Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Hotel, Restaurant, Institution Management & Dietetics / Ki-Joon Back / Understanding association members’ meeting participation behaviors is the key to the well-attended meeting, which is a common goal of both associations and host destinations. However, little research has contributed to theoretical development in this area, and the lack of a theoretical framework has negatively influenced the validity of existing research. Thus, this study attempted to explain association members’ meeting participation behaviors, using a conceptually sound model of meeting participation, which was developed based on existing human behavior theories: the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB). Another main objective of this study was to test the validity of the meeting participation model (MPM). By comparing the utility of three competing models (TRA, TPB, and MPM), this study confirmed the effectiveness of the meeting participation model (MPM) in explaining association members’ intentions to attend the annual meeting. The proposed meeting participation model was empirically examined using the data collected from 245 members of the International Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education (CHRIE). The results of model development revealed that the MPM fits the data very well, providing a systematic view of the decision-making process of association meeting participation. In addition, the findings of the model comparison using the structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed that all three competing models successfully provide a theoretical base for understanding association members’ meeting participation behaviors. Specifically, the MPM provided a fuller understanding of meeting participation intention by adding two predictor variables (destination image and past meeting participation experience) to the TPB. This study is the first research effort to investigate what makes association members attend, or not attend, association meetings based on theoretical frameworks. TRA and TPB provided the necessary theoretical ground to develop the meeting participation model (MPM). By adding a domain specific predictor variable (destination image) and a non-volitional habitual construct (past experience) to the original latent constructs conceptualized in pure TRA/TPB models, the MPM emerged as a theoretically strong and parsimonious framework for understanding association members’ meeting participation behaviors. The results of the current study present a strong step toward providing practical as well as theoretical implications for future convention research.

Bakgrund: Digitala möten fanns på agendan redan innan Covid-19 existerade men trots detta har pandemin inneburit stora förändringar i arbetssätt hos många människor. Detta har gjort att nya problem har kunnat identifieras kopplat till digitala möten. För organisationen är det viktigt att sensemaking är en del av digitala möten så att till exempel reflektion över utmaningar och framtida mål kan komma till konsensus.  Syfte: Syftet med studien är att lyfta fram berättelser kring upplevelsen av digitala möten hos mötesdeltagare samt att undersöka faktorer som kan bidra till meningsfullhet i digitala möten. Studien syftar även till att undersöka när digitala möten är att föredra och inte samt vilken påverkan Weicks (1995) sju karaktärsdrag har på meningsskapande i digitala möten.  Metod: Studien baseras på sex stycken semistrukturerade intervjuer med mötesdeltagare som arbetar med digitala möten. Intervjuerna har analyserats genom en narrativ analysmetod vilket medför att arbetet genomgående grundats i en kvalitativ metod.  Slutsats: Upplevelsen av digitala möten skiljer sig åt beroende på bland annat yrkesroll och organisationens digitala anpassningar. De faktorer som kan bidra till meningsfullhet i digitala möten kan kopplas till tid, social interaktion, teknik, struktur samt effektivitet. Alla dessa områden bidrar på olika sätt till meningsskapande och upplevelser av det digitala mötet. Det framgår även att digitala möten lämpar sig väl vid informationsspridning, ändamålsenlig teknisk utrustning samt god teknikvana hos mötets deltagare och att meningsskapande i digitala möten främst sker genom sex avWeicks (1995) sju karaktärsdrag. / Background: Digital meetings were on the agenda even before Covid-19 existed, but despite this, the pandemic has meant major changes in the working methods of many people. This has made it possible to identify new problems linked to digital meetings. For the organization, it is important that sensemaking is part of digital meetings so that, for example, reflection on challenges and future goals can come to consensus. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to highlight stories about the experience of digital meetings among meeting participants and to investigate factors that can contribute to increased meaning in digital meetings. The study also aims to examine when digital meetings are preferred and not and also which impact Weicks' (1995) seven character traits have on sensemaking in digital meetings. Method: This study has a qualitative approach based on a realistic perspective. The empirical data has been collected through semi-structured interviews with six employees, at different companies, with experience of digital work meetings. Conclusion: The experience of digital meetings differs depending on, among other things, the professional role and the organization's digital adaptations. The factors that can contribute to sensemaking in digital meetings can be linked to time, social interaction, technology, structure and efficiency. All of these areas contribute in different ways to the creation of meaning and experiences of the digital meeting. It also appears that digital meetings are well suited for the dissemination of information, appropriate technical equipment and good technical practice among the meeting participants and that sensemaking occurs through six of Weicks (1995) seven charactertraits.

This study examined the perceived importance of availability of ICT-based features and technical support on meeting planners' recommendation/selection of a conference center. In addition, this study attempted to explain relationships between meeting planners' beliefs (perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use) toward ICT-based features and other factors: personal innovativeness of ICT (PIICT); perceived importance of the availability of technical support; self efficacy; and result demonstrability. A conceptually integrated and expanded model of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) developed by Davis (1986, 1989) was used as a theoretical frame. The subjects of the study were meeting planners who used the selected two conference centers for their meetings or were considering them for their future meetings. A total of 167 usable responses were gathered and the proposed model was empirically examined using the data collected. The results of the model test revealed that the expanded TAM with the integration of key factors provided a systematic view of the meeting planners' beliefs in selection/recommendation of a conference center with ICT-based features. In addition, factor analysis of the fifteen ICT-based features revealed three underlying dimensions based on meeting planners' perceived importance of the availability of each feature for a conference center selection: 1) high-speed wireless Internet; 2) network backbone; and 3) ICT-based service outlet. Specifically, high-speed wireless Internet was the most important ICT-based determinant of a conference center selection/recommendation to all types of meeting planners. Due to the exploratory nature of this study, the results provided limited facets of the impact of ICT-based feature and technical support on meeting facility selection/recommendation. Nevertheless, this study is the first research effort of its kind to investigate what type of ICT-based feature and technical support impact conference center selection/recommendation by different types of meeting planners the most. The results revealed that corporate meeting planners consider wireless Internet and a fast network more important in selection than other types of meeting planners do. The availability of ICT-based features was less important to association meeting planners when they make a conference center selection. This study also identified that there is a serious lack of knowledge in terms related to network backbones across all types of meeting planners. Technical support, especially on-site technical support, was perceived as very important to all types of meeting planners. This study also identified that meeting planners with high PIICT possess stronger confidence in using and visualizing the advantages of ICT-based features. Thus conference centers should make efforts to measure meeting planners' PIICT and use the score effectively for their marketing of ICT-based features. The study also identified result demonstrability—the visualizing of positive outcomes of using ICT-based features—as very important to meeting planners. PIICT and result demonstrability were positively related to perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness which were identified as key antecedents of actual acceptance/usage of technology in previous studies. The results of the current study present an important step toward providing practical as well as theoretical implications for future technology impact studies in the context of meeting facility selection. / Ph. D.

Purpose – Meeting notes are effective records for participants and a source of information for members who were unable to attend. They act as a reference point to decisions made, to plan next steps, and to identify and track action items. Despite the need for a multi meeting solution (Tucker and Whittaker, 05), meetings are often displayed as separated as well as descriptive documents. The aim of this work is to enhance access to overlapping meeting contents and existing coherences beyond a decoupled description. A visual representation of meeting content can lead to meeting records which are more comprehensible and more time efficient. Furthermore, it enables the depiction of knowledge that is often lost in conventional meeting records. Approach – Our goal was to define a general structure for meeting items, integrating content categories and relations between successive meetings. In this paper, we present a model based approach to visualize meeting content as well as content relations in order to support the preparation, execution and follow-up of meetings. Due to the fact that contents of consecutive meetings refer to each other (Post et al., 04), we consider meetings as a series of events. The resulting model substantiates the transformation of content as well as content relations into a visual form. Value – The proposed solution focuses on the model that is integrated into an interactive visualization. Thus, a novel approach to explore meeting records is provided. The model was proved to be suitable for meeting contents in various use cases. Examining the content in its visual representation across multiple consecutive meetings enhances the identification of any linked information at a glance over even long periods of time. Hence, important pieces of information will not be disregarded. Practical implications – The approach of our multi meeting protocol application is realized as a browser-based implementation that displays data from JSON objects. With this interactive visualization, the user can browse, search, and filter meeting content and get a deeper understanding of topics, their life cycle and relations to other topics. This leads to an overall comprehension of project or business progression that highlights topics that need to be addressed. Thus, the viewer is supported in preparing, executing, and following up meetings successfully and qualified to structure records in order to keep a clean transcript of a meeting.

Over the past decade, many studies have provided some understanding on what influences association members‟ decision to attend a meeting; however, more systematic and theoretical research is necessary. The decision making process of attendees is a complicated human behavior practice. The major contribution of this study is adopting the sense of community (SOC) model from psychology to gain a better understanding of the attendee behavior. By doing so, this study will add a theoretical foundation to the existing research in the meeting industry. Also, this study will contribute to the SOC research in psychology by applying the concept to a different setting. This study investigates whether annual conferences build a SOC among association members. First, the SOC of association members at the conference will be analyzed. Second, the influence of SOC on members‟ satisfaction with the conference will be studied. Lastly, the direct and indirect relationship between SOC and future intentions (i.e., return to next meeting, membership renewal, and membership recommendation) will be examined. Data was collected through an intercept survey approach at three annual conferences of national/international associations. The questionnaire consisted of four sections: sense of community, satisfaction with the conference, future intentions, and member profile. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to test the factor structure and structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationships, and Spearman‟s rank order correlation was used to see the strength of the relationship between respondent characteristics and sense of community. The results showed that sense of community was a strong predictor of future iv intentions. Implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research are discussed in the final chapter.

In Sweden, it is prohibited to discriminate because of transgender identity or expression. However, research shows that transgender people often face discrimination in society including the health care sector. The aim of this work is to increase the understanding of the transgender experience in the meeting with caregivers. In the study some basic concepts are reviewed, such as different ways of defining sex. Sexuality, transgender, gender identity and expression are defined and discussed and the transgender health situation is described. As theoretical basis the term life world is introduced. The problem statement shows that transgender people are largely suffering from mental illness and that they, because of the risk of being offended or badly treated, refrain from seeking medical care. The methodology used in the study is a literature review of previously conducted qualitative research in the field. This research is compiled into a new entirety with the intent to increase the understanding of the phenomenon and translate it into practical knowledge in health care work. The result of the literature review of the transgender experience when meeting with health care can be summarized in three main groups: Standing outside the norm, Getting inadequate care and Being discriminated. In conclusion, the results indicate that the conception that there are only two genders together with the heteronormativity prevent transgender to get a good treatment and adequate care. The result and the method are discussed in the report.

Modern advances in multimedia and storage technologies have led to huge archives of human conversations in widely ranging areas. These archives offer a wealth of information in the organization contexts. However, retrieving and managing information in these archives is a time-consuming and labor-intensive task. Previous research applied keyword and computer vision-based methods to do this. However, spontaneous conversations, complex in the use of multimodal cues and intricate in the interactions between multiple speakers, have posed new challenges to these methods. We need new techniques that can leverage the information hidden in multiple communication modalities – including not just “what” the speakers say but also “how” they express themselves and interact with others. In responding to this need, the thesis inquires into the multimodal nature of meeting dialogues and computational means to retrieve and manage the recorded meeting information. In particular, this thesis develops the Meeting Decision Detector (MDD) to detect and track decisions, one of the most important outcomes of the meetings. The MDD involves not only the generation of extractive summaries pertaining to the decisions (“decision detection”), but also the organization of a continuous stream of meeting speech into locally coherent segments (“discourse segmentation”). This inquiry starts with a corpus analysis which constitutes a comprehensive empirical study of the decision-indicative and segment-signalling cues in the meeting corpora. These cues are uncovered from a variety of communication modalities, including the words spoken, gesture and head movements, pitch and energy level, rate of speech, pauses, and use of subjective terms. While some of the cues match the previous findings of speech segmentation, some others have not been studied before. The analysis also provides empirical grounding for computing features and integrating them into a computational model. To handle the high-dimensional multimodal feature space in the meeting domain, this thesis compares empirically feature discriminability and feature pattern finding criteria. As the different knowledge sources are expected to capture different types of features, the thesis also experiments with methods that can harness synergy between the multiple knowledge sources. The problem formalization and the modeling algorithm so far correspond to an optimal setting: an off-line, post-meeting analysis scenario. However, ultimately the MDD is expected to be operated online – right after a meeting, or when a meeting is still in progress. Thus this thesis also explores techniques that help relax the optimal setting, especially those using only features that can be generated with a higher degree of automation. Empirically motivated experiments are designed to handle the corresponding performance degradation. Finally, with the users in mind, this thesis evaluates the use of query-focused summaries in a decision debriefing task, which is common in the organization context. The decision-focused extracts (which represent compressions of 1%) is compared against the general-purpose extractive summaries (which represent compressions of 10-40%). To examine the effect of model automation on the debriefing task, this evaluation experiments with three versions of decision-focused extracts, each relaxing one manual annotation constraint. Task performance is measured in actual task effectiveness, usergenerated report quality, and user-perceived success. The users’ clicking behaviors are also recorded and analyzed to understand how the users leverage the different versions of extractive summaries to produce abstractive summaries. The analysis framework and computational means developed in this work is expected to be useful for the creation of other dialogue understanding applications, especially those that require to uncover the implicit semantics of meeting dialogues.

This research study aims to assess the potential for Saudi Arabia to become an international conference destination. Faced with problems created by rising unemployment, a rapidly growing population, and fears over dependence on petroleum output and price, the kingdom is currently looking to develop new sources of employment and national revenue. Having joined the World Trade Organization in 2005, Saudi Arabia is committed to liberalizing its markets and opening to foreign participation by creating investment and business opportunities. Developing an international conference sector is considered a potentially suitable way to meet the current domestic and international imperatives to change and the challenges these present.‎ The growth of new markets and international conference destinations in a globalizing economy is leading to increased research. However, the field is still young: there has been limited attention paid to the perspective of delegates and much of the research has been concerned with western destinations. As no other study has been carried out into the potential of this sector in Saudi Arabia, or the Gulf region, this research makes an original contribution to knowledge. A mixed methods approach was adopted to explore and assess both the practical capacity of the country to host international conferences and the socio-political context that might impact on this development. The primary sources of data were officials in the field and visiting delegates, whose views and knowledge were obtained through the use of both quantitative and qualitative methods (through a questionnaire and interviews respectively). The results are integrated in the final discussion. The findings indicate that, although Saudi Arabia has the practical capacity to host international conferences, the effects of an ambivalent attitude towards opening up to the outside world - expressed through a number of factors embedded in the socio-political situation in the kingdom - has led to an impasse which is blocking development.

Bakgrund: Förekomsten av fetma runt om i världen har ökat sedan flera år tillbaka. I Sverige har andelen personer med fetma tredubblats sedan 1980-talet och fetma klassas idag som ett folkhälsoproblem. Fetma medför ökad risk att drabbas av ett flertal hälsoproblem. Det resulterar i att personer med fetma ofta har ett större sjukvårdsbehov i jämförelse med personer med normal kroppsvikt. Med anledning av detta ställs högre krav på sjukvården att klara av att erbjuda dessa patienter god och säker vård. Forskning har visat att personer med fetma ibland undviker att söka vård på grund av dåligt bemötande och andra brister i sjukvården Syfte: Syftet med studien var att beskriva sjuksköterskors upplevelser av att vårda och bemöta patienter med fetma. Metod: En litteraturöversikt baserad på tretton vetenskapliga artiklar av både kvalitativ och kvantitativ karaktär. Resultat: Sjuksköterskor upplevde brister i utrustning och omgivning som hinder i vården av patienter med fetma. Bristerna ansågs medföra sämre vårdkvalité för patienter med fetma och upplevdes också som en säkerhetsrisk för både patienter och personal. Patienter med fetma upplevdes ha större omvårdnadsbehov än patienter med normal kroppsvikt och omvårdnadsarbetet ansågs vara tyngre och mer tidskrävande. Sjuksköterskor upplevde det som svårt att bemöta patienter med fetma och var rädda för att bli anklagade för stigmatisering. Slutsats: Sjuksköterskor upplevde att de inte kunde erbjuda patienter med fetma god och säker vård på samma villkor som en patienter med normal kroppsvikt. Anpassning av utrustning, utrymmen och utökade personalresurser kan bidra till att förutsättningarna för en jämlikvård oberoende av patientens vikt ökar. Eftersom bemötande är en central del av personcentreradvård medför svårigheter att bemöta patienter med fetma ett hinder i tillämpningen av personcentreradvård. Vilket också bidrar till att dessa patienter vårdas på andra villkor än patienter med normal kroppsvikt. / Background: The prevalence of obesity around the world has increased for several years. In Sweden, the proportion of obese people has tripled since the 1980s and obesity is today classified as a public health problem. Obesity increases the risk of suffering from multiple health problems, which results in obese people often having greater medical needs compared to individuals with normal body weight. This puts higher demands on the health service to be able to offer these patients good and safe care. Research has shown that obese people sometimes avoid seeking care because of shortcomings in medical care. Aim: The purpose of the study was to describe nurses' experiences of caring for and meeting obese patients. Method: A literature review based on thirteen scientific articles by both qualitative and quantitative nature. Result: Nurses experienced deficiencies in equipment and surroundings as obstacles in the care of obese patients. The deficiencies were considered to result in poor quality of care for these patients and were also seen as a safety risk to both patients and staff. Obese patients was perceived to have higher care needs than patients with normal body weight and caring for them was considered to be heavier and more time consuming. Nurses felt that it was difficult to meet obese patients and was afraid of being accused of stigmatization. Conclusion: Nurses felt that they could not offer obese patients good and safe care under the same conditions as to patients with normal body weight. Adaptation of equipment, facilities and increased personnel resources can contribute to better conditions for equal care regardless of the patient's weight. Meeting the patient is a central part of person-centered care and difficulties in meeting obese patients is an obstacle in the implementation of person-centered care. Which also contributes to poorer conditions for these patients than patients with normal body weight.

The purpose of this study was to create knowledge and obtain an understanding of the importance of the staff’s attitude and their way of meeting the emotional needs of the children who were living at the orphanage. The study also aimed to investigate how and to what extent the children receive help from the staff to achieve self-fulfillment and reach their dreams. Qualitative method was used and four individual (semi-structured) interviews were conducted. The analysis was done based on previous research in the area and Maslows hierarchy of needs. The result shows that the staff believes it is of great importance that there should be someone who listens to the children. If there is someone who listens to the children, they get a chance to process any traumatic events they might have experienced and develop hope of reaching their dreams. The conclusion of the study is that the attitude of the staff is very important for the children's well-being and development.