  Effects of spin-orbit coupling and s-d exchange interaction are probed by
magnetoresistance measurements carried out down to 50 mK on ZnO and
Zn_{1-x}Mn_{x}O with x = 3 and 7%. The films were obtained by laser ablation
and doped with Al to electron concentration ~10^{20} cm^{-3}. A quantitative
description of the data for ZnO:Al in terms of weak-localization theory makes
it possible to determine the coupling constant \lambda_{so} = (4.4 +-
0.4)*10^{-11} eVcm of the kp hamiltonian for the wurzite structure, H_{so} =
\lambda_{so}*c(s x k). A complex and large magnetoresistance of
Zn_{1-x}Mn_{x}O:Al is interpreted in terms of the influence of the s-d
spin-splitting and magnetic polaron formation on the disorder-modified
electron-electron interactions. It is suggested that the proposed model
explains the origin of magnetoresistance observed recently in many magnetic
oxide systems.
