Are we positively or negatively affected? : A study on how people react to food-related communication messages

Background- Communication messages today are all about influencing and persuading people. Two main types of messages can be seen when studying the healthy food trend on Instagram and how it is impacting attitude formation and change; these two are positive and negative messages. However, different communication messages are not the only deciders of attitude formation and change. There is one more significant factor that impacts attitude formation and change; this factor is identification with the message sender. Purpose- The purpose of this thesis is to identify whether positively or negatively themed messages on Instagram have a stronger impact on a person's attitudes regarding healthy food consumption. We will further examine if identification with the message sender additionally impacts attitude formation and change. Method- In order to fulfill the purpose of the thesis we used a qualitative research approach. We conducted interviews with 40 respondents that belonged to our main target group. Furthermore we conducted a robustness check with six respondents. All 46 respondents included in the qualitative study were Instagram users, and all the respondents in the main target group were students. Findings and Conclusion- After analyzing the empirical results together with suitable theories, some main conclusions could be drawn. The study demonstrated that positive communication messages are the preferred message type on Instagram. We further conclude that identification with the message sender does indeed have an additional impact on attitude formation and change. Based on this study we can say that communication messages and identification with the message sender work together in forming and changing attitudes regarding healthy food on Instagram. Practical Implications- This thesis gives valuable indications to companies, organizations and decision makers in order to direct marketing practices in terms of communication messages on social media, particularly Instagram. Moreover it gives insights for managers to be able to create communication messages that correspond to the expectations of the society. Keywords- Communication messages, attitude formation and change, identification with the message sender.

Significant Attributes and Challenges Related to Cross-Functional Team Communications

Purpose The purpose of the research work is to investigate the importance of the communication in the cross-functional teams and in what which communicational tools provide better convenience of communication in cross-functional team members. Methodology An empirical study including the data collection from the interviews conducted from the participants working in cross-functional teams. Qualitative approach has been adopted to understand the communicational attributes in the cross-functional teams. For the analysis both deductive and abductive approach has been used. With the help of theoretical framework and empirical data, conclusions drown for better understanding of the concept. Findings The author has divided the search in two main segments, communicational effects on cross-functional team performance and effectiveness of particular communicational tools used by team members and team leaders. Empirical findings shows that without proper communication, cross-functional team are less tend to perform well to achieve set goals as well as face to face communications are more effective than other communicational tools.  Research limitations The research work is limited to Scandinavian countries. Organizational communicational structures are not studied due to time factor. Other limitation of this research work is effect of cultural differences on communication. Implications The research work provides deep understanding of the different communicational effects on cross-functional team performance. The choice of communicational tool and proportional importance for the team members will help managers while selecting the tools of communication with the team members. Originality / value During the literature studies, author determined that there is potential of research for the communicational tools used in cross-functional team communications. The social media is taking over the traditional communicational tools which provide value for findings.