Consumers today are becoming more aware of how their behavior and use of resources affect the environment. It is becoming increasingly important for companies to understand consumer’s attitudes in order to predict their behavior. Extensive research has been conducted on the attitude-behavioral relationship in various fields of study. However, no research has been made on the attitude towards environmentally friendly automobiles and how it affects purchase intentions. Our research has been made in collaboration with Volvo Car Corporation, which in 2010 was acquired by Geely Automobile. The acquisition meant that an opportunity presented itself on the Chinese market, which today is the largest automobile market in the world. The thesis will focus on young Chinese consumer’s attitude toward the environment and how this may affect their purchase intentions towards environmentally friendly automobiles. The basis for our reasoning is that the factors environmental values, environmental knowledge and responsibility feelings make up an individual’s environmental attitude. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how environmental values, environmental knowledge and responsibility feelings affect purchase intentions towards environmentally friendly automobiles among young Chinese consumers. We have used a quantitative approach in our collection of empirical data. With the help of a web-based self-completions survey we managed to send out the questionnaire to all Chinese students studying at Jönköping University and received a high response rate of 65%. We based the design of the survey on a model from Kaiser, Ranney, Hartig and Bowler (1999). The major findings from our research conclude that the used model does not substantially explain purchase intentions of environmentally friendly automobiles. Our research suggests that the factors environmental knowledge and responsibility feelings are not significant when predicting intentions to purchase environmentally friendly automobiles. However, the factor environmental values proved to be strongly correlated when predicting intentions to purchase environmentally friendly automobiles.

The influence of online customer reviews (OCRs) on consumer behaviour has recently gained considerable attention, from both academic and business communities. Technology allows customers to freely and easily post their comments and opinions online about any product or service. These types of customer reviews can have a significant effect on customers’ purchase decisions and have become an essential part of the experience when shopping online. However, knowledge of the role of the perceived derived attributes of OCRs on consumer behaviour remains vague. Previous studies have mainly focused on the influence of the virtual attributes of OCRs, such as volume and valence, on consumers’ intentions, while limited attention has been paid to understanding the effects of the derived attributes. This study, thus, aims to understand the effects of the social and functional perceived derived attributes of OCRs on customer trust and intention to shop online. Hence, we develop a research model - Perceived Derived Attributes (PDA) -, based on the integration of social support with functional support derived from OCRs. The PDA model provides an in-depth understanding of the role of the social support of OCRs by applying and utilising theories of social support, social presence and a sense of belonging. The PDA model also investigates the influence of the functional support arising from OCRs through the inclusion of perceived control, from the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) with the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The PDA model characterises perceived social support through informational and emotional supports, social presence, and a sense of belonging; whereas, functional supports are characterised by perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived enjoyment, and perceived control. A total of 489 responses to a survey were collected from users of amazon.com. The results from this study suggest that customer trust in an e-vendor and their intention to shop online are significantly affected by social and functional supports derived from OCRs. In particular, informational support, social presence and a sense of belonging, derived from OCRs were found to positively and significantly affect both customer trust in the online vendor and consumer behavioural intention. However, emotional support was only found to affect customers’ intentions and not their trust in the e-vendor. Additionally, customer trust in an e-vendor and their intention to shop online are significantly affected by perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and perceived enjoyment of OCRs. Furthermore, the sense of control derived from OCRs significantly affects customer intention and significantly affects customer trust in e-vendors but only for customers who frequently check OCRs before making a purchase. This study is the first to introduce and empirically test the effects of perceived derived attributes of OCRs on customer trust and behavioural intention. Understanding the effects of such influencing factors is of utmost importance for both theoretical development and business practices. Clearly, these attributes of OCRs are linked to the development of the shopping environment, representing a promising marketing tool that positively affects customers’ behaviour.

The time from onset of a cardiac arrest to defibrillation is crucial hence access to and use of a defibrillator by all nurses essential. The purpose of this study was to use an established theoretical framework to examine and describe the defibrillation practices and beliefs of rural registered nurses in the Australian state of Queensland. The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) guided the research processes for this two phase study. In the first phase, focus group (n = 13) discussions identified the salient beliefs of the population. By eliciting nurses' beliefs, the subsequent quantitative study (n = 434) was conducted to determine the influences of these beliefs on nurses' use or non-use of defibrillators. The results showed that: (1) less than half of the cohort of participants were permitted to defibrillate; (2) the defibrillation beliefs of those nurses permitted to defibrillate were significantly more positive than those not permitted to do so; (3) the direct measures of TPB and selected variables external to the model predicted a significant portion of the variance in the measure of nurse-initiated defibrillation intention; and, (4) subjective norm emerged as the strongest predictor of intention. In conclusion, Queensland rural hospital nurses and employers still have some distance to travel down the path of nurse-initiated defibrillation. The TPB is a viable framework on which to base interventions designed to promote defibrillation by rural nurses. Understanding the role of social norms is of central importance to ensure all nurses can initiate the chain of survival expeditiously whenever the need arises.

With growing concern around the fashion industry’s socio-environmental impact, the industry has come under intense scrutiny by researchers as well as stakeholders. Research on the industry’s negative impact has focused largely on large, international enterprises, failing to recognize the role of small and medium enterprises. This thesis explores drivers and barriers to the commitment to sustainability initiatives among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Swedish fashion industry. To achieve the aim of the study, semi-structured interviews with SME owner-managers from 11 Swedish small fashion brands were conducted. The data was analyzed using an extended theory of planned behaviour framework.  The study findings identified the influence of customer expectations and market opportunities as drivers while highlighting the role of pro-sustainability ethical values as the most prevalent driver to commitment to sustainability initiatives. Important barriers included lack of resources, supply chain challenges and the challenges of overcoming the dominance of fast fashion consumer behaviours. Despite these barriers, the importance of pro-sustainability ethics was underscored in its potential to overcome many of these barriers.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Muslims and non-Muslim consumers regardless of who they are or from where they come, whether natives or foreigners in a particular country are much concerned with consuming food products. However, not any researchers in South Africa (SA) have addressed the consumers who buy food products labelled halal. This doctoral dissertation primarily aims to explore and bring new knowledge towards halal food purchasing behaviour. It specifically focuses on understanding the current purchase intention and behaviour of halal consumers in Cape Town, South Africa. For this purpose, the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was utilised as the theoretical framework to measure the purchase intention and subsequently the buying behaviour of halal consumers. An exploratory sequential mixed method was adopted. A qualitative approach formed the first phase of the study, while a quantitative approach formed the second phase of the study. For the qualitative phase, data was collected purposively through 9 intensive semi-structured interviews. Nonetheless, for the quantitative phase, data was collected by means of 516 self-administrated questionnaires using a stratified random sampling. In analysing the qualitative data, thematic analysis was applied. However, for the quantitative phase, data was analysed using multivariate statistical analysis known as the Structured Equation Modelling (SEM).

Human - Technology - Organization (HTO) is a well-established, general unifying concept in the Swedish Accident Investigation Authority (SHK) that represents an approach, knowledge and use of various tools regarding interactions between people, technology and organizational factors. The HTO-perspective is well described in literature but there are few studies on how SHKs staff experiences working according to this method in their investigations. The aim of this study was therefore to describe their HTO-perspective, examine how it is used in the investigations at SHK and describe the investigators experience of working with the HTO-perspective as well as the method's usefulness compared to old methods in accident investigations. A literature study has been conducted in the areas of HTO, Theory of planned behavior (TPB) and safety culture. TPB and safety culture are described in this paper since they highlight the different aspects of a HTO-perspective. The hypothesis was answered by using semi-structured interviews. The interviews were analyzed by a content analysis and themes were identified. Furthermore the material from the interviews was subsequently structured through a Strength – Weakness – Opportunities – Threats analysis (SWOT), i.e. the informants' view on the HTO-perspective was structured based on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats SHKs staff experience that the method has in the investigative work. The informants consisted of two investigators at SHK who 3have worked with accident investigations for a long time in various roles. The results yielded that the investigators had a positive attitude towards conducting investigations according to the HTO-perspective because they feel that this perspective provides them with cross-competence. A flaw is though that the perspective lacks a structured approach. As a result of this, the investigators own experiences and expertise play a major role in the quality of the investigation. As the study's aim is met and the informants are considered to be experts the validity requirements are also fulfilled.

Despite HIV and AIDS knowledge and attitude change programmes, workplace HIV and AIDS-related discrimination persists in workplaces in many sectors, including the education sector. This study set out to investigate why the phenomenon of workplace HIV and AIDS-related discrimination persists; and to predict which factors were responsible and how they related to HIV and AIDS-related discrimination in the workplace. A stratified random sample of 205 teachers; 123 of whom were from 10 schools of varied backgrounds in Bojanala Region of North West Province of South Africa and 82 from schools around Kampala, Central Region of Uganda was drawn. Twenty-seven respondents of the South African sample participated in both the quantitative survey and in-depth interview while the rest responded to a selfadministered questionnaire. Using a stepwise regression analysis, traditional beliefs predicted workplace HIV and AIDS-related discrimination, explained11% of variance in the second model while the third model explained only 2% more – 13% (R square of 0.136) but each of the three models was significant (p-values of 0.000). Attitudes were the second strongest predictor; and only HIV and AIDS-legal knowledge could predict discrimination but not biomedical HIV and AIDS knowledge. In the in-depth interview, incidents of discrimination were reported, possible reasons for HIV and AIDS-related discrimination were reported; and it was found that workers varied in ways of keeping secrets regarding sensitive information such as colleagues’ HIV-positive status, and cited reasons for revealing such information which included malice, jealousy, moral responsibility, anger and loose talks. There are implications for reducing workplace HIV and AIDS-related discrimination which include: Integrating HIV and AIDS-legal knowledge with biomedical HIV and AIDS knowledge, more efforts should be spent in designing and imparting information to reduce traditional beliefs, develop and evaluate instruments to measure traditional beliefs and HIV and AIDS-legal knowledge; and to study more about secret keeping, particularly in regard to workplace HIV and AIDSrelated discrimination. / Industrial & Organisational Psychology / D. Admin. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

Although South African consumers are reflecting increased green purchasing intentions, the factors that will lead to their intended behaviour to select green hotels have yet to be researched. Accordingly, the research proposes to explore the predictive ability of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and then further modify and develop extended model structures surrounding the TPB, to identify and confirm an independent theoretical model that will effectively and comprehensively be able to predict South African consumers’ intended behaviour towards selecting green hotels. To answer the aim and objectives set, the research positioned itself within a non-experimental quantitative paradigm. An online questionnaire was distributed to South African consumers that stayed at a hotel at least once within a 12-month period. A total of 402 completed and error-free responses were used for statistical analysis. Descriptive statistical analysis was used to assess, derive and understand the demographic profile of the respondents and determine the respondent’s characteristics as South Africans who intend to stay at or visit hotels. Structural equation modelling (SEM) revealed that Azjen (1991)’s original TPB is a strong predictor of behavioural intention, indicating its applicability to the domain of South African consumers’ behavioural intention towards selecting green hotels. In addition, it was found that South African consumers’ intended behaviour towards selecting green hotels can statistically be best explained by expanding on the original TPB model to include emotive and non-cognitive predictor variables, namely anticipated regret (AR) and perceived moral obligation (PMO), as direct constructs to behavioural intention as well as by including environmental knowledge (EK) as a direct predictor variable to attitude (ATT). Furthermore, it found that the relationship between behavioural intention and perceived behavioural control (PBC) was the strongest and most significant, followed by subjective norm (SN), ATT, PMO and AR. Lastly, the findings revealed that PBC, ATT, SN, PMO and AR can all act as positive and highly significant intermediaries between EK and behavioural intention. The study contributed towards theory by identifying and assessing the psychographic factors that will best explain the consumer decision-making processes leading to behavioural intention in context to green hotel selection. The study further extends its contribution by adding value to environmental sustainable literature in context to an emerging economy, namely South Africa. Although South African consumers are reflecting increased green purchasing intentions, the psychological factors that will lead to the intended behaviour towards selecting green hotels have not received much attention in research. It was, therefore, important and theoretically valuable to not only investigate the predictive ability of the original TPB, but to also modify, develop and extend model variations surrounding the TPB to thoroughly explore the predictive ability for South African consumers’ intention to select green hotels. / Life and Consumer Sciences / M. Sc.

No description available.

Summary in English, Afrikaans and Zulu / The natural environment is important for human existence and the ubiquity of Information Technology (IT) has negatively impacted on the natural environment. Green IT offers to address these negative effects. However, since Green IT practices are often not common knowledge, it is vital that they are taught to others. Teachers typically have the skills and opportunities to teach many people. The research problem was the lack of research focusing on the teaching of Green IT in the context of the urgent need for it and teachers’ limited knowledge and competencies relating to Green IT. The study employed a survey research strategy, involving exploratory factor analysis, ANOVA and structural equation modeling (SEM). The main findings indicate that allocating time and resources to improve student teachers’ level of awareness, perceived behavioural control and person-related beliefs would positively influence their intention to teach Green IT, and, in turn, their Green IT teaching. / Die natuurlike omgewing, wat so noodsaaklik is vir menslike voortbestaan, word negatief beïnvloed deur die alomteenwoordigheid van inligtingstegnologie. Groen IT-praktyke kan gebruik word om sodanige negatiewe effekte in te perk, maar aangesien die nodige kennis nie alombekend is nie, moet dit aan ander oorgedra word. Onderwysers het beide die vaardighede en die geleenthede om inligting aan groot groepe mense oor te dra. In dié geval was die navorsingsprobleem ‘n gebrek aan studies wat fokus op die dringende noodsaaklikheid van Groen IT-onderrig, asook onderwysers se beperkte verwante kennis en vaardighede. ‘n Opname is gebruik as navorsingstrategie, met eksploratiewe faktorontleding, variansie-ontleding (ANOVA) en strukturele vergelykingsmodellering (SVM). Ingevolge die hoofbevindinge sal die beskikbaarmaak van tyd en hulpbronne leerlingonderwysers se bewuswordingsvlakke verbeter, sowel as hul waarneembare gedragswetenskaplike beheer en hul persoonsverwante beskouinge, en ‘n positiewe uitwerking hê op hul voorneme om Groen IT te onderrig, wat weer op sy beurt hul Groen IT-onderrig sal bevoordeel. / Imvelo yemvelo ibalulekile ekubeni khona komuntu nokutholakala kobuchwepheshe bezokwazisa kuye kwaba nomthelela omubi emvelweni yemvelo. Ubuchwepheshe bezokwazisa obuluhlaza bunikeza izindlela zokubhekana nemiphumela emibi. Kodwa-ke, njengoba imikhuba yobuchwepheshe bezokwazisa obuluhlaza ayivamile ukuba ulwazi iv oluvamile, kubalulekile ukuthi ifundiswe kwabanye. Othisha sidalo sabo banawo amakhono namathuba ukufundisa abantu abaningi. Inkinga yocwaningo ukuntuleka kocwaningo okugxila ekufundiseni kobuchwepheshe bezokwazisa obuluhlaza esimweni sesidingo esiphuthumayo sabo, nolwazi olulinganiselwe lothisha kanye namakhono afanelekayo kubuchwepheshe bezokwazisa obuluhlaza. Isu lokucwaninga ucwaningo lwasetshenziswa, okubandakanya ukuhlaziywa kwesici sokuhlola, ANOVA kanye nokuhlelwa kwesifaniselo esiyisilinganiso (SEM). Ukutholwa okusemqoka kubonisa ukuthi ukwabela isikhathi kanye nezinsiza zokuthuthukisa abafundi othisha izinga lokuqwashisa, ukulawula kokuziphatha okubonwayo kanye nezinkolelo ezihlobene nomuntu zizoshukumisa kahle izinhloso zabo ukufundisa ubuchwepheshe bezokwazisa obuluhlaza futhi nemfundiso yabo yobuchwepheshe bezokwazisa obuluhlaza. / University of South Africa / School of Computing / M. Sc. (Computing)