Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

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 …

Public Sector Commercial Orientation And The Social Contract: A Study Of Performance Management In A Non-Competitive Environment, Ali Rkein, Brian H. Andrew

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Purpose - The aim of this paper is to study the workings of commercial orientation, with a focus on performance management, in an environment that is characterised by limited competition between the public and the private sectors and a high level of government social responsibility. Design/methodology/approach - An interpretive case study approach is adopted for this study. It draws on primary data from interviews with key personnel in public sector organisations, and on secondary data from government publications such as annual reports and budget papers. Findings - This study shows that the market-based performance management system has failed to achieve …

What Affects Public Acceptance Of Recycled And Desalinated Water?, Sara Dolnicar, Anna Hurlimann, Bettina Grun

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper identifies factors that are associated with higher levels of public acceptance for recycled and desalinated water. For the first time, a wide range of hypothesized factors, both of socio-demographic and psychographic nature, are included simultaneously. The key results, based on a survey study of about 3000 respondents are that: (1) drivers of the stated likelihood of using desalinated water differ somewhat from drivers of the stated likelihood of using recycled water; (2) positive perceptions of, and knowledge about, the respective water source are key drivers for the stated likelihood of usage; and (3) awareness of water scarcity, as …

Analysing Texts Used To Contribute To The Discharge Of Public Sector Financial Accountability, Graham D. Bowrey, Ciorstan J. Smark

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Purpose – This paper reviews and analyses the discourse recorded in the Hansard of the Australian Federal Parliament’s Senate Legislation Committees to determine if this parliamentary accountability process contributes to the (re)production of dominance and inequality in the public sector. Design/methodology/approach – This research is based on a relatively new approach termed critical investigative inquiry which, in this paper, is based on critical discourse analysis informed and supported by rudimentary content analysis and thematic analysis. Practical implications – This paper provides insights into the use of Senate Legislative Committees as an avenue for elites to exert dominance over those who …

Corporate Social Responsibility In Public Sector Supply Chains: An Insight, Michael D. Clements, Graham D. Bowrey

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Purpose- To provide an insight into the level of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting in the Australian Commonwealth public sector supply chain. The view is taken that supply chain CSR reports are based solely on the performance and management of individual segments of a supply chain rather than the supply chain in its entirety.

Design/methodology/approach- This paper is a conceptual paper based on an examination of CSR reporting and the practices in public sector supply chains, using a generic Australian Commonwealth public sector supply chain. The direction of this examination is guided by the new public management paradigm …

Household, Private And Public Savings And Investment, Foreign Capital Inflows And Gdp Growth In India With Structural Breaks 1950-2005, Reetu Verma

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The objective of this paper is to examine the short and the long-run interrelationshipsbetween sectoral savings and investment, foreign capital inflows and their roles in thegrowth process for India for the period 1950 to 2005. This paper uses theAutoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) procedure to test for both the long-run andshort-run effects between the eight variables, along with any endogenously detectedstructural breaks. This is in response to shortcomings relating to previous studies whichpredominantly analyse savings and investment aggregates only, over long time periodswhich contain structural changes, using bivariate estimation techniques, which areshort-run in nature. The analysis firstly tests for the short-run …

Customer Orientation In An Australian Public Service Agency And Its Effect On Public Service Motives: Developing A Research Study, Christa Wood

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The Australian public service has experienced dramatic changes during the last few decades. One of the changes is the push for public servants to behave in accordance with private sector principles, such as customer service orientation. This paper is developing a research study that aims to analyse the motivational forces that enable (or disable) the behavioural changes of public servants and what impact (if any) those changes have on traditional public service motives. The study intends to use an extended expectancy-valence model together with a public service motive measurement scale to identify if there are relationships between motivational forces, customer …

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

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

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

Usability Testing Of Public Health Web-Based Information Systems, Sumayya Banna, Kholoud Alkayid, Helen M. Hasan, Joseph A. Meloche

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

While the Internet provides many opportunities for increased levels of care and access to information services in the area of public health, many web designers are not yet taking full advantage of its potential. This study looks at Intensive Care and Palliative Care, as important instances where health informatics could improve public web-based services, in meeting the particular information needs of family members of critically and chronically ill patients. This study is significant in adopting an approach to the usability testing of websites based on concepts from Activity Theory. This takes a realistic and practical approach, which identifies the purpose …

Public Sector Gambling: Local Council Investment Exposures, Graham Bowrey, Greg Jones

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Local councils in New South Wales (NSW) have the authority to invest ratepayers' money that is not currently required for any other purpose by the council. At the end of 2006-07 financial year local councils in New South Wales had invested $590 million dollars in structured financial products such as collateralised debt obligations (CDO). By the end of January 2008, six months later, the market value of these investments dropped $200 million to $390 million. Since then the financial investment market has further significantly reduced with the value of the councils' investments losing many more millions of dollars. In NSW …

Australian Commonwealth Public Sector Environmental Reporting In A New Public Managerialism Environment, Graham D. Bowrey

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Purpose : The primary purpose of this paper is to argue that the adherence [and lack of] to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 reporting requirements by Australian Commonwealth organisations, including Commonwealth Agencies, Commonwealth Statutory Authorities and Commonwealth Companies, can be explained by the influence of the pervasive new public managerialism (NPM) mentality within the sector.Design/methodology/approach : The paper is based on a qualitative review of the environmental performance and management reporting for a sample of 26 material Commonwealth public sector organisations with specific reference to Section 516A of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. Findings …

Simulating Information Exchanges In Order To Investigate The Utility Of Public Health Websites, Kholoud Alkayid, Helen M. Hasan, Joseph A. Meloche

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper explores the nature of communication and information flows in critical medicalenvironments to inform the design of public website support. Results are presented of a study ofcommunication in Intensive Care Units (ICU), where data was collected from the website owners,public users of the site and ICU clinicians who traditionally find communication with families ofpatients difficult. The paper presents the results of this research aimed at understanding the situationand needs of potential website users. The study has provided a greater understanding of howinformation technologies can help to resolve problems that arise with the ad-hoc, face-to-facecommunication that currently occurs in this …

Call Centres And The Quality Of Work Life: A Public/Private Sector Comparison, Zeenobiyah N. Hannif

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The quality of work life is a traditionally under-researched area where call centres (CC) are concerned. Similarly, much of the existing call centre research is based on the private sector despite the public sector emerging as a large user of CC operations. This paper is based on empirical research conducted in two Australian CC’s to explore whether and how the quality of work life varies between the two sectors. Findings relating to three quality of work life elements are reported: job content, working hours & work-life balance, and managerial/supervisory style and strategies. Public sector call centre Govtcall emerges as being …

A Comparative Study Of Public Domain Supervised Classifier Performance On The Uci Database, Peter W. Eklund, A Hoang

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper surveys three classes of public domain supervised learning algorihms and performs comparative analysis of their performance against 29 of the University California Irvine machine learning datasets.

Appraising Performance In Public Sector Organisations: Critical Discourse Perspectives, Christa Wood

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper examines the performance appraisal system that has been implemented in some public service organisations in line with the changes to a more commercialized structure. In an effort to change the behaviours and attitudes of public servants, performance appraisal systems have incorporated the new values and desired behaviours. Although a myriad of studies exist in regards to the new public management and on the topic of performance appraisal systems, there are few critical management studies of the implementation and operation of performance appraisal in the public sector. To date, most critical studies of performance appraisal have concentrated on the …

Public Policy And Sme Development, Charles Harvie, Boon-Chye Lee

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Policies to promote the development of SMEs are common in both developed and developing countries (Storey,1994; Levitsky, 1996; Hallberg, 2000) .

An Analysis Of Public Sector Deficits And Debt In Lebanon: 1970-2000, Charles Harvie, Ali Salman Saleh

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

No abstract provided.