Titel: Konsumenters uppfattningar som påverkar köpbeslut av lokalproducerad mat Författare: Kim Andersson och Klara Dandic Handledare: Jasenko Flodin Arsenovic Syfte: Syftet med denna undersökning är att analysera de faktorer som styr konsumenternas beslut vid köp av lokalt producerade livsmedel genom att analysera förhållandet mellan konsumenternas uppfattningar om skepticism, kvalitet, välbefinnande i förhållande till betalningsvilja. Metod: Denna studie har en kvantitativ forskningsstrategi tillsammans med en deduktiv ansats. Data samlades in från svenska och kroatiska konsumenter från fyra undersökningar (n = 405 deltagare), där kroatiska och svenska konsumenter slumpmässigt gavs en scenariobaserad undersökning om lokalt eller icke-lokalt producerad mat. Slutsats: De erhållna forskningsresultaten visade att det inte fanns någon förstärkt effekt av demografiska faktorer på förhållandet mellan matens ursprung och betalningsvilja, med undantag för utbildningsnivån, som hade en signifikant men liten effekt. Forskningen visade också att konsumenterna uppfattar lokalt producerade livsmedel som mer högkvalitativa och att de upplever att de ökar det subjektiva välbefinnandet. Det påpekades att kvalitet förmedlar förhållandet mellan matens ursprung och välbefinnande. Skepticism visade sig vara en direkt faktor som påverkar konsumenternas betalningsvilja, och dessutom fastställdes att skepticism bland kroater och svenskar är diametralt olika, där kroater visade sig vara mycket skeptiska och svenskar mindre skeptiska, vilket gav rätt att betrakta skepticism som representativ för geografisk tillhörighet. Mindre skeptiska respondenter upplevde högre kvalitet och välbefinnande jämfört med mer skeptiska respondenter. Både kvalitet och välbefinnande förmedlade sambandet mellan skepticism och betalningsvilja, där mindre skeptiska respondenter var villiga att betala mer än mer skeptiska respondenter. Det är viktigt att påpeka att lokalproducerad mat inte har någon effekt på uppfattningen om skepticism, men att skepticism är en viktig förutsägelse när det gäller viljan att betala för lokalproducerad mat. Nyckelord: Lokalproducerad mat, Skepticism, Kvalitet, Välmående, Betalningsvilja / Title: Consumers' perceptions that influence purchase decisions of locally produced food Authors: Kim Andersson och Klara Dandic Supervisor: Jasenko Flodin Arsenovic Purpose: The aim of this study is to analyse the factors that control consumers' decisions when buying locally produced food by analysing the relationship between consumers' perceptions of scepticism, quality, well-being in relation to willingness to pay. Method: This study has a quantitative research strategy together with a deductive approach. Data were collected from Swedish and Croatian consumers from four surveys (n = 405 participants), where Croatian and Swedish consumers were randomly given a scenario-based survey about locally or non-locally produced food. Conclusion: The obtained research results showed that there was no enhanced effect of demographic factors on the relationship between food origin and willingness to pay, apart from the level of education, which had a significant but small effect. The research also showed that consumers perceive locally produced food as being of higher quality and that they perceive it as increasing subjective well-being. It was noted that quality mediates the relationship between food origin and well-being. Scepticism was found to be a direct factor influencing the consumer's willingness to pay, and furthermore, it was established that scepticism among Croatians and Swedes is diametrically different, with Croatians found to be highly sceptical and Swedes less sceptical, justifying considering scepticism as representative of geographical affiliation. Less sceptical respondents experienced higher quality and well-being compared to more sceptical respondents. Both quality and well-being mediated the relationship between scepticism and willingness to pay, with less sceptical respondents willing to pay more than more sceptical respondents. It is important to note that locally produced food has no effect on perceptions of scepticism, but that scepticism is an important predictor of willingness to pay for locally produced food. Keywords: Local food, Scepticism, Quality, Well-being, Willingness to pay

Product labeling is increasingly used as a tool to differentiate products with public and private benefits that cannot be readily evaluated by a consumer at the time of purchase. Our research investigates how a labeling program may be applied in the sale of ornamental plants to address two key issues; plant disease and irrigation water use. A choice modeling survey was utilized to estimate consumers' willingness to pay a premium for six ornamental plants with disease-free and/or water conservation certification labels. The results of the mixed logit models show consumers are willing to pay a premium for plants certified as disease-free and/or produced with water conservation practices. The results strongly suggest producers can recoup some of the costs of implementing water conservation measures such as water recycling and disease control measures amid regulatory and drought concerns. Our research also investigated consumers' preferences for multiple third party certifying authorities and whether preferences for the labels varied among consumers. The results showed ornamental plant consumers did not reveal a preference for a particular certifying authority. The results are mixed as to whether willingness to pay for the labels varies among respondents. We show willingness to pay does vary among respondents for three of the plant models indicating preference heterogeneity. / Master of Science

This study is one of the first of its kind to examine actual consumer purchasing decisions for forest products certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Consumer purchasing was examined based on the presence or absence of a promotional brochure and a price premium for red oak and yellow poplar surfaced-four-sides (S4S) boards. This research also compared typical demographic factors for purchasers and non-purchasers of FSC certified S4S boards. Finally, the study examined subscales from a previously designed ecoscale to determine whether two of the subscales were effective predictors of the sale of FSC certified boards. Due to significant interactions between the price premium and the promotional brochure, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) statistics could not be interpreted. However, these strong interactions indicate that these two factors are interdependent. Examining respondents' understanding of the trade term, "certification," showed that most did not understand the term as it is used by the forest products industry. Respondents did not link certification directly with the environment, but rather stated that it was a measure of quality excellence. This illustrates that the forest products industry must use more specific descriptions that consumers will understand when referring to certification. Based on survey results from this study, a large proportion of respondents who paid more for FSC certified boards were unable to recall whether they had cost any more than the alternative product. Respondents of this study were not found to have a high level of confidence in the environmental claims of any group. These included forest products companies, industry associations, and independent organizations. The subscales of a previously designed ecoscale were not found to be strong indicators of a respondents' likelihood to purchase FSC certified S4S boards. This project should be seen as a starting point for additional researchers interested in studying actual purchase decisions of consumers of environmentally conscious products, such as certified hardwood boards. / Master of Science

Att som elev delta muntligt i engelskundervisningen kan vara spännande för många elever men för en del elever uppstår talängslan. Talängslan innebär att man vid specifika situationer upplever ångest för att tala. Den här studien har genomförts utifrån intresset att undersöka huruvida lärare ser några negativa följder för elevers kommunikativa förmåga i engelska till följd av talängslan. Vidare har även läraresstöttning och motivation för att elever ska våga tala engelska i klassrummet undersökts. Studien är genomförd utifrån ett lärarperspektiv genom metodtriangulering där webbenkäter och semistrukturerade intervjuer har använts. All insamlad empiri har koncentrerats, kategoriserats och tolkats utifrån en induktiv ansats samt teorin WTC och det sociokulturella perspektivet. Informanterna i denna studie var 25 lärare med behörighet att undervisa engelska i årskurs 1–3 samt fyra undervisande lärare i engelska, utan behörighet. Resultatet visar att talängslan riskerar att påverka elevers kommunikativa förmåga i engelskundervisningen, bland annat genom att elever som saknar en god relation till sin lärare saknar grundtryggheten för att våga tala engelska i klassrummet och väljer att förbli tyst. Resultatet visar att lärarna i studien stöttar och motiverar sina elever genom att elevernas intressen tas tillvara, genom bland annat spel och lekar samt positiv förstärkning. / Learning to speak English can be exciting for many pupils, but it can cause language anxiety for others. Language anxiety refers to the fear of speaking in certain situations. This study was conducted to determine whether teachers see any negative consequences for their pupils’ communicative ability in English because of language anxiety. The study also investigated how the teachers motivate and support their pupils to speak English in the classroom. This study is based on a teacher’s perspective with method triangulation where web surveys and semi-structured interviews were used. All collected data was compiled, classified, and interpreted based on an inductive approach, as well as the WTC theory and the socio-cultural perspective. The informants in this study were 25 teachers with authorization to teach English in grades 1–3 and four teachers without authoraization. Language anxiety is at risk of affecting pupils’ communicative ability in English, according to the findings, because those pupils who do not have a good relationship with their teacher lack the basic confidence speak English in the classroom and therefor choose to remain silent. The teachers in this study believe they have the right tools to push and motivate their pupils. This study discovered that teachers who use pupils’ interests, positive and reasonably high expectations, positive reinforcement, and a playful approach to teaching can help pupils with language anxiety.

<p> </p> <p>This dissertation consists of three essays that examine the response of small businesses to disruptions in their environment. The first two essays focused on small non-farm businesses in the United States and how they deal with natural disasters. The last essay examined smallholder farm households in Malawi, and how their household labor allocation decisions are affected by land allocation to estates in their communities. The individual essays are summarized as follows:</p> <p>Essay 1: <em>A Conditional Process Approach to Understanding the Role of Adjustment Strategies and Disaster Experience in Racial Disparities in Small Business Performance. </em>Considering that most minority owned businesses have limited access to formal systems, this essay explored how race could indirectly affect business performance (measured as percentage revenue growth) through the adoption of three informal strategies: customer base expansion, supplier base expansion and family adjustment strategies. It also explored whether these indirect effects are moderated by experience with natural disaster. The results showed that being a racial minority was positively associated with revenue growth such that on average, minority business owners experienced 29% higher revenue growth than white-owned businesses (p<0.05) on business performance. It also showed a modest indirect effect of race on revenue growth through each mediating strategy (p<0.5). However, the results did not support a moderating role for disaster experience. </p> <p>Essay 2: <em>Willingness to Pay for Comprehensive Cyclone Insurance Coverage by Small Business Owners: Evidence from the Coastal States of the United States</em>. Small businesses in the coastal United States are usually uninsured or underinsured for cyclone events. The underinsuring of these businesses could be a result of limited insurance coverage as well as individual characteristics of small business owners. Using a discrete choice experiment, this essay used a hypothetical comprehensive cyclone insurance to understand what insurance attributes are important to small business owners. It also examined the role of previous disaster experience, charity hazard as well as temporal orientation on the willingness to pay for the disaster insurance. This study used a discrete choice experiment to elicit insurance preferences from small coastal businesses which employed less than 100 employees. A mixed logit model was used to analyze the data. The results showed that business owners exhibited positive marginal utilities from policies that covered flood, windstorm, and business interruption regardless of the combination. Notably, the mixed logit model showed that on average, business owners were willing to pay up to 450%, 472%, and 482% more than their total monthly business insurance premium payment for insurance that covers flood and business interruption, windstorm and business interruption, and flood, windstorm and business interruption respectively. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression showed that respondents who had previously experienced cyclones were more willing to pay for the presented insurance policies than those who have not. Future orientation was also found to be positively associated with the marginal willingness to pay for the insurance policies.</p> <p>Essay 3: <em>Estates and Small-Holder Agricultural Labor Dynamics in Sub-Saharan Africa:</em> <em>A Case Study of Malawi. </em>Estates are larger than the average farm holdings, which mostly grow one crop, require large capital investment, are centrally managed and rely a lot on hired labor. With such large investments in agricultural land, the labor decisions of smallholder households in Africa will likely be altered. This essay therefore examined the role of estate farms on smallholders’ allocation of labor between on-farm, and off-farm demand and supply of casual labor using the <em>ganyu</em> system of Malawi as a case-study. Using the Malawi Integrated Household Panel survey covering the years 2010, 2013, 2016, and 2019, we estimated the effect of estates on the participation of smallholders on these labor decisions as well as the number of days spent in each activity. We also investigated the effect of these estates on community agricultural labor (<em>ganyu) </em>wage rates and the share of income accruable to ganyu and crop production. Linear probability (LPM), as well as tobit-correlated random effects (CRE) regressions were used to test these effects. Both models showed that the share of estates had a negative correlation with <em>ganyu </em>demand. The Tobit CRE regression showed that on average a 1% increase in the percentage share of agricultural land occupied by estates was associated with a modest 0.04% (p<0.01) decrease in the number of days <em>ganyu </em>labor was demanded, and a 0.02% increase in the number of days household members spent on their own farms. Further results showed that households in communities with higher shares of estates participated in less non-crop farming activities especially wage employment. We also found that the negative relationship between estates and <em>ganyu </em>demand was accentuated among households with higher levels of assets, and farm income. Finally, we found a modest negative relationship between share of estates and community <em>ganyu </em>wage rates </p>

Background: Automation deployment is an innovative solution for organisations andbusinesses to improve efficiency and increase value. This study examines the impact ofleadership, learning culture and willingness to automation deployment and, therefore,organisational performance. Two types of leadership styles, participative and autocratic, havebeen selected to analyse their impact on the promotion and deployment of innovative solutionslike automation. The method to measure the success of the organisational performance wasbased on internal improvements of the team's efficiency and productivity using automated tools.An explanatory study was conducted using a questionnaire shared with 242 professionals in theICT industry in Europe to verify our hypotheses. Objectives: The objective of this study was to investigate whether leadership, learning cultureand employees’ willingness to change affect the automation deployment and how the latterimpacts the organisational performance. Methodology: A quantitative case study based on an online questionnaire using Google formshas been formed to collect data for analysis. Two multivariate regression models have beendeveloped to evaluate the 77 responses collected from the participants with familiarity andexposure to the automation technology. Results &amp; Conclusions: The results align with the existing literature in the fields of innovation,organisational culture, and performance. More specifically, we discovered that the autocraticstyle negatively affects the automation deployment (B=-2.89, p=0.008), while learning culture(B=0.38, p=0.001,) and willingness to change (B=0.8, p=0,) could be considered as enablerssince both found with positive coefficients. Moreover, the automation deployment has beenidentified as a significant variable that affects organisational performance (B=1, p=0).Additionally, the findings from both models are underpinned by the existing literature provingtheir validity. Recommendations for future research: Future work could be focused on including otherleadership styles, such as transformational or entrepreneurial, to examine the impact onautomation deployment and organisational performance. Additionally, the performance couldbe evaluated based on the final service or product of the company, considering customers'feedback or financial terms. Last but not least, expanding the research to other organisationsthat are considering or have already deployed automation would shed more light on the effectto the organisational performance.

Social services are a human treatment organization that exists in our society to promote people's living conditions and contribute to a higher quality of life. What society thinks and feels about social services as an institution is fundamental, in particular the attitudes, knowledge and trust of young people towards social services. Young people are our future and social problems evolve over time, so working with young people is crucial to how social services can adapt their work to these developments. A quantitative survey has been carried out using a questionnaire survey in which 126 young people in upper secondary school participated. The main result of the study showed that there are tendencies of negative attitudes, lack of knowledge and neutral to low trust. It also shows that mainly two of the mentioned factors play a role in young people's willingness to act.

E-waste is a growing problem across the world. With a higher living standard comes an increase in electronic product usage and subsequently discarding, which leads to negative environmental and human impact when discarded incorrectly. This improper discarding of E-waste is most prevalent in the small equipment category. Based on earlier research on reducing improper disposal of E-waste and characteristics of inducing behavioural change, this study examines the mediating impact of monetary incentives on people's willingness to recycle small waste electrical and electronic equipment (sWEEE) through a deposit-refund system (DRS). The study uses an extended theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to examine the mediating effect of monetary incentives and aims to examine which of the influencing factors of attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control has the biggest impact on willingness to recycle sWEEE using a DRS. Data was collected through a quantitative method with a survey that was shared on social media. A sample of 152 was realised and the data was analysed by means of structural equation modelling, employing a partial least squares method using SmartPLS. The results showed that attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control did not have a significant impact on willingness to recycle sWEEE using a DRS. Furthermore, the mediating effect of monetary incentives showed that monetary incentives decrease willingness to recycle, which in turn impacts recycling behaviour. As the results are contrary to extant research, the findings warrant further research into the area.

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