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This thesis aims to analyse the presence of post-truth characteristics in the public sphere, using the case study of the highly debated COVID-19 vaccines in Europe. Since 2016, the concept of post-truth has received increased attention in academia, particularly around the intense polarization of issues such as partisan voting, climate change, and vaccination. While prior studies have focused significantly on the impacts and emergence conditions of the post-truth phenomenon, empirical studies on the prevalence of post-truth in everyday public activities have yet to be written. In response, this thesis conceptualises post-truth into five characteristics that are described in the existing literature: (i) disagreement about fact, (ii) personal experience and emotion, (iii) neglect of fact, (iv) truth-seeking, and (v) discredit of and distrust in experts. Based on these characteristics, this thesis qualitatively analyses the content of the comments on the European Commission’s Facebook posts concerning the COVID-19 vaccine. Descriptive analysis of 362 user-generated comments shows that groups with varying attitudes toward vaccination display most of the post-truth characteristics described in the existing literature. The results suggest that the group of people who are influenced by the post-truth culture is wider than anticipated. Furthermore, this thesis alters prior understandings of post-truth culture by showing that the opponents of vaccines do not display strong emotions or use personal experiences when discussing vaccination with the others. Public health authorities therefore might take these results into consideration for future vaccination campaigns. Lastly, this study posits some associations between post-truth characteristics and calls for further qualitative research on the matter.

This study examines the Swedish Public Health Agency’s (PHA) crisis communication regarding the COVID-19 pandemic during the year of 2020. Departing from a synthesis of the frameworks of Image Repair Theory and Bureaucratic Reputation Theory, the PHA’s online press conferences are critically analyzed to map out how the PHA’s representatives react to reputational threats that occur alongside and in connection to its management of the crisis at hand. With reputational threats is meant allegations or incidents that risk shedding a negative light on the organization in question. The aim is to explore the applicability of said frameworks in a new empirical, crisis communicative context, but also to contribute to the understanding of what role reputational concerns play in public organizations’ crisis communication; an aspect that I argue has been overlooked in the crisis communication-literature. Departing from a definition of reputational threats as either criticism (where the PHA have been publicly questioned or criticized) or acts of reversal (where something seemingly changes in the PHA’s approach), five situations and six corresponding press conferences are selected for examination. A rhetorical analysis based on the logic of accusation (kategoria) and defense (apologia) finds several instances of what can be classified as verbal defense-strategies in the PHA’s crisis communication, but also interesting variations depending on what the threat is about or where it comes from. The PHA’s only constant reaction across press conferences is found to be initial silence: to wait until the issue at hand is brought up by someone else (in this case, a journalist participating at the press conference). The insights of this study pose challenges to current scholarly understandings of crisis communication within the public sector and showcase opportunities for future studies of the same.

Through a single case study, we expand on pre-existing M&A research by examining how M&A processes have been affected by the increased information asymmetry as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and what implications it will have on these processes going forward. By conducting a case study on a strategic serial acquirer in the technology industry, this thesis shed light on how firms within this industry react towards such a market shock and alter processes in order to adapt to the new circumstances. Based on a triangulation of document analysis and interviews with key employees of the case firm we find that the M&A strategy in terms of screening process and target criteria was not changed due to the pandemic. The most affected processes are the initiation of contact with target companies and the due-diligence process. There is a perceived loss of deep insight into target firms, trust and relationship building due to the vanishing of physical meetings, which is argued to be the largest change to the firm’s M&A processes. In addition to this, specific Covid-related aspects are taken into consideration, such as a more intense and differentiated focus on the liquidity and generation as well as origins of cash flows of targets during the due diligence process, compared to before the pandemic. Further, implications for the future mainly concern the possibility of increased productivity, inclusion and alignment of interests in the post-merger integration work, and the importance of trust and long-lasting relationships as an inherent part of the M&A strategy. MSc in Accounting and Financial Management

The denial of formal education to pregnant pre-tertiary school students contravenes universal access to quality education, yet the latter is a key aspiration of the 21st century. Only recently, in 2015, did Uganda draft guidelines on preventing and managing HIV/AIDS and pregnancy in school settings, with a COVID-19 related update in 2020. These prohibit the expulsion of pregnant students before the first trimester of pregnancy elapses; and advocate unconditional re-enrolment when the child is at least 6 months. However, the guidelines are little publicised, and the practice of denying pregnant and parenting students access to formal education still continues as the case was before their promulgation. The current study was conducted to identify the factors and forces perpetuating pregnant student expulsions, and to explore ways of enabling girls to continue studying during and after pregnancy. From a theoretical perspective combining Marxist and socialist feminism, and a critical educational research approach, the study involved two group interviews with participants drawn from two nationally spread professional networks, UNELTA and ILEP Uganda, and discussions with two individual teachers. A thematic analysis was conducted, identifying, as broad themes, teachers’ descriptions of processes, practices and experiences regarding pregnant student expulsions and parenting student reenrolment; the factors and actors perpetuating the denial of formal education; and possible remedies. Key conclusions are drawn by discussing the findings in light of the research theories employed and existing literature. The study recommends fostering girl child agency, improving the policy framework, establishing a pregnant and parenting students tracking mechanism to foster reenrolment, and making structural and infrastructural adjustments to enable them stay in school. I hope that the knowledge and suggested solutions contribute to the emancipation of the girl child, and to the advancement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 4 and 5.

This study examined how COVID-19 has affected the use of language, especially English and Chinese neologisms, semantic shifts, and their relationship with Hofstede cultural dimension theory. A corpus-based study was conducted. Four English corpora and two Chinese corpora of web texts were investigated in order to detect the new words and terms appearing after 2020 when the COVID-19 outbreak took place. Three sets of COVID-related English new words and terms were found: name-related, policy-related, and other-related words. Chinese new words and terms found here more describe new things created after COVID-19. Additionally, results showed that some COVID-related new words and terms emerged regionally. The countries where certain new words appeared frequently have unique cultural dimensions compared to other nations.

The COVID-19 crisis includes unprecedented stock market impacts, exceptional uncertainty and explicit concerns from authorities that insiders possess information other than the public during the dynamic circumstances brought by the pandemic. While previous research finds clear evidence that insiders can earn abnormal profits from insider trades, few studies direct their attention towards insider trading profitability during volatile and uncertain market conditions. Additionally, there are gaps in the literature on whether the position of the insider within the firm, or whether the trade is conducted by a related person, has an impact on abnormal profitability. This study complements these scarce research areas by adopting a quantitative approach to investigate the impact of the unique COVID-19 crisis on the abnormal profitability of insider trades in Sweden, which is a relatively unexplored market in the context of insider trading. By conducting an event study on a sample of insider transactions, involving stocks of Swedish listed firms, this study sets out to answer the following research question: how does the COVID-19 crisis impact the profitability of insider purchases and sales on the Swedish stock market? We find that the COVID-19 crisis impacts the profitability of insider purchases negatively in general and the profitability of sales positively in general. The results imply that while the exceptional uncertainty brought by the pandemic makes it difficult for insiders to conduct privately informed purchase transactions to earn money, sales may not be as affected by the uncertainty as they are more likely conducted for liquidation or diversification purposes. Further, the results show that the position of the insider does not have a significant impact on the profitability of insider transactions during the pandemic, with two exceptions. As for insiders in general, we document that the COVID-19 crisis impacts the profitability of insider purchases by board members negatively and the profitability of insider sales by officers positively. Likewise, the results show that the pandemic impacts the profitability of related persons’ purchases in a similar manner as for insiders in general. MSc in Accounting and Financial Management

This white paper contains six policy ideas that may help countries in coping with theCOVID-19 pandemic. The paper focuses on policies that can slow down the spread of the disease, better protect high-risk groups and leverage that a large part of the labor force is idle. For each policy idea, we describe the problem it is meant to solve, what may be leveraged to solve it, and a brief analysis of benefits and risks.

This thesis aims to research the accelerated digitalization of learning services in a global context. The thesis further aims to research how a multinational company can leverage digital solutions to add value for their aftermarket. To fulfill this aim, the research is conducted in collaboration with the global bus manufacturing company Volvo Buses. More specifically, this study focuses on the case company’s global service training in relation to the digital shift entailed by the Covid-19 pandemic. For Volvo Buses, the digital shift has accelerated the digitalization of service training. The purpose of this thesis is thereby to expand existing literature by offering a single case perspective on the challenges and opportunities connected to digitalization of learning services. To achieve this, previous research on knowledge and digitalization in relation to the learning process is reviewed. Moreover, the theoretical framework includes the discussion of digital solutions, including gamification, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and e-learning. Empirical findings are derived from a qualitative data collection process consisting of twelve interviews. From the empirical findings, six themes are derived by using a thematic analysis. The identified themes are; Collaboration, Information Online, Practical Learning, Learning in Online Format, Market Differences and Adopting Digitalization. Market differences are found to permeate the findings as the case company operates globally. The themes are then discussed in relation to the theoretical framework. Based on this, the researchers are able to draw conclusions and address the studys’ research questions. The theoretical contribution of this study is to fill the gap regarding how global companies adapt to an accelerated digitalization of learning services, which is done through the single case study of Volvo Buses. In addition, specific recommendations are provided to the case company, which is the practical contribution of this thesis.

While the concepts of trust and performance often appear together in research, there seems to be little consensus on how they together relate to compliance. The purpose of this study is to examine this relationship, how it changes over time, and to question the common idea of trust being one of the main predictors of compliance in crisis situations, suggesting that performance evaluations might play a bigger role than often thought. This study argues for the role of performance evaluations in determining compliance and aims to test this argument through quantitative longitudinal analysis. An extensive literature review is conducted to conclude what is already known on the relationship between trust and compliance, trust and performance evaluations, and performance evaluations and compliance. Three lines of previous research are recognised; performance evaluations as a type of trust, i.e., confidence, performance evaluations preceding trust through trustworthiness, and performance evaluations as an antecedent of reputation. The mechanisms of trust and performance evaluations affecting compliance are discussed and two main frameworks are recognised; trust affecting performance evaluations, which then affect compliance, or performance evaluations affecting trust and thus affecting compliance. The different theories are discussed and compared. Hypotheses and a conceptual model are formed based on the previous literature. A three-wave panel data collected in Sweden during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 is used to conduct a statistical analysis on the relationship between the independent variables of trust in authorities and performance evaluations, and the dependent variable of compliance. Logistic regression model (n= 4,187) is constructed to analyse the change in variables during the course of the three panel waves. A measure of social distancing is used as the dependent compliance variable, and the relationship is controlled with general trust, sex, age, and education level. The results of the logistic regression model show that trust in authorities remains as a significant positive predictor of compliance throughout the panel waves, even when controlled with other variables. Performance evaluations seem to have positive independent effect on compliance, but negative effect when controlled with trust in authorities and other controlling variables. As the analysis shows some irregularities in the data, further analysis on the relationship was required. Additional examination shows evidence implying that high performance evaluations have an effect on compliance only when trust in authorities is high. Thus, the study suggests that trust in authorities is the more prevalent predictor of compliance in comparison to performance evaluations. Further research on the relationship between performance evaluations and compliance is suggested.