The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of corporate reputation on work attitudes and behaviors. We used the benchmark company surveyed result of CommonWealth Magazine and developed a qestionnaire to survey those benchmark companies¡¦ employees. Finally, we obtained an effective sample of 50 companies with 1222 employees. And the response rate was 83% for companies and 68% for employees. The result of this study showed that external corporate reputation has positively influential effect on employee corporate reputation, employee corporate reputation has positively influential effect on work attitudes and behaviors, external corporate reputation has partially positively influential effect on work attitudes and behaviors, and employee corporate reputation will partially mediate the positively influential effect of external corporate reputation on work attitudes and behaviors. Based on above findings, the practical implications, research limitation and suggestions for future study are addressed.

This paper studies airline customers' online search and purchase behaviors. Two fundamental aspects of online behavior are examined: (1) the link between search behavior and buying behavior and (2) the evolution of inter-temporal search and purchase decisions of strategic buyers. In the first study, we examine online customers' dynamic conversion behaviors using clickstream data. A new model based on Markov chains that incorporates discrete choices and decision-timing is proposed to capture key search effects on consumer decisions as well as dynamics of browsing behavior both within and across visits. Empirical results show that within-site search activities lead to strong consumer engagement and thus increase purchase and revisit propensities. Fit comparison between first and second order Markov chains allows us to conclude that consumer decisions are primarily influenced by the current search. Furthermore, we observe that consumers dynamically adjust their browsing behavior both within and across visits. The second study investigates the evolution of inter-temporal search and purchase decisions of strategic buyers. Risk neutral buyers follow simple behavioral rules based on future and current prices and options available. We show that the trade-off between waiting and purchasing will become less and less favorable to waiting. Price elasticity should therefore drop as departure date approaches. With stationary price distributions, search and purchase efforts increase with proximity to the deadline. We extend the base model to allow for price evolution and demand uncertainty. We find that increases in mean price and price dispersion may attenuate increasing propensities for search and purchase. We demonstrate our models through a logit estimation on a unique data set from a major online travel agency.

Utvecklingen inom förmedling av bostäder har gått snabbt sedan internet blev en del av vår vardag. Idag vänder vi oss online för att hitta vår nya bostad och detta ger möjligheten att följa bostadsmarknaden på ett helt nytt sätt. Denna uppsats undersöker relationen mellan Sveriges bostadsköpares sökbeteende på Sveriges utan tvekan största bostadssöksajt Hemnet och Riksbankens räntebesked. Genom att analysera det totala antalet sökningar gjorda på bostadsrätter, hus och fritidshus vid av Riksbanken rapporterade räntehöjningar, räntesänkningar samt en lämnad oförändrad reporänta försöker författarna se om sökbeteendet ändras. Sökbeteendet fyller funktionen av en ny möjlig indikator för efterfrågan på den Svenska bostadsmarknaden. Den statistik som undersöks sträcker sig från tidsperioden april 2011 till april 2013. Resultatet av studien visar att Riksbankens räntebeslut, oavsett karaktär, inte ger någon effekt på antalet sökningar. Vad som istället kan observeras är att det finns en stark veckovis trend där måndagar är den dag med absolut flest sökningar. Antalet sökningar avtar sedan varje dag fram tills en form av botten på lördagen för att sedan ta ett kliv uppåt på söndag. De som söker bostad i Sverige påverkas inte av små, kortsiktiga ränteförändringar. Med en historiskt låg ränta samt en långsiktig planering av bostadsköp är det troligt att ränteförändringarna under denna period inte har någon inverkan på viljan att söka bostad. Sett till ränteration, förhållandet mellan ränteutgift och disponibel inkomst, finns även där utrymme för högre räntebetalningar. Uppsatsen har använt en ny metod att analysera efterfrågan på bostadsmarknaden. Den bidrar / The development of how we are marketing homes for sale has been rapid since the Internet became part of our daily lives. Today, we turn online to find our new home and this gives the opportunity to follow the housing market in a whole new way. This paper examines the relationship between search behavior on housing at Hemnet, Sweden's biggest online marketplace for homes, and the announcements of interest rate change by the Riksbank. By analyzing the total number of searches done on condominiums, villas and cottages at an by the Riksbank reported increased, decreased and unchanged interest rate, the authors will observe if there is a change in the search behavior. These types of search behavior for houses can work as a new indicator of demand in the Swedish housing market. The statistics that are examined range from April 2011 to April 2013. The results of the study show that the Riksbank's interest rate decisions, regardless of character, have no effect on the number of searches. What on the other hand is observed is that there is a strong weekly trend in the data. Monday is the day with the most searches. The searches then decreases each day until they bottom out on Saturday to later take a step up on Sundays. Those who are looking for housing in Sweden stay unaffected by small, short-term changes of interest. With historically low interest rates and long-term planning of home purchases, it is likely that changes in interest rates during this period has no effect on the willingness to search for housing. The interest ratio, the ratio of interest expenditure and disposable income, can also explain that people are still able to handle higher interest payments. The paper has used a new method to analyze the demand for housing. It provides inspiration for further research in a topic that has great potential.

Mot bakgrund av de generationsskillnader som finns på arbetsmarknaden var syftet med studien att undersöka hur Generation Y söker arbete som anställd i en kommunal förvaltning i jämförelse med Generation Z. Studien genomfördes som en kvalitativ fallstudie och riktade in sig på en utvald svensk kommun. Semistrukturerade intervjuer användes och ett bekvämlighetsurval (N=14) tillämpades i studien. Respondenterna bestod av fem män och nio kvinnor, födda mellan 2000 och 1982. En tematisk analys genomfördes på det insamlade materialet vilket resulterade i fyra teman (Arbetslivsbalans, En trygg arbetsgivare, Motivationsfaktorer och Kommunens arbetsgivarvarumärke). Studiens resultat visade fler likheter än skillnader. Likheterna var att de två generationerna uppskattade flexibilitet, en trygg arbetsgivare och utvecklingsmöjligheter. Båda generationerna använde sociala medier och LinkedIn vid sökande efter arbete samt var överens om att kommunens rykte måste förbättras. De främsta skillnaderna var Work-Life Balance och lön. En generationsanpassad Employer Branding strategi i kommunen behöver inte bedrivas då resultatet visade fler likheter än skillnader mellan de studerade generationerna.

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In the recent years, companies began emphasize the employees¡¦ cognition on happiness and well-being to recruit and retain the talents and human resources. This study is to explore the factors influencing the employee¡¦s well-being cognition and the impacts of attitudes and behaviors from the employees¡¦ well-being. This study adopted the high-performance human resource practice (HPHRP) in organization level as the independent variable and the organizational identification, job involvement and job searching behavior in individual level as dependent variables. The employee¡¦s well-being was a mediator between the independent and dependent variables to examine the mediating effects. This research employed the questionnaire suvey to collect the data. To avoid the common method variance, the questionnaire is divided into two parts, one for the HR professionals, and another on for the general employees. The data was collected from fifty companies. Valid questionnaires from fifty HR professionals and 461 employees are included. The Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) was used in the main hypotheses tests to examine the relationships among the variables. The results showed that the HPHRP of company has significant positive influences on employee¡¦s well-being, organizational identification, and job involvement, and has significant negative influence on job search behavior. Employee¡¦s well-being has positive influences on organizational identification and job involvement. Employee¡¦s well-being is also a mediator between the relationships HPHRP and organizational identification and job involvement of employee. Based on the results, this study proposed some empirical and practical suggestions.

The expanded internet usage has resulted in an increased activity at web-based search engines. Companies are therefore devoting a large portion of their online marketing budget on Search Engine Marketing (abbreviated SEM) in order to reach potential online consumers searching for products. SEM comprises Search Engine Advertising (SEA) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) which are two dissimilar marketing tools companies can invest in to reach the desired customer segments. It is therefore of great interest for companies in different product markets to have knowledge of which SEM strategy to utilize. The statement leads to the purpose of the thesis which is to investigate which SEM strategy is the most suitable for companies in different markets, SEA or SEO?. The purpose of the thesis is derived to the research problem: How does the search behavior of consumers differ between the two SEM tools, SEO and SEA?. Initially, in order to answer the research problem, a theoretical framework was conducted consisting of theories from previous research. To collect primary data observations of 60 test subjects was performed in accordance with the Experimental Vignette Methodology. The analysis consists of a comparison between the collected data and the theories included in the frame of reference, to identify similarities and differences. The SPSS analysis of the result revealed numerous findings such as the two-way interactions of the factors degree of involvement and the click rate of SEM, as well as the choice of either a head or a tail keyword and the degree of involvement. The analysis further revealed a three-way interaction which suggests that the degree of involvement, and the use of either a head or tail keyword affects the choice of SEM. Additionally, the result shows that customers using brands as keywords are more likely to click on an organic link rather than on a paid ad. However, when adding the factor age to the analysis the results turn insignificant. As the area of search behavior of customers using search engines is relatively scientifically unexplored, the thesis has contributed with knowledge useful for companies, marketing agencies, among others. However, due to the ongoing expansion of search engine usage, it is of great interest to conduct further research in the area to reveal additional findings.

Made available in DSpace on 2018-06-18T13:12:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2015 / Introdução: As Ligas Acadêmicas (LAs) nos Cursos de Medicina são formadas por grupos de estudantes de graduação com um interesse comum, que se reúnem periodicamente para realizar atividades práticas e teóricas ligadas a um campo da futura atuação profissional, supervisionados, em caráter voluntário, por um docente ou médico da área. As atividades práticas consistem em atendimento ambulatorial a pacientes, participação de grupos de estudos e acompanhamento de procedimentos. As LAs de Medicina desempenham, portanto, um papel peculiar na formação médica, uma vez que os alunos têm oportunidade de fazer escolhas de modo ativo e livre, desenvolver iniciativas inovadoras, trocar experiências e interagir com colegas interessados nos mesmos assuntos. Como ponto inicial de pesquisa afigurou-se a questão de como estes alunos realizam a busca de informações científicas que subsidiem seu estudo, nas atividades já comentadas das LAs. Tal questão foi posteriormente ampliada para o papel das LAs no processo de formação dos estudantes. O presente estudo volta-se para a importância das Ligas Acadêmicas de Medicina da UNIFESP na formação curricular dos graduandos e, neste contexto, o papel do acesso às fontes de informação científica. Objetivo: Investigar o processo de participação dos estudantes nas Ligas Acadêmicas (LAs) na Escola Paulista de Medicina, da UNIFESP, no que diz respeito ao desenvolvimento da própria formação médica e à utilização sistemática da informação veiculada pela literatura científica em suas atividades. Metodologia: Considerando-se a natureza dos dados a serem obtidos e analisados, a pesquisa tem características qualitativas. Inicialmente, foi realizada uma pesquisa documental, no sentido de levantar dados históricos e relativos ao funcionamento das LAs em geral e na EPM, em particular. A seguir foi estudada uma população de alunos e supervisores das LAs da EPM, utilizando como estratégia de coleta de dados entrevistas semiestruturadas. Resultados e Discussão: Os estudantes procuram as LAs com o intuito de complementar sua formação escolar, sobretudo no que diz respeito ao contato com o paciente. As atividades teóricas foram valorizadas enquanto se relacionam com os atendimentos. Diversos alunos demonstraram interesse por atividades de pesquisa, embora tanto os próprios como seus supervisores identificassem uma lacuna na busca criteriosa de dados na literatura. A participação nas LAs não se mostrou fator indutor da especialização precoce. Aspectos tais como a colaboração entre colegas de diferentes séries, a supervisão de pequenos grupos de estudantes e a responsabilidade pelo atendimento surgiram nas falas dos entrevistados. Conclusões: A participação nas LAs foi considerada de grande importância na formação não apenas teórica e técnica dos estudantes, mas mostrou-se especialmente valiosa em seu amadurecimento no “ser médico”. A formação humanística foi especialmente ressaltada como um determinante do futuro exercício da profissão médica. / Introduction: Interest Groups (IGs) in Medical Schools are formed by groups of undergraduate students with a common interest, which meet periodically to carry out theoretical and practical activities related to a field of future professional activities, supervised, on a voluntary basis, by a teacher of doctor from the area. Practical activities (medical consultations) consists of patient care, participation in study groups and follow-up procedures, among others. The Medicine IGs therefore play a peculiar role in medical education, as students have the opportunity to make active and freely choices, develop innovative initiatives, exchange experiences and interact with colleagues interested in the same issues. The first search question was how these students perform the search for scientific information that subsidize their study, in the activities already mentioned of IGs. Such a question was later replaced to the role of the IGs in the students' training process, as a hole. This study turns to the importance of Medical IGs in UNIFESP in the training curriculum of the students and in this context, the role of accessing scientific information sources. Objectives: The study aims at investigating the participation of medical students of UNIFESP, focusing the development of their medical training and the systematic use of scientific literature information in their activities. Methodology: Considering the nature of the information to be got and analyzed, a qualitative approach was used. First, a document search was conducted, in order to raise historical data about IGs in general and particularly in UNIFESP. Later, a population of students and supervisors of IGs was interviewed. Results and Discussion: The students searched for IGs in order to complement their school training, looking forward to have contact with patients. They valued theoretical activities because these were related to consultation issues. Several students stated they wanted to perform scientific research, although they and their supervisors observed a poor capacity of searching scientific information in literature. They also appreciated the interaction with students from other years, as well as supervision of small groups of students and responsibility for their tasks. Conclusions: Taking part in IGs was considered of great importance in the students’ training, not only in developing theoretical and practical skills, but also specially for their growing as “being doctors”. The interviewed considered particularly the construction of a humanistic practice in their future exercise of medical profession.

Plant feeding insects comprise about 25% of all animal species on earth and play an important role in all ecosystems. Although we understand that their association with plants is a key-factor driving the diversification in this group, we still have large gaps in our knowledge of the underlying processes of this relationship. Female choice of host plant is an important event in the insect life-cycle, as it is a major determinant of the larval food plant. In this Thesis I studied different aspects of insect host plant choice and used butterflies from the family Nymphalidae as my study system. I found that butterflies have a well developed olfactory system and that they use odors when searching for food or host plants. However, the information obtained from the odor of host plants does not seem to be sufficient for the studied species to make a distinction between plants of different qualities. Interestingly, even when in full contact with the leaf they do not make optimal decisions. I show for example that a sub-optimal female choice may be mitigated by larval ability to cope with unfavorable situations. Moreover, species that utilize a broader set of host plants may not be very well adapted to all the hosts they use, but at the same time they may survive in areas where there is only a subset of the plants available. Lastly, differences in the evolution of life-history traits between species can account for differences in how each species realizes its lifestyle. Thus, by incorporating findings on mechanisms of host plant choice with the ecological and evolutionary context of a species, our ability to explain the dynamics of host plant choice and insect-plant interactions can be improved. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 4: Manuscript.</p>