Previous research has proven that perceived Brand Authenticity functions as a differentiator, which brands can use to stand out in today’s marketplace. However, few studies have investigated whether it is possible for brands to become more profitable by utilizing their authenticity. This thesis therefore investigates the relationship between the two branding concepts Brand Authenticity and Customer-Based Brand Equity (CBBE). An explanatory survey study is made on the Swedish retail clothing industry, which measures the effect of the Brand Authenticity associations Continuity, Originality, Trustworthiness, Genuineness, Heritage, and Symbolism on the CBBE outcomes (1) consumers’ willingness to pay a price premium, (2) recommend a brand, and (3) buy a brand before other brands. The results show that while some Brand Authenticity associations increase the CBBE outcomes, others seem to give no effect and some even to undermine them. If brand managers of authentic brands wish to increase their value sales through price premiums and increase volume sales through increased purchases, they should focus on communicating Symbolism, Originality and Genuineness. If decreased marketing costs through word of mouth is the goal, brand recommendations can be achieved through communicating Trustworthiness as well. However, Continuity and Heritage should be avoided in all brand communication if increased profits is the primarily goal.

The following thesis is written by students at the School of Engineering at Jönköping University, informatics, New Media Design. The background of this report is based on a project collaboration with Toxic Interactive solutions AB, who wanted help with creating an application for registering sick leave from work. Since these registrations for sick leave affects the income and work relations, the aspect trust within an application was chosen as a subject for the report. Furthermore we connected this to the feedback element to see how trust was affected by this factor. Also the design and tonality of the feedback was chosen as a subject for the study. Visual feedback connects to the user with information about their actions and a confirmation. Based on this, two questions were formed: [1] How does visual feedback affect trust in a mobile application? [2] Does the the tonality in the feedback affect trust for a mobile application? To answer these questions, user tests and interviews was performed with the users. Three prototypes were created with different levels of feedback: no feedback, feedback with formal tonality and feedback with informal tonality. These were tested on nine users for each prototype (27 users in total). Parallelly two interviews with experts of the area were performed for a deeper knowledge and comparability. Other than this relevant studies and theories have been studied. The results of this study show that feedback contributes to increased trustworthiness amongst users. Although there are many other reasons that will have an affect. A formal tonality in the feedback is perceived as slightly more trustworthy according to the user tests and user interviews conducted. An insight about the connection between the tonality and target groups and subjective preferences was revealed from the expert interviews. Also, theories studied about the formality of the language mentions that it should be adapted to the specific target group. The conclusions that can be made from the study shows that trust, feedback and tonality are all connected. all the results show that feedback in a system has a positive effect on the user experience. Feedback also means more trust from a user than when its absent. / Följande examensarbete har utförts av studenter på Tekniska Högskolan i Jönköping på kandidatpåbyggnadsprogrammet informatik, New Media Design. Bakgrunden till arbetet grundar sig i ett projekt från Toxic Interactive Solutions AB som önskade hjälp med att ta fram en mobilapplikation för hantering av sjukanmälningar. Eftersom sjukanmälningar påverkar inkomst och jobbrelationer var förtroende en aspekt som valdes som inriktning att studera. Vidare hur förtroende hos användare påverkas av feedback. Även hur feedbacken är utformad valdes att studera. Visuell feedback återkopplar till användare om deras utförda handlingar som en bekräftelse på att deras anmälningar i applikationen är genomförda. Grundat i detta formulerades två frågeställningar: [1] Hur påverkar visuell feedback i ett gränssnitt faktorn förtroende för en mobilapplikation? [2] Påverkar tonaliteten i feedbacken förtroendet för en mobilapplikation? För att besvara dessa frågeställningar utfördes observationer användartester uppföljt av intervjuer med användarna. Tre prototyper utformades med olika grad av feedback; ingen feedback, formell ton på feedback samt icke-formell ton på feedback. Dessa testades med 9 personer på varje prototyp för att utläsa eventuella skillnader på attityd till dem (totalt 27 tester/intervjuer). Parallellt utfördes två olika intervjuer med experter inom området för att få en djupare kunskap, samt att kunn jämföra med användartesterna. Utöver detta har relevanta studier och teorier studerats. Resultaten visar på att feedback bidrar till ökat förtroende, dock är det många olika aspekter som spelar in. En formell tonalitet i feedbacken upplevdes aningen mer pålitlig enligt användartester och användarintervjuer. En insikt om att detta är starkt kopplat till målgrupp och subjektiva preferenser konstaterades från båda expertintervjuerna som hölls. Även teori om formalitet i språk säger att språket bör anpassas till den specifika användaren. De slutsatser som kan utläsas från studien är att förtroende, feedback och tonalitet går att koppla till varandra. Samtliga delar tyder på att användning av feedback har en positiv inverkan på användarupplevelsen. Även när feedback är närvarande inger detta mer tillit än när den inte är befintlig.

In the future network-based Swedish Defence (NBD), attaining information superiority will be of great importance. This will be achieved by a network of networks where decision-makers, information- and weapon-systems are linked together. As a part of the development of NBD, we have performed a study of user interface design for a future network-based tool package for analysis of sensor systems, referred to as the C2SR-system. This thesis was performed at Ericsson Microwave Systems AB, Sensor and Information Networks, during the autumn 2002. A pre-study concerning the requirements of usability, trustworthiness and functionality of a user interface for the C2SR-system was performed. Officers representing the future users in the NBD played an important role when gathering these requirements. Another important part of the pre-study was the evaluation of software that contains parts of the functionality necessary for the C2SR-system. On the basis of the results from the pre-study, we have designed a user interface to the future C2SR-system. To demonstrate the most important conclusions, a prototype was implemented.

The use of e-mail communication between consumers has been growing and companies are seeking to increase their understanding of this type of private communication medium between consumers. The privacy and cost-effectiveness characteristics of e-mail make it an important communication medium for consumers. Consumers use e-mail to exchange a variety of information including electronic word of mouth (eWOM) about products, services and organisations. The travel industry, the context of this study, is increasingly being delivered online. Understanding what influences consumers and how consumers evaluate eWOM will increase the travel industry’s knowledge about its consumer base. This study aims to contribute to existing knowledge on the impact of eWOM on consumer purchase intention. Its focus is on an interpersonal context where eWOM is sent from the source to the receiver in an e-mail about holiday destination. The study, which was undertaken from a positivist perspective, used qualitative and quantitative research techniques to better understand the influence of eWOM on purchase intention. The literature on word of mouth (WOM) and eWOM was initially examined to identify the major factors that have an influence on the receiver of eWOM. Consistent with previous studies, both perceived expertise and similarity were identified as source characteristics that have an influence on the receiver’s purchase intention. The literature also indicated that trustworthiness belief would have a key effect on the influence of eWOM on the attitude of the receiver. Consequently, this study examined each trustworthiness dimension – ability, benevolence, and integrity – with respect to its role in the influence of eWOM on purchase intention. The literature review also revealed that certain receiver characteristics were important in the process of influence, especially consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence. The relationships between the variables identified were further developed into the research model, which has its roots in the theory of reasoned-action (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975) and the dual process theory of influence (Deutsch and Gerard, 1955). Methodologically, a scenario-building approach to developing authentic e-mail was used. The qualitative data gathered from eight focus group discussions were analysed using “framework analysis” (Ritchie and Spencer, 1994) to develop eight scenarios. This was then used to manipulate the moderating variables in the scenario. Three manipulations, each with two levels, were included: eWOM direction “positive and negative”; source characteristic of “expert/non-expert”; and source characteristic of “similar/non-similar”. These scenarios formed part of a questionnaire. The questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of University of Bradford students. The final number of usable questionnaires was 477. Structural equation modelling was used to determine the validity of the conceptual model and test the hypotheses. In particular, multiple group analysis was used to assess both the measurement and structural models, and to identify the impact of the eWOM direction. The theoretical model that describes the relationships between the exogenous variables (source’s and receiver’s characteristics) and the endogenous variables (trustworthiness dimensions, interpersonal influence and purchase intention) was accepted. The research findings provided empirical evidence on the difference in the impact of positive and negative eWOM on purchase intention. The source’s and receiver’s characteristics and related trustworthiness beliefs, (i.e. ability, benevolence, and integrity) are influenced by the direction of eWOM. The findings show that positive and negative eWOM differ with respect to how they impact on consumers’ attitudes and intentions. For instance, consumers have more belief in the credibility of a source who provides negative eWOM. However, the overall influence of the source’s characteristics tends to be stronger with positive than with negative eWOM. The findings of this study provide insights for both academics and practitioners to understand the potential of eWOM. This might be tailored to help develop more private relationships with customers through e-mail marketing strategies that incorporate eWOM. Negative eWOM is more credible but less directly useful to marketers. Nevertheless, it is important for marketers to realise the significance of managing dissatisfaction and to harness the power of negative eWOM. Similarly, positive eWOM is effective especially when the source is both expert and similar. This might be translated into online marketing campaigns that use consumer-to-consumer discussions in addition to viral marketing. Future research might test the model in different contexts, (e.g. financial services), to provide a more comprehensive picture of the influence of eWOM on purchase intention.

Title: Creating credibility within eWOM – A study of the effects of profile characteristics from a gender perspectiveLevel: Final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business AdministrationAuthor: Sofia Petersson och Samandar SvantessonSupervisor: Jonas KågströmDate: 2017 – MayAim: In the Internet, based society of today; electronic Word of Mouth (eWOM) is a vital marketing tool for most companies. As a consumer, trust must be established for the reviewers who have expressed their opinions. The profile characteristics of the reviewer are important in order to be credible. This study aims to examine if there are any differences on perceived credibility through a gender perspective, by applying the bandwagon effect and perceived social presence.Method: The study is done with a quantitative research design, and a survey has been used to collect data. The results have furthermore been analyzed by the use of IBM SPSS.Result & Conclusions: The Study manages to falsify the two hypotheses, and notes that no significant differences over the genders have been found, regarding creating trust based on profile characteristics. The study can however support the current model of the credibility process through the bandwagon effect and perceived social presence.Suggestions for future research: In the future, we would like to see a study being made on the effects of gender in profile characteristics, by the use of a manipulated eWOM platform for a more realistic consumer behavior.Contribution of the thesis: This study contributes to the existing research by supporting the model of perceived credibility trough the bandwagon effect and perceived social presence. Italso contributes to existing research by falsifying the hypotheses about gender differences having a significant impact on the perceived credibility. / Titel: Skapandet av förtroende inom eWOM – En studie av profilbildens effekt ur ett könsperspektivNivå: C-uppsats i ämnet företagsekonomiFörfattare: Sofia Petersson och Samandar SvantessonHandledare: Jonas KågströmDatum: 2017 - majSyfte: Elektronisk Word of Mouth (eWOM) är i dagens internetbaserade samhälle en viktig marknadsföringskanal för de flesta företag. Som konsument måste dock ett förtroende skapas för de recensenter som delat med sig av sina åsikter. Profilegenskaperna hos recensenten är av stor vikt för att skapa ett sådant förtroende. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka om det finns könsskillnader i hur profilegenskaper uppfattas, genom att tillämpa bandwagon effekten och upplevd social närvaro.Metod: Studien använder sig av en kvantitativ forskningsdesign och har utfört en enkätundersökning, vars resultat sedan analyserats med hjälp av IBM SPSS.Resultat & slutsats: Studien kan falsifiera de två ställda hypoteserna, och konstaterar att inga signifikanta skillnader har hittats över könen gällande skapande av förtroende genom profilegenskaper. Studien kan dock stärka den befintliga modellen för den förtroendeskapande processen genom Bandwagon effekten och upplevd social närvaro.Förslag till fortsatt forskning: I framtiden ser vi gärna att en studie utförs med olika kön på profilbilden och där en eWOM-plattform manipuleras för att kunna studera konsumenter i en verklighetstrogen och realistisk miljö.Uppsatsens bidrag: Uppsatsen bidrar till den befintliga forskningen genom att styrka den befintliga modellen över hur förtroendeskapande processen ser ut genom bandwagon effektenoch upplevd social närvaro. Uppsatsen bidrar även genom att falsifierar föreställningen om att könet på profilbilden har en avgörande roll för det upplevda förtroendet.

Trust between states and the principle of mutual trust in international law This thesis focuses on the role of trust in international law. The main objective is to assess the position and use of trust between states and in relevant areas and institutes of international law. Another key objective is to clarify the function of the principle of mutual trust. The thesis core is divided into three research areas. The first one aims to describe the use of principle of mutual trust and its application in international and European law. It addresses the question of who should carry the risk of trust. It concludes that the state which puts trust in another state should bear all the risks associated with it. The second area discusses confidence-building measures which are theoretically analyzed and further explored in the context of the current events of the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian conflict that started in the year 2014. The purpose of this section is to ascertain how trust is created between states, whether confidence-building measures are effective and what they bring into international law. The aim of this chapter is to ascertain how trust is created between states, whether confidence-building measures are effective and what they bring into international law. The author believes that trust between...

An in-vehicle intrusion detection system (IV-IDS) is one of the protection mechanisms used to detect cyber attacks on electric or autonomous vehicles where anomaly-based IDS solution have better potential at detecting the attacks especially zero-day attacks. Generally, the IV-IDS generate false alarms (falsely detecting normal data as attacks) because of the difficulty to differentiate between normal and attack data. It can lead to undesirable situations, such as increased laxness towards the system, or uncertainties in the event-handling following a generated alarm. With the help of sophisticated Artificial Intelligence (AI) models, the IDS improves the chances of detecting attacks. However, the use of such a model comes at the cost of decreased interpretability, a trait that is argued to be of importance when ascertaining various other valuable desiderata, such as a model’s trust, causality, and robustness. Because of the lack of interpretability in sophisticated AI-based IV-IDSs, it is difficult for humans to trust such systems, let alone know what actions to take when an IDS flags an attack. By using tools found in the area of eXplainable AI (XAI), this thesis aims to explore what kind of explanations could be produced in accord with model predictions, to further increase the trustworthiness of AI-based IV-IDSs. Through a comparative survey, aspects related to trustworthiness and explainability are evaluated on a custom, pseudo-global, visualization-based explanation (”VisExp”), and a rule based explanation. The results show that VisExp increase the trustworthiness,and enhanced the  explainability of the AI-based IV-IDS.

Background: Brand loyalty is an essential asset for brands as it helps brands to build a strong brand. Therefore, brands invest a significant amount of money in their marketing efforts and strategies to create and maintain brand loyalty in an ever-competitive market. One of these strategies is social media marketing, or more precisely, influencer marketing. Before influencer marketing arose, as it is known today, brands used celebrity endorsements to market the brand. However, as influencer marketing increased in popularity for brand endorsements, celebrity endorsement became less sought after and can be considered equal in their characteristics due to their fame and well-known personality. Prior research has not investigated how influencer endorsement impacts brand loyalty, therefore, this thesis applied the concept of celebrity endorsement in the context of influencer marketing and thereby treated influencers as celebrities due to their similar characteristics. Purpose: The purpose of this research is to explain the impact of influencers endorsement on brand loyalty. Methodology: This study used a deductive and quantitative approach and had an explanatory purpose and a cross-sectional research design. This study also presented a new model including three hypotheses that assumed a positive impact of the characteristics of an influencer’s endorsement on brand loyalty. The data collection was done through a self-completion questionnaire distributed online, which resulted in 104 valid responses. Findings: The findings of this study is that all the hypotheses (H1, H2, H3) are found insignificant in the all model (Model 5). This is because the hypotheses were rejected since the significance level of the ANOVA-test showed that the model was not significant as the significance level was above the accepted level (p<0.05). Hence,  no significant evidence can come from this study.  Conclusion: The conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that no significant relationship was found between the concepts of authenticity, credibility, and trustworthiness on brand loyalty, and based on these variables, influencer endorsements do not have an impact on brand loyalty.

Background: Nowadays, companies globally utilise various branding strategies to win and build strong brand loyalty. One of the marketing strategies tools that companies utilise since the 21st century is celebrity endorsement. The idea of a celebrity endorser can be defined as a well-known individual who is glorious in the field of a brand's target audience. Celebrity endorser characteristics, including trustworthiness, attractiveness and expertise, are all sub-components of celebrity endorsement credibility that play an essential role in consumers’ minds and are considered as relevant dimensions in this study. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explain how the celebrity endorsers’ characteristics impact on brand loyalty in the context of consumers in Sweden.  Methodology: This study used the deductive approach, quantitative research to conduct the study. Cross-sectional was used to test the developed conceptual model with the three hypotheses. While, non-probability and convenience sampling methods were used on the way to choose the sampling. The data collection was done through the self-completed questionnaires that ran on google survey to various online social media platforms and the total participants was 203 which is a valid number of respondents for the study.  Findings: The expertise of celebrity endorsers positively impacts brand loyalty and it is the most significant one, hypothesis three (H3) is accepted. The trustworthiness of celebrity endorsers positively impacts brand loyalty and it is the second significant one, hypothesis one (H1) is accepted. However, the attractiveness of celebrity endorsers results in no impact on brand loyalty. It showed an insignificant result. Hypothesis two (H2) is rejected.  Conclusion: This study revealed that only the trustworthiness and expertise of celebrity endorsers have a positive impact on brand loyalty in the context of consumers in Sweden. Finally, the findings of this research paper were applied to the research implication. Keywords: Celebrity endorsers’ characteristics;  the trustworthiness of celebrity endorsers; the attractiveness of celebrity endorsers; the expertise of celebrity endorsers; brand loyalty.

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