O preço de um imóvel é definido como um preço hedônico, visto que sua formação é dada através de um conjunto de atributos que consideram, além das características do próprio bem, tais como número de quartos, vagas na garagem, área privativa, entre outros; as características do bairro onde este imóvel está inserido. Existe uma demanda crescente por imóveis localizados em regiões com uso de solo misto, densificadas e com fácil acesso a serviços. Essas características estão fortemente vinculadas ao conceito de caminhabilidade. Juntamente com facilidade de acesso ao transporte público, desenho urbano que favoreça o deslocamento dos pedestres e segurança pública, formam as 6 dimensões da caminhabilidade utilizadas nesse estudo. Bairros com essas características estimulam viagens a pé e estima-se que haja uma valorização imobiliária de seus empreendimentos, com consumidores dispostos a pagar mais por imóveis residenciais localizados em regiões caminháveis. Para testar o impacto da caminhabilidade no valor do preço, foram utilizados modelos de equações estruturais. Eles permitem que conceitos como os de caminhabilidade e segurança pública, que não podem ser diretamente medidos (variáveis latentes), possam ser explicados por medidas observáveis que atuam como formadoras desses conceitos. Os resultados obtidos confirmam a hipótese, com o preço do metro quadrado de imóveis residenciais a venda crescendo conforme aumenta a caminhabilidade. A segurança pública demonstrou ser o fator mais importante na explicação da caminhabilidade e consequentemente na valorização do preço. / Sale price of a property is defined as a hedonic price, since its value is formed by a set of attributes that cover more than just characteristics of the product itself, such as number of rooms, parking spots and private area. There is a growing demand for properties located in areas with mixed land use, densified and with easy access to products and services. These characteristics are strongly linked to the concept of walkability, usually named as walkability dimensions. Neighborhoods with these features encourage commutes by walking and are likely to have a real estate valuation, with consumers willing to pay more for residential properties located in walkable areas. Structural equation models were used to test the impact of walkability on sales price. This methodology allows to quantify concepts as walkability and security, that could not be directly measured (latent variables), by using the observable variables that compose them. The results confirm the hypothesis that increase in walkability will also raise the sales price. Security has proven to be the most important factor in the walkability explanation and consequently in price appreciation.

As organizações estão expostas a uma quantidade e variabilidade cada vez mais crescente de informações. A capacidade de se antecipar às tendências e se adequar ao ambiente passa a ser, além de fonte de vantagem competitiva, fator necessário para a sobrevivência. Nessa realidade, organizações frequentemente apresentam dificuldades de leitura de seu ambiente e adaptação ao meio. Acredita-se na necessidade de desenvolvimento de uma capacidade interna da organização para que o monitoramento do ambiente se estabeleça, bem como análise de oportunidades, planejamento de ações de melhoria e reconfiguração da organização. Este estudo buscou verificar a relação da Inteligência - enquanto processo de monitoramento do ambiente - como uma Capacidades Dinâmica, e de como esta pode contribuir com a geração de vantagem competitiva. Criou-se um modelo de pesquisa, utilizando-se dos modelos de Rios (2010) e Teece (2014), relacionando os conceitos de Inteligência e Capacidade Dinâmicas, e estas com a Vantagem Competitiva. Por meio de um questionário, realizou-se uma Pesquisa Survey, onde coletaram-se respostas de funcionários e/ou sócio de empresas brasileiras, independente de porte ou segmento. Para análise, utilizou-se da Modelagem de Equações Estruturais, e foi possível demonstrar que a Inteligência influencia positivamente nas Capacidades Dinâmicas do sub-grupo Transforming, na Estratégia e na Vantagem Competitiva. Dessa forma o modelo desenvolvido, tendo apresentado boa confiabilidade e aderência, pode também ser validado. / Organizations are exposed to an increasing amount and variability of information. The ability to anticipate trends and adapt to the environment becomes, besides a source of competitive advantage, a necessary factor for survival. In this reality, organizations frequently present difficulties in reading their environment and adapting to them. We believe in the need to develop an internal capacity of the organization for the monitoring of the environment to be established, as well as analysis of opportunities, planning of actions of improvement and reconfiguration of the organization. This study sought to verify the relationship of Intelligence - as a process of monitoring the environment - as a Dynamic Capabilities, and how this can contribute to the generation of competitive advantage. A research model was created, using the models of Rios (2010) and Teece (2014), relating the concepts of Dynamic Intelligence and Capacity, and these with the Competitive Advantage. By means of a questionnaire, a Survey Research was conducted, where responses were collected from employees and / or partners of Brazilian companies, regardless of size or segment. For the analysis, it was used the Modeling of Structural Equations, and it was possible to demonstrate that the Intelligence influences positively in the Dynamic Capacities of the Transforming subgroup, in the Strategy and the Competitive Advantage. In this way the developed model, having presented good reliability and adhesion, can also be validated.

Residentes de um mesmo contexto urbano podem apresentar padrões distintos de deslocamento. A distinção desses padrões pode estar relacionada às diferenças na percepção acerca da caminhabilidade do entorno. Para estimular mudanças no padrão de deslocamento dos usuários de transporte motorizado é importante compreender como os fatores do ambiente urbano, percebidos por esses usuários, se diferenciam em relação aos usuários de transporte ativo, e a partir disso montar estratégias eficientes para cada público alvo. A partir de uma pesquisa realizada com moradores de bairros da zona leste do município de São Paulo, este trabalho compara os usuários de transporte ativo, coletivo e individual em relação a três questões: (i) os fatores que influenciam a percepção da caminhabilidade (dentre eles a segurança pública), (ii) o impacto da caminhabilidade na satisfação com o bairro e (iii) a relação entre percepção de caminhabilidade, satisfação com o bairro e o impacto nos hábitos de deslocamento ativos (frequência e tempos de viagem semanais) reportados para os três grupos. Para analisar tais relações, foram desenvolvidos modelos de equações estruturais, que permitem testar uma hipótese entre múltiplas variáveis e que diversas variáveis observadas representem conceitos que não podem ser diretamente medidos (variáveis latentes), como a percepção de caminhabilidade e a sensação de segurança pública Os resultados obtidos mostraram a existência de diferenças na percepção do ambiente construído entre usuários de transporte ativo, transporte coletivo e transporte individual motorizado. As diferenças principais foram encontradas entre os usuários de transporte ativo e os usuários de transporte motorizado (coletivo e individual), tanto em relação à percepção do ambiente, quanto em relação à sua influência no comportamento do usuário relativo à viagem. A preocupação com a segurança pública parece ser superestimada por aqueles que não realizam deslocamentos ativos regularmente. Investimentos em segurança pública e na qualidade do ambiente mostram ter um efeito positivo em todos os usuários, tanto no que se refere à satisfação com o bairro quanto à utilização de modos ativos de deslocamento. O impacto da percepção do ambiente na satisfação com o bairro foi maior para os usuários de transporte coletivo e individual. / Residents of a same urban context may present different travel patterns. The distinction of these travel patterns may be related to differences in the perception of the environment walkability. To stimulate changes in the travel pattern of motorized transport users, it is important to understand how the environmental factors perceived by these users differ in relation to the users of active transport, and from that, create efficient strategies for each target public. Based on a survey with residents of neighborhoods in the eastern part of the city of São Paulo, this study compares users of active, public and private transport in relation to three issues: (i) the factors that influence perceived walkability (among them public security) (ii) the impact of walkability on neighborhood satisfaction, and (iii) the relationship between perceived walkability, neighborhood satisfaction, and the impact on active commuting patterns (weekly frequency and travel times) reported for all three groups. To analyze such relationships, structural equation models have been developed, which allow testing a hypothesis among multiple variables and that several observed variables represent concepts that cannot be directly measured (latent variables), such as perceived walkability and sense of public security The results showed the existence of differences in the perception of the built environment between users of active, public and private transport. The main differences were found between users of active and users of motorized transport (public and private), both in relation to the perception of the environment and its influence on travel user behavior. Concern about public safety seems to be overestimated by those who do not regularly commute by active means. Investments in public security and environmental quality have a positive effect on all users, both regarding neighborhood satisfaction and the use of active modes of travel. The impact of perceived environment on neighborhood satisfaction was greater for users of public and individual transport.

abstract: Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) careers have been touted as critical to the success of our nation and also provide important opportunities for access and equity of underrepresented minorities (URM's). Community colleges serve a diverse population and a large number of undergraduates currently enrolled in college, they are well situated to help address the increasing STEM workforce demands. Geoscience is a discipline that draws great interest, but has very low representation of URM's as majors. What factors influence a student's decision to major in the geosciences and are community college students different from research universities in what factors influence these decisions? Through a survey-design mixed with classroom observations, structural equation model was employed to predict a student's intent to persist in introductory geology based on student expectancy for success in their geology class, math self-concept, and interest in the content. A measure of classroom pedagogy was also used to determine if instructor played a role in predicting student intent to persist. The targeted population was introductory geology students participating in the Geoscience Affective Research NETwork (GARNET) project, a national sampling of students in enrolled in introductory geology courses. Results from SEM analysis indicated that interest was the primary predictor in a students intent to persist in the geosciences for both community college and research university students. In addition, self-efficacy appeared to be mediated by interest within these models. Classroom pedagogy impacted how much interest was needed to predict intent to persist, in which as classrooms became more student centered, less interest was required to predict intent to persist. Lastly, math self-concept did not predict student intent to persist in the geosciences, however, it did share variance with self-efficacy and control of learning beliefs, indicating it may play a moderating effect on student interest and self-efficacy. Implications of this work are that while community college students and research university students are different in demographics and content preparation, student-centered instruction continues to be the best way to support student's interest in the sciences. Future work includes examining how math self-concept may play a role in longitudinal persistence in the geosciences. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Curriculum and Instruction 2014

Este estudo teve por objetivo investigar, à luz das teorias de internacionalização de empresas, a forma de inserção no mercado externo das indústrias de calçados da cidade de Franca, Estado de São Paulo e as características determinantes do comportamento seu exportador. Foi elaborado um cadastro atualizado do setor e enviados questionários a todas as empresas de pequeno, médio e grande porte (208 indústrias). Desse total, 146 empresas responderam à pesquisa e foram aproveitados 117 questionários. A pesquisa foi respondida, em grande parte, por diretores e pelos principais executivos das empresas, que expressaram suas percepções em relação aos diversos aspectos do processo de internacionalização de suas indústrias. A investigação procurou identificar as características da empresa, do respondente, da equipe dirigente, da produção e da comercialização dos seus produtos, tanto no mercado interno como externo. Foram investigados ainda o grau de diferenciação do produto, a imagem do pólo produtivo, as expectativas sobre as vantagens do comércio internacional e a percepção de barreiras internas à exportação. Por último se verificou a forma utilizada para a inserção no mercado externo e o estágio atual dessas empresas no processo de internacionalização de suas atividades. Pode-se afirmar que as empresas da indústria calçadista francana seguem uma estratégia gradual de inserção no mercado internacional, em consonância com a literatura sobre o processo de internacionalização. Foram identificados também alguns determinantes do compromisso exportador, as estratégias utilizadas e as ações implementadas para penetração no mercado externo e sugerido um modelo da empresa exportadora da indústria calçadista francana. O que se depreende, é que as empresas que não exportam apresentam problemas internos relacionados à percepção da falta de capacidade de produção para atender ao mercado externo, à dificuldade em lidar com as diferenças lingüísticas e culturais e o desconhecimento geral de como exportar. Tudo isso aliado a uma visão até certo ponto distorcida dos benefícios que a internacionalização pode trazer para as empresas, do ponto de vista das oportunidades de crescimento e de diversificação dos produtos fabricados que o mercado externo oferece e da rentabilidade a ser obtida nas exportações. A percepção dos dirigentes é a de que falta a estas empresas, também, uma melhor qualidade e tecnologia na fabricação de seus produtos, que se reflete em menores preços de venda do que os praticados pelas empresas exportadoras. / The purpose of this study was to investigate, concerning the theories of internationalization of enterprises, the way the footwear industries from Franca, State of São Paulo, are inserted in the foreign market and the striking features of their export behavior. An up-to-date catalogue of the enterprises was developed and questionnaires were sent to all small, medium and large enterprises (208 industries). From those, 146 enterprises responded to the survey and 117 were suitable for the purposes. The survey was responded, in great part, by directors and by the principal executives of the enterprises, whom expressed their perceptions of many aspects of the internationalization process of their enterprises. The investigation meant to identify the characteristics of the enterprise, of the person responding the questionnaire, of the managing staff, and of the production and commerce of their products, both in the domestic and foreign markets. It was also investigated at what degree the product was different from those in the market, the image of the productive pole, the expectations over the advantages of international trade and the perception of domestic export barriers. At last, the methods used for inserting the enterprises in the foreign market were verified, as well as their current status in the process of internationalization. It can be stated that the footwear enterprises from Franca follow a strategy of gradual insertion in the international market. Some determinants of the export agreement, the strategies used and the actions taken in order to reach the foreign market were also identified and a model of an exporting footwear enterprise was suggested. What can be inferred is that the enterprises which do not export present internal problems related to the perception of the lack of production power to meet the foreign market needs, to the difficulties in dealing with the language and cultural differences and to the lack of know how in exports. All allied with a view a little distorted of the benefits the internationalization can bring to the enterprise, from the point of view of growth opportunities and of the variety of manufactured products that the foreign market offers and of the profitability that can be reached through exports. The perception of the directors is that there is a lack of better quality and technology in the manufacture of their products, which is reflected in prices lower than those of the exporting enterprises.

Com a necessidade de analisar dados cada vez mais complexos nas mais diversas áreas, surge também a necessidade de novas técnicas e novas modelagens. Nesse contexto, os Modelos de Equações Estruturais são uma evolução da análise de caminhos proposto por Wright (1921), que por sua vez, consegue captar as relações de causa e efeito entre diferentes tipos de variáveis. Este trabalho tem como objetivo abordar uma revisão em torno dessa técnica, com ênfase aos modelos recursivos que utilizam em sua maioria apenas variáveis observadas. A aplicação deste trabalho está fundamentada em um processo de simulação considerando assim, seis cenários com diferentes tipos de relações numa mesma estrutura. As médias das estimativas dos parâmetros no processo de simulação resultam em valores próximos aos valores verdadeiros. Por meio de figuras e gráficos, pode-se observar o comportamento dos parâmetros por meio do erro quadrático médio e boxplot. A análise foi realizada com a utilização do software R e programas implementados com pacote sem (FOX; WEISBERG, 2012) e programação apresentada no Apêndice deste trabalho. / With the increasingly need to analyze complex data in several areas, comes the need for new techniques and new models. In this context, the Structural Equation Modeling is an evolution of the path analysis proposed by Wright (1921), which, can capture the relations of cause and effect between different types of variables. The present work aims to approach a review about this technique with emphasis on recursive models using mostly observed variables only. The application of this work is based on a simulation process considering six scenarios with different types of relationships within the same structure. The mean estimates of the parameters in the simulation result in values that are close to the true values, and by means of figures and graphs, one can observe the behavior of the parameters by means of the mean squared error and boxplot. The analysis was performed using the software software R and implemented programs as sem package (FOX; WEISBERG, 2012) and the programming is presented in the Appendix of this work.

O ambiente competitivo e globalização vem provocando mudanças nas estratégias das empresas, fomentando, muitas vezes, para um processo de internacionalização. As empresas procuram internacionalizar-se de acordo com seus objetivos estratégicos, traçando uma estratégia de internacionalização. Sair do seu ambiente para um país desconhecido significa que a empresa estará sujeita a correr certos riscos e, portanto, requer uma estratégia que avalie os riscos envolvidos para se estabelecer em um determinado país. O conhecimento desses riscos vai proporcionar a empresa mitigar ou mesmo eliminar os riscos envolvidos. Independente do processo de entrada em outro país, sempre haverá a questão do risco. Geralmente, quando uma empresa decide se internacionalizar, ela opta primeiro pelo processo de exportação, em que terá de lidar com vários tipos de risco em suas decisões gerenciais para alcançar seus objetivos estratégicos. Portanto, essa pesquisa foi feita com oitenta e quatro empresas exportadoras brasileiras, do estado de São Paulo, com faturamento de até 10 milhões de dólares listadas na Confederação Nacional da Indústria (CNI). O objetivo desse estudo foi entender como e quais riscos envolvidos na internacionalização de empresas exportadoras brasileiras exercem influência sobre a estratégia e objetivos estratégicos na internacionalização de empresas exportadoras. Para a análise da pesquisa, foi utilizada a técnica de modelagem de equações estruturais baseada em variância, na qual foi utilizada uma survey para coleta de dados. Foram geradas quatro hipóteses, três relacionadas ao risco e estratégia e uma relacionada à estratégia e ao risco. Como resultado, duas hipóteses foram confirmadas e, portanto, duas rejeitadas. Essa pesquisa contribui com o conhecimento científico, pois, além de verificar os riscos que influenciam na estratégia e objetivos estratégicos, ela traz a concepção de envolver riscos não somente financeiros, mas também do ambiente, do setor e da empresa na estratégia para a internacionalização. / The competitive environment and globalization has been provoking changes in the strategies of companies, often leading to an internationalization process. The companies seek to internationalize themselves according to their strategic objectives, to which a strategy of internationalization will be traced. Leaving your environment to an unknown country means that the company is subject to certain risks and therefore requires a strategy that assesses the risks involved in establishing itself in a particular country. Knowing these risks will enable the company to mitigate or even eliminate the risks involved. Regardless of the process of entry into another country, there will always be the issue of risk. Usually, when a company decides to internationalize, it opts for the first time through the export process, where it will have to deal with various types of risk in its managerial decisions to reach its strategic objectives. Therefore, this research was conducted with eighty-four Brazilian companies in the state of São Paulo, with sales of up to 10 million dollars listed in Confederação Nacional da Indústria (CNI). The objective of the study was to understand how and what risks involved in the internationalization of Brazilian exporting companies influence the strategy and the strategic objectives in the internationalization of exporting companies. But even this process depending on the intensity of export the company will be subject to risk because it is unknown to the host country. Therefore, this research was carried out with Brazilian export companies, whose objective was to investigate the influence of the risks involved in the internationalization of Brazilian exporting companies on the strategy of internationalization and strategic objectives. For the analysis of the research was used the technique of modeling of structural equations based on variance, where a survey was used to collect data. Four hypotheses were generated, three related to risk and strategy and one related to strategy and risk. As a result, two hypotheses were confirmed and therefore two rejected. This research contributes with scientific knowledge, because in addition to verifying the risks that influence the strategy and strategic objectives, it brings the concept of involving not only financial risks but also the risk of the environment, sector and the company in the strategy for internationalization.

Orientador: Maria da Consolação Gomes Cunha Fernandes Tavares / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Educação Física / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-18T23:56:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Campana_AngelaNogueiraNevesBetanho_D.pdf: 9376682 bytes, checksum: 86cf1aab28267f33a7a98e07a61df411 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Resumo: A Imagem Corporal é dinâmica, estruturada nas experiências singulares do sujeito. Tanto homens quanto mulheres podem sofrer alterações na forma de vivenciar seu corpo. O objetivo desta pesquisa foi ampliar a compreensão das relações de causalidade entre apreciação corporal, ansiedade físico social, desconforto em relação ao corpo masculino ideal, atitudes e comportamentos de busca pela musculatura numa amostra de homens Brasileiros jovens. Para isso, traduzimos, adaptamos transculturalmente e validamos para a língua portuguesa no Brasil as escalas Body Esteem Scale, Swansea Muscularity Attitudes Questionnaire, Drive for Muscularity Scale, Body Appreciation Scale, Social Physique Anxiety Scale e Masculine Body Ideal Distress Scale. Depois, fizemos a path analysis do modelo estrutural de relações entre os domínios das escalas validadas. A pesquisa compreendeu quatro fases: a de tradução e adaptação transcultural das escalas; a de validação psicométrica das escalas, a realização de grupo focal e a modelagem de equações estruturais para determinar as relações causais entre os construtos investigados. O processo de tradução e adaptação transcultural seguiu cinco passos: traduções das escalas, síntese das traduções, retrotraduções, reunião de Comitê de Peritos e Pré-teste. Através da análise fatorial confirmatória, numa amostra não probabilística de 878 homens jovens, foram estabelecidas evidências de validade de construto e confiabilidade interna para todas as seis escalas deste estudo. Nos dois mini grupos focais, realizados com duas amostras de 5 alunos de graduação do curso de educação física, foi possível constatar que a aparência tem uma importância grande, que o exercícios físicos, alimentação balanceada acompanhada de suplementação alimentar, quando necessário, e descanso são os comportamentos adotados e reconhecidos como adequados para a construção de um corpo musculoso. O corpo deve ser musculoso o bastante, pois o excesso de massa muscular é avaliado ambiguamente: tanto é valorizado por sua associação aos atributos de masculinidade quanto é desvalorizado por sua associação ao uso de recursos não lícitos para a construção da musculatura. A modelagem de equação estrutural, feita numa amostra não probabilística de 1202 homens jovens, indicou que o modelo que melhor explica as relações de causalidade entre as dimensões da Imagem Corporal e que melhor demonstra o efeito destas sobre Drive for Muscularity é o que estabelece como variável exógena o construto Apreciação Corporal com todas as demais variáveis tendo efeito sobre Drive for Muscularity. Pesquisas futuras precisam investigar outros elementos influenciadores de Drive for Muscularity. Ressaltamos que esta pesquisa é de natureza exploratória, não probabilística, sendo esta uma limitação. Todavia, pensamos que os achados podem trazer contribuições à área e à continuidade dos estudos, assim como um melhor entendimento do construto Drive for Muscularity para homens comuns / Abstract: Body Image is dynamic, structured on subject's singular experiences. Both men and women can suffer disturbances in the way of experiencing their body. The aim of this research was to increase the understanding of causal relationships between body appreciation, social physique anxiety, masculine body ideal distress, and drive for muscularity in a sample of young Brazilian men. To reach our purpose, the scales Body Esteem Scale, Swansea Muscularity Attitudes Questionnaire, Drive for Muscularity Scale, Body Appreciation Scale, Social Physique Anxiety Scale and Masculine Body Ideal Distress Scale were translated, transculturally adapted and validated to Brazilian Portuguese. Afterwards, we made a path analysis on the structural model. The research had four phases: the scales translation and transcultural adaptation; the psychometric validation; focus group and the structural equation modeling to define causal relationships between the constructs. Translation and transcultural adaptation process followed five steps: translation, synthesis of translation, backtranslation, experts committee and pretest. Using confirmatory factor analysis, in a non-probabilistic sample of 878 young men, satisfactory evidences of internal reliability and construct validity were generated for all six scales. Two mini focus groups, with two individual samples of five physical education undergraduate students, showed that appearance has a great importance. Also, exercise trainings, balanced diet, accompanied by food supplementation, when necessary, and rest are attitudes and behaviors adopted and recognized as suitable to build a muscular body. The body must be muscular enough, because excessive muscularity is ambiguous: can be valued by the association with masculinity attributes and, on the other hand, devalued by the association with illicit muscular building resources. Structural Equation Modeling, made in a non-probabilistic sample of 1202 young men, showed that the best model to explain causal relationships between Body Image attitudinal dimensions addressed in this research and the effect of them on drive for muscularity is the one that establishes Body Appreciation as the exogenous variable, with all other variables having effect on drive for muscularity. Future researches must evaluate other elements that can cause effect on drive for muscularity. We would like to emphasize that this research is exploratory, non -probabilistic, being those limitations for our conclusions. Nevertheless, we thought that our results could bring contributions to our field and to future investigations, as well as to a better understanding of drive for muscularity in the ordinary men / Doutorado / Atividade Fisica, Adaptação e Saude / Doutor em Educação Física

A series of studies aimed to examine the role of perceived behavioural control in Ajzen's (1985) Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) in a physical activity context with children aged 12-14 years. A broader, more differentiated role of perceived control was envisaged in the theory based on the conceptualisation of control and perceived competence put forward by Skinner (1995). The first two studies examined the role of control with respect to the TPB model variables and past behaviour. Study 1 investigated the relations between intention, behaviour, attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control in 181 children. It was hypothesised that attitude, perceived control and subjective norms would be related to intention and intention to behaviour. In addition, it was hypothesised that the covariation between control and attitude observed in previous studies could be better explained by the specification of a direct path between perceived control and attitude. Path analysis confirmed the theoretical relations between the TPB variables and, uniquely, the existence of a perceived control- attitude path forming a triadic arrangement with attitude and intention. It was concluded that perceived control governed two routes to the formation of intentions: a direct, spontaneousp ath and an indirect, more deliberative path via attitudes. This relationship was subsequently confirmed in a sample of 382 children in Study 2 using latent measures of attitude and control. The study demonstrated that direct attitude-intention and attitude-behaviour paths regulated the intention-behaviour relationship and attenuated the control -intention relationship to zero. Further, past behaviour predicted control but not intentions or prospective behaviour suggesting that perceived control includes judgements regarding previous control experiences. Since Studies I and 2 indicated the diverse influence of control on the TPB variables, Study 3 diversified the perceived control variable according to Skinner's (1995) conceptualisation of control. This was achieved through the inclusion of a measure of self-efficacy alongside perceived control in a study of 1152 children. The resulting non-standard model using both latent and observed measures, indicated that self-efficacy regulated the control-intention relationship, while control remained an indirect predictor of intention via attitudes. It was concluded that the spontaneous pathway was largely due to the aspects of control related to past experiences of confidence or self-efficacy. This justified the diversification of the perceived control variable and indicated that when young people consider the control they have over certain behaviours, they refer to a number of different perceptions. To further examine the role of perceived control and examine the origins of the cognitive variables in the TPB, Study 4 examined perceived control from a human needs perspective in 1088 children. The measures included more general, domain-specific rather than behaviour- specific measures of perceived control and locus of causality (PLOC). The latter variables represented the human needs for competence and autonomy, which are hypothesised to be motivational in nature (Deci & Ryan, 1985). Results indicated that relative autonomy predicted perceived behavioural control and attenuated the control-intention relationship to zero. This suggested that autonomy was the driving force behind the process of intern ali sation, in which a person assimilates a behaviour by continual competence satisfying experiences. A final study aimed to confirm the triadic relationships between attitude, perceived control and intention in the TPB by a cumulative analysis of these relationships using the data from Studies 1-4. Meta-analytical techniques were used to produce cumulative correlations corrected for measurement and sampling error between the TPB relationships. Results indicated that the variation in the correlations may have been due to more than just sampling error, indicating the existence of moderating variables. A path analysis using these correlations indicated that the atti tude- intention relationship in the triadic arrangement tended to be attenuated by the control-intention relationship. This series of studies indicate that Perceived behavioural control is an important and diverse predictor of intention in the TPB. In particular, control was shown to be an antecedent of attitudes as well as a direct predictor of intentions and that spontaneous intention formation from control perceptions may have been due to self-efficacy beliefs and past behavioural beliefs being encompassed by perceived control. Finally, the adoption of self-determination theory indicated that more general motives for engaging in physical activity behaviour were antecedent variables of control, attitudes and intention from a social cognitive approach. Such theories helped interpret the relationships in the TPB, in particular the role of control as an important variable in the process of internalisation.

It has long been argued that underlying values should hold a central role in political analysis. This would seem particularly relevant in an era of de-alignment and catch-all parties in which political actors often make direct values orientated appeals to the electorate. With the expansion in appropriate data and measures available to empirical researchers, the last two decades have seen a substantial increase in the number of studies directly addressing the values-voting relationship. Values based explanations of vote choice have contributed to a more nuanced understanding of the processes underlying voter preferences and the structure of public opinion within democratic electorates. This existing empirical literature has generally focused on analysing the role of values on voting in single electoral contexts. While this approach has generated many useful findings that establish the role of values in differentiating political choice, it has only partially explored the contextual mechanisms through which values influence vote choice. This is necessary in order to understand under what political conditions values are likely to become more relevant to vote choice decisions. This thesis is an attempt to address three aspects of this gap in the cross-national research literature on values and voting using analyses of data from the 1990 and 2008 waves of the European Values Survey. Firstly it provides a cross-national analysis of core political values that enables a comparison of the role of values in structuring electoral competition across 15 West European countries. Secondly, it estimates the role that left-right political identity has in mediating the influence of values on vote choice using a structural path model. This provides a cross-national test of this mechanism and therefore assesses variation in the values-voting relationship across different national contexts. Thirdly, the thesis provides a systematic empirical analysis of the influence of political context on the values-voting relationship by testing the effect that macro level system factors, such as polarisation and the number of parties, have on the influence of values. The headline findings of the thesis are that political values are dynamic constructs that can demonstrate subtle variations in the preferences of voters across different electoral contexts. Political values have a multi-dimensional influence on electoral choice; with variation in voter preferences being highlighted by both value differentiation (having opposite preferences for the same value dimension) and emphasis (having a preference for different values). Left-right identity can act as both a mediator and a confounder of political values influence on vote choice. Political context is primarily relevant to the influence of values on voting through the content of supply side party competition as opposed to the structure of that competition. Overall, the study argues the findings show that supply side political context plays a crucial role in defining the parameters and strength of the values-voting relationship in each specific electoral arena.