Introduction: Even though Sweden is usually considered to ensure a good and safe work environment, recent studies have highlighted problems with a culture of silence and silenced voices at work. This licentiate thesis explores the work environment in two studies, and in two separate study populations. Coming from the perspectives of both persons with transgender experiences and first-line managers, this thesis explores ways of managing openness in the workplace regarding gender identity and ‘employee voice’. This thesis considers various factors and conditions in the work environment and the perspective of theoretical frameworks such as heteronormativity, gender theory, ‘employee voice’, ‘inclusive leadership’ and psychosocial safety climate. Aim: The overall aim of this licentiate thesis was to explore openness at work, in terms of gender identity and employee voice, and how openness was influenced by various factors and conditions. Methods: Applying a qualitative approach, this licentiate thesis included two interview studies and 55 interviewees. Study I explored motives for how persons with transgender experience managed openness of gender identity and transgender experience at work. In study I, applying the theoretical framework of ‘doing gender’ and heteronormativity, thematic analysis was conducted inspired by Braun and Clarke. Study II explored first-line managers and their view on shaping inclusive communication climate for ‘employee voice’ in the workplace. Analysis was made applying Grounded Theory inspired by Charmaz. The findings were compared and discussed with existing theoretical models such as 'inclusive leadership', in relation to the concept 'culture of silence ' or ‘employee voice’ and psychosocial safety climate. Findings: Study I, which explored transgender people’s work environment, revealed three ways of managing openness: being open, doing stealth and being private. The strategies behind these ways of managing openness were grouped into four motives: being a role model, a drive to be accepted, fear of discrimination and microaggressions and organisational and social facilitating conditions. There was an interplay between work life and social contexts involved. In order to be able to be open, the findings revealed a need to ensure preconditions such as a safe organisational and social work environment. Study II, which explored the work environment of first-line managers, presented a model explaining how different conditions could result in different ways of managing openness in terms of ‘employee voice’. When first-line managers experienced a psychosocial safety culture, the possibility and opportunity to be open increased. Conclusion: This licentiate thesis contributes to the understanding of how various factors and conditions influence the study participants within the work environment regarding openness in terms of gender identity and employee voice. The findings of this licentiate thesis imply that a comprehensive policy framework, communicated by supportive management at all levels, could facilitate a work environment that invites voice and openness on sensitive topics. 

This thesis aims to enhance the understanding of individuals’ financial personality traits in consumer credit usage and the factors influencing their ability to make ends meet, contributing to improved overall financial well-being. A combination of subjective survey data and objective bank register data is analyzed by econometric methods to fulfill research aims. The first paper sought to explore the moderate effects of financial personality traits, including risk tolerance, financial confidence, and self-control, between the intention to use consumer credit and the consumer credit used volume. The results show that, higher risk tolerance and higher financial confidence both relate to taking on more consumer credit while self-control has no moderate effect on the relationship between behavioral intention and consumer credit behavior. We also find that men who have the intention to use consumer credit and perceive themselves to have better financial knowledge purchase more with consumer credit, and that better self-control on financial activities mitigates the use of consumer credit for higher-income individuals. The second paper investigated the antecedents of making ends meet based on the Theory of Planned Behavior. We identify the effects of saving intention and credit use intention on the possibility of making ends meet. We discovered that financial learning from family and bank institutions has a distinct impact on the intention to save and borrow. These findings are informative for policymakers and financial institutions seeking to improve financially sustainable behaviors. 

Cities worldwide are progressively attracting more residents, making the transportation supply provision challenging and the overcrowding phenomenon a new norm. Crowding negatively affects passengers’ travel experience and the operations of the public transportation system. So far, little attention has been given to how specific passenger groups, including the new residents of a city, contribute to public transportation crowding. Empirical knowledge of passenger groups’ impact on the crowding conditions in the system can guide tailored policy initiatives such as new fare structures, dedicated public transportation services, or infrastructure investments. Automated data sources in the public transportation sector can play an important role in this direction by i) offering opportunities for passenger segmentation and ii) providing data with high spatiotemporal resolution.

Paper I proposes a method based on smart card data for quantifying crowding contributions from a selected passenger group on the rest of the passengers at the journey level. We propose two novel metrics: time-weighted contribution to load factor and maximum contribution to load factor. The method is applied to two passenger groups: school students and passengers traversing Stockholm’s inner city. Results indicate that school students utilize 15% of the seating capacity in the Stockholm County case study area. Moreover, passengers traversing the inner-city occupy more than 80% of the seating capacity on the most affected network segment. The commuter rail corridor and its surrounding areas are found to be primarily affected by both selected passenger groups. Results can guide policy-making towards more efficient demand management and lower overall crowding conditions on the public transportation system.

Paper II extends the method proposed in Paper I in the context of new urban developments. The method captures the difference in crowding contributions induced by a newly developed area at the segment level. The method is applied to various urban developments, considering the classification of their types. Characteristics of the selected urban development categories such as the type, size, location, proximity to high-capacity public transportation connections, and socioeconomic characteristics are also concerned. Results reveal that the size, type of urban development, and proximity to a high-capacity connection are highly influential factors in determining the value and shaping the geographical extent of the crowding implications, regardless of its category. In addition, income and car ownership levels in the newly developed areas have a two-fold effect on shaping network-wide crowding contributions in terms of value and geographical spread. Results from Paper II can be incorporated into assessment frameworks for public transportation investments related to new urban developments. Last, results may assist in placing future urban developments accounting for the resulting crowding effects, therefore assisting towards more efficient public transportation networks and cities.

Analysis of shoulder loading can shed light on injury mechanisms, but direct measurement of loading remains challenging. Musculoskeletal simulations offer alternative estimation methods, provided they are validated. A recent open-source thoracoscapular shoulder model can reproduce scapulothoracic kinematics accurately, but its validity in estimating joint loading has been unknown. Previous attempts to use this model with  muscle redundancy solvers to estimate shoulder joint loading have been made, but whether the solutions fulfilled conditions for glenohumeral stability has been relatively little explored. The existing thoracoscapular model, moreover, does not allow any articulation in the spine, whereas muscles that span the shoulder are influenced by spinal movement.

The first aim of the thesis was to explore what degree of glenohumeral stability is adequate in a musculoskeletal model to accurately estimate shoulder joint forces. We used available kinematics and in vivo glenohumeral joint contact forces from the Orthoload dataset to evaluate the criterion validity of the proposed stability formulations. Different formulations for shoulder joint stability were introduced based on the computed direction of the joint contact force. This force was constrained to be directed into or close to the glenoid cavity, described with different geometric shapes or penalties in the muscle redundancy solver. We found that restricting the force direction towards a specified shape resulted in unrealistic force vectors that were directed along the shape borders. A less strict approach that encouraged joint contact forces to be directed centrally in the glenoid cavity estimated relatively more accurate force magnitudes and contact force directions, though some differences with the in vivo measurements still exist. 

The second aim of the thesis was to validate the use of a spine-integrated thoracoscapular shoulder (SITS) model, which includes cervical and lumbar spine articulation, to estimate shoulder biomechanics in seated activities. Specifically, aims of the second study were to evaluate the model's content validity, then to study how sitting posture can affect shoulder muscle activation and joint loading. We estimated shoulder loading during captured movements of subjects performing simple dumbbell lifting tasks in two different sitting postures—slouched and upright. We compared estimated muscle and joint loading with the rigid (locked) spine and with vertebral articulation (unlocked), and found that the customized model with an unlocked spine reproduced the actual movement more accurately. We then found that sitting postures influenced muscle activation and joint loading; compared to an upright posture, the dumbbell lateral and anterior lifting in a slouched posture involved greater glenohumeral joint movement, increased ligament lengthening, more muscle activation, and higher joint contact forces. These findings suggest that performing dumbbell lifts in a slouched posture places more load on the glenohumeral joint and increases strain on soft tissues, specifically glenohumeral ligaments.

These findings support the proposed enhanced shoulder model and stability formulations as benchmark methods for comprehensive shoulder biomechanical analysis.