Business Commons^™

Frontline Employee Empowerment: Scale Development And Validation Using Confirmatory Composite Analysis, Saradhi Motamarri, Shahriar Akter, Venkata K. Yanamandram

Sydney Business School - Papers

Empowerment has been argued as a viable strategy to enable frontline employees (FLEs) to manage the complexities of service encounters. Organisations must cascade insights from analytics to frontlines for dynamic (re)bundling of service elements while serving customers. However, very little is known on how FLEs are empowered in analytics-driven services. This study addresses these research gaps, drawing on a systematic literature review and in-depth interviews (n = 30), followed by conceptualisation and validation of an empowerment scale through a pilot (n = 50) and the main study (n = 304). This research confirms empowerment as a second-order construct consisting of …

Factors Affecting The Liquidity Of Commercial Banks In India: A Longitudinal Analysis, Shyam S. Bhati, Anura De Zoysa, Wisuttorn Jitaree

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This paper examines the long-term effect of various regulatory, bank-specific and macroeconomic factors on the determination of liquidity in Indian banks. For this purpose, the study uses a random effect panel data regression model and tests it with data on Indian banks for 21 years, covering the period from 1996 to 2016. The model considers the effect of regulatory factors, cash reserve ratio, and statutory liquidity, and incorporates four different liquidity ratios specific to the Indian banking scenario. The results of the analysis show contrasting relationships between the independent variables and the dependent variables measured by four liquidity ratios. It …

Does Ownership Affect Bank Performance? An Analysis Of Vietnamese Banks In The Post - Wto Entry Period, Le Thanh Phuong, Charles Harvie, Amir Arjomandi

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This study investigates the impact of financial reforms, bank characteristics, and time trends on the performance of the Vietnamese banking sector under the assumption that ownership can result in a divergence of technologies utilised by different bank groups (including state - owned, private, and foreign banks), and the fact that these groups may respond differently to the same environmental variables . By combining a meta - frontier analysis with double - bootstrap two - stage DEA the authors analyse the impact of en vironmental variables on bank efficiency across separate groups operating under different technologies. Accordingly, this paper, firstly, employs …

Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis With Goal Programming In Engineering, Management And Social Sciences: A State-Of-The Art Review, Cinzia Colapinto, Raja Jayaraman, Simone Marsiglio

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Goal programming (GP) is an important class of multi-criteria decision models widely used to analyze and solve applied problems involving conflicting objectives. Originally introduced in the 1950s by Charnes et al. (Manag Sci 2:138-151, 1955) the popularity and applications of GP has increased immensely due to the mathematical simplicity and modeling elegance. Over the recent decades algorithmic developments and computational improvements have greatly contributed to the diverse applications and several variants of GP models. In this paper we present a state of the art literature review on GP applications in three selected (prominent and popular) areas, namely engineering, management and …

A Qualitative Analysis Of Young Drivers' Perceptions Of Driver Distraction Social Marketing Interventions, Nathan Turnbull, Jennifer Algie

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This study gives insight into why current driver distraction social marketing interventions are not motivating the high-risk target audience of young drivers to cease using their mobile phones when driving. Three focus groups (n=30) were conducted with drivers aged 18-25 years old to explore current attitudes and behaviours in regard to mobile phone use when driving. Additionally four emergent themes were identified from the target audience’s reactions to six social marketing interventions specifically targeting mobile phone cessation. These themes are analysed through the lens of the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) comprising perceived severity, perceived susceptibility, response efficacy and self-efficacy.

Role Of Non-Executive Directors In Implementing Non-Regulatory Codes On Corporate Governance In Smes Listed In The Alternative Investment Market In The Uk: A Content Analysis, Palli Mulla K A Chandrakumara, Gunetilleke Walter

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This study explores roles of NEDs of SMEs listed in the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in the London Stock Exchange. It extends the literature on NEDs’ roles relevant to a context where the adherence to the principles of non-regularity corporate governance is not compulsory. We adopted a content analysis approach as a novel method for exploring roles of NEDs using details of 1220 NEDs recorded in 75 annual reports. It revealed that NEDs meet the expectations of several stakeholders simultaneously by playing multiple roles. A conceptual model depicting testable relationship between cognitive tasks and key roles of NEDs is also …

Innovation Determinants And Barriers: A Tri-Perspective Analysis Of It Appropriation Within An Early Childhood Education And Care Organisation, Melinda Plumb, Karlheinz Kautz

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Empirical studies on information technology (IT) in early childhood education and care organisations are scant, despite an increasing number of these organisations choosing to innovate with IT. This paper presents a framework to understand the appropriation of IT as an innovation within such an organisation. The framework consists of three perspectives on innovation: an individualist, a structuralist and an interactive process perspective. While the first focuses on concepts such as leadership, IT champions, previous IT exposure, the second focuses on organisation size, parents as stakeholders, competitors, government compliance and regulatory requirements. The third perspective views the innovation as a dynamic …

Secondary Analysis Of Two Environmental Practice Studies. Do Empirical Variables Represent Expressed Theoretical Constructs?, Indra Abeysekera

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Many research questions in studies on environmental practices have used variables with little regard as to whether they represent theoretical constructs. This validation is fundamental to testing and interpreting theories using variables. This study examines whether environmental disclosure, environmental performance, and economic performance are different constructs. It uses canonical correlation analysis technique, and reviews two published studies as case presentations. Analyzing the study by Al-Tuwaijri et al., the environmental disclosure variable is found to represent the disclosure construct, while the environmental performance and economic performance variables are found to represent two dimensions of the performance construct. In the Hasseldine et …

Mobilisation Of Externalities Into Corporate Accountability Frameworks: A Critical Discursive Analysis Of Royal/Dutch Shell Oil Spills In Nigeria, Sanja Pupovac, Mary Kaidonis, Lee Moerman

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

In this paper we demonstrate a Fairclough-inspired analysis of environmental narrative disclosures of Royal/Dutch Shell oil spills in Nigeria. Our focus is on the construction of meaning of oil spills as presented in corporate narrative disclosures. As well as serving to illustrate a Fairclough-inspired discourse analysis, the analysis is a critical attempt to explore the mobilisation of externalities such as oil spills into corporate accountability frameworks discourse. Findings of this paper indicate that Shell mobilises externalities into its accountability frameworks, controls the 'official' discourse and attempts to determine the nature of oil spills and, in doing so discursively creates the …

Reconfiguring Early Childhood Education And Care: A Sociomaterial Analysis Of It Appropriation, Melinda Plumb, Karlheinz Kautz

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Existing studies of IT within early childhood education and care settings are scant, and those that do exist traditionally utilise a Cartesian world-view where humans and IT are separate self-sufficient entities with properties. In this worldview, change is attributed to either the technological or the human entity, leading to limited, either techno-centric or human-centred accounts of IT implementation and use. We reframe the activities in an early childhood organisation as a process of appropriation, and utilise a sociomaterial theory of technology appropriation alternative to the Cartesian worldview. We contribute a rich account of the changes that occur to the practices, …

Innovation Within An Early Childhood Education And Care Organisation: A Tri-Perspective Analysis Of The Appropriation Of It, Melinda Plumb, Karlheinz Kautz

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Empirical studies on information technology (IT) in early childhood are scant, despite an increasing number of early childhood education and care organisations choosing to innovate with IT. This paper presents a framework to understand the appropriation of IT as an innovation within such an organisation. The framework consists of three perspectives on innovation: an individualist, a structuralist and an interactive process perspective. While the first focuses on concepts such as leadership, IT champions, previous IT exposure, the second focuses on organisation size, parents as stakeholders, competitors, government compliance and regulatory requirements. The third perspective views the innovation as a dynamic, …

Comparison Of Real-Time Elastography And Multiparametric Mri For Prostate Cancer Detection: A Whole-Mount Step-Section Analysis, Daniel Junker, Georg Schafer, Conrad Kobel, Christian Kremser, Jasmin Bektic, Werner Jaschke, Friedrich Aigner

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this study was to compare prostate cancer detection rate of real-time elastography (RTE) with that of multiparametric MRI to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of the two methods. SUBJECTS AND METHODS. Thirty-nine patients with biopsy-proven prostate cancer underwent both RTE and multiparametric MRI to localize prostate cancer before radical prostatectomy. RTE was performed to assess prostate tissue elasticity, and hard lesions were considered suspicious for prostate cancer. Multiparametric MRI included T2-weighted MRI, diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI), and contrast-enhanced MRI (CE-MRI) with an endorectal coil at 1.5 T. After radical prostatectomy, whole-mount step sections of the prostate were …

Ethnic Or Political Fractionalisation? A District Level Analysis Of The Provision Of Public Goods In Sri Lanka, Arusha Cooray

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This study investigates the influence of ethnic and political fractionalisation on the provision of public goods at a district level in Sri Lanka. Evidence shows that political fractionalisation has a greater negative impact on the provision of public goods compared with ethnic fractionalisation. Similarly, political polarisation has a greater negative effect on the provision of public goods compared with ethnic polarisation. The interaction between ethnic and political measures suggests that political fractionalisation (political polarisation) exacerbates the negative effects of ethnic fractionalisation (ethnic polarisation) on the provision of public goods. The ethnolinguistic fractionalisation (ELF) index assumes greater statistical significance under fixed …

Degrees Of Sophistication In Social Media Adoption For Tourism Operators In Australia - A Preliminary Analysis, Nina Mistilis, Ulrike Gretzel

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Given that SM is one of the "mega trends" that has significantly impacted the tourism system, this paper aims to provide an initial analysis for tourism operators in Australia in terms of the degrees of sophistication of SM adoption. A survey of 2172 tourism operators in Australia across five industry sectors revealed that two thirds had a Social Media site presence. However, in terms of sophistication measured by number of sites on which they had a presence, their updating frequency of site contents and monitoring the number and level of consumer engagement, the results indicated the level of sophistication could …

Are Low-Skill Public Sector Workers Really Overpaid? A Quasi-Differenced Panel Data Analysis, Peter Siminski

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Public–private sectoral wage differentials have been studied extensively using quantile regression techniques. These typically find large public sector premiums at the bottom of the wage distribution. This may imply that low skill workers are ‘overpaid’, prompting concerns over efficiency. We note several other potential explanations for this result and explicitly test whether the premium varies with skill, using Australian data. We use a quasi-differenced Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) panel data model which has not been previously applied to this topic, internationally. Unlike other available methods, this technique identifies sectoral differences in returns to unobserved skill. It also facilitates a …

Performance Of Automakers In China And India: An Empirical Investigation Using Ratio Analysis, Ying Deng, Anura De Zoysa, Shyam Bhati

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Automakers in China and India are continually increasing their shares of the automobile market by adopting cost leadership strategy. In this study, we examine the operational and financial performance of automobile firms in China and India through a range of accounting ratios. This analysis provides a snap shot of operating and financial performance of Chinese automakers in comparison to one of their main competitors, India. The results of the analysis suggests that despite the public view that Indian automakers are posing serious challenge to Chinese automaker in recent years on the cost competitiveness, Chinese automakers have shown continuous improvement in …

The Influence Of National Culture On Business Students' Career Attitudes - An Analysis Of Eight Countries | Der Einfluss Nationaler Kulturen Auf Die Karriere-Einstellungen Von Wirtschaftsstudenten - Eine Analyse Aus Acht Landern, Marjaana Gunkel, Christopher Schlagel, Ian M. Langella, Joy V. Peluchette, Elena Reshetnyak

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Despite the fact that career attitudes and their influence on career outcomes is widely researched in the field of occupations and careers, little is known about the influence of cultural norms and values on career attitudes. We propose that national cultural dimensions influence students' career planning, career adaptability, career optimism, and career-related knowledge. We test these relations using an eight country sample with more than 1,800 students. The results show that national culture has significant effect on all four career attitudes and in particular on career planning and career optimism. We discuss theoretical and practical implications and provide future research …

Analysis Of Some Environmental Policy Instruments, Juergen H. Seufert, Brian Andrew

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Benjamin Franklin once said that "[i]n this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes" (Franklin, 1840 p.410) and a significant body of the scientific literature, including the IPCC, have indicated that the climate change problem has become such a pressing issue that we now face a stark choice between the premature death of hundreds of millions of the people on this planet (from storm, flood, starvation, war or pestilence) and the use of taxation or other financial strategies to change the relative cost of carbon intensive sources of energy compared to the cost of 'green' …

Factors Affecting The Technical Inefficiency Of Thai Manufacturing And Exporting Small And Medium Sized Enterprises: A Stochastic Frontier Analysis (Sfa), Yot Amornkitvikai, Charles Harvie, Teerawat Charoenrat

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This study employs a stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) and technical inefficiency effects model to predict the technical efficiency of 3,168 Thai manufacturing and exporting SMEs, analyze their returns to scale and key factors impacting on their technical efficiency. Analysis of cross-sectional data from a 2007 census of Thai manufacturing SMEs indicates that their average technical efficiency is approximately 69.72 percent, signifying a moderate level of technical inefficiency which is reducing potential output. With respect to each group of manufacturing and exporting SMEs, SMEs exporting to East Asia have a level of technical efficiency of 0.7081, followed by SMEs exporting to …

An Empirical Analysis Of Iran's Banking Performance, Amir Arjomandi, Charles Harvie, Abbas Valadkhani

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the efficiency and productivity growth of the Iranian banking industry between 2003 and 2008, encompassing pre- and post-2005-reform years.

Design/methodology/approach – The study uses a new decomposition of the Hicks-Moorsteen total factor productivity index developed by O’Donnell to analyse efficiency and productivity changes in a banking context. The advantage of this approach over the popular constant-returns-to-scale Malmquist productivity index is that it is free from any assumptions concerning firms’ optimising behaviour, the structure of markets, or returns to scale. The paper assumes that the production technology exhibits variable returns to …

Why Do Patients Having Coronary Artery Bypass Grafts Have Different Costs Or Length Of Stay? An Analysis Across 10 European Countries, James Gaughan, Conrad Kobel, Caroline Linhart, Anne Mason, Andrew Street, Padraic Ward

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

We analyse variations in cost or length of stay (LoS) for 66 587 patients from 10 European countries receiving a coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) procedure. In five of these countries, variations in cost are analysed using log-linear models. In the other five countries, negative binomial regression models are used to explore variations in LoS. We compare how well each country's diagnosis-related group (DRG) system and a set of patient-level characteristics explain these variations. The most important explanatory factors are the total number of diagnoses and procedures, although no clear effects are evident for our CABG-specific diagnostic and procedural variables. …

Australian Banks Performance During The Global Financial Crisis: An Analysis On The Efficiency And Productivity, Shima Hassan Zadeh Forughi, Anura De Zoysa

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

The banking industry plays a crucial role in the financial system and economic development of any country. Thus, the evaluation of its efficiency is of great importance. The present thesis analyses the impact of different phases of the recent banking crisis on Australian banks with a view to identifying problem areas in the banking sector and to provide directions for policy improvements.

A multiple-stage approach based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is utilized in this study to investigate the level of efficiency and productivity of the Australian banks over a 7 year period. This analysis consists of the following five …

An Analysis Of Mature Aged Female Participation In New South Wales Regional Labour Markets, Natalie Akmacic, Martin O'Brien

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

The analysis of regional markets has surfaced as an important emerging area of economic research in recent years. In particular, economists have attempted to explain the factors behind divergent trends in different regions' growth, migration, structural change and employment. With this in mind, the focus of this paper is to explore the trends in regional labour force participation for mature females over the period 1992 to present. The labour force participation of this group is particularly relevant in the context of Australia's ageing population. To analyse mature age participation we utilise ANOVA to determine the differences between various Australian regions …

Parent's Conception And Experience Of Calling In Child Rearing: A Qualitative Analysis, Justin C. Coulson, Lindsay G. Oades, Gerard J. Stoyles

Sydney Business School - Papers

The concept of "calling" has evolved from a religiously oriented description of occupation to an integrated, broad, and multidimensional construct that is associated with optimal vocational outcomes, personal fulfillment and meaning, and contribution to the "greater good." This article investigates the relevance of calling in the parental domain and explores the experience of calling in child rearing. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, 11 qualitative, semistructured interviews were conducted with mothers and fathers. Different parents were interviewed at three distinct developmental time points in their child(ren)'s lives: while their child was an infant (<2 >years), while their children were of primary school …

A New Approach For Considering A Dual-Role Factor In Data Envelopment Analysis, Abdollah Noorizadeh, Mahdi Mahdiloo, Reza Farzipoor Saen

Sydney Business School - Papers

The conventional data envelopment analysis models deal with dualrole factor as non-discretionary (uncontrollable) factor. However, there might be dual-role factor which is under control of decision-maker. In addition, despite the fact that there are several publications addressing dual-role factors, it seems that their idea of classifying a factor as an input or an output within a single model has a limitation. They also do not consider non-zero input and output slacks and cannot fully measure the inefficiency of decision-making units. To resolve these limitations and to consider dual-role factor as well, this paper proposes a slacks-based measure model which does …

A Novel Data Envelopment Analysis Model For Solving Supplier Selection Problems With Undesirable Outputs And Lack Of Inputs, Mahdi Mahdiloo, Reza Farzipoor Saen, Madjid Tavana

Sydney Business School - Papers

Supplier evaluation and selection problems are inherently multi-criteria decision problems. Numerous analytical techniques ranging from simple weighted scoring to complex mathematical programming approaches have been proposed to solve these problems. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) has been used to evaluate suppliers' performance when there are multiple inputs and outputs in the supplier selection problem. The DEA determines the relative efficiencies of multiple suppliers. These relative efficiencies are then used to provide benchmarking data for reducing the number of suppliers. The DEA models used for supplier selection require numerical data for all the inputs and outputs for all the suppliers. However, this …

Nonlinear Growth Effect Of Remittances In Recipient Countries: An Econometric Analysis Of Remittances-Growth Nexus In Bangladesh, Gazi Mainul Hassan, Shamim Shakur, Mohammed Bhuyan

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

The macroeconomic impacts of remittances flows on developing economies are not well understood. The paper is an attempt to understand the impact of inward remittances flows on per capita GDP growth in Bangladesh during 1974-2006. We find that the growth effect of remittances is negative at first but becomes positive at a later stage- a strong evidence of a non-linear relationship. This could be due to unproductive use of remittances in the beginning followed by more productive utilisation. Remittances positively affect per capita GDP growth in Bangladesh when the complementarity between remittances and financial development is incorporated into the analysis.

A Data Envelopment Analysis Model For Selecting Suppliers In The Presence Of Both Dual-Role Factors And Non-Discretionary Inputs, Abdollah Noorizadeh, Mahdi Mahdiloo, Reza Farzipoor Saen

Sydney Business School - Papers

Supplier selection is the strategy adopted by the manufacturer, to evaluate and select suppliers, which can fulfil the requirements of the manufacturer. To this end, data envelopment analysis (DEA), as a multiple criteria decision-making tool, has been applied for several times. However, conventional DEA models cannot simultaneously consider dual-role and non-discretionary factors. The objective of this paper is to propose a DEA model for ranking suppliers in the presence of both dual-role factors and non-discretionary inputs. A numerical example demonstrates the application of the proposed model. 2012 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

An Activity-Theory Analysis Of Corporate Wikis, Helen M. Hasan, Charmaine C. Pfaff

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Purpose: Wiki technologies, which are popular in social settings, are beginning to contribute to more flexible and participatory approaches to the exploitation of knowledge in corporate settings. Through the lens of activity theory, this paper aims to investigate contentious challenges to organizational activities that may be associated with the introduction of corporate wikis, in particular the potential democratization of knowledge work. Design/methodology/approach: From a study of several cases of corporate wiki adoption, this paper presents and interprets two representative cases sampled to provide more generalized results. Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews and observation. The analysis followed a systematic …

Comovement Between Emerging And Developed Stock Markets: An Investigation Through Cointegration Analysis, Searat Ali, Babar Zaheer Butt, Kashif Ur Rehman

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Globalization has amplified interest of academics and investors to the subject of co movement among the stock markets of the world. This study investigates the co movement of Pakistan's Equity Market with the markets of India, China, Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia, Japan, USA and UK by using co integration test on monthly stock prices from the period of July 1998 to June 2008. The results reveal that there is no co movement of Pakistan's equity market with the markets of UK, USA, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore. Therefore, investors can reduce risk through investment in these countries. Whereas the stock prices …