Business Commons^™

Investigating The Interaction Effect Of Democracy And Economic Freedom On Corruption: A Cross-Country Quantile Regression Analysis, Shrabani Saha, Jen-Je Su

Research outputs 2012

This paper explores the interaction effects of economic freedom and democracy in controlling corruption for 100 countries by using quantile regression technique. The main contribution is to explore the interaction effects throughout conditional distribution of corruption across nations. Our results reinforce some findings in the literature, but also provide new conclusions. The findings suggest a stronger and significant interaction effect in reducing corruption, especially in the most-corrupt countries. However, democratic and economic freedoms alone may not cure corruption effectively in the most-corrupt nations, a sound democratic reform can eliminate corruption substantially only after achieving a threshold level of economic freedom.

An Exploratory Investigation Into Voluntary Employee Turnover And Retention Practices In The Small Business Sector, Olivia Gialuisi, Alan Coetzer

Research outputs 2012

Given the scant research on turnover and retention in small businesses, this study addresses the question: what factors influence voluntary employee turnover in small businesses and how do ownermanagers retain key employees? This question was broken into three research objectives. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews with nine owner-managers and seven employees from eleven Australian small businesses. Findings of this study identify adverse consequences of turnover, uncover antecedents of voluntary turnover, pinpoint small business characteristics that enhance employee retention and present a suite of small business employee retention strategies. Implications of the findings for management practice are explained. Limitations of …

Ethical Dilemmas During Mergers, Acquisitions And Takeovers, Edmond La Vertu, Llandis Barratt-Pugh

Research outputs 2012

The organisational world is still shaking from the impact of individual and organisational actions that are contrary to the open-ended community standards of ethics. Yet, ethical values have to fight continually for organisational space as the conflict between many differing corporate values problematises the workplace environment and decision-making for managers. This paper is based on a study that is investigating the relations between such values at times of significant organisational stress, when organisations merge, are acquired, or are taken-over, and the ethical dilemmas that arise from these events within the framework provided by Kidder (2009). The paper concludes by summarising …

Addressing The Digital Divide - It Management Practices In Rural Nghsos, Philip Dobson, Zane D'Mello

Research outputs 2012

Non Government Human Service Organisations (NGHSOs) are owned by the community they serve. Staffed by a committee of volunteers representing its membership their primary mission is to serve those experiencing some form of social disadvantage. In the emerging information intensive climate, NGHSOs are increasingly under pressure to use information technology (IT) to underpin and transform traditional methods of service delivery, particularly given the advent of the NBN. There has been little research into the IT management practices of small NGHSOs, and more particularly those that operate in regional, rural and remote communities. This paper describes research that examines the key …

An Exploratory Investigation Into Knowledge Management In Western Australian Knowledge-Intensive Small Businesses, Shukrullah Fassehi

Theses : Honours

From a knowledge management (KM) perspective, organisational effectiveness depends on the organisation’s capacity to effectively perform a range of processes that include identifying, acquiring, sharing, and storing valuable knowledge. The literature suggests that the growth of interest in the field of KM is largely centred on large organisations. Small businesses have not received much attention in the literature. This is surprising, given that small businesses (however defined) represent the majority of businesses in most countries and, as is the case in Australia, make a major contribution towards business activity, economic development and employment generation.

This study employed a qualitative exploratory …

An Exploratory Investigation Into Voluntary Employee Turnover And Retention Practices In The Small Business Sector [Thesis], Olivia Gialuisi

Theses : Honours

This study addresses the question, what factors influence voluntary employee turnover in small businesses and how do owner-managers retain key employees? More specifically the study explores four research objectives: 1) the negative effects of voluntary turnover of key employees on small businesses; 2) common reasons why employees voluntarily leave small businesses; 3) characteristics of the small business that might enhance retention of employees; and 4) strategies that are employed to retain key employees. The current study employed an exploratory qualitative research design. Data was collected via semi-structured interviews with nine owner-managers and seven key employees from eleven Australian small businesses. …

Exploring The Intention Of The South West Of Western Australian Residents To Purchase Solar Panels Using The Theory Of Planned Behaviour Approach, Greg Murray

Theses : Honours

Global warming is a concern for many people around the world (Lorenzoni, Pidgeon, 2006; Searle & Gow, 2010). The negative effect of climate change is increasingly apparent (Belluscio, 2010; Dunlop, 2010; Hirabayashi, Kanae, Emori, Oki & Kimoto, 2008; Oelemans, 1994). In response to growing public concern, governments are implementing legislation and carbon initiatives to decrease the impact of climate change (Crane, 2010; D’Souza, 2005). Although these government actions are important to implement environmental preservation among industries, this study focuses on the intentions of purchasing behaviour of the individual homeowner of the South West region of Western Australia. More specifically, the …

The Marketing Relevance Of Australian Cosmetic Brand Ambassadors, Jessica Boswarva

Theses : Honours

Brand ambassadors are often employed to perform important marketing roles such as influencing product adoption and creating brand awareness (Livesley, 2009; O’Leary, 2010; Voight, 2007; Wragg, 2004). Brand ambassadors provide personalised customer service, including educational, experiential and relational roles and as a result propagate trust, minimize perceived risk and create familiarity and involvement (Belch & Belch, 2007; Chiou & Droge, 2006; Elliot & Percy, 2007). Whilst studies highlight benefits to businesses in general, there is limited research to the role of brand ambassadors within the Australian cosmetic industry. Cosmetic brand ambassadors are a traditional feature of the cosmetic industry and …

Property Bubble : Test For Suitability And Reliability Indicators : A Comparative Assessment Of Western Australia And Provence-Alpes-Cote D'Azur, Romain A. Aureglia

Theses : Honours

Purpose: The main purpose of this thesis is to contribute to the speculative bubble literature and to provide a practical test upon Lind’s (2008) definition and set of indicators to identify a property bubble.

Methodology: The methodology for this thesis consists of a case study and a comparative analysis. The paper will connect Lind’s theoretical framework to a practical test to provide a concrete answer for the validity of his work.

Findings: Media and general perceptions have had a great influence over the housing market actors for both Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur and Western Australia regions. House prices increases are often attributed …

The Psychological Wellbeing Of Women Operating Mining Machinery In A Fly-In Fly-Out Capacity, Anne Bailey-Kruger

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The present study aimed to address the gap in the current mining research by investigating women’s experiences of working in the mining industry in a “bluecollar” work role and the impact of fly-in fly-out (FIFO) mining on their wellbeing. An Interpretative Phenomenological Approach (IPA) was used as a framework to explore the experiences of 19 female machine operators through in-depth interviewing at one mineral mine site in Queensland, Australia. IPA analysis revealed three themes as identified by the participants. The first theme described how workplace barriers to job progression were salient issues for the women, particularly in respect to discrimination …

Individual Retirement Savings Behaviour : Evidence From Malaysia, Nurasyikin Jamaludin

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis investigates factors that influence individuals‟ investment choice decisions within the context of retirement savings in Malaysia. The focus is on individuals‟ likelihood of investing part of their retirement savings in approved unit trusts (also known as mutual funds). In addition, individuals‟ choice of fund and mutual fund selection criteria are also explored. This thesis utilised questionnaire-based surveys to solicit responses from members of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), as well as from unit trust consultants. Data collected from 440 EPF members and 561 unit trust consultants were analysed using statistical procedures of SPSS version 18.0 (also known as …

Security Awareness By Online Banking Users In Western Australian Of Phishing Attacks, Nattakant Utakrit

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Phishing involves sending e-mails pretending to be from the legitimate financial institutions to recipients and asking for personal information such as username and password. It also redirects network traffic to malicious sites, deny network traffic to web services, and modify protection mechanisms in the targeted computer systems. Consequences of successful attacks can include identity and financial losses, and unauthorised information disclosure.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the experiences of Western Australian bank users in using online banking. The study considered the relationship between the background of the Western Australian bank users and their experience in using online …

Harnessing Social Capital : An Exploratory Investigation Of Stakeholder Disposition In Boundary Spanning Networks, Brett Martin-Smith

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis confronts existing bilateral models of stakeholder management. It is based upon the premise that existing models place insufficient value upon the mediating power of individuals and small groups imbued with social capital within an organisational stakeholder environment. Initially, this study explores and maps the complex theoretical relations between organisations, stakeholders and social capital to construct an argument for addressing stakeholder management from a more plural and holistic perspective. The thesis suggests that rapid advances in social media and social interconnection now enables the sentiment of individual stakeholders to aggregate and rapidly form issue-specific interest groups that harness social …

Manager Learning In The Micro Business Context : The Role Of External Business Advice, Training Providers And Close Others, Jennifer Devine

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Small business has often been referred to as the “engine driving the economy”. This description highlights the significance of small business to the economy of most countries. But what about the smallest of these organisations; those businesses with fewer than five employees? These businesses, termed micro businesses, form a large part of our economy and are sometimes the starting point for larger business and sometimes provide a long term, alternate business structure. This type of business has special needs and characteristics and is often neglected in the management literature. The nature and diversity of these businesses prompted an interest in …

A Qualitative Analysis Of Small Business Owner-Managers' Participation And Learning In An Online Discussion Forum : Not Quite Paradise Found, Tara Laureen Smith

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Small business owner-managers (SBOMs) are a difficult group to engage in formal face-to-face training and learning activities. Research to encourage SBOMs' participation has focused on two main themes: first, trying to ascertain why they do not attend training and, second, determining their learning preferences. They are reluctant to attend formal training because they prioritise business operations (no time to attend training), perceive training as a poor return on investment, have negative perceptions of training and education, and believe the training provision often does not meet their needs. In terms of their learning preferences, it is clear that SBOMs prefer informal, …

Internal Auditor And Internal Whistleblowing Intentions : A Study Of Organisational, Individual, Situational And Demographic Factors, Syahrul A. Ahmad

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Whistleblowing is a type of ethical decision-making behaviour, and it has been one of
the positive outcome behaviours investigated in the ethical decision-making literature.
The issue has garnered widespread attention since the collapse of global multinational
companies which lead to the passage of the renowned Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
Since then a vast amount of research has been conducted in the whistleblowing stream,
though it is still predominantly taking place largely in western countries. Such studies
as have been undertaken in Asian countries neglect to consider how Malaysian
respondents might play their roles in undertaking this type of ethical decision-making …

Peas In A Pod: Canadian And Australian Banks Before And During A Global Financial Crisis, David Allen, Ray Boffey, Robert Powell

Research outputs 2011

In the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), the Canadian and Australian banking systems have been singled out by some commentators as having performed better than many other banking systems, particularly those in Europe, America and the United Kingdom. Banks in both Canada and Australia, for instance, have continued to report enviable earnings, sound capital levels, and high credit ratings both before and during the GFC. The G-20 and the European Union have tried to identify the features of the Canadian and Australian financial systems which have underpinned this success in order to use them in shaping a revised …

Modeling Exchange Rate Exposure In The Japanese Industrial Sectors, P. Jayasinghe, A Tsui, Zhaoyong Zhang

Research outputs 2011

In recent years the volatility of exchange rate exposure and its associated risk have become a hot issue in international financial management. It is often assumed that a firm’s future operating cash flows is proxied by its market value, and the exposure coe fficient would be able to ef ficiently measure the impact of exchange rate changes on a firm’s return and its se nsitivity to the changes. Recen tly, some studies begin to investigate whether exchange rate exposure is asymmetric between currency appreciations and depreciations. By far most existing studies on exchange rate exposure assume that the variances of …

Innovative Transition Matrix Techniques For Measuring Extreme Risk: An Australian And U.S. Comparison, David Allen, Akhmad Kramadibrata, Robert Powell, Abhay Singh

Research outputs 2011

Comparing Australia and the U.S. both prior to and during the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), using a dataset which includes more than six hundred companies, this paper modifies traditional transition matrix credit risk modelling to address two important issues. Firstly, extreme credit risk can have a devastating impact on financial institutions, economies and markets as highlighted by the GFC. It is therefore essential that extreme credit risk is accurately measured and understood. Transition matrix methodology, which measur es the probability of a borrower transitioning from one credit rating to another, is traditionally used to m easure Value at Risk (VaR), …

The Good Practice Principles: Silver Bullet Or Starter Gun?, Siri Barrett-Lennard, Katie Dunworth, Anne J. Harris

Research outputs 2011

The Good Practice Principles have provided the higher education sector with a framework for action in the area of academic language and learning (ALL); and the imprimatur of DEEWR has ensured that they have been nationally disseminated and are now widely recognised. Yet, while they have been nationally acknowledged as appropriate and desirable, the means by which they might be achieved is by no means certain. In order to realise these principles, ALL educators and colleagues in Australian institutions must grapple with major issues that arise chronologically over students’ academic careers. These issues include: how can we know whether students …

East Asian Financial Crisis Revisited: What Does A Copula Tell?, Pei Fei, Albert Tsui, Zhaoyong Zhang

Research outputs 2011

We construct a regime-switching model of copulas to capture observed asymmetric dependence in daily changes of exchange rates in five selected East Asian economies during the 1997 financial crisis era. In particular, we investigate the effects of the financial crisis on asymmetric dependence in exchange rates returns and assess the asymmetric relationships between five currencies, including the Singapore Dollar, Japanese Yen, South Korea Won, Thailand Baht and Indonesia Rupiah. Various time-varying copula models will also be applied to examine the possible structural breaks. The results confirm significant changes at the dependence level, tail behaviour and asymmetry structures between returns of …

Getting Reticent Young Male Participants To Talk: Using Artefact-Mediated Interviews To Promote Discursive Interaction, Susanne T. Bahn, Llandis G. Barratt-Pugh

Research outputs 2011

During a pilot study that used interviews to collect data from young male apprentices about construction site safety, we were confronted with limited verbal responses. This article is about how we explored this research problem of ameliorating unresponsive interview interactions. The article reviews the options that previous researchers have trialled and developed, and specifically focuses on artefact-mediated interviews conducted with young male participants. We focus on the use of images within artefact-mediated interviews to draw out data from less communicative subjects. Our reflection upon this process proposes that the use of both abstract and concrete images within an artefact-mediated interview …

Relationships Between Quintessence And Strong Word Of Mouth Behaviour, Nathalie Collins, Hanna Glaebe, Jamie Murphy

Research outputs 2011

Theory suggests that Quintessence (Q), an emotional/spiritual connection to a product, relates positively to Word of Mouth marketing (WOM). This paper investigates if consumers who experience Quintessence (Q+) share the same behavioural indicators as consumers who participate in strong Word of Mouth behavior (WOM+). Survey data from subscribers to an online entertainment service demonstrated that Q+ and WOM+ consumers shared similar characteristics, those who experienced Quintessence (Q+) spread significantly more WOM than those without Quintessence.

Keeping It Real: Applying 360 Degrees Of Authenticity, Nathalie Collins, Lynelle Watts, Jamie Murphy

Research outputs 2011

Marketers tout authenticity as the new reality, a means by which consumers in markets of abundance determine value and, at times, prestige. Approaching consumption from a Service- Dominant perspective, where every product has a unique experiential component within which the consumer and producer co-create value, means authenticity is problematic. How can a marketer represent authentically the infinite possibilities of the experiential component of a product? This paper builds on emerging research and a qualitative example to explore the meaning and application of an authenticity framework: the 360 degree model of authenticity.

Kids, Toys And Fast Food: An Unhealthy Mix?, Claire Lambert, Richard Mizerski

Research outputs 2011

Increasingly the fast food industry is scrutinised for marketing toy premiums towards young children. Toy premiums are claimed to lure young children to consume unhealthy meal offerings, pester parents, encourage materialism and ultimately lead to a rise in childhood obesity. Numerous studies have commented on the use of toy premiums as a marketing technique, but little research has been conducted on the actual effectiveness of toy premiums targeted to children on consumer purchase behaviour at the point of purchase. This study, investigates the use of a child targeted toy premium (Snoopy) by a fast food company (McDonald’s), and its effect …

A Systemic Model For Managing And Evaluating Conflicts In Organizational Change, Syed Arshad Raza, Craig Standing

Research outputs 2011

Change or innovation diffusion is a key issue for most business organizations but is yet difficult to implement as the change management process is often complex as it relies on an organized methodology to complement an organization's commitment and participation. An ambiguous environment surrounding change mechanism tends to develop unintended attitudes, resulting in resistance and conflict. The study proposes a model for the management of such conflicts among change participants (involved and affected) in the context of organizational change. The authors consider organizational change process as an innovation project that treats change and conflicts holistically with the Ulrich's notion of …

Lipstick: More Than A Fashion Trend, Madeleine Ogilvie, Maria Ryan

Research outputs 2011

This paper explores and discusses why women purchase and wear lipstick and the behaviours associated with its use. Design/methodology/approach: A study of 300 female lipstick users were interviewed using a semi structured questionnaire. Findings: The study indicated that women use lipstick in a significant way to transform and present themselves; using it to reflect their daily fluctuations in moods and identity. Although lipstick is a mainstream fashion discourse, Western Australian society (where the study was located) maintains strict codes of conduct in applying and using the product. Behaviours associated with lipstick use are steeped in ritual and cultural customs. Research …

Modeling Information Linkages In The Stock And Options Markets, K Ho, L Zheng, Zhaoyong Zhang

Research outputs 2011

When markets are assumed to be complete, option trading should not contain new information for market participants, as options derive their prices from the underlying stocks. However, if markets are incomplete, then this unidirectional relationship may not be true, because informed traders may prefer to trade options instead of the underlying stocks for several reasons: one, option trading involves lower transaction costs and higher financial leverage; and two, investors who have private information about stock price volatility can only make their bet on volatility in the option market. Compared with the research on the relationship between options trading activity and …

Credit Risk Measurement Methodologies, David Allen, Robert Powell

Research outputs 2011

The significant problems experienced by banks during the Global Financial Crisis have highlighted the critical importance of measuring and providing for credit risk. This paper will examine four popular methods used in the measurement of credit risk and provide an analysis of the relative shortcomings and advantages of each method. The study includes external ratings approaches, financial statement analysis models, the Merton / KMV structural model, and the transition based models of CreditMetrics and CreditPortfolioView. Each model assesses different cr iteria, and an understanding of the merits and disadvantages of the various models can assist banks and other credit modellers …

Extreme Market Risk - An Extreme Value Theory Approach, David E. Allen, Abhay K. Singh, Robert J. Powell

Research outputs 2011

The phenomenon of the occurrence of rare yet extreme events, “Black Swans” in Taleb’s terminology, seems to be more apparent in financial markets around the globe. This means there is not only a need to design proper risk modelling techniques which can predict the probability of risky events in normal market conditions but also a requirement for tools which can assess the probabilities of rare financial events; like the recent Global Financial Crisis (2007-2008). An obvious candidate, when dealing with extreme financial events and the quantification of extreme market risk is Extreme Value Theory (EVT). This proves to be a …