This thesis concerns technology use in distance educations and learning practices related to this use. The research was carried out over the period 2005 to 2009 in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and has been reported in 6 published papers. The research is situated within the field of Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) and within this field e-learning. Education is important for development and for many students in developing countries distance education is often the only option to get educated. The research question is if the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in distance education can contribute to development, and if so, how? This question is explored through two case studies in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. A variety of data collection methods have been used: interviews, questionnaires, participant observations and document review. The research approach is interpretative and findings are analyzed using Structuration Theory. Initial findings showed that a major challenge for students was the change of learning practices that distance education required. Findings also showed that new constructive learning practices emerged through the use of ICT. For development to take place the learning practices of students are important. Students used to learning practices based on uncritical memorization of facts will not easily take initiatives for change, whereas students used to constructive learning practices will.  Notwithstanding the fact that most students found this transition challenging, it was found that by introducing technology into long-established transmission structures, changes towards constructive learning practices occurred. A major contribution of this thesis is to increase the understanding of how ICT in distance education can facilitate constructive learning practices. By arguing that constructive learning practices are conducive to societal change this finding also has implications for development. The thesis also makes a theoretical contribution by extending Structuration Theory’s applicability in demonstrating its explanatory power in settings where researcher and informants are geographically and socially distant.

Shaoul et al. (2012) state that the accounting, scrutiny and oversight of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) remain areas of concern. Also, there have been calls for a more socio-technical and multidisciplinary approach to accounting and governance studies (Broadbent, 2012; Broadbent and Guthrie 2008), especially in relation to the empirical study of PPPs (Hodge et al., 2010). This thesis responds to these calls in part by drawing on Giddens’ structuration theory to examine the financial accountability and governance concerns that are created in PPP joint venture structures. The empirical work focuses on the health sector, which is identified as one of the sectors inundated by PPP activities, particularly in the UK (Treasury, 2012; Whitfield, 2010). It adopts a case study approach, based on qualitative methodology, which involves documentary analysis of secondary data and interviews in relation to two PPP schemes under the Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) scheme in the UK’s health sector.The thesis investigates: the extent to which the corporate structures of the LIFT scheme do complicate financial accountability and governance including external scrutiny; the extent to which the LIFT scheme does enhance partnership working between the public and private sector partners; the structures in financial accountability and governance in the LIFT scheme; the human agents that provide agency in financial accountability and governance in the LIFT scheme and; whether and in what ways structures and human agency in financial accountability and governance interact in the LIFT scheme and what the implications are.The thesis finds firstly that the complex corporate structure of the LIFT scheme is very complicated and the joint venture mechanism cannot be relied upon to deliver transparency of reporting. Secondly, as limited companies, all financial reporting follows private sector accounting regulations and Company Law and there is minimal disclosure in terms of information available to the general public. This is worsened by lack of information sharing between partners as evidenced in one case study group. Thirdly, there was considerable inconsistency in the reporting due to multiplicity of interpretive schemas between the two case study groups. Fourthly, there was considerable change in the reporting due both to changes in accounting regulations and changes in organisational structure and interpretive schemas throughout the period. Fifthly, there is lack of continuity of public sector oversight and monitoring as the public sector, in practice, restricts its activities to pre-operational phase and limited oversight after construction phases. Moreover, partnership working is very difficult in the context of profit seeking under the LIFT structure. Partnership working and success of the LIFT scheme may depend on trust, key personalities working together as well as leadership. From the structuration perspective, the study finds structural contradictions and conflicts of interests in financial accountability and governance practices. Therefore, transparency, public accountability, oversight and scrutiny are necessarily undermined and, policy makers should pay attention to not only the private sector technologies but also the manner in which they are used to benefit finance capital.

Corporate Social Responsibility has become an increasingly important aspect for companiesto consider. Partly because it attracts customers and investors, and partly because societyplaces higher demands on companies to act as good citizens. Research has shown that anadditional effect of CSR work is that it can create a positive attitude among employees.Employees’ motivation to work can depend on a number of different factors, such as beingable to participate in and contribute to the decision-making process. The purpose of the studyis to investigate the relationship between organizations’ CSR work and employees’ workmotivation. Furthermore, the study looks into how the employees’ work motivation isaffected by the opportunity to influence the CSR work. The survey is a qualitative case studyof the organization Husqvarna and its results are based on interviews with employees and ananalysis of the company's documents. Its theoretical framework consists of George Homans’social exchange theory, Anthony Giddens’ structuration theory and Pinder and Lathamsmotivational framework. The results of the study show that CSR policies can contribute towork motivation. However, employees’ personal opinions of CSR work in general are ofgreat importance for how they value CSR policies. Moreover, the results suggest that theopportunity to participate in the CSR work is a motivating factor for most employees, eventhough organizational hierarchy and lack of time were described as obstacles. The studyreflects on whether these obstacles are what make some employees indifferent to CSR work. / Corporate Social Responsibility-arbete har blivit en viktig komponent för företag. Dels då detattraherar kunder och investerare, dels då samhället ställer högre krav på företag att agerasom goda samhällsmedborgare. Forskning har visat att en ytterligare effekt av CSR-arbete ärdess skapande av en positiv inställning hos interna aktörer såsom anställda. Ytterligareforskning har däremot visat att anställdas inställning rörande CSR-arbete är komplext ochvidare behöver undersökas. Anställdas inställning och motivation till arbete och sinorganisation kan bero på ett flertal olika faktorer, där bland annat möjlighet till deltagandevisat sig ha betydelse. Syftet med studien är att undersöka förhållandet mellan organisationersCSR-arbete och de anställdas arbetsmotivation. Vidare undersöks hur de anställdasarbetsmotivation påverkas av den möjlighet som finns att medverka till och påverkaCSR-arbetet. Undersökningen är en kvalitativ fallstudie av organisationen Husqvarna ochdess resultat utgår från intervjuer med anställda samt från en analys av företagets dokument.Dess teoretiska ramverk består av George Homans sociala utbytesteori, Anthony Giddensstruktureringsteori samt Craig Pinder och Gary Lathams arbetsmotivationsram. Homanssociala utbytesteori bidrar till ökad förståelse i huruvida företagets CSR-arbete i sig kan ökamotivationen hos en anställd. Ett socialt utbyte i ett tvåpartsförhållande (såsom företaget ochden anställde) innebär att parterna söker jämvikt och gör detta genom att återbetala. Giddensstruktureringsteori förklarar hur möjligheten till att vara en aktör med möjlighet att delta ochpåverka strukturer (såsom CSR-arbete) kan öka arbetsmotivationen. Pinder och Lathamsarbetsmotivationsram beskriver att anställdas arbetsmotivation består av individuellavärderingar, behov, egenskaper och kognition. I studiens resultat framkommer attCSR-policys kan bidra till arbetsmotivation. Dock är anställdas personliga åsikter av viktgällande vilken grad CSR-policys påverkar arbetsmotivationen. Vidare antyder resultatet attmöjlighet till deltagande är en motivationsfaktor. Även om de anställda upplever möjlighettill aktörskap, uppgavs vissa hinder till att delta i CSR-arbetet. Studien reflekterar över omdessa hinder för anställda att kunna vara aktörer kan vara det som gör att somliga anställdablir likgiltiga inför CSR-arbetet.

An atom, a cell and a solar system have very little in common. My science teachers from high school will confirm that I am very far from being an expert on the matter but nontheless, I have studied these three systems in separate classes: chemistry, biology and astronomy. So I believe they must be fairly unrelated from each other! All they have in common is that they are studied through a magnifying lens by people who are better than me in maths. But onceyou look through the lens, you should see a main body and smaller objects rotating around it. The electrons around the protons, the cytoplasm around the nucleus and the planets around the sun. The key element they have in common is structure. Perhaps this is too abstract, even for an abstract, so let’s bring things back to earth. Structures play a fundamental role in shaping the world around us and this thesis aims to understand to what extent and how they influence people’s daily lives. The case study is based on the new town of Arborea in Sardinia, originally designed and owned by a private company to make an efficient and innovative industrial food production system. It aims to show how the ambition to produce was ingrained in the buildings and societal structures and how the surroundings affected the people who moved there. Everything was studied in detail:from the road grid to the houses, the church’s positioning and even selecting people from the north of Italy who were deemed most suitable to work there. The use of structuration theory will be key to uncover the different layers and relations that still shape the community today. 35.000 cows, 3800 people, a history of cultural clashes, a productive system, a very fascist background, a ’sex patrolling’ priest, a dozen volunteering organisations will all feature in thethesis and together enable to draw a picture of the new town.

Many organizations needed to have a remote workplace during the Covid-19 pandemic, which has led to many organizations now having a hybrid workplace after the pandemic. To understand this phenomenon, there is an importance of understanding the structures that appear within organizations that have a hybrid workplace. The aim of this study was to understand which social structures are created by communication processes in an organization, that for the first time is a hybrid workplace. The aim of the study is answered by these two questions:  How are communication processes adapted in a hybrid workplace?How are structures maintained in a hybrid workplace? The theoretical approach of the study is the Theory of Structuration by Anthony Giddens. This is a case study of one organization that has a hybrid workplace. The used method was semi structured interviews, which were analyzed through a thematic analysis.  The result showed that the Organization formed new structures due to new digital tools, the flexibility, the hybrid rule and the team's different actions. Since the employees of the Organization have begun to act on these aspects, new structures have been created. As they continue to follow these rules, the structures are maintained.  The study has contributed to an understanding of the hybrid workplace in Sweden, which nowadays is a relatively broad phenomenon. Because the phenomenon is relatively new, it is difficult to discern how a hybrid workplace should be structured at such an early stage of a change process.

Das Forschungsanliegen der vorliegenden Arbeit war es, sich mit der Herausforderung digitalisierter Wissensarbeit mit Social Software für die Organisation von Unternehmen und in diesem Rahmen insbesondere mit der Bedeutung für die Arbeitsmotivation auseinanderzusetzen. Hierzu wurde der Zusammenhang zwischen der Nutzung von Social Software in Unternehmen, damit zusammenhängender Organisationsmerkmale und der Arbeitsmotivation von Wissensarbeitern untersucht.:Kapitel 1: Einleitung 1 1.1 Die Digitalisierung der Arbeitswelt: Social Software, Wissensarbeit und die Organisation menschlichen Handelns in Unternehmen 1 1.2 Problemstellung, Gegenstand der Untersuchung und Forschungsthese 3 1.3 Zielsetzungen der Arbeit 6 1.4 Forschungsansatz, wissenschaftstheoretische Einordnung und methodisches Vorgehen 7 1.5 Theoretischer Referenzrahmen für die Gliederung der Arbeit 9 Kapitel 2: Begriffliche Grundlagen und theoretischer Bezugsrahmen 13 2.1 Ein Verständnis von Organisation 13 2.2. Perspektive Wissensarbeit 42 2.3. Perspektive Digitalisierung 51 2.4 Fazit: Ableitung forschungsleitender Fragen für die theoretische und empirische Analyse 62 Kapitel 3: Theoriebasierte Exploration und Stärkung erster Annahmen mittels Experteninterviews 65 3.1 Komponenten des (qualitativen) Forschungsdesigns 65 3.2 Aufbau und Durchführung der explorativen Studie 70 3.3 Dateninterpretation: Auswertung des Interviewmaterials 73 3.4 Validierung der Interpretationsergebnisse 85 Kapitel 4: Digitalisierte Wissensarbeit mit Social Software und vernetzte Organisation 86 4.1 Nutzwerte digitalisierter Wissensarbeit mit Social Software 86 4.2 Vernetzte Organisation: digitalisierte Wissensarbeit und Organisation 111 Kapitel 5: Die Selbstbestimmungstheorie als Theorie der Arbeitsmotivation von Wissensarbeitern 137 5.1 Wissen, Bedürfnisse und der organisationale Kontext 138 5.2 Zentrale Theorie: Die Selbstbestimmungstheorie als Theorie der Arbeitsmotivation 144 5.3 Ausgewählte Konzepte der Selbstbestimmungstheorie 148 5.4 FAZIT: Eignung der Selbstbestimmungstheorie für den Untersuchungsgegenstand 161 Kapitel 6: Entwicklung eines Modells zur Erklärung selbstbestimmter Motivation von Wissensarbeitern durch die Nutzungspraktiken von Social Software und inhärenter Merkmale vernetzter Organisation 163 6.1 Erweiterte Forschungsfrage 163 6.2 Hypothesenentwicklung 164 6.3 Involvierte latente Konstrukte und das Hypothesensystem 184 Kapitel 7: Untersuchungsdesign und Datenerhebung 189 7.1 Forschungsmethodik 190 7.2 Operationalisierung der Variablen 198 7.3 Stichprobe und Datenerhebung 210 Kapitel 8: Ergebnisse der empirischen Untersuchung 218 8.1 Datenaufbereitung 218 8.2 Beschreibung der Stichprobe 221 8.3 Datenanalyse: Modellparameter und Gütekriterien des PLS-Pfadmodells 226 8.4 Fazit: Evaluation des Gesamtmodells 251 Kapitel 9: Theoretische Diskussion 262 9.1 Zentrale Erkenntnisse: Vernetzte Organisation und Arbeitsmotivation 263 9.2 Theoretische Implikationen 275 9.3 Limitationen und Anknüpfungspunkte für zukünftige Forschung 281 9.4 Implikationen für die Praxis 285 Kapitel 10: Fazit 288 Kapitel 11: Appendix 293 11.1 Experteninterviews (Studie 1) 293 11.2 Kausalanalyse im Strukturmodell (Studie 2) 303

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This thesis examines the representation of interviewees according to apperance and time of apperance in the Swedish children’s news programme Lilla Aktuellt, 1994 and 2014 set out from an intersectional perspective. The thesis therefore examines whom of the interviewees that is over-and underrepresented in the programme, when it comes to the collaboration of the chosen categories: Sex, Age and Ethnicity. As researchers point out that a high frequency in appearance in media means domination and a conception of representing the norm in society this thesis therefore also does examine the superiority and inferiority that occures in the programme both years.   The result of this thesis show that there has been changes in the representation over time. All groups of children have been given a larger amout of space while the representation of all groups of people that don’t follow the ethnical norm, basically hasn’t changed at all. Amongst the different sexes there has been a fairly more even representation over time. The overall results show that there has been a slightly more balanced distribution over time between all of the groups appearances and time of appearances. Therefore not said that there isn’t room for improvement, on the contrary there are still things to be done for a greater representation according to multiplicity and equality in Lilla Aktuellt.   Of all the groups of interviewees in Lilla Aktuellt the people that are “male and not children who follow the ethnical norm” have decreased their visability most over time and are therefore the ones that have decreased their power most. The people that are “female children who don’t follow the ethnical norm” are the ones that have increased their visability most over time thus this means that they are the ones that have increased their power most over time.

本研究針對紀登斯（Anthony Giddens），探討其對於現代社會的結構特性、作為能動者的人類主體之構成，以及建構合乎現代人性需求政治制度的思想，並推演其在教育上可以有的發展。研究發現：一、紀登斯將主體重建為兼具身體與人格、意識與無意識、論述與實踐、自我與共在、源流與變化、例行性與創造性的能動者；二、意識可分為三個層級但其與行動層級並非一一對應關係；三、本體安全感除透過擱置之外，仍須透過生活政治學反思性地處理本體安全感的需求；四、結構概念具有多項特性，並與人類的能動性呈現雙重性及二元性兩種關係；五、系統與結構的區分應從組合式及聚合式之間的差異來瞭解。六、高度現代性社會有不同於以往的制度、動力、後果與特性。七、生活在高度現代性之下人們有更多自我決定的空間與必要性。八、針對高度現代性的各種特性，政治治理必須有不同以往的思考，並秉持烏托邦現實主義、世界主義，調和懷疑與獻身，使每個人都能對社會有所貢獻。依據上述發現，筆者在教育方面針對個人、結構、現代性、政治治理，與社會學研究方面進行衍釋，作為教育方面的啟示。 / This dissertation study Anthony Giddens’s thoughts about Structuration theory, modernity and politics, and try to find the implications in education. The author find that Giddens reconstructed subjects as agents by 6 pairs of concepts, pointed out 8 relative characters about structure, and contrasted structure with system as paradigmatic with syntagmatic. The author also find that Giddens’ stratification model of personality did not simply correspond to his stratification model of action. And the existential questions which are bracketed by the ontological security should be answered by life politics. Radical Modernity is different from tradition in institutions, dynamics, consequences and properties. People living in this era have more space and necessities to make decisions for themselves. To avoid the possible risks, people should hold the utopian realism, cosmopolitanism, balance the doubts and commitments. Implications in education are addressed on these findings.