Along with increasing users and contents, the Internet has gradually become the main channel for customers to acquire information of products and services. Yet the development of the Internet has brought about information overload problems. When facing oversized information, consumers tend to solicit for others¡¦ help. Under such circumstance, reviewing systems and forums on the Internet are flourishing. With the popularization of Internet technologies, these Internet customer review systems have gradually become critical necessary information when consumers are making purchase decisions. This research took two experiments as the methodology used in examining the relation between Internet customer reviews and customers, tourism was selected as the condition of experiment. The first experiment discussed about general Internet customer reviews, including the dispersion of reviews, reviewing scores, number of reviewers and so on and examined the relation between different levels and customers¡¦ trust in the reviews. The second experiment examined the relation between personal risk attitude, perceived risk and customers¡¦ level of trust and willingness of purchase. Outcomes indicate that: 1.The lower dispersion of reviews, the higher the level of customers¡¦ trust in the reviews. 2.The higher review scores, the higher the level of customers¡¦ trust in the reviews. 3.The more reviewers, the higher the level of customers¡¦ trust in the reviews. 4.Dispersion of reviews, review scores and number of reviewers possess reciprocation relations with customers¡¦ trust in the reviews, and the level of influence is score > dispersion > number of reviewers. 5.Personal risk attitude and perceived risk play roles in explaining consumers¡¦ trust in reviews and willingness of purchase.

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The traffic network is subject to random disruptions, such as incidents, bad weather, or other drivers’ random behavior. A traveler’s route choice behavior in such a network is thus affected by the probabilities of such disruptions, his/her attitude towards risk, and real-time information on revealed traffic conditions that could potentially reduce the level of uncertainty due to the disruptions. As the road network’s performance is de-termined collectively by all travelers’ choices, it is also affected by these factors. This thesis features the development of a multi-class user equilibrium model based on hetero-geneous risk attitude distributions and a user equilibrium model based on various disrup-tion probabilities and information penetration rates that can be used to perform sensitivity analyses for a traffic network. The method of successive average (MSA) is used to solve for the equilibrium conditions. Laboratory experimental data are used to calibrate the risk attitude model. A sample sensitivity analysis is performed to show the disruption and in-formation penetration effects on network performance. Initial calibrations show promis-ing results for route flow predictions in a congested network with respect to heterogene-ous attitude. With respect to disruption probability and information access, having too v high information penetration will not improve the network’s performance, while having a small disruption probability can improve traffic conditions in the network

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze if there are any differences between women's and men's ways of investing in the stock market. Methodology: Quantitative research with data collection through surveys to female entrepreneurs has been implemented. The study is based on both primary and secondary data, where the collected data is from the databases Google Scholar and SöderScholar. Empirical foundation: This study is based on 203 male and female stock investors who participated in the survey. Conclusion: In the last chapter of the study, the research conclusion is presented. Additionally, this chapter fulfills the research purpose and addresses the research question. The conclusion is followed by a proposal for future research.

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This study attempted to identify ways to improve voluntary compliance and minimize taxpayer burden, but also tries to understand the behavior of taxpayers’ compliance given the compliance regimen. Most explicitly, it attempted to identify ways to improve payment compliance using regimens already utilized in other parts of the tax code. The research question was whether different tax regimes, such as safe harbor, can change the behavior of employment tax payment for small business or self-employed taxpayers. The idea was to determine if a safe harbor provision can reduce the proclivity of authorized individuals to implement a payroll tax dilemma strategy and whether or regimen can reduce payment noncompliance in time of economic distress. To answer the research question, an online experiment was employed. The experimental design was an impact study. The population of interest in this study was all authorized individuals from small and self-employed firms. The sample size totaled 205, and it was based on the a-priori sample size calculation. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was chosen as the data analysis technique, but other nonparametric test and logistic regression models were used to further analyze the data. This study showed that for subjects who did not subscribed to safe harbor provision but experienced an increased probability of apprehension increased their payment compliance. Also, the availability of a safe harbor provision lead to a large numbers to a safe harbor provision subscription in order to avoid enforcement. This study was able to show that individuals were willing to improve their payment compliance rate when enforcement was increased. The General Deterrence Theory explains that increased deterrence will lead to higher compliance. The study showed a 10 percent improvement in payment compliance when safe harbor was implemented. The results from this study also suggest that provisions such as a safe harbor can be a method of reducing filing costs and audit costs and ultimately taxpayer burden. On the other hand, the results of this study were inconclusive in determining if such provisions can improve payment compliance. Nevertheless, the outcome of this study can improve timing and accuracy of employment taxes payments and it may improve the accuracy of employment tax payment.

Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att identifiera vad som påverkar privatpersoners risktolerans och vilka informationskällor som används i samband med aktieinvesteringar. Studien ska även undersöka vilken syn privatpersoner har på ägarstruktur i börsnoterade bolag och huruvida ägarstrukturen påverkar investeringsbeslutet. Utifrån detta vill författarna skapa teoretisk och empirisk kunskap. Metod: Studien genomfördes med hjälp av flermetodsforskning. Detta skedde genom att både kvalitativ och kvantitativ metod användes för att samla in empiri. Den kvalitativa metoden användes för att samla in empiri genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med analytiker, privatrådgivare och aktiemäklare. Den kvantitativa metoden användes för att samla in empiri, detta gjordes med hjälp av en enkätstudie med slutna frågor som besvarades av privatpersoner som har intresse för aktiehandel. Författarna valde att göra en flermetodsforskning då en kombination ibland föreslås med anledning av att metoderna kan fungera som stöd eller komplement till varandra. Även slutsatserna kan få stöd genom att metodernas svagheter och styrkor kan komplettera varandra (Jacobsen, 2002). Uppsatsens undersökningsdesign var fallstudie och författarnas valda fall var privatpersoners aktieinvesteringar. Slutsats: Författarna av denna studie har kommit fram till att ålder och kön är två variabler som påverkar privatpersoners risktolerans. Resultatet visar att män tar mer risker än kvinnor i samband med aktiehandel och med åldern ökar riskbenägenheten. Detta överensstämmer med tidigare forskares resultat. Resultatet tyder på att aktieforum är den informationskälla som används i högst grad bland privatpersoner medan privatrådgivare var det alternativ som fick lägst antal svar. Resultaten tyder även på att de flesta personer som deltagit i denna studie beaktar ägarstrukturen när de står inför ett investeringsbeslut. Författarna kan dra slutsatsen att ägarstrukturen till viss del påverkar hur privatpersoner tar sina beslut. Liknande resultat framkom gällande om ett företag är familjeägt. Resultaten visar också att en stor del privatpersoner ser positivt på koncentrerat ägande. De tre ord som flest privatpersoner kännetecknar med familjeföretag är engagerade, hårt arbetande och ansvarfulla. Resultatet av studien visade även att majoriteten av respondenterna ansåg att familjeföretag varken är bättre eller sämre än icke familjeägda bolag. / Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to identify factors influencing individual risk attitude as well as evaluating data collection methods utilized by individuals in connection with stock investments. Additionally, this study examines individual perception of differences in ownership structure in Swedish listed companies and its impact on the investment decision. Method: In this study both qualitative and quantitative methods are utilized. The qualitative data was collected by performing semi-structured interviews with analysts, advisors and stock brokers. Quantitative data was collected using a closed question survey answered by individual investors. The reason for the use of a multi-method experimental design is based on the fact that the two different methods can serve as support separately, as well as complementation to each other. Although the findings can be supported by the methods' weaknesses and strengths and complement each other (Jacobsen, 2002). The study is based on a case study with focus on individuals sharing investments. Conclusion: This study concludes age and gender to be two variables affecting how likely individuals are to take risks in relation to investment decisions. Empirical result implies that men takes more risks than women when trading stocks. Additionally, the inclination for risk increases with age. These findings are also supported by previous studies. The results indicate that financial internet forums are the most frequently used method among individuals to collect financial information. Financial advisors were on the other hand the least used source of information. The majority of participants in this study takes the ownership structure of a company into account when facing an investment decision. The authors concluded that ownership partially influences how individuals make their decisions. The results also shown that a large portion of individuals welcomes a concentrated ownership structure, i.e. family business. Three words that most individuals characterizes the family business with are dedicated, hardworking and responsible. The results of the study also revealed that the majority of respondents felt that the family business is neither better nor worse than non-family businesses.

Dans le secteur de l’assurance, les dernières évolutions règlementaires et des normes comptables vont dans le sens de la standardisation de la gestion des risques au sein des organismes. Dans ce contexte, l’objectif principal de ma thèse est de proposer différentes méthodologies d’évaluation et d’analyse des risques dans ce secteur. La première partie de ce manuscrit traite de la problématique de provisionnement individuel en non-vie. Je propose des adaptions d’algorithmes d’apprentissage automatique ensemblistes et de certaines métriques de performance pour l’estimation des durées des sinistres ainsi que des charges sinistres ultimes en présence de don-nées censurées à droite. L’application de ces méthodes à des données réelles de contrats de prêts ou de contrats de prévoyance collective conduit à des estimations plus performantes et plus robustes des paramètres considérés. La deuxième partie présente une approche d’estimation de choc à un an sur des paramètres spécifiques à l’entité (Undertaking Specific Parameters) du module santé assimilable la vie du pilier 1 de la formule standard de la norme Solvabilité II. L’utilisation de la crédibilité américaine (ou crédibilité à variation limitée) permet la prise en compte partielle des contraintes de disponibilité des données d’expérience (volumétrie et profondeur d’historique) lors du calibrage des chocs. A titre d’illustration, j’ai appliqué cette approche aux risques d’incidence et de maintien (ou de rétablissement) des garanties d’incapacité et d’invalidité en arrêt de travail d’un portefeuille de contrats de prêts. Les résultats obtenus montrent des baisses significatives des be-soins de capitaux de solvabilité requis (SCR) du risque de souscription par rapport à la formule standard. La troisième partie est une étude descriptive des calculs de la formule standard pour l’évaluation du besoin de fonds propres économiques du risque de dépendance. Elle permet de mettre en évidence les insuffisances de la norme et de proposer des pistes d’améliorations en vue d’une meilleure prise en compte des spécificités de ce risque. Enfin, dans la dernière partie du manuscrit, je propose une étude comparative des préférences d’attitudes face au risque dans le secteur financier, notamment la banque et l’assurance. Il s’agit d’une analyse empirique menée dans trois zones géographiques (Amérique, Europe et Afrique) afin de mesurer les liens et les différences entre les profils d’attitude face au risque et certaines variables sociodémographiques / In the insurance sector, the latest regulatory developments and accounting standards are in line with the standardization of risk management within organizations. In this context, the main objec-tive of my thesis is to propose different methodologies for risk evaluation and analysis in this sec-tor. The first part of this manuscript deals with the problem of individual non-life reserving. I pro-posed adaptations of machine learning algorithms and some performance metrics for the estima-tion of the durations of the claims as well as the ultimate claims in the presence of right censored data. The application of these methods to property and consumer loans insurance contracts or group protection contracts leads to better and more robust estimates of the parameters consid-ered. The second part presents a one-year shock estimation approach on entity-specific parame-ters (Undertaking Specific Parameters) of the life-sustaining health module of Pillar 1 of the Solven-cy II standard formula. The use of American credibility (or limited variation credibility) allows partial consideration of the availability constraints of data (volume and historical depth of data) when calibrating shocks. By way of illustration, I applied this approach to incidence and recovery (or non-recovery) of incapacity and disability risks. The results obtained show significant decreases in sol-vency capital requirements (SCR) of underwriting risk need compared to the standard formula cal-culation. The third part is a descriptive study of the calculations of the standard formula for eco-nomic solvency capital need of long term care risk. The main purpose is to highlight the inadequa-cies of the standard formula and to suggest ways of improving them in order to better take into account the specificities of this risk. Finally, in the last part of the manuscript, I proposed a compar-ative study of risk attitude preferences in the financial sector, including banking and insurance. This is an empirical analysis conducted in three geographical areas (America, Europe and Africa) to measure the links and differences between risk attitude profiles and sociodemographic variables

The diploma thesis "Gender differences in risk attitude among Czech high school students" discusses how people deal with risk in everyday life. The first part of the paper investigates the forming of risk perception, and the factors that influence the process. Social and cultural structures are of high importance, but also individual factors (such as gender or personal experiences) as well as media representation matter. Risk perception plays a key role in decision-making in situations dealing with uncertainty and the paper asserts that it is possible to model risk behaviour and make predictions accordingly. The second part of the paper presents research on risk attitudes among Czech high school students. It deals with gender differences and students' willingness to risk in three key domains: social, health and leisure time. The model used in the paper focuses on students' willingness to participate in a given activity, their perception of the probability of negative outcomes, and the degree of pleasure derived from the activity. Research indicates that a) men are more willing to risk in health and leisure time related activities, whereas women are more daring in social activities; b) students coming from academically oriented schools are more willing to risk in social activities than students...