Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Desalinated Versus Recycled Water — Public Perceptions And Profiles Of The Accepters, Sara Dolnicar, A. I. Schäfer

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Many countries’ water resources are limited in both quantity and quality. While engineering solutions can now safely produce recycled and desalinated water from non-potable sources at a relatively low cost, the general public is sceptical about adopting these alternative water sources. Social scientists need to better understand what is causing this lack of acceptance by the general population and how acceptance levels for recycled and desalinated water can be increased. This study is the first to conduct a comparative analysis of knowledge, perceptions, acceptability, and determine segments of residents who are more open-minded than the general population toward the use …

Foodservice Perspective In Institutions, P. G. Williams

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

In Western countries around 10-15% of all foodservice meals are provided in institutional settings such as hospitals, nursing homes, prisons, schools, military settings and workplace canteens. This chapter describes the different types of meals and foodservice systems used in these institutional settings, including the menus used, nutritional standards, food waste, meals times, methods of counting meals and possible future trends.

Csr Reporting: A Process For Supply Chain Legitimation, Graham D. Bowrey, Michael D. Clements, Bonnie Amelia Dean

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Purpose – This conceptual paper aims to explore the legitimating process of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting in relation to supply chain management. The paper introduces a framework for the holistic evaluation of entire supply chain CSR reporting including the use of social audits.

Design/methodology/approach – This paper is based on a review of CSR reporting literature and the role of CSR reporting as a legitimation tool of organisations that operate in distinct supply chains. The theoretical lens of three perspectives of legitimation; structural-functionalist; social constructionist; and hegemonic, are used to assess the drivers behind organisations in a supply chain …

Performance Implication Of Ownership Structure And Ownership Concentration: Evidence From Sri Lankan Firms, Athula S. Manawaduge, Anura De Zoysa, Kathleen M. Rudkin

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Purpose - This paper seeks to examine the impact of ownership concentration and ownership structure on firms’ performance of a sample of public listed companies in Sri Lanka in the premise of an agency theory framework.

Design/methodology/approach - The paper first investigates the nature of ownership structure and concentration and then examines whether there is strong evidence to support the observation that the variations of ownership structure across firms result in systematic variations in firm performance. This hypothesis is tested by assessing the impact of ownership structure and concentration on firm performance measured in terms of accounting profitability and market …

Corporate Finance Practice In Kuwait: A Survey To Confront Theory With Practice, Mohammad Al Mutairi, Gary G. Tian, Andrew S. Tan

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This study reports the results of a survey among 80 CFOs in Kuwaitilisted firms on current corporate finance practices namely, capitalbudgeting, costs of capital, capital structure, and dividend policy.This paper analyses specifically the survey responses according tothe firm s attributes and CFO s characteristics such as firm size,sector, equity, CFO s education, ownership, tenure, age, and targetdebt ratio. The results of this survey-based analysis indicate thatthere is some evidence of the application of basic corporate financetools that are inline with what is taught in classrooms. For example,we find that a surprising number of firms are widely using IRR nowas a …

Hongkong And Shanghai Bank Financial Reporting Practice 1865-1876, Freda Hui, Kathleen M. Rudkin

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Accounting practices of Hongkong and Shanghai Bank from 1865 to 1876 fostered its repertoire of precocial identities. Hongkong and Shanghai bank used these identities to act opportunistically in commercial dealings with the British colonial administration of Hong Kong, the public of the United Kingdom, and the Emperor of China and his Chinese administration. This paper argues HSBC varied its financial reporting practices to manage its identities in public spaces in different cultural constituencies in order to ensure its longer term survival. The approach taken is to use the example of HSBC’s Foochow loan to demonstrate its use of financial reporting …

Location And Interactive Services Not Only At Your Fingertips But Under Your Skin, Rodney Ip, Katina Michael, M G. Michael

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper explores the work of Professor Kevin Warwick, a researcher in the Department of Cybernetics at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom, who has played a major role in propelling the science of humancentric chip implantation. On the 24th of August 1998, just over a decade ago, Professor Warwick became the first man to officially implant a radio-frequency identification (RFID) transponder under his skin. This paper explores Warwick's achievements, motivations, and chipping experience, offering a unique insight into the ethical dilemmas and controversy surrounding implantable devices for identification purposes, interactive environments and the potential for location-based services. …

The Legal Ramifications Of Microchipping People In The United States Of America - A State Legislative Comparison, Angelo Friggieri, Katina Michael, M G. Michael

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The ability to microchip people for unique positive identification, and for tracking and monitoring applications is becoming increasingly scrutinized by the legal profession, civil libertarians, politicians in positions of power, human rights advocates, and last but not least, citizens across jurisdictions. The United States is among the few nations internationally, that have moved to enact state-level legislation, regarding the microchipping of people in a variety of contexts. This paper provides an overview of nine state laws/bills in the United States of America that have either enacted anti-chipping legislation or have recently proposed bills regarding the enforced chipping of persons. The …

Web 2.0 Solutions To Wicked Climate Change Problems, Alanah Kazlauskas, Helen Hasan

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

One of the most pressing ‘wicked problems’ facing humankind is climate change together with its many interrelated environmental concerns. The complexity of this set of problems can be overwhelming as there is such diversity among both the interpretations of the scientific evidence and the viability of possible solutions. Among the social technologies associated with the second generation of the Internet known as Web 2.0, there are tools that allow people to communicate, coordinate and collaborate in ways that reduce their carbon footprint and a potential to become part of the climate change solution. However the way forward is not obvious …

Ricardian Equivalence And The Efficacy Of Fiscal Policy In Australia, Shane Brittle

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Events surrounding the global financial and economic crises of 2008 and 2009 have sparked a renewed interest in discretionary fiscal policy. This article considers whether private saving in Australia behaves in a manner that is consistent with Ricardian equivalence, thus mitigating the effects of fiscal policy, or conversely, if fiscal policy has some ability to influence the real economy. Results indicate that, while there is not a full Ricardian response to changes in the fiscal stance, there is some partial offsetting behaviour—implying that fiscal policy does elicit some (limited) impact on economic activity.

Loyalty In Media Sharing Websites: The Case Of Universal Music Group, Joshua Chang, C. Lewis

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper aims to discuss the concept of how businesses can build loyalty using media sharing websites such as YouTube. More specifically, this case study will discuss how Universal Music Group created a successful channel in YouTube, and how loyalty can be generated using such a method. This study will be implemented by reviewing relevant theory in loyalty and analyzing YouTube and Universal Music Group's content in its channel within. The content analysis method is applied in this study, as it is regarded as a major research technique for understanding the design and functions of websites (McMillan, 2000). Using media …

The Influence Of Virtual Representatives On Recommender System Evaluation, Kyung-Hyan Yoo, Ulrike Gretzel

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Virtual representatives are increasingly used in recommender systems to guide users and add conversational aspects. However, the impacts of virtual representatives on users’ evaluations of the recommender system have not been investigated. This study specifically examined the influence of virtual representatives’ anthropomorphism cues on system users’ perceptions of system credibility and liking. The results revealed that system users’ perceptions of the virtual representative’s credibility have a significant influence on users’ perceived credibility and liking of the system. Also, the human-like appearance of a virtual representative significantly influences users’ perceived attractiveness of the virtual representative, while voice outputs from the representative …

The Challenge Of Preserving Rural Industries And Traditions In Ultraperipheral Europe: Evidence From The Canary Islands, Abel Duarte Alonso, Pascal Scherrer, Lynnaire Sheridan

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Demographic, economic, environmental, and political changes shape many rural areas and their communities across Europe. As a result, some fundamental aspects of these communities, including traditions, culture, social fabric, and their very raison d’être, are being tested and threatened by what seem to be irreversible events. Ultraperipheral European regions, including the `Canary Islands, are not an exception; in fact, because of their physical isolation from the mainland and other barriers, these regions may be more susceptible to changes. While these dimensions are very important and need to be addressed, to date very few studies have attempted to do so with …

Measuring Segment Attractiveness, Katie Lazarevski, Sara Dolnicar

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Market segmentation has been widely employed to give tourism destination planners market understanding, identify attractive target segments, and develop a marketing offer customised to their needs. While a number of authors have proposed general criteria for assessing the attractiveness of segments, measurable indicators of attractiveness have not been proposed to date. This study uses a set of indicators to make “Segment Attractiveness” measurable and illustrate the usefulness of the proposed measure in the context of a generic tourism destination and a destination focusing on reachability. Results indicate (1) the proposed indicators discriminate between different market segments, thus guiding destination managers, …

Methodological Reasons For The Theory/Practice Divide In Market Segmentation, Sara Dolnicar, Katie Lazarevski

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

A theory/practice divide exists in market segmentation. The main reasons are the focus of academic studies on statistical techniques, and managers' lack of understanding of fundamental segmentation basics (Dibb 2005; Greenberg and McDonald 1989). To date, only one study has explored methodological reasons for the theory/practice divide: Dibb and Simkin 1994. We extend their work by: (1) detailing key methodological aspects likely to cause difficulties in translating segmentation findings into managerially useful information, and (2) empirically investigating specific research questions about methodology-induced reasons for the theory/practice divide derived from both theory and the propositions of previous studies. Results indicate a …

Not Just Any Volunteers: Segmenting The Market To Attract The High Contributors, Melanie J. Randle, Sara Dolnicar

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Growing competition in the third sector has resulted in nonprofit organizations making more sophisticated use of marketing techniques to attract volunteers. Not only are organizations attempting to attract more volunteers but increasingly the focus is shifting to attracting the right type of volunteers, or those who will contribute the most hours. This study segments the volunteering market by number of hours contributed in the past 12 months, and identifies significant differences between the characteristics of high-contribution and low-contribution volunteers. High-contribution volunteers are found to (a) exhibit distinctive sociodemographic characteristics; (b) have a greater number, and broader range, of motivations for …

Socially Innovative And Commercially Viable: Partners Or Prisoners Of Future Business Developments, Patrick M. Dawson, Trevor A. Spedding, Michael D. Clements, Lisa Daniel

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

There is a growing need for supply chain partners to work together in improving their performance and systems of operation. New information and communication technologies can be used to improve operations and facilitate the building of closer relationships, but they can also serve to undermine relations and create tensions. RFID represents the first major improvement traceability technology that potentially supersedes barcodes and our study seeks to develop a simulation model that moves beyond a purely technical analysis, towards an assessment that is able to accommodate the social and cultural dimensions in providing a dynamic roadmap for change.

The Effects Of Currency Appreciation On Share Market Return: Ardl Approach, Gary G. Tian, Shiguang Ma

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This study employs the ARDL cointegrating approach to examine the impact of financial liberalization on the relationships between three Chinese main bilateral exchange rates and its share market performance. We discovered that a long-term equilibrium relationship measured by cointegration has emerged between the exchange rate of the RMB against the Japanese Yen and, to a lesser extent, the exchange rate against both the US dollar and Hong Kong dollar and the Shanghai Composite Index since 2005 when the Chinese exchange rate regime changed from a peg system to a more flexible managed floating system. We found that the exchange rate …

Board Composition, Board Activity And Ownership Concentration, The Impact On Firm Performance, Shiguang Ma, Gary Tian

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper provides a parallel investigation on the impact of board composition, board activity and ownership concentration on the performance of listed Chinese firms. We find that independent directors enhance firm performance effectively than other board factors. The frequency of shareholder meetings, rather than board meetings, is positively associated with firm value. Tradable share ownership concentration has a positive and linear relationship with firm value, while state and total share ownership concentration represent U(V) shapes. Importantly, companies with the highest levels of both total share and tradable share ownership concentration have a greater firm values than companies with the highest …

Interactive Visualization Of Clusters In Microarray Data: An Efficient Tool For Improved Metabolic Analysis Of E. Coli, Theresa Scharl, Gerald Striedner, Florentina Potschacher, Friedrich Leisch, Karl Bayer

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Background Interpretation of comprehensive DNA microarray data sets is a challenging task for biologists and process engineers where scientific assistance of statistics and bioinformatics is essential. Interdisciplinary cooperation and concerted development of software-tools for simplified and accelerated data analysis and interpretation is the key to overcome the bottleneck in data-analysis workflows. This approach is exemplified by gcExplorer an interactive visualization toolbox based on cluster analysis. Clustering is an important tool in gene expression data analysis to find groups of co-expressed genes which can finally suggest functional pathways and interactions between genes. The visualization of gene clusters gives practitioners an understanding …

Environmentally Friendly Behavior - Can Heterogeneity Among Individuals And Contexts/Environments Be Harvested For Improved Sustainable Management?, Sara Dolnicar, Bettina Grun

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The study of behavior with environmental consequences (recycling, water conservation, etc.) has received significant attention from social scientists over the past few decades. However, few studies have closely examined the systematic heterogeneity of behavior with environmental consequences. This study tests two specific hypotheses about such heterogeneity: that individuals differ systematically in their patterns of behavior with environmental consequences and that behavioral patterns systematically differ between context/environments. Both hypotheses are investigated empirically in the home and vacation environment. Results support the assumption that systematic differences in behavioral patterns exist across individuals. With respect to context/environment dependence, some groups of individuals do …

The Integration Of Balanced Scorecard Models, Carol J. Mcnair-Connolly, Ted Watts

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The entire focus of any balanced scorecard model (BSM) is to ensure that a wide range of events and outcomes are captured in ways useful to decision makers. An important question arises - which decision maker? And, equally important, must this decision maker be intimately familiar with a supposed organizational strategy in order to succeed? The answer to the first question helps us sort the BSMs into subgroups; the answer to the second question suggests that strategy may be as simple as the will of an organization and its members to survive to fight one more day. Building on the …

Back-Translation: The Latest Form Of Plagiarism, Michael Jones

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper addresses the continuing problem of plagiarism which, as a form of academic misconduct, has plagued pedagogy for generations. Little has changed in the way students employ the various methods of plagiarism, until now. Traditionally, detection technologies have kept pace with the technologies students use to cheat. However, the technologies students can harness to assist them in plagiarising have now leapt forward another generation, making the detection of plagiarism very difficult. Further, it seems unlikely that technology can advance to a state sufficient to bridge the gap. This new method of plagiarism utilises the intercultural technique of back-translation. This …

Ranking And Clustering Of The Faculties Of Commerce Research Performance In Australia, Simon Ville, Abbas Valadkhani

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

There is a growing policy focus in Australian higher education on quantitative research performance assessment. However, most of the analysis has addressed aggregate performance at the institutional level, an approach inconsistent with recent policy emphasis on diversity among universities and one that ignores performance variations across disciplines. Using averaged and all available data for 2000-2004, cluster analysis is used to classify Australian Commerce Faculties into groups that exhibit similar research performance, measured by publication, PhD completion and secured competitive research grant funding. We also use factor analysis to generate full-multidimensional rankings within the resulting two or three clusters. It is …

From Traditional Knowledge Management In Hierarchical Organizations To A Network Centric Paradigm For A Changing World, Kate Crawford, Helen M. Hasan, Leoni Warne, Henry Linger

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

At the beginning of the 21st century, all organizations need to address the continually changing social and economic landscape in which they operate. In this landscape organizations need to be responsive, flexible and agile and acquire the capability to leverage information and use collective knowledge to make appropriate decisions quickly and effectively. The practice of knowledge management allows knowledge workers to participate in dynamic processes that generate and use collective knowledge. However the complexity that arises from a continually changing global environment highlights the need for knowledge management to move in new directions both in practice and theory. This paper …

Innovative Workplace Change: Social Well-Being And Health, Patrick M. Dawson, Michael Zanko

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Since the industrial revolution a chief concern of business organizations has been how best to organise work to maximise productivity and minimise costs. Securing and maintaining competitive advantage through new methods of work organization and systems of operation have largely centred around commercial and financial concerns rather than on the well-being of employees. Issues of occupational health and safety (OHS) have arisen in a range of working environments and legislative change has sought to ensure that safe and secure working conditions are a mandatory requirement of modern business. However, implementation of these mandates generally rests with management and whilst procedural …

The Use Of Computer Supported Analysis For Interview Data: A Cross-Cultural Example From The Electronic Gaming Industry, June Buchanan, Michael L. Jones

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Computer assisted analysis has long been a major factor of quantitative analysis. This paper illustrates the use of computer assisted analysis for qualitative research, looking specifically at research in the Electronic Gaming Industry, across two country sectors – New South Wales, Australia and Nevada, USA, where empirical data are collected and analysed. The paper highlights the important place that computer assisted analysis holds in social and societal marketing. A detailed discussion explains how analysis was undertaken in the Electronic Gaming Industry, and how concepts and theory emerged. This paper discusses the qualitative approach used in this research. In particular, it …

Are Inertia And Calculative Commitment Distinct Constructs? An Indirect Test In The Financial Services Sector, Venkata K. Yanamandram, Lesley White

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Both inert and calculatively committed customers express somewhat similar behaviours that include repeat purchasing despite having negative perceptions and associating in opportunistic behaviours. These characteristics have however resulted in some researchers conceptualising interchangeably the related yet distinct constructs. This paper aims to extend the knowledge on inertia and calculative commitment by examining the extent to which they are distinct. An analysis of data collected online from 376 businesses using a key informant approach indicate that these two constructs demonstrate discriminant validity. Whilst switching costs impact both inertia and calculative commitment, they have differential effects. The implications of these findings are …

Managerial Ownership, Capital Structure And Firm Value, Wenjuan Ruan, Gary G. Tian, Shiguang Ma

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper extends prior research to examine the managerial ownership influences on firm performance through the choices of capital structures by using a new sample of S&P 500 firm in 2005. The empirical results of OLS regressions replicate the nonlinear relationship between managerial ownership and firm value. However, we found that the turning points had moved up in our sample compared with previous papers, which implies that the managerial control for pursuing self-interest, and the alignment of interests between managers and other shareholders can only be achieved now by management holding more ownership in a firm than that found in …

How Does The Presenter's Physical Attractiveness Persuade? A Test Of Alternative Explanations, Sandra Praxmarer, John R. Rossiter

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This study was conducted 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” …