This study examines subjective occupational status and what factors influence and indicate subjective occupational status among employees in the municipal sector. The study also investigates if subjective occupational status has any significant connections with stress and worrying. The aim of this study is to examine if income, education, age, gender and length of employment has any significant effect on the subjective occupational status. We also aim to investigate if subjective occupational status affects the respondent’s levels of stress and worry. The material for the study was collected via a questionnaire with 268 respondents. The survey was done via the internet and sent out to the respondents via e-mail. We are utilizing the reference group theory in our analysis of the material. Reference group theory states that subjective social position is created by social comparison. Individuals tend to base their position in the social hierarchy and compare themselves with individuals who are similar to them. This leads to that many people places themselves as average. The results of the study show that it is only income which is affecting the subjective occupational status. We also found that subjective occupational status does not have any connections with stress apart from causing the respondents some worry over not having time to complete their work assignments.

Rapid growth of the internet and information technology help people communicate with others around the world through computers. The developing development of virtual communities¡]VCs¡^gather people with the same personalities in a VC website. VCs are not only a place of providing information and social contact for users, but also a precise market segment for marketers. The users of VCs are interested in the information provided within the VCs; therefore, marketers can reach potential customers in VCs more effectively. If the potential customers have high loyalty to a VC, they will consider the information provided by a VC as more important, their opinions on the product will be easily affected, and, ultimately, their purchasing decision will be influenced. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to analyze the loyalty of VC users to understand how VCs affect their purchasing decisions based on the EKB model by assuming VCs are external information sources, reference groups, and channels of post-purchase dissonance. Factors that affect VC users, including ¡uTechnology and Service¡v,¡uInformation Content¡v, and¡uEmotional Interact¡v, can be used to discover different types of loyalties of VC users and to understand if VC users are influenced by VCs when purchasing. A web survey was conducted on three VC websites discussing cosmetics¡]Fashion Guide, Urcosme and yam hercafe¡^,from January 18, 2008 to February 1, 2008 and received 416 valid samples. After analyzing the valid samples, the result suggested that¡G 1. ¡uInformation Content¡vis the most critical factor among the three factors of affecting loyalty of VC users. 2. VC users with a high level of loyalty who depend on the information provided by VC web sites consider VC websites as reference groups and are highly influenced by the site¡¦s recommendations 3. The users of high loyalty are affected by VC websites when purchasing. They search information in VCs before shopping, trust the information of VCs, are affected more easily by other VC users and recommend products to VC users or friends. Aside from this, they spend more time on the internet and VC websites than users of spurious loyalty. 4. The loyalty to and purchasing influence caused by a VC of female users are higher than male users as they consider the information provided by VCs more important. Users of low education levels have higher loyalties than those of higher education levels, however students are more easily influenced by VCs when purchasing.

The literature on status, product symbolism, product involvement, and reference group influence is reviewed to conceptually define the Product Symbolic Status construct. The research consisted of two studies (N = 524) that examined 17 different product types to develop and validate the Product Symbolic Status (PSS) scale. The PSS scale is comprised of four facets: self-concept, impression management, lifestyle, and social visibility. The PSS scale consists of nine items which produced an average reliability of α = .90 and showed evidence of convergent and discriminant validity in MTMM analyses with the constructs of product value-expressiveness, product involvement, and product exclusivity/luxury. The PSS scale can also be used for brand symbolic status research. The marketing and advertising research implications are discussed.

This thesis empirically tests whether university-related volunteer service, international experience, and service-learning have a positive moral impact on students and whether the peer reference group moderates this relationship. I use a measure of morality based on the recent work on values by Shalom Schwartz. A novel approach to measuring the social psychological phenomenon of the peer reference group is used in which the relative strength of the peer reference group is measured. The peer reference group was included in hypothesized models as a moderator between volunteer service, international experience, service-learning, and moral growth. Cross-sectional survey data of 633 engineering students was used, and most hypothesized relationships lacked statistical significance. However, university-related volunteer service has a positive and statistically significant relationship with morality. Post-hoc analysis gives some evidence that the peer group and individuals within the peer group may be the antecedent of how a student values volunteer service, international experience, and service-learning.

Main purpose of this thesis is to bring a reader into the problem of celebrity involvement in media marketing communication. In the thesis I explain the basic terms of celebrity marketing, consumer behavior, reference groups, marketing communication and celebrity endorsement. The application part focuses on my own research concerning the attitude of the Czech population sample to the advertisements with celebrities.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2016-04-08T10:25:19Z No. of bitstreams: 1 hamiltonedsonviana.pdf: 1440215 bytes, checksum: c7c73b9d29b9a83d7cd3f639d3468961 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-04-24T04:10:46Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 hamiltonedsonviana.pdf: 1440215 bytes, checksum: c7c73b9d29b9a83d7cd3f639d3468961 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-24T04:10:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 hamiltonedsonviana.pdf: 1440215 bytes, checksum: c7c73b9d29b9a83d7cd3f639d3468961 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-11-25 / A presente dissertação é um estudo de caso da Escola Municipal Guimarães Rosa, da Rede Municipal de Educação de Belo Horizonte, que possui baixo índice socioeconômico e apresentou melhoria expressiva no desempenho dos alunos do 9º ano do ensino fundamental nas disciplinas de língua portuguesa e matemática no Avalia BH, no período de 2009 a 2011, em comparação às escolas que compõem o seu Grupo de Referência do Índice Socioeconômico. O objetivo foi descrever e analisar essa situação e propor Plano de Ação Educacional (PAE) com ações direcionadas ao Grupo de Referência do ISE. Os recursos metodológicos utilizados foram: grupo focal realizado com gestores das escolas que compõem o Grupo de Referência do ISE da Escola Municipal Guimarães Rosa e entrevistas com roteiro semiestruturado com a equipe gestora e os professores da referida escola. Com essa perspectiva, realizou-se, inicialmente, a descrição da escola, das ações desenvolvidas pela equipe gestora (2007-2011) e os dados de desempenho nas avaliações externas (2009 a 2011). O segundo capítulo contempla o debate teórico sobre a influência do nível socioeconômico no desempenho escolar e a análise dos fatores de eficácia escolar, à luz dos autores Francisco Soares, Nigel Brooke, Heloísa Lück, Luiz Fernandes Dourados, Fabiana de Felício, Angela Albernaz, dentre outros. Com base na descrição e análise do caso é apresentado o Plano de Ação, para o 3º ciclo do Grupo de Referência do ISE, que propõe ações de formação para a gestão escolar e pedagógica, de reestruturação dos projetos e programas institucionais e de criação de um repositório digital de projetos para o 3º ciclo. As ações visam contribuir para minimizar os efeitos extraescolares causados pelo baixo índice socioeconômico no desempenho escolar dos alunos do ensino fundamental da RME-BH. / This dissertation is a case study of the Municipal School Guimarães Rosa, the Municipal Education Network Belo Horizonte, having low socioeconomic index and showed significant improvement in the performance of students in the 9th grade of elementary school in the subjects of portuguese language and mathematics in Avalia-BH, in the period 2009-2011, compared to schools that make up your Reference Group Socioeconomic Index. The objective was to describe and analyze the situation and propose a plan of educational action (PAE) with actions directed to the Reference Group of the ISE. The methodological tools used were focus group conducted with managers of schools that comprise the Reference Group of the Municipal School of ISE Guimarães Rosa and semi-structured interviews with the management team and teachers of that school. With this perspective, initially held up the description of the school, the actions developed by the management team (2007-2011) and performance data in external evaluations (2009-2011). The second chapter covers the theoretical debate on the influence of socioeconomic status on school performance and school effectiveness analysis of factors in the light of the authors Francisco Soares, Nigel Brooke, Heloise Lück, Luiz Fernandes Dourados, Fabiana de Felício, Angela Albernaz, among others. Based on the description and analysis of the case is presented an Action Plan aimed at the 3rd cycle of the reference group of ISE. The plan proposes actions aimed at the school training and educational management, restructuring projects and institutional programs and the creation of a digital library project for the 3rd cycle. The actions aim to contribute to extracurricular minimize effects caused by low socioeconomic index in the academic performance of elementary students of RME-BH.

The aim of this thesis is to determine whether the involvement of a celebrity in advertising is the right choice and also make recommendation for selecting the appropriate celebrity in advertising beer, more precisely, three specific brands (Pilsner Urquell, Krušovice and Staropramen). In the thesis I explain the basic characteristics of consumer behavior, reference groups, marketing communication, celebrities and marketing research. The application part focuses on the beer market in the Czech Republic and the brewing in 2010, further I pursue my own selection of brands of beers and I state a brief characteristic of both particular beers and businesses. I continue the content analysis and the analysis of my own research, whose main objective is to select particular celebrities for selected brands of beer, on the basis of characteristics and features of celebrities, which should correspond to the image of each brand.

No description available.

In der vorliegenden Studie wird anhand von sechs vorwiegend studentischen Stichproben von Teilnehmern zeitlich befristeter Austauschprogramme zwischen Deutschland, Japan, und den USA („Sojourner“) der Zusammenhang zwischen Persönlichkeit, Werten, kultureller Distanz und Akkulturation untersucht. Die einleitenden Analysen zeigen, dass alle Teilnehmergruppen die Persönlichkeits- und Werteunterschiede zwischen den Bewohnern der einzelnen Länder ähnlich einschätzten. Andererseits wiesen diese direkten Einschätzungen keinerlei Übereinstimmung mit angeblichen Kulturunterschieden, wie sie sich indirekt auf Basis aggregierter Selbsteinschätzungen berechnen lassen, auf. Ebenso konnte gezeigt werden, dass zwar einige wenige Persönlichkeitseigenschaften und Werte vermutlich als „typisch“ für Sojourner im allgemeinen zu betrachten sind, im Gegensatz dazu jedoch sowohl die Ausgangswerte, als auch die Entwicklung der meisten Charakteristika während des Auslandsaufenthalts, zwischen Teilnehmern unterschiedlicher Nationalität stark variieren. Ein Vergleich von Persönlichkeits- und Werte-Selbsteinschätzungen mit entsprechenden Unterschieden zwischen Herkunfts- und Zielkultur lässt darauf schließen, dass Sojourner dazu tendieren, gezielt in Länder zu reisen, mit deren Bewohnern sie in bestimmten Merkmalen übereinstimmen, und dass die wahrgenommene Ähnlichkeit zu den Bewohnern der jeweiligen Gastgebernation nach der Rückkehr ins Herkunftsland nochmals zunimmt. Der Grad der erreichten Akkulturation während des Auslandsaufenthaltes (insbesondere jener der Zielkultur-Orientierung) ermöglichte über alle Teilnehmergruppen hinweg eine Vorhersage von Gesundheit und Lebenszufriedenheit, war jedoch nur schwach mit der Aufenthaltsdauer korreliert. Zusätzliche Varianz im Akkulturationsgrad konnte durch Persönlichkeit und Werte der Teilnehmer, sowie durch die Größe der entsprechenden Unterscheide zwischen Herkunfts- und Zielland auf Kulturebene aufgeklärt werden. / The present study examined the relationship between personality, personal values, cultural distance and acculturation in primarily academic sojourners travelling between Germany, Japan, and the US. A Preliminary analysis revealed that ratings for the culture-level personality and values differences between each culture were highly consistent across sojourner groups, but that these ratings showed no relation to alleged cultural differences as calculated from national self-rating means. Subsequent analyses discovered a small subset of personality traits and values typical for sojourners in general, while most pre-sojourn characteristics and their development abroad strongly differed across national groups. A significant trend for participants to seek out host cultures fitting their own personality and values patterns was mirrored by an increase in self-rated similarity to host culture members after the return home. The degree of acculturation (especially host culture orientation) reached throughout the sojourn significantly predicted health and life satisfaction across participant samples, but turned out to be only weakly related to the time spent in the host country. Additional variance in acculturation success was explained by participant personality, personal values, and the associated culture-level difference between host and home countries.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T16:45:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Priscila Tereza de Nadai Sastre.pdf: 1178894 bytes, checksum: ed98b9cd97b43099710583ece05a7d5d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-05-20 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This dissertation had as its general objective to know what types of influence of the reference group relies upon an individual, in his purchase decision process of sports utilitarian vehicles (SUV). The purchase process was assumed as social experiences that individuals make every day and the purchase of products and services is mediated by interpersonal influences. In the marketing field, the relationship between the individual s purchase decision process and the influences received by his social environment has been targeted by relevant discussions in the academic arena, as well as in the corporate world. The theoretical background describes the main constructs of the individual purchase decision process and reference group influence (interpersonal influence), from the American perspective. The justification for this study relies upon the Marketing Science Institute (MSI) priority studies, for the 2006-2008 period. These priorities were formed from research made with the MSI sponsors, who identified the role of social network in the purchase decision process as a priority study in the academic and corporate fields. The methodology approach is the case study method since the investigations aims to explore contemporaneous phenomena from the real life. Among the SUV sellers, in the Brazilian market, Troller, the Ford Motors SUVs subdivision was the one chosen to conduct this research. The data collection started with documents and secondary data of public domain. The empirical verification was supported by self-applied structured questionnaires, distributed electronically for Troller s clients. The results point that the reference group has a significant influence in the Troller s purchase decision process. The informational influence was the main type of influence observed / Esta dissertação teve como objetivo geral conhecer quais os tipos de influência que o grupo de referência exerce sobre o indivíduo, em seu processo decisório de compra de veículos utilitários esportivos ou, simplesmente, jipes 4x4. Partiu-se do princípio que as relações de troca comerciais são tidas como experiências sociais que os indivíduos realizam, normalmente, todos os dias e que o consumo de produtos e serviços é, em grande parte, moldado pela influência de outros indivíduos neste processo. No Marketing, a relação processo de decisão de compra do indivíduo e a influência recebida por parte de seu contexto social tem sido alvo de relevantes discussões tanto no âmbito acadêmico, quanto no âmbito empresarial. O construto teórico foi desenvolvido tendo-se por base as fundamentações relativas ao comportamento do consumidor, especificamente, o processo decisório de compra e a influência do grupo de referência. Atuaram como eixo conceitual os estudos preconizados pela escola americana. A justificativa para este estudo reside nas prioridades de pesquisa do Marketing Science Institute (MSI), para o biênio 2006-2008. Tais prioridades, por sua vez, estão alicerçadas em pesquisas realizadas juntamente às organizações patrocinadoras do próprio MSI (instituições acadêmicas dos Estados Unidos e corporações globais) que identificaram o estudo do papel da rede social no processo de decisão de compra, como uma das primazias de pesquisa nas instâncias acadêmica e empresarial. Decidiu-se por realizar um estudo de caso, dadas as particularidades do fenômeno em estudo e as características exploratórias determinantes da investigação, uma vez que foram estudados fenômenos contemporâneos inseridos na vida real. Dentre as montadoras fabricantes de jipes 4x4, no mercado nacional, a Troller, divisão de 4x4 pertencente à Ford Motors, foi a empresa escolhida para o desenvolvimento do estudo de caso. A coleta de informações para a realização do estudo de caso foi realizada a partir do levantamento documental de dados secundários de domínio público e da própria empresa. A verificação empírica se deu por meio de questionários estruturados e auto-aplicáveis que foram distribuídos, eletronicamente, a uma base de 2000 clientes, da Troller. A observação participante também se fez presente por meio da participação na Copa Troller, na temporada de 2008. O que se concluiu é que, de fato, há considerável influência dos grupos de referência, na decisão de compra dos consumidores dos jipes Troller. A principal forma de influência observada foi a influência informacional, seguida da influência utilitária e, por fim, a influência expressiva de valor