Business Commons^™

Understanding Pro-Environmental Binning Behaviour Of National Park Visitors: A Cross-Cultural Study, Kourosh Esfandiar

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The growing importance of people’s pro-environmental behaviours (PEBs) in relation to reducing their negative impacts and/or increasing their positive impacts in natural areas has attracted considerable research interest. Visitor engagement in pro-environmental activities is one of the key elements in maintaining and improving a national park’s ecological and biological resources. These resources are often the main components of tourism products developed in nature-based destinations.

A specific concern for many national park managers is the generation of litter by visitors. A PEB to solve the problem of litter management in national parks is binning i.e. putting litter in a bin. As …

Exploring The Preparedness Of Novice (Student) Paramedics For The Mental Health Challenges Of The Paramedic Profession: Using The Wisdom Of The Elders, Lisa Holmes

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study investigates the preparedness of novice (student) paramedics for the mental health challenges of the paramedic profession and identifies the coping strategies used by veteran paramedics to successfully meet these challenges. The lived experience of veteran paramedics is utilised to provide this important assistance.

Initially, two surveys were developed and administered to 16 course coordinators and 302 students of the 16 accredited undergraduate degree paramedicine courses across Australia and New Zealand, to identify the perceived need (for preparation) within the curriculum. In addition, the anticipations, confidence and fears of novice (student) paramedics, course coordinators and veteran paramedics were also …

Workplace Bullying: An Exploratory Study In Australian Academia, Manish Sharma

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Workplace bullying is a behaviour which adversely affects individuals, organisations and the community at large. While substantial research has been conducted on workplace bullying in different work settings, limited research exists on this behaviour at universities; no comprehensive studies have to date been conducted in the context of Australian academia. This study therefore contributes through breaking new ground by exploring bullying within the increasingly corporatised and competitive Australian higher education sector. New Public Management (NPM) practices, diminished government funding, and limited resources risk transforming this sector into a full-fledged industry focused on corporate objectives to achieve operational profitability. Universities’ primary …

Measuring The Quality And Identifying Influencing Factors Of Sustainability Reporting: Evidence From The Resources Industry In Australia, Siew Hoon Ong

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The lack of a standardised reporting framework in sustainability reporting has resulted in companies producing unaudited generic sustainability information that are not reflective of companies’ actual sustainability performance. The disclosures also differ in quality and hinder comparison. This study addresses these problems with the development of a new scoring index that integrates the hard and soft principles in Clarkson, Li, Richardson and Vasvari’s (2008) environmental index with performance indicators of the Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI) framework. The newly developed index comprises all three aspects of sustainability (economic, environmental and social) and adopts a standardised scoring scale that is reflective of …

Encroaching On Freedoms? Values Related To Freedom And Readiness To Accept Social Marketing Activities In Australia And Japanese Students, Kaoru Nosaka

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Do Australian and Japanese university students feel that social marketing is encroaching on their freedoms or empowering them? For example, how do they react to social marketing messages such as ‘Don’t Drink and Drive’ and ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’? Social marketing activities include advocating for environmental change, laws, and regulations as well as making recommendations to individuals to change behaviours to promote the good of society; however, some people believe that such activities are attempts to control people, infringing upon their individual freedom. While behavioural models and theories have recognised the influence of an individual’s predisposition towards a recommended behaviour (such …

From Canter To Cantor: Negotiating Constraints, And The Perceptions Of Elitism In Serious Leisure Pursuits : The Experiences Of A High Performing Athlete And Artist, Lorraine O'Neill

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Everyone experiences leisure differently but, for people who excel in a chosen field, a hobby can become a serious goal-oriented leisure pursuit. Many talented people, however, fail to reach their leisure goals due to constraints. This study explored individual life experiences of serious leisure participants. It focused on the lived experiences of individual event [horse] riders and opera singers who successfully negotiated their constraints, enabling them to reach their high performance goals.

The purpose of this study was to explore positive personal strategies that individuals used to negotiate constraints in serious leisure. This was done by exploring intrapersonal, interpersonal and …

A Comparative Study Of National Government Elite Sport Systems In Australia And Taiwan: A Model For Olympic Success, Hui-Yuan M. Tang

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study was prompted by the stagnation facing the Taiwanese Government in promoting elite sport and pursuing sporting achievement at the Olympic Games. The main purpose of the study was to explore and compare the national government elite sports systems (NGESS) of Australia and Taiwan and make recommendations for Taiwan to improve its elite sports development and performances at future Olympics. To accomplish this purpose, the present study examined the similarities and differences between Australia and Taiwan in terms of stakeholders' viewpoints on the definition of Olympic success; the profiles of the current national government elite sport agencies; the mechanisms …

Sensemaking And The Management Of Older Volunteers, Megan Paull

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study explores the experiences of older volunteers and their managers in particular when a change in the perfonnance of the volunteer is noticed by the manager. The impetus for this study was an expressed concern of the managers of volunteers which classified the management of 'older volunteers" as being somehow different from their younger counterparts. Conducted within an interpretivist framework this study employed a two-phase methodology comprising a context setting descriptive quantitative study followed by an in-depth qualitative grounded theory approach. The importance of the in-depth examination revealed the importance of context to the management process.

Towards Dignity And Respect At Work: An Exploration Of Bullying In The Public Sector, Maryam Omari

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Organisations today function in complex and dynamic environments which exert continual pressure to change and compete. Employees are often seen as a key to success in this world, as flexible and adaptable resources. The quality of their work life therefore takes on an important role in ensuring they reach their full potential. A long-standing safety and performance issue in the workplace is bullying, or mobbing as it is called in the European literature. Bullying can have adverse effects for individuals, including both the perpetrator and the victim, as well as their families, the organisation, and ultimately the wider society.

Investigating Information Management Weaknesses In A Local Government Organisation: A Critical Hermeneutic Ethnographic Case Study Of Internet Documents From Information Warfare And Legal Perspective(S), Edward E. Andre

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

In this thesis I develop an approach to analyse and interpret internet documents belonging to a particular organisation in a State of Australia. My intention in the research is to find ways to protect a local government organisation from litigation and other threats due to weaknesses in information management on the internet. Based on Gadamer's (1985) approach to the interpretation of text discourse, this thesis is a critical hermeneutic ethnographic case study of one local government organisation investigating internet docunents from information warfare and legal perspective(s).

The Role Of Communicative Creativity In Starting Regional Trade Relationships With China: An Action Research Practitioner Case Study, David W. Maguire

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The Action Research project studies the role of information management and knowledge generation in establishing overseas political and trade activity to assist regional development in Australia. It is the work of a researcher whose background in information management ranges across more than 30 years working in the newspaper and regional economic development industries. It applies a hybrid term called “communicative creativity” – distilled from Wieman’s (1963) Doctrine of Creative Interchange and Habermas’s (1984) Theory of Communicative Action – to the researcher’s professional practice of facilitating the development of two entities – the economic development organization and its method of facilitating …

The Relationship Between Corporate Social Performance And Financial Asset Characteristics, Ingebjørg Kristoffersen

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis explores the theoretical and empirical evidence for a relationship between corporate social performance (CSP) and financial characteristics. An empirical analysis is performed to examine the Australian evidence for such a relationship, from a financial asset perspective. CSP data provided by Corporate Monitor Pty. Ltd. are used in the analysis. Specifically, available measures of environmental, social and governance performance of 237 Australian companies are compared with selected financial asset characteristics, including firm size, book-to-market value, financial performance and risk, covering the period between July 1997 and August 2003. Evidence of relationships is sought using bivariate correlations, group comparisons and …

Self-Reported Business Leadership Competencies Of Middle-Level Managers, Philip Teo

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study aims to investigate self-reported managerial leadership competencies of middle-level managers in business organisations in Australia, and stems from the Karpin Report (1995) on perceived weaknesses in Leader hip and Management skills in Australia. The report leads to a need to investigate the perceptions of the current middle level business managers in regard to leadership competency and to develop a scale to measure leadership competency. A model of leadership competency, based on a literature review, was developed for this study and involves four aspects: Leading, Managing, Communicating and Best Practice. Data were collected in two parts-a questionnaire and interviews. …

Exploring The Antecedents Of Successful E-Business Implementations Through Erp : A Longitudinal Study Of Sap-Based Organisations 1999-2003, Colin Ash

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research was carried out between 1999 and 2003 on the use of e-business applications in ERP-based organisations. A composite research method based on structured case studies was developed for this study. It combined the application of case methods by Carroll et al. (1998], Klein and Myer (1998), and Eisenhardt (1989). This was used to provide a focused, yet flexible structure, as a dynamic approach to case study interpretive research. The research method used three distinct models at three progressive stages of the study, to provide a multi-faceted view of each case. This composite case-based method was developed to maintain …

A Comparison Of Perceived Social Responsibility Standards With Perceived Social Responsibility Performance In The Australian Banking Industry : A Stakeholder Analysis, William J. Phillips

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The purpose of this study is to investigate extent to which Australian banking corporations embrace social responsibility. It endeavours to establish the meaning of social responsibility generally and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in particular. In view of the multiple definitions of the concept of ‘social responsibility’ offered by various authors Such.1 Boatright (1993), Freeman (1994), Walters (1977), and Wheeler (1998), the views of power dependent Australian bank stakeholders were solicited to form an operational definition for the study. This created a collective conception of social responsibility as it is applied to Australian banks, allowing corporate social responsibility standards to be …

Designing A Framework For The Alignment Of E-Business Strategy And Consultant Engagement Processes For Australian Smes : A Cross-Case Analysis, Shirley A. Bode

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The majority of SMEs have neither the internal expertise nor financial resources to enable in-house development of electronic commerce and therefore turn to the services of website design consultants to assist them. Unfortunately, they often engage consultants without any clear idea of their intended e-business strategy and without due care as to effective engagement processes. This frequently leads to ineffective e-business development and a highly disaffected group of small entrepreneurs. The study suggests that there is a significant gap between the intended strategies of SMEs and the actual e-business strategy implemented. The study aimed to investigate the relationship between Australian …

Finding The True Performance Of Australian Managed Funds, Victor Soucik

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

When making conclusions about the performance of managed funds, it is critical that the framework in which such performance is measured provides an accurate and unbiased environment. In this thesis I search for true performance of the two major classes of funds- equity as well as fixed interest managed funds. Focusing, first on the former class, I examine five measurement models across three risk-free proxies, nine benchmarks proposed by the extant literature (covering conditional and unconditional as well as single and multi factor definitions) and over three independent periods in an effort to identity (in a consistent setting) the most …

Cross-Cultural Pragmatics: Politeness For The Customer In Spoken Aspects Of Service In The Restaurant In Australian English And Japanese, Chieko Imaeda

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

In listening to members of different cultures, it is possible to feel bad, even while recognising that the speaker is trying to speak politely. Sometimes we do not feel very comfortable with someone else’s speech, even though their expressions might be very polite with the choice of specific linguistic forms to show a high level of formality such as terms of address and specific types of formulaic expression such as ' I (don 't) think ... ' or ' I (don't) believe' . The speaker may be intending to speak politely in a considerate way. But the hearer's reaction may …

To What Extent Can Knowledge Management Systems Build And Reinforce Consensus Around Initiatives For Change?: A Self-Reflective Analysis Of Professional Practice, Guy A. Duczynski

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis reports on my attempts to 're-align' the purpose, behaviour and underlying culture of a large military organisation through heuristic, self reflective enquiry - to 'find its future' - with and through its people. I use the word re-align with great care as I recognised that change would have been too ambitious and would (probably have) result(ed) in failure. Whilst I cannot claim total success, I have made new and valuable discoveries in knowledge elicitation and methods of integrating the views of a large number of people to 'build and reinforce consensus around initiatives for change'. In the process …

Small Business Owners' Measures Of Success, Elizabeth A. Walker

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Small business plays a significant part in the economy of all nations because of its revenue contribution and as a generator of employment. In the Australian context, small businesses account for 85% of all businesses, employ 40% of the total workforce and contribute $75 billion annually to Industry Gross Product. All of these numerical indicators highlight the financial importance of small business, which is also how small business success has traditionally been measured. These traditional success measures have been by increases in financial performance criteria, such as return on investment, turnover or profit, or by increases in number of staff.

Downsizing : An Analysis Of Organisational Strategies And Human Resource Management Outcomes, Cecil A. Clabaugh

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The objective of this research was to examine the relationship between loss and retention of key employees in downsizing organisations and organisational performance. The purpose of this was to develop an understanding of the organisational performance that results when downsizing organisations are unable to retain their key workers. The secondary objective of the research was to examine the factors that make up a downsizing organisation's employee selection process in order to determine how these factors affect loss and retention of key workers. The research was guided by a theoretical framework developed by Kozlowski et al (1993) and Thornhill and Saunders …

From Ambivalence To Activism: Australia And The Negotiation Of The 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Christopher Hubbard

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This Dissertation presents a study of Australia's involvement in the negotiation and early interpretation of the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), an instrument which remains the most important global nuclear arms control measure in international law. Using data from recently released Australian government documents, the study analyses the process by which Australia was transformed from an ambivalent nuclear sceptic within the Western alliance, into a steadfast global campaigner against the spread of nuclear weapons. It concludes that Australia's urgent search during 1967 and 1968 for coherence in its policy on nuclear weapons acquisition, largely played out within sections of the …

Reducing The Redundancy Of Financial Ratios And Assessing The Stability Of Financial Patterns, Teck K. Hii

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The purpose of this study was to examine the financial patterns of Australian industrial firms along the lines of Pinches et al.’s (1973; 1975) study. The financial ratios used in prior Australian corporate failure studies were used to derive a reduced set of factors that was predictive of corporate failure (e.g., Castagna & Matolesy, 1981: Booth, 1983). These factors were examined for the short – and long-term stability of these factors. The set of firms used was selected from FINSELECT database, which covered the period from 1989 to 1997. A random list of 199 Australian industrial firms that survived between …

The Marketing Orientation Of Small And Medium Enterprises: An Australian Study, Venkateswara S. Venkatesan

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The market orientation construct has emerged as a key marketing theme in the 1990's. While the concept of being focussed on the market (customers and competitors) has been known since the early 1950's (e.g. Drucker,1954), putting the concept into practice through a set of specific actions has eluded many organisations and academics. As a result, market orientation (also termed market focus, customer focus and competitor focus) had remained a business philosophy (Bennett & Cooper, 1979: Felton, 1959; Konopa & Calabro,1971) more than a strategic approach. While there have been sporadic attempts at defining or operationalisinga marketing or customer orientation in …

M-Garch Hedge Ratios And Hedging Effectiveness In Australian Futures Markets, Wenling Yang

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study deals with the estimation of the optimal hedge ratios using various econometric models. Most of the recent papers have demonstrated that the conventional ordinary least squares (OLS) method of estimating constant hedge ratios is inappropriate, other more complicated models however seem to produce no more efficient hedge ratios. Using daily AOIs and SPI futures on the Australian market, optimal hedge ratios are calculated from four different models: the OLS regression model, the bivariate vector autoaggressive model (BVAR), the error-correction model (ECM) and the multivariate diagonal Vcc GARCH Model. The performance of each hedge ratio is then compared. The …

Fourth World Consumer Culture: Emerging Consumer Cultures In Remote Aboriginal Communities Of North-Western Australia, Ronald George Groves

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Over the two centuries since the arrival of European settlers in Australia, the material culture and lifestyle of the indigenous Aboriginal people of Australia has undergone dramatic change. Based on qualitative fieldwork in three remote Aboriginal communities in north-western Australia, this study examines the emergence of unique consumer cultures that appear to differ significantly from mainstream Australia and indeed from other societies. The study finds that the impact of non-indigenous goods and external cultural values upon these communities has been significant. However, although anthropologists feared some fifty years ago that Aboriginal cultural values and traditions had been destroyed, this study …

Supervisory/Non-Supervisory Mentoring In The Public Sector : Outcomes For Protégé Development, Richard Douglas Dunstan James

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The purpose of this study was to examine the provision of mentoring functions, specifically providing an analysis of the contrast between those functions provided to protégés by both mentors and supervisors. Thus, the study focused on two relationships maintained by the subordinate: the relationship with their supervisor and that with their mentor. Research dealing with the functions mentors are perceived to provide to the protégé examined extensively. Additionally, research which indicates that supervisors may perform mentoring functions is presented. This includes Situational Leadership Theory, Leader member Exchange and Transformational and Transactional Leadership. The functions provided by mentors and elaborated in …

Perceptions Of Web Site Design Characteristics: A Malaysian/Australian Comparison, R. Laupase

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The study compared the perceptions of Malaysians, representing Asian culture, and Australians, representing Western culture, for four Web design characteristics (atmospherics, news stories, signs, products and services), as part of the Integrated Internet Marketing model. Under controlled laboratory conditions, two groupings of thirty subjects evaluated eight Web sites in the retail and services sectors located equally in Malaysia and Australia. This study hypothesised that the predominant culture would not be generalised to another culture. Significant differences found for Web design characteristics were typically for one site only and not across all sites. In other words, consistent differences did not eventuate. …

Users And Accounting Information Preferences Of Government Department Financial Reports, Helen R. Mignot

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The introduction of an accounting standard requiring government departments to replace fund-type, cash-based accounting statements with business-type, accrual based accounting statements has led to criticism that business-type, general purpose financial statements do not take account of the information requirements of major users. Such criticism echoes a long standing debate in which the users of public sector financial statements and their informational requirements are analysed in competing models. One view suggests that there are many users with homogeneous informational needs, who can be classified into a few broad groups. The other view maintains that there are few users who have differential …

Determinants Of The Decision To Capitalize Finance Leases By Lessees : Australian Evidence, Salleh B. Hassan

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The objective of this study is to examine the economic factors motivating Australian listed lessee firms to adopt capitalization or footnote disclosure of their finance lease commitments from 1985 to 1987 as permitted by the transitional provision of AAS 17. Six research hypotheses are developed from the economic consequences perspective. It is hypothesised that the decision to capitalize finance lease commitments is positively related to firm’s : (1) corporate structure, (2) size, {3) political visibility, _(4) financial performance, and (5) overseas association, and negatively related to (6) debt contract financial constraints. Support for these hypotheses would be construed as suggesting …