There has long been a need for a well-balanced, comprehensive and up-dated self-report measure of dyadic relationship quality. The aim was to test the new Quality of Dyadic Relationship, QDR, on 90 men and women living in long-term relationships and on 94 men and women constituting 47 couples visiting family counselling. In the first group A, the experienced entire quality of the relationship, QDR index, was found to be 22, with a possible range between 5 and 30, which means rather a good quality in the relationship. The dimension Dyadic Consensus showed the highest marks together with Dyadic Satisfaction, indicating that these men and women did not just stay together by force of habit. In group B, the QDR-index was 20 before and 22 after counselling. Dyadic Sexuality was found to be lowest in both group A and B. QDR seems to be an instrument with good validity and reliability also in these study groups, according to the factor structure and Cronbach’s alpha. The entire QDR36 is hereby introduced and presented ready for use in different kinds of relationships.

Det blir allt vanligare att organisationer väljer en arbetsmiljö med öppen planlösning. Den aktivitetsbaserade arbetsplatsen är ett exempel på en sådan planlösning. Föreliggande studie syftar till att undersöka hur anställda i en kommunal verksamhet där arbetsplatsen är aktivitetsbaserad beskriver sin arbetsmiljö. Fyra deltagare delade med sig av sina beskrivningar av sin arbetsmiljö i semistrukturerade intervjuer. I den tematiska analysen framkom tre teman. Öppenhetens påverkan på våra sinnen, Öppenhetens påverkan på det sociala samspelet och Öppenhetens påverkan på planering och förberedelser. Olika individer klarar av utmaningarna på den aktivitetsbaserade arbetsplatsen olika bra. För några kan det leda till stressrelaterade problem och att de byter arbetsplats, andra anpassar sig och hanterar utmaningarna på ett framgångsrikt sätt. Individers copingstrategier kan ha betydelse i sammanhanget, liksom förmågan till psykologisk flexibilitet.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate and understand the effect of a servicescape’s ambient and social conditions on consumers’ Approach/Avoidance behavior in a retail context. More specifically, this thesis investigates the effect of music (ambient stimuli) and employees’ self-disclosure (social stimuli) on consumers’ Approach/Avoidance behavior in a retail store. Paper I comprised two experiments. Experiment 1 investigated the influence of the independent variable No music/Music. Likewise, experiment 2 studied the influence of the independent variable No music/Slow-tempo music/Fast-tempo music. The dependent variables in both experiments were pleasure, arousal, and the resulting Approach/Avoidance behavior. Paper II investigated the influence of the independent variable self-disclosure. The dependent variables were Approach/Avoidance behavior, measured by pleasure, arousal, liking, satisfaction, and reciprocity. The conclusions of this thesis are that both ambient and social stimuli in a servicescape affect consumers’ internal responses, which in turn affect their behavior. Depending on the situation (type of purchase), retail (bank, supermarket, or electronic retail store), and stimuli (ambient or social), the internal and behavioral responses are different.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how frontline employee self-disclosure influences consumers’ reciprocal behavior. To investigate the effects of frontline employee self-disclosure, two experiments were conducted with a total sample of 475 participants. The results show that when frontline employees disclose personal information in one-time encounters, they are perceived as less competent and more superficial. The results also show that self-disclosure negatively affects reciprocal behavior, but that this is mediated through liking, competence, superficiality, and satisfaction. These findings suggest that it is not always beneficial for employees to use self-disclosure as a strategy for garnering a consumer's trust or satisfaction, which counters previous research that suggest that disclosure of personal information is a good way to positively influence consumers in the retail environment.

This study concerns the effect that music has on consumer behavior in two different retail contexts during regular opening hours. Two studies were conducted in a field setting with consumers (N=550). Consumers were recruited to answer questions regarding behavioral measures, attitudes, and mood during days when background music was played. The conclusions from the two studies are that music affects consumer behavior, but also that the type of retail store and gender influences both the strength and direction of the effect