Case-Based Decision Support for Disaster Management

Disasters are characterized by severe disruptions of the society’s functionality and adverse impacts on humans, the environment, and economy that cannot be coped with by society using its own resources. This work presents a decision support method that identifies appropriate measures for protecting the public in the course of a nuclear accident. The method particularly considers the issue of uncertainty in decision-making as well as the structured integration of experience and expert knowledge

An exploration of the role of bloggers and blogger characteristics, in the consumer buying process for cosmetics in the Thai market

Consumers often use online information to help them make better buying decisions (Cheung, 2014; Lu et al., 2014). Blogs and bloggers’ opinion can be one of the most important sources of information for consumers evaluating products and services, reducing a consumer’s cognitive effort and uncertainty before making a purchase (Mrazek, 2010). Employing bloggers to spread information on products has become one of the most powerful word-of-mouth strategies for marketers (Kempe, 2003; Sussman, Siegal et al., 2003; Scoble, 2006). This thesis aims to understand how bloggers and social media influence consumers’ decision-making processes and to explore the characteristics of blogs and bloggers in term of trustworthiness and credibility in the environment of the marketing practices for beauty products in the Thai market. Qualitative research methods were used, including online observations and interviews. The interviewees covered 38 Thai women who have experience in using online beauty reviews. This thesis develops the Theory of Planned Behaviour Model (TPB) to understand how beauty bloggers have influenced the consumer’s decision-making process. Moreover, the characteristics of blogs and bloggers in terms of trustworthiness and credibility are explored and explained in relation to the dual processes (central route and peripheral route) from the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM). The thesis contributes new knowledge in relation to the content-based factors existing in the central route and their relationship to the peripheral route (sincerity, actual use, expertise, and experience). Therefore, bloggers can show their ability and potential to use a product and criticize its quality through writing, photography, and videos. Furthermore, the analysis found that factors from the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) could be adapted and applied to explain further the consumer perception of bloggers