto a influência dos aspectos institucionais dos países, os modelos indicaram relação significativa entre os níveis de controle da corrupção, a adoção mandatória do IFRS e a capacidade dos dados contábeis explicarem os ratings de crédito. O estudo reforça a relevância da informação contábil para a análise do risco de crédito das empresas, traz novas contribuições à literatura relacionada aos efeitos da adoção do IFRS e evidencia a influência do ambiente institucional sobre esta relação / This research aims to find evidence about the effects of IFRS mandatory adoption on credit relevant accounting information. In this context three aspects of interest were analyzed: (1) the capability of accounting numbers to explain credit ratings assigned by the big three credit rating agencies (Moody\'s, S&P and Fitch), (2) the difference between emerging and developed markets in terms of informational gains after the mandatory adoption of IFRS, and (3) the identification of national governance aspects that might explain this difference. The analysis was based on credit rating and annual accounting data on 571 companies in 37 countries from 2005 to 2017, resulting in a sample of 4.683 firm-years. Aspects 1 and 2 were tested by comparing ordered probit model\'s goodness of fit. The bootstrap method was applied to test the statistical significance of the difference between models. For the third analysis, OLS models were estimated to test the regression coefficients from interactions between IFRS adoption and country governance indicators provided by the World Bank (WGI). The results suggest that IFRS mandatory adoption increased the capability of accounting information to explain credit ratings assigned by rating agencies. Additionally, evidence points out that this effect is greater on average for companies in emerging markets compared to others in developed markets. Regarding the influence of countries institutional characteristics, models indicated a significant relationship between corruption control levels, IFRS mandatory adoption, and capability of accounting data to explain credit ratings. This study supports the relevance of accounting information to assess credit risk, brings new contributions to existing literature about the effects of IFRS adoption, and provides new evidence related to the influence of institutional environment on this relationship

This study aims to investigate the relationship between ESG-scores and credit ratings for Large Cap companies listed on the Nasdaq Nordic Stock Exchange Market. The purpose of the study is also to achieve a deeper understanding of how Swedish banks incorporate sustainability in the credit process. Considering the purpose of the study, triangulation was chosen as the approach as it includes both quantitative and qualitative procedures. Inspired by prior research the variables has primarily been conducted using simple linear and logistic regressions. Compared to significant prior research illuminating the positive effects of sustainability on financial performance, as well as risk mitigation effects, the study provides surprising results. Positive correlation between ESG-scores and credit scores can only be confirmed for two of the studied years. Four of the years verifies a positive correlation between a high ESG-score and a high credit score. The result also reflect that the strength of the correlation varies across industries and countries. Insights from the qualitative part of the study confirms that banks take sustainability into account in the credit process. The result of the study goes both hand in hand with prior research and deviates from it, which creates interesting opportunities for future research. / Denna studie syftar till att undersöka eventuella samband mellan ESG-betyg och kreditbetyg för börsnoterade bolag på Nasdaq Nordic Large Cap för tidsperioden 2009–2017. Vidare eftersöks djupare förståelse för hur svenska banker integrerar hållbarhet i kreditbedömningsprocessen för företag. Med studiens syfte i beaktande föll metodvalet på triangulering då angreppssättet innefattar en kombination av kvantitativ och kvalitativ ansats. Med inspiration från tidigare forskning analyserades variablerna ESG-betyg och kreditbetyg med hjälp av linjära- och logistiska regressioner. I förhållande till omfattande tidigare forskning belysande hållbarhets positiva inverkan på finansiell prestation och reducering av risk förefaller studiens resultat förvånande. Ett positivt samband mellan ESG- betyg och kreditbetyg kan bara bekräftas för två av de undersökta åren. Ett positivt samband mellan ett högt ESG-betyg och ett högt kreditbetyg kan bekräftas för fyra år. Det råder även skillnader i korrelationens styrka beroende på bransch och land. Resultatet från den kvalitativa delen bekräftar att samtliga banker genomför en intern hållbarhetsanalys för företag i kreditbedömningen. Utfallet av studien går både i linje med och emot tidigare forskning vilket skapar intressanta möjligheter för vidare forskning.

Este trabalho tem por meta focalizar a adaptação necessária na metodologia de planejamento atual, norteada segundo uma ótica determinística e conservadora, afim de permitir a elaboração de Programas de Obras de Transmissão/Subtransmissão, condicionados por limitações de teto no montante de investimento a curto e médio prazos. Para tanto, como tema central, busca-se desenvolver uma base conceitual e metodológica, para permitir uma exploração maximizada das possibilidades de carregamento de equipamentos e instalações do sistema de transmissão, contemplando a especificação das ferramentas computacionais necessárias para dar consequência prática à proposta. Considerando o potencial de análise proporcionado por métodos e técnicas de natureza probabilística, aplicados ao planejamento de Sistemas Elétricos, a espinha dorsal da evolução metodológica delineada no texto repousa sobre a avaliação de confiabilidade global e quantificação de riscos operativos. O texto foi estruturado em 8 capítulos onde, a partir de um capítulo introdutório, enfoca-se sequencialmente os temas: * Conceitos e Metodologias para Maximização do Carregamento de Transformadores de Potência. * Conceitos e Metodologias para Maximização do Carregamento de Linhas aéreas de Transmissão. * Impacto das Restrições Financeiras no planejamento e possibilidade de atuação a nível técnico para administrar o conflito entre qualidade de serviço e recursos limitados. * Conceitos e Metodologias para relaxação dos Critérios limitantes para o carregamento máximo de componentes do sistema, em ambiente de severas restrições financeiras, no horizonte de curto prazo. * Resultados obtidos em aplicações concretas a situações do Setor Elétrico, visando caracterizar o alcance do ferramental preconizado nos capítulos anteriores. * Critérios e Procedimentos para Padronização de Subestações e Linhas de Transmissão , coerentes com os conceitos de maximização de carregamento introduzidos nos dois primeiros capítulos. Ao final do texto, incluiu-se um capítulo de \"Conclusões\", com o objetivo de sumarizar os aspectos mais relevantes abordados no texto, assim como indicar linhas de ação e novos desenvolvimentos, necessários para permitir a efetivação prática da metodologia proposta. / An important problem posed to power system planners in developing countries is now becoming commonplace, even in developed countries, and concerns on how to fit an expansion plan into a tight budget, with the least reduction in reliability levels. This problem is known as power system planning under financial constraints and a series of methods is now available to deal with it. So, this work addresses the necessary adjustments in order to permit the Transmission / Sub-transmission Expansion Program establishment when there are investments constraints in a medium/short term range. The main emphasis is on the development of a methodological and conceptual framework, aiming at a maximizes exploration of the loading capability of transformers and transmission lines of the power network. In this context, a new methodological framework for transmission system planning in a financial constrained environment is presented. The proposed approach combines transmission projects priority evaluation and ranking as well as criteria flexibilization, being particularly suitable for short-term planning. The problem to be faced is to operate the system after a project postponement, while the service quality is kept so adequate as it is possible. One of the main issues to be focused is the transmission system uprating since a maximized equipment utilization can contribute to avoid a more significant restriction to the costumers. Therefore, a detailed description of the models for transmission lines and transformers loading limits assessment is presented, with emphasis on the main concepts and the application of probabilistic tools to circumvent the inherent conservatism of deterministic methods. A summary of the contents is presented in what follows: * Concepts and Methodology for Transformers loading maximization. * Concepts and Methodology for Transmission Lines loading maximization. * Financial Restrictions impacts on Expansion Planning Process and the possibilities to manager the conflict between service quality and investment constraints. * Concepts and Methodologies to the relaxation of Criteria that limits the loading capability of transmission lines, aiming at short term Planning under severe financial restrictions, * Obtained results in concrete applications of the proposed methodology and computational tools to Brazilian Electric Power System. * Methods and Criteria to standardization of Substations and Transmission Lines, according the main issues formerly introduced. * Conclusion and Future Research.

This thesis consists of three self-contained papers on defined benefit (DB) pension provision in the United Kingdom (UK). In particular, in the first paper, I examine the effect that labour market incentives, managerial incentives and the adoption of FRS17 by UK firms, have on DB plan retention decisions. In this paper, I also examine the role of insider trustees, defined as trustees that are also company executives, on the firm’s decision to keep DB plans open. I find that firms for which human capital is especially important are more likely to retain their defined benefit plans. In addition, CEO and CFO membership in the same pension plan that is provided for other employees positively influences the retention of defined benefit pension plans. Additional analysis using a sub-sample for which data on pension plan trustees are available suggests that being a CEO and a trustee increases the probability of DB plan retentions. Moreover, being a CEO/CFO trustee and a member of the DB plan offered to all employees increases the likelihood of DB plan retention. However, I do not find any evidence that voluntary adoption of FRS 17 influences DB plan retention. In addition, I find that insider-trustees have a positive influence on the decision to maintain DB plans, especially when they are members of these plans. In the second paper, I look at the effect of DB plan retentions and executive membership in them, on corporate credit ratings and the investment and dividend decisions. Empirical findings suggest that firms which continue to sponsor DB plans are more likely to have lower credit ratings which are exacerbated when these plans are underfunded. Despite the above effect however, I find that if the CEO is a member of the DB plan, it positively affects credit ratings. In addition, I find some evidence that the participation of CEOs in the main DB plans in conjunction with overfunded pension plans, negatively affect investment decisions when these schemes remain open. I do not find any association between CEOs membership in the main DB plan and dividend payments which may be explained by the market signalling effects of dividends. Finally, in the third paper, I provide a thorough analysis of the pension buy-in and buy-out market in the UK, and I empirically examine the determinants of such transactions from a firm and plan perspective. I find that firms that implement buy-ins have larger and more funded pension plans, are more profitable and have higher union densities. Moreover, firms that complete buy-outs have larger pension plans and allocate less pension assets in equity. Moreover, the number of employees is negatively associated with both transactions implying it is costlier for firms to conduct either a buy-in or buy-out transaction. While union density is positively associated with buy-ins, it has a negative effect on the likelihood of buy-outs suggesting that unions support buy-in but not buy-out transactions. This may be potentially explained by the fact that the latter are associated with with plan winding-ups.

Syftet med den här studien är att utreda hur redovisningsmarknaden skulle kunna påverkas av högre gränsvärden för frivillig revision samt vilka effekter det skulle medföra. För att undersöka detta har vi valt att utforma en kvalitativ intervjustudie där respondenterna har bestått av auktoriserade revisorer, auktoriserade redovisningskonsulter samt tjänstemän inom Upplysningscentralen, Bolagsverket samt Skatteverket.Studien har inspirerats av de gränsvärden som presenterades i det nya EU-direktivet som kom år 2013. Vi har diskuterat en eventuell höjning av gränsvärdena med respondenterna för att se hur detta skulle kunna påverka den svenska redovisningen.Studien har inspirerats av grounded theory som innebär att jämförelser sker löpande under undersökningens gång och studien har analyserats utifrån ett principal- och agent förhållande. I studien har vi kommit fram till att för kort tid har gått för att det ska synas några tydliga resultat men samtliga respondenter är över lag positiva mot högre gränsvärden och de tror att gränsvärdena kommer att höjas på sikt. / Program: Civilekonomprogrammet

Historically researchers have focused much attention on performance appraisal practices, such as the rating form and rater training. However, there is a growing movement to eliminate not only annual performance reviews but to eliminate all formal employee ratings. This conversation hour will focus on the future of performance rating research.