The fact is, no organization has ever become great without exceptional leadership - without leaders who can connect the efforts of their teams to the critical objectives of the organization, who can tap the full potential of each individual on their teams, who can align systems and clarify purposes, and who can inspire trust. The purpose of the study is to investigate and compare what management styles business students from Halmstad University, Sweden, will implement. Moreover, this study shows future leaders work preferences and concerns. As a tool for the findings the managerial grid (founded in 1964 by Blake and Mounton) was incorporated with situational theory (Hersey and Blanchard, 1977). The investigation was conducted applying a theoretical framework to empirical data. By analysing leadership styles and students work preferences, it illustrates the kind of leader a business student will potentially become and which direction he/she may take. Overall, the average of 130 business students from Halmstad University shows that they are going to be a Team Leader, because for them the people’s needs as well as the results of their work are important.

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As one of the factors influencing consumers purchase behavior, decision-making styles are crucial for understanding consumer shopping behavior and for developing successful marketing strategies. Decision-making styles have been mainly viewed as a relatively enduring consumer personality that seldom changes even when applied to different goods and situations. Recently, a study showed that consumer decision-making styles are influenced by product type, suggesting that decision-making styles are individual response patterns in a specific decision context rather than personality trait based. Despite extensive research regarding consumer decision making styles, relatively little attention has been paid to identify whether consumer decision-making styles are truly personality trait based or context-dependent. Thus, this work challenged the theory that decision-making styles are personality trait based and investigated whether decisionmaking styles are context dependent. Three independent studies, focusing on extending our knowledge regarding consumer decision-making styles, were conducted. The first study examined whether consumer decision-making styles depend on channel type (online versus offline channels). In addition, it explored new types of decision-making styles which better represent current consumer needs and preferences. Study results supported previous arguments suggesting that decision-making styles are not personality trait based but vary across contexts. Results also demonstrated the need to continuously observe consumers’ decision-making styles and capture emerging new styles. The second study explored whether product characteristics, specifically intangibility and non-standardization, influence consumer decision-making styles in an online context. At the same time, this study examined whether there is any interaction effect between product type and product involvement. The results showed that certain types of online decision-making styles are influenced by product type. The results also showed that product involvement has an important role in influencing online decision-making styles. The third study investigated whether consumer online decision-making styles influence loyalty toward online travel agencies. The results of the study provide support for five out of eleven hypotheses, indicating that consumers’ online decision-making styles significantly influence loyalty toward online travel agencies. Finally, the overall findings, limitations of the studies, agenda for future research, and practical and theoretical implications were discussed.

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Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio State University. / Bibliography: leaves 55-59.

“Intellectual style”, a term that encompasses all the existing style concepts, refers to one’s preferred ways of processing information and approaching tasks. The present research has three purposes. First, it investigates the associations among styles in the three traditions: cognition-centered, personality-centered, and activity-centered traditions. Second, it looks into the relationships between intellectual styles and ability as well as between intellectual styles and personality traits. Third, it explores the changeability of intellectual styles. Field-dependence/independence (FDI), psychological types, and learning approaches were respectively selected as the representatives of cognition-centered, personality-centered, and activity-centered styles. This research includes three studies. The first one is a pilot study that investigates the reliability and validity of the instruments used in this research. It also preliminarily investigates the relationships among intellectual styles, abilities, and personality traits. Two hundred and ninety-eight students in a Chinese university participated in this study. Five instruments were used. The modified Chinese version of Group Embedded Test examined FDI. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator measured psychological types. The revised Two Factor Version of Study Process Questionnaire tested learning approaches. The Sternberg Triarchic Ability Test examined abilities. The NEO Five-Factor Inventory-3 measured personality traits. Study Two is a longitudinal investigation. It explores (1) the associations among FDI, psychological types, and learning approaches; (2) the relationships between the three style constructs, ability, and personality traits; (3) the changeability of intellectual styles; and (4) the effects of students’ background factors on intellectual styles, ability, personality, and the changes on styles. Five hundred and ten students in a Chinese university (the same as the one involved in the pilot study) participated in the pre-test, and 430 of these students participated in the post-test. The interval time was one academic year. Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices replaced Sternberg’s Triarchic Ability Test that showed poor internal consistency reliability in the pilot study. The other instruments were the same as those used in the pilot study. Study Three explores why students sustain or change their intellectual styles. Twenty-six students who participated in Study Two were selected for this study. The researcher conducted focus group discussions. The findings show that FDI, psychological types, and learning approaches did not share statistically significant common variance, indicating that styles in the three approaches represent different style constructs. FDI was most closely associated with ability, whereas psychological types and learning approaches were strongly associated with personality traits. This suggests that styles in the three traditions are related to ability and personality traits to different extents: cognition-centered styles are most closely related to ability, whereas personality-centered styles are highly related to personality traits. Activity-centered styles are more strongly related to personality traits than to ability. Learning approaches and FDI are comparatively changeable, whereas psychological types are comparatively stable. The qualitative findings indicate that students tend to maintain their styles out of habit or to show their consistent selfidentity/principle. However, styles can be changed because of dynamic environments and situational demands. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

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The primary aim of the current study was to examine cyberbullying and risk taking behaviours in adolescents and their relation to parenting styles. Research aims included examining the prevalence of cell phone ownership, and the development of a parenting scale to assess modern parenting patterns, such as Helicopter and Uninvolved. Adolescents (n = 85) aged 13-16 years from a range of secondary schools, and their parents (n = 58), were assessed on measures of cyberbullying, risk taking behaviour and parenting. Results indicated that the majority of adolescents own or have access to a cell phone and predominantly use it to contact friends. Support was found for the proposed parenting scale, assessing Helicopter and Uninvolved parenting. Further examination of parenting styles within the current sample indicated that Authoritative parenting was the most common parenting style. The current study found that 98% of adolescents engaged in one or more cyberbullying behaviours with an average frequency of 17 times per month. Written-Verbal forms of cyberbullying were found to be the most common type. Cyberbullying was found to be associated with the time per day spent on a cell phone, household annual income, age, parental employment and risk taking behaviours. Results also indicated that 72% of adolescents engaged in one or more risk taking behaviours, with the average frequency of three per month. Authoritative parenting was found to predict lower levels of cyberbullying, while Permissive parenting predicted higher levels of risk taking behaviour. The findings that parenting styles are predictive of cyberbullying and risk taking behaviour may have important implications for the advocacy of appropriate parenting practices through imparting advice, knowledge and support to families and ensuring early intervention, support and monitoring, to safeguard the well-being of adolescents.