The oversight of systematic approaches to reducing voluntary employee turnover decreases educational institutions’ budgets and performance. In the United States, public schools spend over $2.22 billion annually in voluntary employee turnover costs. The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore strategies public school leaders use to reduce voluntary employee turnover. The population consisted of 3 leaders from 1 public school located in Georgia, with successful experience reducing voluntary employee turnover. The conceptual framework for this study was grounded in Vroom’s expectancy theory. The data collection process included semistructured interviews and organizational documents and artifacts. Data were analyzed using a thematic analysis. Three themes emerged from the data collected: building a collaborative and supportive work environment, creating work motivation, and implementing incentives, rewards, and professional development. The implications for positive social change include the potential to reduce the local government’s expenditures associated with the replacement of employees and to increase resources for supporting social initiatives and more effective instruction for students in the community.

Institute for Rural Development / MRDV

Medical male circumcision prevalence in Lesotho remains at 23% even though efforts are made to encourage men to be circumcised. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe perceptions of men regarding male circumcision in a hospital in Morija, Lesotho and make recommendations on how to promote uptake of medical male circumcision. A descriptive, explorative and contextual qualitative design was used. In-depth, unstructured individual interviews were conducted on ten (10) uncircumcised men who were selected via purposive sampling. The findings revealed that men’s perceptions on circumcision can be classified under the following themes: perceived health beliefs of men about circumcision, perceived community-held beliefs about circumcision, men’s knowledge regarding circumcision, and perceived misconceptions about circumcision. It is recommended that knowledge on circumcision be reinforced and negative perceptions be corrected with the multi-sectoral approach to promote uptake of circumcision services. / Health Studies / M.A. (Public health)

Masters of Commerce / Organisations should focus their attention on strategies that mitigate the intention to quit of employees, this can be achieved through creating an environment that is favourably disposed to an efficient and engaged workforce and by driving transformational leadership approaches. Recognising the immense value of human capital and the devastating effects linked to the loss of valued employees, organisations should direct their focus on effective ways to deal with undesirable staff turnover issues. In the present challenging economic times, organisations and researchers are increasingly exploring factors that could contribute to retaining talent and improve leadership as well as employee engagement practices to optimise organisational outcomes through employees’ talent. The present study sought to contribute to existing research pertaining to transformational leadership, employee engagement and intention to quit, by observing the variables in a service sector environment. The main objective of the research study was to determine the nature of the relationships among the variables on a sample of employees at a selected organisation. An online questionnaire was sent to 296 possible respondents by means of an electronic link. Out of these, 206 questionnaires were used for analysis. Employees were selected to participate in the study by means of convenience sampling. Four questionnaires were used to gather data namely, a self-developed biographical questionnaire, the Multi-Factor Leadership Questionnaire developed by Avolio and Bass (1995), the Utrecht’s Work Engagement Scale developed by Schaufeli and Bakker (2003) and the Turnover Intention Scale developed by Roodt (2004). Statistical analysis of the data was performed by using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26 and the LISREL 8.80 software program. Item and dimensional analyses were executed on the subscales to identify poor items and to ensure uni-dimensionality of the subscales. In order to test the hypotheses structural equation modelling was used. The multiple regression analytical technique was used to identify the variable that explains the most variance in intention to quit. The research results indicated that a positive relationship between transformational leadership and employee engagement exist. There were significant, negative relationships between transformational leadership and intention to quit and between employee engagement and intention to quit. Regression analysis indicated that employee engagement had a more significant impact on intention to quit than transformational leadership. The limitations of the study and future recommendations for the organisation are discussed.

Det har blivit ett allt större fokus på företags arbete med corporate social responsibility (CSR). Denna uppsats har som syfte att studera sambandet mellan svenska allmännyttiga kommunala bostadsaktiebolags CSR-arbete och mängden CSR-upplysningar i deras årsredovisningar. Dessa bolag ska både driva sin verksamhet enligt affärsmässiga principer och ta ett samhällsansvar, vilket skiljer dem åt från bolag som tidigare har studerats. I studien undersöks 146 bolags CSR-arbete och CSR-upplysningar genom att sekundärdata från en enkätundersökning används och genom att en innehållsanalys av bolagens årsredovisningar från 2016 utförs. Sambandet mellan de två variablerna testas sedan genom en multivariat regressionsanalys, där resultatet visar på ett positivt samband mellan CSR-arbete och CSR-upplysningar. Detta resultat analyseras utifrån legitimitetsteorin och voluntary disclosure theory (VDT), och indikerar på att den senare skulle kunna förklara de allmännyttiga bolagens val vid rapportering av CSR-upplysningar i form av att bolag som utför mycket CSR-arbete vill visa upp detta för sin omgivning.

The risk assessment process and the subsequent risk management measures need tobe constantly evaluated, updated and improved. This thesis contributes to that workby considering, and suggesting improvements, regarding aspects like userfriendliness,transparency, accuracy, consistency, data reporting, data selection anddata evaluation.The first paper in this thesis reports from an empirical investigation of themotivations, intentions and expectations underlying the development andimplementation of a voluntary industry owned environmental classification systemfor pharmaceuticals. The results show that the purpose of the classification systemis to provide information, no other risk reduction measures are aimed for.The second paper reports from an evaluation of the accuracy and the consistency ofthe environmental risk assessments conducted within the classification system. Theresults show that the guideline recommendations were not followed in several casesand consequently alternative risk ratios could be determined for six of the 36pharmaceutical substances selected for evaluation in this study. When additionaldata from the open scientific literature was included the risk ratio was altered formore than one-third of the risk assessments. Seven of the 36 substances wereassessed and classified by more than one risk assessor. In two of the seven cases,different producers classified the same substance into different classificationcategories.The third paper addresses the question whether non-standard ecotoxicity data couldbe used systematically in environmental risk assessments of pharmaceuticals. Fourdifferent evaluation methods were used to evaluate nine non-standard studies. Theevaluation result from the different methods varied at surprisingly high rate and theevaluation of the non-standard data concluded that the reliability of the data wasgenerally low. / QC 20100929

Bakgrund: Hållbarhetsrapportering omfattar företagets redovisning av miljömässiga, ekonomiska och sociala påverkan. Enligt svensk lag är det obligatoriskt för större företag att upprätta en hållbarhetsrapport men det finns även mindre företag som väljer att upprätta en hållbarhetsrapport trots att de inte omfattas av detta lagkrav. Trots tidigare forskning inom hållbarhetsrapportering och dess olika motiv går det inte att precisera varför mindre företag väljer att frivilligt hållbarhetsredovisa och vilka de främst riktar sig till. De flesta studier som genomförts inom området riktas mot större företag och med en kvantitativ forskningsmetod. Syfte: Studiens syfte är att undersöka vilka motiv som ligger till grund för svenska mindre företags val att frivilligt upprätta hållbarhetsredovisning. Studien syftar också till att identifiera vilka intressenter som företagen tar hänsyn till vid upprättandet och riktar sina rapporter mot. Metod: Vi har använt oss av en kvalitativ metod och genomfört olika typer av intervjuer med representanter för 6 mindre företag. Urvalet grundas på mindre svenska företag som väljer att upprätta en hållbarhetsredovisning trots att de inte är skyldiga till detta enligt lag. För att analysera materialet har en tematisk analys genomförts. Slutsats: Studien fann att en anledning till att mindre företag väljer att hållbarhetsredovisa är av legitimitetsskäl. De vill förmedla att de arbetar för ett hållbart och fungerande samhälle där de tar sin del av det gemensamma ansvaret. En annan orsak är för att minska den informationsasymmetri som finns mellan företaget och dess intressenter. Informationen som redovisas anpassas efter de huvudsakliga intressenterna för företaget, som för mindre företag visade sig vara kunder, leverantörer och anställda. / Background: Sustainability reporting includes the company's disclosure of environmental, economic and social impacts. According to Swedish law, it’s mandatory for larger companies to prepare a sustainability report, but there are also smaller companies that choose to prepare a sustainability report even though they are not covered by this legal requirement. Despite previous research in sustainability reporting and its various motives, it’s not possible to specify why smaller companies choose to voluntarily report on sustainability and which stakeholders they mainly target. Most studies conducted in the field are aimed at larger companies and with a quantitative research method. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate what motives is the basis for Swedish small companies' choice to voluntarily produce sustainability reports. The study also aims to identify which stakeholders the companies take into account when establishing and direct their reports to. Method: We have used a qualitative method and conducted various types of interviews with representatives of 6 smaller companies. The selection is based on smaller Swedish companies that choose to produce a sustainability report even though they are not obliged to do so by law. To analyze the material, a thematic analysis has been implemented. Conclusion: The study found that one reason why smaller companies choose to report sustainability is for legitimacy reasons. They want to show that they work for a sustainable and functioning society where they take their share of the joint responsibility. Another reason is to reduce the information asymmetry that exists between the company and its stakeholders. The information that’s reported is adapted to the main stakeholders for the company, which for smaller companies turned out to be customers, suppliers and employees.

SAMMANFATTNING Datum:                                  2022-06-01 Nivå:                                       Kandidatuppsats Företagsekonomi,                  15hp                   Akademi:                             Akademin för Ekonomi, Samhälle och Teknik, Mälardalens Universitet Författare:                          David Ek                                                                         Grigor Injighulyan960307                                                                                    93/09/01 Titel:                                       Hållbarhetsredovisningens förändring efter införandet av lagstadgad hållbarhetsredovisning Handledare:                       Leanne Johnstone Nyckelord:                          Hållbarhetsredovisning, Legitimitetsteori, Frivillig hållbarhetsredovisning, Årsredovisningslagen Forskningsfråga:            Hur har redovisningen och innehållet kring hållbarhet förändrats efter införandet av EU-direktivet och den lagstadgade hållbarhetsredovisningen i Sverige? Syfte:                                      Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka förändringen av hållbarhetsredovisningen före och efter införandet av SFS 2016:947. Men även att skapa en förståelse för hur lagen påverkar företagens tidigare frivilliga hållbarhetsredovisning Metod:                                   Kvalitativ metod Slutsats:          Förändringen som skett är numera i linje med vad SFS 2016:947 säger ska finnas med i en hållbarhetsredovisning. Den stora skillnaden är innehållet som har ökat markant efter den nya lagstiftningen. Företagen visar numera tydligare hur de går tillväga för att hållbarhetsredovisa, det vill säga vilka system och processer de använder internt. Dock finns det tydliga indikationer på att samhällets normer och värderingar är betydande för uppbyggandet av hållbarhetsrapporterna, vilket har sin förklaring i legitimitetsteorin.

Uppsatsens syfte var att undersöka hur personer som i yrket möter kvinnor som har varit utsatta för våld i nära relationer upplever att mörkertalet för våldet ser ut, orsaker till anmälningsbenägenhetens låga nivå, samt hur Polisens arbete upplevs fungera mot våld i nära relationer. Undersökningen genomfördes genom kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer med personer i Gävleborgs län, som genom arbetet mött kvinnor som utsatts för våld i nära relationer. Uppsatsen undersökte hur intervjupersonerna som arbetar på myndigheter som Polismyndigheten och Socialtjänsten samt organisationer som kvinnojourer eller brottsofferjourer uppfattar mörkertalet och dess orsaker. I resultatet framkom att den våldsutsatta individens individuella förutsättningar uppfattades styra sökandet efter stöd. Ävenbemötandet från myndigheter och andra organisationer var avgörande. Andra framträdande slutsatser var att intervjupersonerna hade uppfattningen att Polisens arbete behövde förbättrad kompetens för området våld i nära relationer, trots att de flesta var nöjda med Polisens arbete. Mörkertalet upplevdes vara okänt och svårdefinierat. / The aim for this study was to research the perception of hidden statistic according to workers that meet victims of domestic violence and causes for the low level of propensity to report. As well as research how, the policing works against domestic violence. This was implemented through qualitative semi-structured interviews with people in Gävleborg, who works with victims of domestic violence. The study showed the perceptions of the people working at authorities like the Police, Social services, or voluntary organizations like girl- and women’s shelters. It emerged that victims' individual and interpersonal prerequisites perceived as guiding their help-seeking but that reply from the authorities was crucial. Other prominent conclusions were that interviewees inherited the perception that policing had to improve their knowledge and competence in this field, despite the majority were satisfied with the policing. The interviewee’s thought hidden statistics has unknown extent and is difficult to define.

The voluntary carbon market, the area of focus for this thesis, developed alongside the compliance carbon market when individuals and organisations elected to compensate for their CO2 emissions. The steep growth in demand for voluntary carbon offset credits stemmed from the 2015 Paris Agreement. Climate issues were firmly on the agenda and carbon offsetting was viewed as a way for countries to meet their carbon reduction targets in efforts towards mitigating climate change. Since then, there has been a shift to natural climate solutions, namely forestry and land use carbon projects.  The ideal host location for such projects oftentimes have an existing, usually poor, population.  Project developers claim to help such populations by providing community benefits such as job creation and improved agricultural practices.  However, there is a gap in the research which focuses on the future of these communities after the projects, and how sustainable the benefits are.  This thesis examines the community benefits of two REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) projects: Alto Mayo Conservation Initiative, Peru and Yaeda Valley REDD Project, Tanzania.  Interviews with project developers are cross-referenced with project documents and other available sources to analyse the sustainability of the livelihood impacts.  The results show that the positive impacts of voluntary carbon projects on a local community can be sustained post-project. Overall, the well-being of community members can improve, as can decision-making skills and capacity levels.  Project participants can become more adaptable to shocks as their livelihoods have diversified and they have stronger links with international markets.  This link with international markets, however, can also become a barrier to livelihood benefits. As local people become reliant on market demand and project funds, they move away from subsistence farming and when demand drops, they may find it hard to prosper.  Additionally, there is a risk that following the departure of the project and its developers, more malevolent and powerful parties may move into the area.  To overcome these barriers, livelihood diversification opportunities need to be strengthened and land tenure issues clarified.