I propose that CEO employment history is an observable characteristic that reveals the CEO’s unobservable risk-taking preferences. I hypothesize that CEOs that change employers more frequently (mobile CEOs) have a propensity to bear risk and implement riskier firm policies. Using a sample of S&P 1500 CEOs, I find that firms are more likely to hire mobile CEOs when the firm’s prior risk is high, firm-specific human capital is less important, the prior CEO turnover is forced, the prior CEO has a shorter tenure and the board is smaller and has fewer insiders. Mobile CEOs increase financial leverage, invest more in advertising and less in capital expenditures, and increase firm-specific risk. Mobile CEOs invest more (less) in R&D in homogenous (heterogeneous) industries where firm-specific knowledge is less (more) important in making investment decisions. Shareholders react positively to appointments of CEOs who change employers more frequently. I find no difference in long-run accounting performance for CEOs with different employment histories. Firms’ annual stock returns and sales growth are higher for CEOs who change employers more frequently. The cost of debt increases after the firm appoints a mobile CEO. These findings suggest that lower CEO risk aversion and the potential risk-shifting from shareholders to bondholders are sources of shareholder value increases. In sum, my findings provide evidence that CEO employment history is an observable characteristic that reveals the risk-taking preference of the CEO.

I Sverige har förekomsten av klamydia ökat hos ungdomarna sedan 1997 och fortsatt stiga under 2000-talet. Den sexuella aktiviteten har förändrats till att ha fler tillfälliga partners och att skydda sig med kondom är inte alltid så självklart för de unga. Det kognitiva- och socioemotionella ssteme i hjärnan är inte färdigutvecklat hos tonåringarna vilket kan leda till spontana beslut och riskfyllt beteende. Syftet för denna litteraturstudie var att beskriva skolhälsovårdens hälsofrämjande omvårdnadsåtgärder för att påverka ungdomars sexuella risktagande. Event History Calendars, en metod för det individuella hälsosamtalet visade efter en månads postintervention en minskning av det sexuella riskbeteendet. Undervisning på gruppnivå är effektivt för att påverka ungdomars sexuella riskbeteende och för att höja åldern för den sexuella debuten. Men för yngre sexuellt aktiva tonåringar har dessa undervisningsmetoder ingen effekt. Metoder som stärker kommunikationen mellan de yngre tonåringarna och deras föräldrar har en skyddande effekt för utvecklingen av riskbeteenden. Familjeinterventionerna behöver undersökas närmare under svenska förhållanden. Metoder användbara i hälsosamtalen i skolhälsovården behöver också utvecklas i de svenska skolorna. Detta för att upptäcka de barn och ungdomar med behov av stöd. / The incidence of chlamydia in Swedish adolescents has increased in recent years. Sexual activity habits have changed and today´s teens have more partners and more casual contacts. Using condoms for protecting is not not always an obvious choice for the young. The cognitive ans socio-emotionell functions of the brain are not fully developed in young teens, and poor decision-making can and does lead to impulsive and risky beahaviors. The aim for this study of literature was to describe schhol health promotion nursing interventions to influence young peoples sexual risk-taking. Event History Calendars, a method used in individual health interviews, showed a reducation of risk behaviors after one month of post intervention. Teaching in groups is another effective method for influencing teens to reduce their risky behaviors and also leads to the additional positive outcome of raising the ages of sexual debut. Unfortunately these teaching methods have no positive effect on younger sexually active teens. A more productive methods for very young teens is to steengthen the communication between them and their parents. We need to examine closer the role of family interventions in Swedish schools as well as develope the methods shown to bee effective in health interviews in order to identify and assist children and young youth need of support.

Sexual arousal is likely an important situational factor in date rape. Research shows that sexual arousal increases self-reported willingness to engage in sexually aggressive behaviour. Chapter One reviews the situational, perpetrator, and victim characteristics of date rape. Chapter Two describes an experiment that examined the effect of sexual arousal on measures of decision-making, including Risky Choice Task, Balloon Analogue Risk Task, Future Discounting, and on a measure of Viewing Time. Participants were 20 heterosexual men and 22 heterosexual women 18 to 25 years old. Results revealed that sexually aroused women preferred higher variance options compared to women who were not, and the opposite was observed for men. No other significant effects were observed. Chapter Three describes Experiment 2 which included another neutral condition and a measure of sexual decision-making. Results revealed no effect of condition on behavioural or sexual decision-making, nor on viewing times. Chapter Four provides a general discussion and directions for future research. / ix, 156 leaves; 29 cm

The study compared competence satisfaction in a ball striking activity, as measured by risk taking and achievement, of individuals with ( N = 16) and without (N = 18) physical disabilities under mastery and performance orientation climates. The students ranged in age from 7-13 years. They were required to strike a ball into nets of three different size-distance combinations. Results supported the first hypothesis of no competence satisfaction differences between the groups under mastery and performance climates. The second hypothesis that the introduction of performance climate would increase risk taking and this would affect achievement accomplishments and competence satisfaction was also supported. Nonetheless, performance climate had a different effect on each ability group with regard to achievement accomplishments. Specifically, performance climate undermined achievement accomplishments for individuals with physical disabilities and encouraged achievement accomplishments for peers without disabilities. Hence, individuals with physical disabilities did not satisfy their need of competence in the same manner as peers without disabilities in the performance climate. For those with physical disabilities performance appears to be crucial, whereas for peers without disabilities risk taking is essential.

This dissertation consists of two essays on corporate finance. The first essay investigates the relationship between dual-class shares and firm’s risk-taking. While costs associated with dual-class shares are widely documented, the benefits are seldom studied in the literature. We attempt to fill this gap and find that dual-class firms tend to have fewer business segments, higher volatilities in their cash flows, earnings, and investment opportunities compared to propensity-matched single-class firms. Business segments within a dual-class firm are also more positively correlated in their cash flows, earnings, or investment opportunities than those in single-class firms. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that dual-class shares can potentially shield insiders from short-term market pressure so they can focus on riskier projects to enhance long-term shareholder value. To provide a possible channel through which dual-class firms can increase corporate risk-taking, we examine one of the most important corporate investment decisions: mergers and acquisitions (M&As). Dual-class firms are more likely to engage in M&As, especially nondiversifying M&As. Corporate risks increase following M&As, and the increase is more for dual-class firms than for single-class firms. The second essay shows how CEO skills affect operating performance using a sample of 109 spin-offs from 1994 to 2009. Since a variety of studies indicate that firms in need of external financing are more likely to engage in spin-offs, we hypothesize that parent firms prefer to appoint financial experts as CEOs at spun-off units around spin-off transactions. We find that appointing spun-off unit CEOs with financial expertise brings significant and positive wealth effects. Furthermore, the CEOs with financial expertise significantly improve firms’ access to capital markets and subsequent operating performance. Conversely, we do not observe positive wealth effects at the spin-off announcement or improved operating performance following spin-offs when parent firms decide to assign non-financial experts as spun-off unit CEOs.

Entrepreneurship is becoming increasingly important to the success of global economies. As a result, this paper assesses the similarities and differences between male and female entrepreneurs in facets that are fundamental to the practice; risk-tolerance, communication and leadership styles. Literature on the subject suggests that men and women differ in these three aspects. Men emerge as entrepreneurs more frequently than women, which has partially been accredited to socialization. Moreover, women are exposed to fewer social and financial resources and opportunities. However, the data suggest that women are equally capable as entrepreneurs. This paper analyzes the interaction of innate psychological qualities and societal influences in the context of entrepreneurship. It proceeds to provide implications and suggestions in order to increase gender diversity and provide equal opportunity.

Research has consistently demonstrated a negative association between religiosity and college students’ alcohol consumption. However, few studies have explored the unique roles religious beliefs and behaviors might play in this relationship. Using 283 underage college students, we investigated the influence of internal and external factors on drinking behaviors for students with differing combinations of religious beliefs and religious behaviors. Tests of mediation and mediated-moderation were used to help explain the unique influences beliefs and behaviors have on alcohol consumption. Results indicated that religious beliefs only functioned as a protective-factor against underage drinking when accompanied by religious behaviors; students with high religious beliefs but low religious behaviors exhibited the highest rates of alcohol consumption. Positive affect experienced during alcohol consumption mediated the relationship between religious beliefs and alcohol consumption. Drinking norms and social availability of alcohol mediated the association between religious behaviors and alcohol consumption. Both positive affect and negative affect were found to partially mediate the interaction between religious beliefs and behaviors on student alcohol consumption. Findings from this study may aid in the formulation of a more comprehensive model for the relationship between religiosity and alcohol consumption in young college students.

A recent debate has identified a description– experience gap, where the non-linear weighting function identified in prospect theory reverses when probabilities are discovered through experience rather than by description (probabilities). This thesis will explore the role of experience and probabilities theoretically and empirically. It is argued that both behaviors are compatible on a theoretical basis given a preference for the status quo, but produce opposing decision weights due to different cognitive and motivational factors. Probabilities focus a decision on the potential for rare events creating a preference for certain outcomes and reduced risk taking consistent with loss aversion. Experience overweighs customary outcomes consistent with sensitivity to a reference point or the status quo. Experience in the form of loss, however, moderates the effect of probabilities on risk taking. An experimental game of dice supports this hypothesis, suggesting ambiguity seeking in the face of loss and raising the possibility that the use of probabilities may not be always be maximizing behavior.

Nyanländande Generation Y håller på att positionera sig på arbetsmarknaden och omfattas av individer födda inom intervallet 1980 – 1995. Det återfinns dessvärre ytterst lite forskning gällande generationens investeringsbeteende. Mestadels av tidigare forskning har hittills handlat om hur tidigare generationer, så som Baby Boomers och Generation X, tenderar att investera. Denna studie har därför försökt bidra till att fylla ut tomrummet i kunskapen beträffande Generation Y. Studien utreder investeringsbeteendet hos Generation Y genom att undersöka hur specifika karaktäristika påverkar deras sä̈tt att investera. Således är syftet med denna studie att kartlägga och analysera hur Generation Y:s särskilda karaktäristika påverkar deras investeringsbeteende. Tillvägagångssättet har varit att det först konstruerades en modell utifrån den redan tillgängliga forskningen, varpå uppsatsen därefter avsåg att testa validiteten och kvaliteten i våra antaganden och i den upprä̈ttade modellen. Uppsatsen utfördes med hjälp av en kvantitativ metod med positivistisk filosofi och deduktiv ansats. Undersökningsverktyget som till största grad användes för studien var en internetbaserad enkät där respondenterna fick ta del av en rad olika påståenden. Respondenterna som har deltagit i denna studie är till majoriteten bosatta i Sverige och omfattar respondenter som vid undersökningstillfället var 15 – 70 år. Denna studie indikerar slutligen att Generation Y har ett särskilt investeringsbeteende och att deras specifika sätt att investera på grundar sig i deras särskilda karaktäristika, vilket också påvisas med hjälp av ett antal statistiska modeller. Resultatet åskådliggör ytterligare att även demografiska faktorer som modersmål, kön och ålder påverkar investeringsbeteendet. Ett förslag till framtida forskning kan vara att komplettera uppsatsens kvantitativa metod med en kvalitativ metod. Detta tillvägagångssätt hade således kunnat bidra till en djupare förståelse för forskningen och ett bättre resultat och har därför varit av stort värde för uppsatsen. / The newly arriving Generation Y, that embraces the individuals born within 1980 – 1995, is on the way of positioning themselves on the labour-market. Unfortunately, there has not been done much research on the investment behavior of this generation. Mostly of previous research has been about how previous generations, the Baby Boomers and Generation X, tend to invest. This study therefore sought to help fill the gap in knowledge regarding the Generation Y. This study investigates the investment behavior of Generation Y by examining how specific characteristics affect their approach to investing. Thus, the purpose of this study was to identify and analyze how Generation Y’s specific characteristics affect their investment behavior. The approach has initially been that a model was constructed based on the already available research, whereupon the paper then aimed to test the validity and quality of our assumptions and of the established model. The essay was performed by a quantitative method with a positivistic philosophy and deductive logic. The research tool for this study was, to the biggest extent, an online survey in which a variety of claims were presented to the respondents. The respondents who participated in this study, with the majority residing in Sweden, were at the time of the study 15 – 70 years old. This study indicates that Generation Y has a particular investment behavior and that their specific way of investing is based on certain characteristics, which is also shown by the several statistical models that have been used. The result further illustrates that also demographic factors, such as native language, gender and age, has affection on the investment behavior of Generation Y. A proposal for future research might be to supplement the essay’s quantitative method with a qualitative one. This approach could possibly contribute to a deeper understanding of science and a better result, and would therefore be of great value to the essay.

Currently, the prevention and control of the spread of AIDS is one of the foremost international health concerns and one of the biggest social expectations in the United States as well. Until a medical solution to AIDS is found, the only viable means of AIDS prevention is to educate the public about AIDS and persuade those who are sexually active to avoid high-risk sexual behaviors.Because many studies have showed that college students are considered to possess the highest risk toward AIDS, in this study, possible factors that can change college students' behavior were examined.One hundred and ninety seven students who enrolled in two undergraduate general classes (biology and anthropology) at Ball State University were asked to complete a questionnaire concerning their sensation-seeking type and level, frequency of their interpersonal communication with their sexual partners, and quality of their AIDS/HIV education in middle and high schools. One student from this population refused to complete the questionnaire.This study showed that public relations practitioners would need to stimulate the target audience to interpersonal communication with their sexual partners, know each type of risk takers need different information from each other, and educate the target audience how to talk about this issue with their sexual partners, rather than educate them knowledge of AIDS or social norm of safe sex. / Department of Journalism