Digital Commons Network^™

Newspaper Coverage Of Water Issues In Australia, Anna Hurlimann, Sara Dolnicar

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The media has been found to have an impact on public debate, public opinion, and public policy agendas. Public debate, and public opinion about water conservation and water supply management projects matter because they can influence specific outcomes. For example, public opinion can potentially lead to positive behaviour, like increased water conservation, or potentially negative behaviours such as public opposition to developments such as dams or water recycling plants, which may be necessary under changing climatic conditions. It is therefore critical to understand how the media reports on water-related topics. Results from a content analysis of 1253 newspaper articles published …

Attracting Volunteers In Highly Multicultural Societies: A Marketing Challenge, Melanie J. Randle, Sara Dolnicar

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Volunteer managers face a typical marketing problem: how to identify the right consumers (in this case, volunteers), attract them, and keep them loyal. In multicultural societies this challenge is amplified because of the different groups originating from countries that can vary significantly in terms of the extent of volunteering and reasons for being involved. The consequence of this heterogeneity is limited success of generic marketing campaigns. Using the theory of planned behavior, we investigate differences between Australian residents from different cultural backgrounds in their volunteering behavior. Groups differed in attitude, social norm, and perceived behavioral control, suggesting the need for …

Topicmodels: An R Package For Fitting Topic Models, Bettina Grun, Kurt Hornik

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Topic models allow the probabilistic modeling of term frequency occurrences in documents. The fitted model can be used to estimate the similarity between documents as well as between a set of specified keywords using an additional layer of latent variables which are referred to as topics. The R package topicmodels provides basic infrastructure for fitting topic models based on data structures from the text mining package tm. The package includes interfaces to two algorithms for fitting topic models: the variational expectation-maximization algorithm provided by David M. Blei and co-authors and an algorithm using Gibbs sampling by Xuan-Hieu Phan and co-authors.

Analysing Texts Used To Contribute To The Discharge Of Public Sector Financial Accountability, Graham D. Bowrey, Ciorstan J. Smark

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Purpose – This paper reviews and analyses the discourse recorded in the Hansard of the Australian Federal Parliament’s Senate Legislation Committees to determine if this parliamentary accountability process contributes to the (re)production of dominance and inequality in the public sector. Design/methodology/approach – This research is based on a relatively new approach termed critical investigative inquiry which, in this paper, is based on critical discourse analysis informed and supported by rudimentary content analysis and thematic analysis. Practical implications – This paper provides insights into the use of Senate Legislative Committees as an avenue for elites to exert dominance over those who …

Mapping The Archive: An Examination Of Research Reported In Ajll 2000-2005, Pauline J. Harris, Janice B. Turbill, Lisa K. Kervin, Kathryn Harden-Thew

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Amidst commissioned research reports and policy reforms in literacy education, this paper examines research reported in the 2000–2005 archive of the Australian Journal of Language and Literacy (AJLL). This focus arises from the selective inclusion of literacy research in recent literacy education policy reform documents in Australia and overseas and the exclusion of other research, including research from this AJLL 2000/5 archive. Given the high national and international standing of AJLL, we felt it was timely and important to engage in a retrospective mapping exercise with this collection of research and critically examine its relationship to literacy education policy. So …

Determination Of Consumer Context In An Online Transaction Process For A High Risk Purchase, Robert G. Grant, Rodney J. Clarke, Elias Kyriazis

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper showcases/discusses a method of analyzing consumer website behavior that enables real-time purchase context identification. Such analysis will enable online vendors to serve content that is relevant to the consumer’s needs, addressing the apparent utility deficit that websites have for complex product transactions. The use of communication theory is a key component of a value co-creation process that leverages the data derived from website interactivity by analyzing the meaning of consumer activity on a website. Such an approach offers insights into the effect of information accessed by consumers in real time, enabling a responsive system for serving information in …

What Is (Accounting) History?, Michael J. Gaffikin

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

I am grateful for the invitation to present this paper to you today. I have had a long association with Victoria University and as an undergraduate here I was introduced to the fathers of history - Herodotus and Thucydides. Unfortunately, although I had to read their main works, at the time I remained oblivious to their full significance, namely, that they represent two extremes of historiography that have remained throughout the history of history - two approaches to how history is created and written. These themes are the background for this paper. However, before I go any further I want …

Assessing Underlying Realities Of Accounting's Duality Check By The Accounting Equation : A Search For An Augmented Framework, Sudhir C. Lodh, Michael J. Gaffikin

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper explores a general validity of the prevalent Accounting Equation in determining the real wealth and accountability discharge through contemporary financial reporting. In so doing, an augmented accounting framework is developed in order to indicate the gaps that may arise in the accounting equation; which is inherent in the system if compared among different layers – sign to alleged to referent (Buarillard 1983, 1994; MacIntosh 2000, Ijiri 1986, and Mattessich 2003). We argue that this augmented framework will help in enhancing our understanding, at least at the level of pedagogy and for corporate governance and discharging social responsibility, about …

On Knowing Accounting And The Methodological Position Of Geertz, Hasri Mustafa, Michael J. Gaffikin

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Since the calls to view accounting as a cultural defined discipline Geertz’s work yields significant debate from accounting scholars. This review paper argues that Geertz á la interpretive anthropology has been inaccurately discerned by many accounting methodologists. They overlook the theoretical anchoring Geertzian conception of culture schemes - “by isolating its elements”, “internal relationships”, and “in some general way” - that illustrate accounting as a kind of being of knowing – the form of what accounting comes to. The paper traces the implications of this on fundamental consequences for accounting research methodology and establishes direction to critic with a position …

A Comparison Of Factual/Low Context Versus Emotional/High Context Message Appeals: Persuading Chinese Smokers To Ring The Chinese Quitline, Michael Camit, Gary I. Noble, Jennifer Ann Algie

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This study does not support the notion developed from cross cultural advertising literature that members of a particular cultural group will prefer a particular message advertising appeal if it reflects values that are congruent to its culture. An experimental design is applied to examine whether emotional/ high context appeals (n=120) are more persuasive than factual/ low context appeals (n=124) among target groups from collectivist cultural backgrounds. Analysis of Chinese smokers’ pre-and-post intentions to contact the Chinese Quitline after viewing print advertisements determined that there was no difference between the two ad groups’ shift scores. The common use of direct translations …

Have They Learnt To Interrupt?: Comparing How Women Management Students And Senior Women Managers In Australia Perceive Workplace Communication Dilemmas, Mary Barrett

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Purpose - Changing language ideology and the decreased popularity of overt feminism suggest that aspiring female managers may be less influenced than senior women managers by the gender of the speaker in evaluating whether specific communication strategies are effective and probable. The study investigates this issue. Design/methodology/approach - 255 second-year female management students evaluated strategies for the same workplace dilemmas as senior women managers (Barrett 2004). Findings - For short and medium term dilemmas students, like senior women managers, regarded masculine communication strategies with a feminine element as effective. They were less influenced by the speaker's gender than senior women …

Social Innovation: Buzz Word Or Enduring Term?, Eduardo Pol, Simon Ville

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The term 'social innovation' has come into common parlance in recent years. Some analysts consider social innovation no more than a buzz word or passing fad that is too vague to be usefully applied to academic scholarship. Some social scientists, however, see significant value in the concept of social innovation because it identifies a critical type of innovation. In this paper, we suggest one possible definition of social innovation and show that when its empirical meaning is distilled, the term is of great importance. We distinguish social innovation from business innovation, and identify a subset of social innovations that requires …

From Hatred To Genuine Peace: A Dynamic Formulation Of Conflict Resolution, Amnon Levy

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper highlights the role of hatred and its evolution in determining the nature of peace between groups, or nations, after reaching, and while implementing, truce. It proposes that weak inertia, diminishing memory of hatred and low propensity to reciprocate hatred are essential for reaching a genuine and stable peace. In the case of mutual abstinence from violence, genuine peace process prevails if both groups have sufficiently weak inertia and strongly diminishing memories of hatred and low proponsities to reciprocate hatred. When these conditions are not satisfied, genuine peace may still be reached if one of the groups has weak …

Social Capital Renewal And The Academic Performance Of International Students In Australia, Frank V. Neri, Simon Ville

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Many believe that social capital fosters the accumulation of human capital. Yet international university students arrive in their host country generally denuded of social capital and confronted by unfamiliar cultural and educational institutions. This study investigates how, and to what extent, international students renew their social networks, and whether such investments are positively associated with academic performance. We adopt a social capital framework and conduct a survey of international students at a typical Australian university in order to categorise and measure investments in social capital renewal, and test a multivariate model of academic performance that includes social capital variables, amongst …

Three ~Izations, Cecil E. Arrington

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Globalization seems more believed than known, somewhat tacit and no less powerful for that. It seems to have outgrown status as a metaphor, but not yet arrived at the twin graveyards of clear and distinct ideas and fixed, lexical meaning. Like other “-ized” terms, it can signify either (or both) transitivity or intransitivity; that is, it can produce understanding and interpretation of either actions or of states of affairs, agency or structure for example. One can “globalize” (perform globalization) or globalization can simply be a way of understanding the nature of things. Such indeterminacy is at the core of moral …

The Institutional Legacy And The Development Of An Australian National Innovation System, Simon Ville

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Institutions are the rules of the game that help to shape the long-term historical development of societies. They mediate human interaction and can be more or less formal (or tangible) in nature ranging from systems of government to common modes of behaviour. Most formal institutions can be distinguished as economic, social, political or cultural in nature although such distinctions are more difficult to make for informal institutions. What is certain is the pervasive impact of all types of institutions on a country’s multifaceted development. Thus, economic performance may be shaped as much by a nation’s legal system as by its …

A Prolegomenon To The Relation Between Accounting, Language And Ethics, Cecil E. Arrington

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This essay outlines the preliminary structure of a moral ontology of accounting understood as discourse. To speak of an ontology of accounting is to speak of the most general features of accounting, those features of its existence that are present irrespective of variations in observed “accountings,” of ways in which accounting manifests itself in lived experience. To speak of a moral ontology is to construe those general features as products of human choices and actions which follow from axiological (value-based) commitments to pursue the good and just life, however that life might be understood, and indeed understood differently by different …

Towards Improving Learning Outcomes For International Students: The Master Of Professional Accounting Embedded Literacy Project, A. Abraham, M. Kaidonis

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper presents the University of Wollongong’s collaborative project to embed English literacy in key accounting subjects of the Master of Professional Accounting (MPA). The project will develop a curriculum prototype for embedding literacy which enhances learning in general as well as English literacy at an academic/professional level. Embedding both situated and transported literacies will also assist students in understanding discipline related material and enable critical evaluation of issues within the subject. The overall aim of the project is to improve the teaching and learning of MPA students who are predominantly international and not proficient in English, so that both …

A Web-Based Intelligent Virtual Learning Environment For Industrial Continuous Improvement, X. Chi, T. A. Spedding

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Training in an industrial context is becoming more dynamic and time consuming due to the daily emergence of new technologies and the onset of globalization. People from higher education institutions and industries have applied various heuristic teaching methods in order to inspire students to acquire knowledge in a manufacturing and industrial context. Artificial intelligence techniques has been used for many years in educational systems, however the presentation of domain knowledge is one of the most concerning issues which stems the evolvement of the industrial training systems development. In this paper we present a web-based intelligent virtual learning environment which is …

Getting In, Getting On And Getting Out: Reflections On A Qualitative Research Project, H. J. Irvine, M. Gaffikin

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Purpose. This paper seeks to provide a behind-the-scenes view of how a qualitative research project was conducted. It is therefore a paper about the process of qualitative research from the point of view of a researcher, rather than a qualitative research paper about an organization. Design/methodology/approach. Its approach is both theoretical and reflective rather than being a description or analysis of what went on in the organization. Findings. Because the focus of the paper is personal rather than organizational, it does not offer “findings” about the way in which accounting is practised, but rather reflections and insights about the way …

Performing And Agential Selves: Employees As Targets Of Control, And How We, As Academics, Theorise About Them, Karin H. Garrety, Simon Down

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Critical management scholars have noted how contemporary management practices encourage and sometimes require workers to adopt multiple identities, and that cynicism, irony and resistance are often manifested in those identities. In this paper, we explore some attributes of modern selfhood that make these positions possible. We concentrate on two related aspects: (1) the capacity of people to reflect on, and manipulate, the selves that they present to the world, and (2) different forms of agency that actors can effect. We argue that closer attention to these attributes can sharpen our analyses of organisational control and its impacts on the self.

Embedding Social Processes Into Agent-Oriented Conceptual Models, Rodney J. Clarke, Aneesh Krishna

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper describes how theories and methods for determining structural and functional patterns of communication in organisational settings can be applied to developing Agent-Oriented Conceptual Modelling, In particular we show how social processes in the form of genres- routine patterns of communication-can be embedded into Strategic Dependency diagrams used in the i* Framework. The research uses an entirely unforeseen relationship between communication theory in organisations and agent-based systems promoting agent based models that are easier to verify, more robust and portable. An example of this kind of conceptual modelling is provided and used as the basis for deriving a partial …

Grounded Theory: A Theoretical And Practical Application In The Australian Film Industry, M. L. Jones, George K. Kriflik, M. Zanko

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Among the various methods of qualitative analysis, Grounded Theory provides researchers with a unique tool for theoretical development. Most conventional forms of qualitative analysis require the researcher to preselect a path of investigation in a method which is primarily deductive, where investigation and theoretical aggregation are a product of discovery, and data are informed by this discovery. Grounded Theory works in a manner which is contrary to this conventional path by being inductive. Using Grounded Theory, a researcher is afforded the luxury of maintaining an open mind and allowing the data to inform the discovery of theory. In this way …

A Model For Corporate Governance, Decision-Making, And Accountability In Today's Universities, Jack Flanagan, John Little, Edmund W. Watts

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The government’s goal over the past decade of increased self-reliance has required universities to adopt the corporate mantle of governance consistent with that used in the private sector. The corporatisation of the university sector brought with it a unique set of problems to which senior university management had not previously been exposed. The solution to some of these problems includes developing governance systems to guide strategic decision-making based on well-developed ethical principles. This paper suggests such an approach to governance based on contemporary management and ethical foundations. In this model governance is depicted as an achievement of thinking across four …

Social Marketing Communication In A Multicultural Environment: Practical Issues And Theoretical Contributions From Cross-Cultural Marketing, Gary I. Noble, Michael Camit

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Social marketing communication (social marcom) campaign production can be more challenging when the audience includes individuals from ‘culturally and linguistically diverse’ (CALD) communities. Additional issues such as culturally related values, practices, and attitudes need consideration. Normally, social marcoms campaigns for CALD audiences involve directly translating mainstream campaign material into various ethnic groups’ languages. However, little is understood about the issues beyond translation that confront practitioners adapting mainstream campaigns.

This article presents a case study analysis of work undertaken by the New South Wales Multicultural Health Communication Service (MHCS). The Service’s core activity is adaptation of social marcoms campaigns for use …

The Politics Of Discourse: Marketization Of The New Zealand Science And Innovation System, S. R. Leitch, S. Davenport

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The politics of change are both played out within the arena of discourse and dedicated to transforming that arena. In this article, we bring together critical discourse theory and political process theory in order to highlight the ways in which a process of discourse transformation can be deployed by organisations to effect political and economic change. In the process we examine the discursive interplay between the actors as well as the discursive constraints on action. The context for our analysis was the attempt by a national science funding body to transform the New Zealand discourse of science and innovation in …

Reflexivity And Normative Change, Karin Garrety

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Normative change programs - that is, programs that attempt to effect organisational change through altering employees’ beliefs, values, emotions and self-perceptions - have been heralded by some as the royal road to corporate ‘excellence’. Academic literature on the phenomenon, however, is pervaded by a sense of unease. Critics claim that these programs invade employees’ subjectivity, and erode their autonomy and capacity for critical thought. In this paper, I employ concepts from the work of George Herbert Mead and Rom Harré to explore the reflexive processes of managers subjected to a normative change program that was carried out in an Australian …

Answer Format Effects Revisited, Sara Dolnicar, Bettina Grun

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The effect of answer formats presented to respondents in written surveys are investigated for two constructs (attitudes and behavioral intentions) and three response scales (binary, ordinal and metric). Results indicate that (1) formats differ in their susceptibility to response styles but lead to the same results with respect to average values and underlying dimensions; (2) binary format is quicker to complete and perceived as quicker while all formats are perceived as equally simple, pleasant, and useful to express feelings; (3) an interaction between the construct measured and the answer format clearly exists which should be investigated more systematically in future …

Knowledge Management In Information Technology Help Desk: Past, Present And Future, Kar Yin Leung, Sim K. Lau

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Information technology has changed the way organizations function. This resulted in the reliance of help desks to deal with information technology related areas such as hardware, software, and telecommunication. Besides, the adoption of business process reengineering and downsizing have led to the shrinkage of the size of help desk. The shorter information technology product life cycle has worsened the situation by increasing the already sizeable help desk’s user base. Consequently, the help desk has to cover more information technology products and resolute more technical enquiries with less staff. Thus, the outcome is clear that users have to wait comparably longer …

Systems Resemblance And Workpractice Evolution: Implications For Work Activity (Re)Design, Rodney J. Clarke

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper is concerned with addressing the question of how apparently disparate and unconnected systems can resemble each other. The question of what counts as a systems resemblance necessitates developing contextual workpractice descriptions associated with the systems features and ultimately entire systems. Using systemic semiotics an apparent ontogenetic convergence between entirely different systems is used to show that systems resemblance can be inferred when the constituent workpractices of information systems consist of comparable register features and especially if they exhibit comparable generic features. The implications of these findings for a new class of work activity (re)design practices are considered.