This research regards internet users with hearing-impairment as the target. The purpose is to investigate the factors which will influence hearing-impaired people use internet. This research is theoretically based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). According to the literatures, join subject norm, media richness, internet self-efficacy and perceived enjoyment. A total of 255 effective samples were collected via internet questionnaire. Through the survey and analysis, we could prove that subject norm, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use will influence the behavioral intention directly. Subject norm, media richness, perceived enjoyment and perceived ease of use will influence the perceived usefulness directly. And media richness, internet self-efficacy and perceived enjoyment will influence the perceived ease of use. According to the findings of research, there are the following suggestions. (1) Hearing-impaired communities should offer information courses of computer and internet. (2)The government should offer more services through internet, and social welfare organizations should update information as instant as possible. (3)Implement the execution of the regulations of web accessibility.

Sport event marketing is an important issue within the research area of business. The purpose of this study was to analyze how service quality, hedonic value and utilitarian value influence the spectators’ attitude and subjective norm towards the behavioral intention of visiting the cross-country skiing event Vasaloppet. The study was based on the theory of reasoned action as well as the constructs of service quality, hedonic value, and utilitarian value, which were added as antecedents. A quantitative research approach with a face-to-face survey at the event and an online questionnaire was pursued. The findings show that in connection to the Vasaloppet event subjective norm correlates the strongest with behavioral intention compared to attitude. However, hedonic and utilitarian values have a significant correlation to attitude, but not towards subjective norm. Due to the type of event, no connections with service quality were detected. In regards of the international component there is no significant difference present between Swedish and non-Swedish spectators. Organizations can use these findings to further enhance the social aspects of visiting sport events when performing sport event marketing.

Vårdrelaterade infektioner är ett globalt problem och god handhygien är det främsta verktyget i kampen mot vårdrelaterade infektioner. Följsamhet till handhygien är globalt sett låg. Sjuksköterskans händer är den främsta källan för att sprida smitta därför är sjuksköterskans beteende vad gäller handhygien viktig. Sjuksköterskans avsikt att utföra handhygien kan förklaras av den inre dimensionen som enligt Theory of planned behaviour är attityder, subjektiva normer och upplevd beteendekontroll. Syfte: Litteraturöversiktens syfte var att beskriva vilka attityder, subjektiva normer och upplevda beteendekontroller som påverkar sjuksköterskans följsamhet av riktlinjer för handhygien. Metod: Denna studie har genomförts som en litteraturöversikt och baserades på fjorton artiklar av kvantitativ- och kvalitativ metod som har sökts ur databaserna PubMed, CINAHL och Web of Science. Resultat: Studiens resultat visade att det utifrån perspektivet av Theory of planned behaviour finns attityder, subjektiva normer och upplevda beteendekontroller som påverkar sjuksköterskans följsamhet till riktlinjer för handhygien. Sjuksköterskan upplevde att personligt skydd var en framträdande attityd som motiverade till handhygien. Under subjektiv norm så framträdde patienten, kollegor och förebilder som motiverande faktorer till att utföra handhygien och att känslan av att det är enkelt att utföra handhygien var den mest framträdande faktorn under upplevd beteendekontroll. Sammanfattning: Följsamhet till riktlinjer för handhygien är låg trots nationella insatser och kampanjer för att öka följsamheten. Resultatet visade att sjuksköterskans följsamhet till riktlinjer för handhygien främst påverkades av personligt skydd, patienten, kollegor, förebilder och känslan av att det är enkelt att utföra handhygien. Litteraturöversiktens resultat kan användas för att öka kunskapen om området och utveckla nya strategier för att öka sjuksköterskans följsamhet till riktlinjer för handhygien. / Background: Healthcare-associated infections are a global problem and good handhygiene is the main tool in the fight against healthcare- associated infections. Adherence to hand hygiene is globally low. The nurse’s hands are the main source of spreading infection, and because of that the nurse’s behavior towards hand hygiene is important. The nurse’s intention to perform hand hygiene can be explained by the internal dimension, who are, according to the Theory of planned behaviour, attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control. Aim: The aim of this literature review was to describe the attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural controls that affect nurses’ adherence to guidelines for hand hygiene. Method: This study was conducted as a literature review and based on fourteen articles of quantitative and qualitative method from the databases PubMed, CINAHL and Web of Science. Results: The results of the literature review demonstrate that, from the perspective of the Theory of planned behaviour, there were attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural controls that affected nurses’ adherence to guidelines for hand hygiene. Nurses felt that personal protection was an important attitude that motivated to hand hygiene. In subjective norm the patient, colleagues and role models emerged as motivating factors to perform hand hygiene and the feeling that it is easy to perform hand hygiene was the most prominent factor under perceived behavioural control. Summary: Adherence to guidelines for hand hygiene is low in spite of national efforts and campaigns to increase adherence. The results showed that nurses’ adherence to guidelines for hand hygiene was mainly influenced by personal protection, the patient, peers, role models and the feeling that it is easy to perform hand hygiene. The results of this literature review can be used to increase the knowledge in this area and develop new strategies to increase nurses’ adherence to guidelines for hand hygiene.

Background: Electronic Word of Mouth (eWOM) is something that lately has gained increasing relevance and importance when it comes to consumers purchase decisions. Online reviews are considered to be the most important and reliable form of eWOM and it refers to when consumers communicate with other consumers online regarding their previous shopping experiences. In order to increase the generalizability and understanding of motives that influence consumers intention to write online reviews, authors of previous studies have suggested that future research should intend to focus on motives that influence intention to write online reviews in other contexts that are not aimed towards the service industry. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explain how personal- and social motives influence consumers intention to write online product reviews. Methodology: For this explanatory study, a quantitative strategy with a cross-sectional research design were used in order to test the model founded on two major hypotheses. The data was gathered through a self-completed questionnaire with a sample of 222 respondents. Findings: In this study, two major hypotheses were conducted in order to explain how personal motives and social motives influence consumers intention to write online product reviews. After analysing the data that emerged from the survey, a conclusion can be drawn that the hypothesis concerning personal motives and its influence on consumers intention to write online product reviews was accepted whereas the hypothesis concerning social motives was rejected. Conclusion: In this study, it has been recommended that future studies should test the suggestions found in this study with a more diverse sample in order to increase the generalizability of the theoretical implications. Furthermore, directions for future research will also recommend testing the modified model that emerged in this paper in order to detect if there are any additions that need to be added to increase the predictability of the findings.

Background: A significant increase in the global food demand is expected to occur in the near future. Since the currently implied food system will not be able to meet this demand without impacting the environment negatively, it is crucial to consider alternative ways of producing food. Entomophagy thereby presents an approach that could be deployed to meet the future demand in an environmental and sustainable way. However, whereas multiple studies investigate consumers’ acceptance of insect-based products, little is known about their purchase intentions. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the underlying factors affecting Swedish university-attending Generation Y consumers’ purchase intentions towards insect-based products. In order to fulfill the purpose of this study, two research questions have been developed. Thereby, the Theory of Planned Behavior was chosen as a theoretical framework. Method: The research philosophy of this study adopted elements of both constructionism and interpretivism. Further, this study applied an abductive approach and a qualitative research design with an exploratory purpose. A total of three focus groups were conducted in order to explore purchase intentions towards insect-based products. In addition, a taste test was incorporated in each focus group to explore the participants’ reactions when given the opportunity to try an insect-based product. To adequately reach the selected target population, a combination of a self-selection sampling technique and a convenience sampling technique was employed. Lastly, a content analysis following a directed approach was applied in order to properly analyze the collected data. Conclusion: The empirical findings of this study suggest that eleven factors are contributing to the target populations’ purchase intentions towards insect-based products. Thereby, ten of these factors are connected to the components of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control of the theoretical framework whereas the remaining factor was not categorized within these components. Regarding the conducted taste test, it was found that the large majority of the participants were willing to try. Further, the taste test showed that all participants followed their initial intentions.

Title: Attitudes and motivations of young people towards sport betting Objectives: To find out which factors significantly influence sport betting in young Czechs between the age of 18 and 30. Methods: Due to the quantitative nature of the research, the only used method was electronic survey. The survey was based on the theory of planned behaviour. It primarily sought information on independent variables (predictors) within this theory, which are attitudes, subjective norm and perceived control (in connection with sport betting). This part was adopted from a similar previous research. The intention and behaviour of the respondents as response variables were also surveyed in order to describe the relationships between independent and response variables. The sample consisted of 122 respondents, mostly active betters. Statistical methods such as correlation and regression analysis were used, followed by a final path analysis, which provided a model visualizing the relationships between the crucial variables. Results: All of the examined predictors within the theory of planned behaviour influence the intention to bet - the values are 0,241 for attitudes, 0,335 for subjective norm and -0,410 for perceived control. The negative value means that those with higher perceived control have lower intention to...

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This research investigates the impact of the interaction between the consumer and mobile service provider on the adoption of advanced mobile commerce services by existing consumers of mobile technology. These factors include: 1) Perceived Relationship Quality (PRQ), which is the consumer’s evaluation of the quality of his/her relationship with the mobile service provider, and 2) Perceived Value of the Adoption Incentive (PVI), which is the consumer’s evaluation of the value of incentives that are offered by the service provider to entice him/her to adopt the mobile service. The influence of these factors on consumer attitudes and intentions towards adopting mobile commerce services is studied and compared with three other well-known adoption factors including perceived usefulness, ease of use and the subjective norm. / This study was undertaken in three parts. Firstly, a conceptual study was conducted to investigate and analyse the existing literature on consumer adoption of mobile commerce services. This phase started with a general review of the existing studies using a novel model: the Entities-Interactions Framework, EIF. The EIF explains adoption behaviour in terms of interactions between the consumer and the other entities including the mobile service, the service provider and the social system. This framework was used to analyse the extent to which important adoption factors have been covered by past research and therefore identify the research questions. The conceptual study resulted in the development of a research model and relevant hypotheses. / Secondly, a large-scale questionnaire survey was conducted to test the research model and the proposed hypotheses. This part of the research helped give a broad picture of the influence of consumer-service provider factors on consumer adoption of mobile commerce services. Thirdly, face-to-face interviews with mobile phones users were conducted in order to validate the survey results and provide an understanding of the mechanisms that control the impact of the investigated factors. The research found that PRQ and PVI have an important influence on the attitude and intention of existing mobile phone users towards accepting and using advanced mobile commerce services. Furthermore, the research found that these newly introduced factors are more influential on consumer adoption perceptions than other well-established factors. / The study enriches our understanding of technology adoption by individuals because it explains why an existing user of a technology, such as mobile technology, will or will not adopt advanced versions of that technology. The findings affirm that in the context of communication technologies, which are interactive by nature, understanding the interaction between consumers and service providers is a key to understanding the progressive adoption by consumers of advanced forms of these technologies. The thesis provides practitioners (particularly mobile service providers) with a better understanding of the impact and implication of their interaction with consumers on consumers’ acceptance and use of mobile services. The study emphasises the importance of incorporating this understanding throughout the mobile service provision process, starting from the conceptualisation of the service to the actual provision of the service to the market. The study also offers a novel comprehension of how to view each mobile service offer as a consequence of the previous offer and a precedent of the next in order to enhance consumer adoption of mobile service in the short and long runs.

<p>This research work investigates and reports on the contribution of usability and perceptual frameworks towards understanding and ultimately increasing usage of a sales website and a corporate marketing website for a major insurance company in South Africa. It investigates whether the application of usability principles to the sales web positively influences the usage of the sales web system as a tool by intermediaries, and in so doing help the organisation recoup their investment and lower operational costs. This financial services (traditionally insurance) company, like many organisations, is in the process of migrating key operational systems onto web platforms to take advantage of benefits such as the ubiquity of web access and services orientated architecture among others. The research reviewed key frameworks in the area of technology acceptance or usage namely  Nielsen‟s usability attributes (Nielsen, 2003)  The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), (Davis, 1989)&nbsp /  The Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein &amp / Ajzen, 1975)  The Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1985) / and derived a theoretical summative model (the Conceptual Research Model) that combined both usability and perceptual dimensions. The applicability of this summative model was empirically tested using quantitative data relating to system&nbsp / usage and user perception. Empirical evidence was gathered to prove and refine the Conceptual Research Model (CRM), and the data substantiated the inclusion of the constructs in the CRM, as well as the efficacy of the model in a financial services organisation. Through testing of the CRM, this research has also confirmed which specific attributes of usability can be focussed on to bring about positive change in users‟ usage behaviour and adoption of a website or web application.</p>

<p>This research work investigates and reports on the contribution of usability and perceptual frameworks towards understanding and ultimately increasing usage of a sales website and a corporate marketing website for a major insurance company in South Africa. It investigates whether the application of usability principles to the sales web positively influences the usage of the sales web system as a tool by intermediaries, and in so doing help the organisation recoup their investment and lower operational costs. This financial services (traditionally insurance) company, like many organisations, is in the process of migrating key operational systems onto web platforms to take advantage of benefits such as the ubiquity of web access and services orientated architecture among others. The research reviewed key frameworks in the area of technology acceptance or usage namely  Nielsen‟s usability attributes (Nielsen, 2003)  The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), (Davis, 1989)&nbsp /  The Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein &amp / Ajzen, 1975)  The Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1985) / and derived a theoretical summative model (the Conceptual Research Model) that combined both usability and perceptual dimensions. The applicability of this summative model was empirically tested using quantitative data relating to system&nbsp / usage and user perception. Empirical evidence was gathered to prove and refine the Conceptual Research Model (CRM), and the data substantiated the inclusion of the constructs in the CRM, as well as the efficacy of the model in a financial services organisation. Through testing of the CRM, this research has also confirmed which specific attributes of usability can be focussed on to bring about positive change in users‟ usage behaviour and adoption of a website or web application.</p>