Business Commons^™

Conceptualizing The Creative Tourist Class: Technology, Mobility And Tourism Experiences, Ulrike Gretzel, Jamal Tazim

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Increasing mobilities and an ever greater amount of technologies that support creativity have led to the emergence of a so-called Creative Class in our postmodern society. Creative Class members have distinctive experiences that blur the boundaries between everyday and touristic life. These experiences challenge conventional typologies of the tourist experience and have tremendous implications for tourism research and practice. In this article we discuss first what the Creative Class is, what experiences it has, and how it uses emerging technologies to create, mediate, and reconstruct these experiences. A special emphasis is placed on the relationship the Creative Class has with …

Physically Attractive Presenters And Persuasion: An Experimental Investigation Of Alternative Explanations For The "Patzer Effect", Sandra Praxmarer, John R. Rossiter

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This experiment was designed to test alternative explanations for the powerful positive effect of the presenter’s facial attractiveness on persuasion found by Patzer (1985). The explanations tested are: (a) a “conscious Patzer effect” whereby the attractiveness of the presenter prompts conscious cognitive-response inferences about the presenter’s expertise and trustworthiness; (b) a “subconscious Patzer effect” whereby attractiveness persuades via beliefs about the presenter’s expertise and trustworthiness but without conscious cognitive responses; (c) an “affect transfer effect” whereby attractiveness increases liking of the presenter which in turn transfers to a more favorable attitude toward the brand; and (d) a “role-model identification effect” …

Extractive Industries Accounting And Economic Consequences: Past, Present And Future, C. L. Cortese, H. J. Irvine, M. Kaidonis

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Accounting for the extractive industries has been a contested issue for decades as a result of a choice of different methods of costing available and the economic impacts of these methods on companies’ financial results. When the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) embarked on its extractive industries project in 1998, it attempted to create uniform accounting practices. An archival study of constituent responses to the IASB’s Issues Paper revealed that the economic consequences argument was relied upon again to argue for retaining choice. The IASB’s international accounting standard, IFRS 6, issued in 2004, once again permitted choice between methods, illustrating …

Tourism Segmentation By Consumer-Based Variables, Sara Dolnicar, B. Kemp

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The basis for successful marketing is to understand and satisfy consumer needs. Sometimes it is even possible to satisfy one individual customer’s needs. In the tourism industry an individually customized tourism experience can be developed, but the market for such high-end tourism products is small. This does not, however, mean that the only alternative is to appeal to the mass market. The intermediate solution is to understand which groups of tourists have similar needs and develop tourism products that match group needs. This approach is referred to as market segmentation. The aim of this chapter is to analyze market segmentation …

Marketing In Non-Profit Organizations : An International Perspective, Sara Dolnicar, Katie Lazarevski

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Purpose – This study tests three hypotheses: (1) that non-profit organizations follow a customer-centered approach to marketing, (2) that marketing is run by marketing-trained staff and (3) that cross-continental differences in the adoption of marketing in the UK, the USA and Australia exist due to differences in the operating environment. Methodology – A survey study was conducted with non-profit managers. The sample contains 136 respondents; 36 from the UK, 33 from the USA and 67 from Australia. Findings – Non-profit managers indicated that the most important marketing activities are promotional in nature. The importance of market research and strategic marketing …

Exploring The Application Of Positioning Theory To The Analysis Of Organisational Change, G. Zelle

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The present paper proposes the application of Positioning Theory as an analytical tool in organisational change research. Positioning Theory can contribute to an enhanced understanding of organisational change. It is a discursive approach to change. Its dynamic nature can capture a detailed picture of change and provide better understanding due to attention to contexts. It allows consideration of multiple levels of social analysis - people, institutions and society. Positioning Theory in this sense has a dual relevance for research in organisational change, as a theoretical framework and a method of social analysis. Throughout the paper I develop a rationale for …

Does Cultural Background Affect Volunteering Behavior?, Melanie J. Randle, Sara Dolnicar

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The purpose of this qualitative investigation is to help nonprofit organizations which rely heavily on the support of volunteers increase the effectiveness of their marketing by accounting for differences in cultural background among community members. It was conducted in the multi-cultural Australian context and included 79 participants from different cultural backgrounds. Findings indicate that as a whole, cultural groups differ significantly with respect to their attitudes, social norm and perceived behavioral control over volunteering. Nonprofit organizations are unlikely to be successful in attracting volunteers from a range of different cultural backgrounds unless they account for heterogeneity among volunteers and customize …

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 …

Responsible Financing?: The Equator Principles And Bank Disclosures, Jane Andrew

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The purpose of this paper is to consider the impact of the Equator Principles on banking disclosures. The research explores whether signatory banks are disclosing information related to their obligations under the Equator Principles and discusses the types of disclosures being made publicly available. The research illustrates that banks are disclosing very little information to help users assess the impact the Equator Principles have had on these banks practices. It is also suggested that banks are reframing their identity through these principles, but it is still difficult to assess whether this is also transforming practice. There is little academic research …

Fostering Women's Entrepreneurial Leadership In Family Firms: Ten Lessons, Mary Barrett, Ken Moores

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Women's potential to lead a firm - whether one started by a family member or a new venture of their own - is still not often enough acknowledged. With family firms acknowledged as the seeding grounds for the next generation of entrepreneurs, and with increasing attention in research and public policy to women's entrepreneurship, it is important to understand the factors in family firms which help and hinder their women members' leadership and entrepreneurship potential. This article, based on the authors' book Women in Family Business Leadership Roles: Daughters on the Stage (Edward Elgar, 2009), presents ten lessons for family …

Accounting For Emission Rights: An Environmental Ethics Approach, Emma Zhang-Debreceny, Mary A. Kaidonis, Lee Moerman

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

We argue that the International Accounting Standard Board's difficulty in arriving at a standard for accounting for emission rights, which is central to Emission Trading Schemes, is an opportunity to re-examine the issues from an environmental ethics approach. We critically evaluate the IASB approach which privileges profits, and views emission rights as tradeable entitlements to pollute. We consider social ecology, an example of an environmental ethical perspective which holds that humans' survival and the environment's sustainability are inextricably linked. We conclude that social ecology can inform accounting standard setters about the accounting treatment of emissions rights.

Exploratory And Inferential Analysis Of Gene Cluster Neighborhood Graphs, Theresa Scharl, Ingo Voglhuber, Friedrich Leisch

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Background Many different cluster methods are frequently used in gene expression data analysis to find groups of co-expressed genes. However, cluster algorithms with the ability to visualize the resulting clusters are usually preferred. The visualization of gene clusters gives practitioners an understanding of the cluster structure of their data and makes it easier to interpret the cluster results. Results In this paper recent extensions of R package gcExplorer are presented. gcExplorer is an interactive visualization toolbox for the investigation of both the overall cluster structure and single clusters. The different visualization options including arbitrary node and panel functions are described …

Rgg: A General Gui Framework For R Scripts, Ilhami Visne, Erkan Dilaveroglu, Klemens Vierlinger, Martin Lauss, Ahmet Yildiz, Andreas Weinhaeusel, Christa Noehammer, Friedrich Leisch, Albert Kriegner

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Background: R is the leading open source statistics software with a vast number of biostatistical and bioinformatical analysis packages. To exploit the advantages of R, extensive scripting/ programming skills are required.

Results: We have developed a software tool called R GUI Generator (RGG) which enables the easy generation of Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) for the programming language R by adding a few Extensible Markup Language (XML) – tags. RGG consists of an XML-based GUI definition language and a Java-based GUI engine. GUIs are generated in runtime from defined GUI tags that are embedded into the R script. User-GUI …

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 …

Financing Growth: New Issues By Australian Firms, 1920-1939, David Merrett, Simon Ville

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

An expanding economy, new technologies, and changing consumer preferences provided growth opportunities for firms in interwar Australia. This period saw an increase in the number of large-scale firms in mining, manufacturing, and a wide range of service industries. Firms unable to rely solely on retained earnings to fund expansion turned to the domestic stock exchanges. A new data set of capital raisings constructed from reports of prospectuses published in the financial press forms the basis for the conclusion that many firms used substantial injections of equity finance to augment internally generated sources of funds. That they were able to do …

Category-Specific Recipes For Internet Retailing Quality, Julie E. Francis

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Purpose – Limited attention has been given to the stability of the dimensions of quality across different types of internet retailing. This study aims to identify four distinct categories of internet retailing, develops a separate quality measurement scale for each category, then compares the dimensions of quality that emerged for each context.

Design/methodology/approach – Four category-specific quality measurement scales (or RECIPE scales) were developed, one for each Fulfilment-Product type of internet retailing. The scales were administered to 1,262 internet shoppers, then the data were used to refine and assess the statistical properties of each instrument. A cross-category review of the …

Malmquist Indices Of Productivity Change In Botswana's Financial Institutions, Boitumelo Dudu Moffat, Abbas Valadkhani, Charles Harvie

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The productivity and efficiency of the financial sector is pivotal to the attainment of economic growth and development in developed and developing economies alike, and is of particular interest in the wake of financial sector reform and restructuring. This study applies the Malmquist productivity index to measure and decompose the total factor productivity change of ten financial institutions in Botswana in its post-reform era, covering the period 2001-2006, into a 'catching up' or efficiency change, and a 'frontier shift' or technological change. The robustness and sensitivity of the empirical results presented are assessed by comparing outcomes from different input and …

Is The Adjustment To Real Interest Rate Parity Asymmetric? , Arusha V. Cooray

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Threshold cointegration is employed in this study to test the real interest parity condition between the UK and the US. Evidence supports the asymmetric adjustment of real interest rates. The threshold error correction models indicate that negative deviations from long run real interest parity are eliminated faster than positive deviations.

Does Democracy Explain Gender Differentials In Education?, Arusha V. Cooray

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This study shows that despite a strong empirical association between gender differentials in enrolment ratios and democracy, that democracy alone does not explain gender differentials in education in Africa and Asia. The results indicate that income, employment in agriculture, religious heterogeneity and colonialism also help explain the under-representation of girls in education in these regions. Countries in which the duration of suffrage has been longer tend to perform better on average in terms of gender equality in education.

Management Control Systems: A Model For R&D Units, Parulian Silaen, Robert B. Williams

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to develop a proposal for a new conceptual framework for management control systems (MCS) in R&D units. Design/methodology/approach - The paper is a descriptive study that reviews the control literature and proposes an MCS framework in the light of four key elements: desired ends, actors, control implementation, and control tools. Findings - The study found two sub-elements of desired ends (directional and yardstick) to be complementary in a low level of uncertainty, while directional should be emphasized more in a high level of uncertainty. Five sub-elements of actors are used differently along …

Discipline-Specific Forecasting Of Research Output In Australian Universities, Abbas Valadkhani, Simon Ville

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This article presents a cross-sectional model for forecasting research output across the Australian university system. It builds upon an existing literature that focuses either on institutional comparisons or studies of specific subjects, by providing discipline-specific results across all of the 10 major disciplinary areas as defined by Australia's Department of Education, Science and Training. The model draws upon four (highly significant) discipline-specific explanatory variables; staff size, research expenditure, PhD completions and student-staff ratios to predict the output of refereed articles.

Making Sense Of Is With The Cynefin Framework, Helen Hasan, Alanah Kazlauskas

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper examines aspects of the field of Information Systems (IS) concerned with its diversity and with the rapid changes within the discipline that have been incurred by the continued evolution of the IS artefact. This examination is done in order to establish the suitability of the Cynefin framework, developed for knowledge management, as a suitable tool for sense-making in IS. A description and assessment of the Cynefin framework is provided with its varied applications in both organisational practice and research. The paper then applies the framework to make sense of some historical trends and contemporary issues of IS emphasising …

Neoliberalism And The Global Financial Crisis, Sharon Beder

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

The new right advocated policies that aided the accumulation of profits and wealth in fewer hands with the argument that it would promote investment, thereby creating more jobs and more prosperity for all. However financial markets provide opportunities for investment without creating jobs and, as the global financial crisis has revealed, speculative investment feeds an ephemeral prosperity that can be wiped out in a short time period. Inequities resulting from new right policies – including the deregulation of labour markets and the reduction of government spending – reduced consumer demand which had to be propped up with consumer credit and …

Ontology Mapping Between Hl7 Versions 2 And 3 And Openehr For Observations Messages, Amanda Ryan, Peter W. Eklund

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Interoperability between health informatics standards enables new best-ofbreed solutions to evolve from legacy health information systems, and enables a healthcare data model to evolve and be enriched. In this paper we show that a lightweight XSLT framework can be used to achieve interoperability between HL7 versions 2 and 3 and HL7 version 3 and OpenEHR. We present the necessary transformations between terminology and structure in these standards as an exercise in ontology mapping. We discuss our experience with respect to clinical observation messaging.

Opportunities For Interactivity In Public Health Websites: A Content Analysis Approach, Sumayya Banna, Helen M. Hasan, Joseph A. Meloche

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The Internet has many advantages over other media in the provision of information services in the area of public health. However many designers are not yet taking full advantage of its potential for interactivity. This paper examines the development of interactivity in public health websites in the increasingly important area of Palliative Care. Content analysis is used here to map the interactivity in a sample of 30 existing websites along with Heeter’s six dimensions (content and availability of choice, effort users must exert, responsiveness to the users, and the ease of adding information, monitoring the information and the system use, …

The Role Of Higher Education And Industry In Supporting Career Goals And Decision-Making, Yolanda Jordaan

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Both higher education institutions and employers need to evaluate the factors that influence students' career goals and career-related decisions because of their importance to and impact on career management and decision making. The objective of this study is to identify the importance of career goals and factors influencing students' career decision making in South Africa. A non-probability sample was selected, with 488 completed responses. The findings indicate that there are significant differences between gender and ethnic groups in terms of the importance of career goals and career influencing factors. The results suggest that high-quality education is needed in conjunction with …

Regional Branding: Perspectives Of Tourists In Australia, Uraiporn Kattiyapornpong, Deon Nel

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper aims to explore the overlap and gap between the communication efforts of destination marketing organisations (DMO)’s and consumer perspectives of tourism destination within Australia. This paper applies qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Three stages of analysis are discussed. The web site content of state tourism authorities are analysed using Leximancer. The results show that states are using differing perceptual dimensions to portray characteristics of state tourism destinations. It is also found that consumers can recall the slogans and positioning of some states to a much greater extent than others. Finally it was shown that there was little correspondence and …

Meeting The Information Needs Of Carers Of Children With Disabilities: A Case For The Use Of Virtual Communities, Elias Kyriazis, Rodney J. Clarke, Gary I. Noble, Jennifer Ann Algie

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

From the initial diagnosis parents of children with a disability need timely and accurate information to effectively manage their child’s condition. Focussing on the findings of a collaborative research project examining the needs of parents of children with a disability (0- 12 years) the study identifies several information related factors adding to parental stress levels. These include a lack of awareness of support services, application processes, and disability specific information. To overcome the limitations of existing information delivery approaches we propose creating a wiki-based virtual community to serve as a user friendly “one-stop shop” for carers . Such a community …

Automatic Generation Of Exams In R, Bettina Grun, Achim Zeileis

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Package exams provides a framework for automatic generation of standardized statistical exams which is especially useful for large-scale exams. To employ the tools, users just need to supply a pool of exercises and a master file controlling the layout of the final PDF document. The exercises are specified in separate Sweave files (containing R code for data generation and LaTeX code for problem and solution description) and the master file is a LaTeX document with some additional control commands. This paper gives an overview of the main design aims and principles as well as strategies for adaptation and extension. Hands-on …

The Power Of Play In Knowledge Management, Yan Qi, Joseph A. Meloche

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The aim and motivation of this research is to investigate ways to support and encourage knowledge sharing. Specifically we examined ways in which ‘play’ can be used to enhance collaborative work practices. In this process we elicited subjective views and opinions on playing games and the extent to which the participant’s felt these could enhance their collaboration in work. The ancient Chinese strategy game of Go was employed in an online team version as a means to evaluate and advance the knowledge sharing culture in a network centric environment. The results of this research identified that play has the power …