Browsing by Author "Quadir, Areeb"

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The effects of corporate social responsibility as market signals on consumer purchase intention and advertising skepticism in the fast fashion industry
(2020) Quadir, Areeb
School of Business | Bachelor's thesis
Objectives Consumers who are becoming increasingly aware of a firm’s general practices tend to buy products that are environmentally friendly. Thus, the main objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of CSR perception on purchase intention and skepticism in relation to the market signals in the fast-fashion industry. In addition, the conceptualization of the signaling theory and belief in a just-world theory was presented through the creation of an advertisement that allowed the respondents to contribute to local producers through a charitable donation. Summary A quantitative survey was conducted where two sets of H&M advertisements were presented to the respondents (N= 233); one pertaining to verbal information related to the product and the other with numerical information either 67% or 70% recycled content and 20% or 50% contribution amount attempting to engage the consumer in the firm’s CSR activities. The participants’ purchase intention and advertising skepticism were measured both after the first and second advertisements. Conclusions Results indicated that CSR perception is a significant predictor of purchase intention and skepticism towards advertising (p<0.05). In addition, while there is a significant impact of numerical market signals on the purchase intention and skepticism of a consumer (p<0.05), the interaction between the recycled content and contribution towards the donation factor is nonsignificant (p>0.05).
Workforce planning in IT companies: Strategic or not?
(2024) Quadir, Areeb
School of Business | Master's thesis
Workforce planning is crucial for the success and sustainability of IT organisations due to the rapidly changing and constantly evolving environments surrounding the industry, especially in advanced and innovation-driven economies like Finland. Finland's IT sector has seen significant growth and development over the past few decades, becoming a crucial driver of the national economy. Despite this, as technological advancements continue to accelerate, Finland’s IT sector must navigate and face unique challenges and opportunities—including rapid technological changes and evolving skill requirements. Strategic workforce planning requires that companies adopt a methodical long-term stratagem which continuously and reiteratively identifies and responds to gaps in their workforce, adapting to shifting internal and external business environments. This helps IT companies anticipate and react to industry changes, maintain competitiveness, and drive innovation by aligning workforce capabilities with organisational goals. This study employs a qualitative methodology using semi-structured interviews (n=12) to gather data from a diverse sample of managers working at IT companies in Finland. Through reflexive thematic analysis, the research identifies four key themes brought up by interview participants: organisational operations, organisational team culture, workforce gap analysis, and employee engagement and development. This demonstrates the large scope interviewees consider about workforce planning as well as the impact that practices within each theme can have on how an organisation approaches workforce planning. The practices include, but are not limited to, performance tracking, gap analysis, and providing opportunities for employee learning and development. We find that companies are not approaching workforce planning strategically because their activities and initiatives are fragmented, focusing on addressing standalone, short-term issues, rather than cohesively addressing long-term strategic goals. We therefore build a theoretical framework, adopting Cotten’s (2007) seven-step workforce planning model, the Employee Lifecycle Model (ELM), and the Competitive Values Framework (CVF) with empirical insights from our interviews, to provide practical implications for human resources (HR) practitioners at IT organisations while suggesting avenues for future research.