Digital Commons Network^™

Choice Overload During Travel Decision Making For Self Vs. Other, Nguyen T. Thai, Ulku Yuksel

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

It has been a common belief that major accomplishments of modern societies and developed economies are evidenced through providing more choices and varieties for consumers. Economists and conventional wisdom believe that having more choices maximises utility (Broniarczyk, 2008); thus, people should prefer to have as many options as possible to make informed decisions. In psychology and marketing literature, having more choices is argued to help increase well-being, satisfy diverse consumer needs (Dworkin, 1982), increase purchase and consumption (Koelemeijer & Oppewal, 1999), reduce search costs (Hutchinson, 2005), and enhance personal freedom of choice (Schwartz, 2004). In contrast, recent studies has reported …

Ceo Duality Structure And Firm Performance In Pakistan, Qaiser Rafique Yasser, Abdullah Al Mamun, Abdul Suriya

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This article examines the impact of CEO duality on firm performance; which attracted much attention, especially in emerging economies, yet yielded several inconsistent empirical results. CEO duality exists when the offices of the CEO and Chairman are retained by the same person. This study examines the relationship between CEO duality and the performance of Pakistani public listed companies by using a sample of five years, from 2007 to 2011. This study tested the hypotheses with data obtained from the Karachi Stock Exchange 100 indexed firms, and employed the agency and stewardship theory perspectives. However, our empirical results do not show …

The Impact Of Demographic Factors On Tax Compliance Attitude And Behavior In Malaysia, Abdullah Al Mamun, Harry Entebang, Shazali Abu Mansor, Qaiser Rafique Yasser, Thurai Murugan Nathan

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This research explored the existence of differences in the impact of demographic factors on tax compliance attitude and behavior in Johor Bahru, Johor. The sample for the preliminary study is small which 92 respondents only and thus the optimum of the results is limited. The result of this investigation shows the ignorance of taw law among taxpayers in Johor Bahru, Johor may be a significant concern to the Government. Majority of the respondents agree that cash received for work dine is taxable but view bartering goods with a friend and not reporting it, though illegal, on their tax return as …

The Science Of Attracting Foster Carers, Melanie Randle, Leonie Miller, Sara Dolnicar, Joseph Ciarrochi

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Across the world the number of children needing a foster home is increasing; however, the number of individuals willing to foster a child is decreasing. It is therefore critical to gain insight into the barriers preventing people from fostering a child. Using data from a 2009 survey of 756 Australians, combinations of barriers are investigated by conducting a posteriori segmentation analysis within the market of potential foster carers. Four segments are identified and profiled to determined significant differences in terms of psychological and socio-demographic characteristics. Findings, including the fact that almost one-third of respondents indicated that they had not considered …

National Electronic Health Records And The Digital Disruption Of Moral Orders, Karin Garrety, Ian Mcloughlin, Rob Wilson, Gregor Zelle, Mike Martin

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

The digitalisation of patient health data to provide national electronic health record systems (NEHRS) is a major objective of many governments. Proponents claim that NEHRS will streamline care, reduce mistakes and cut costs. However, building these systems has proved highly problematic. Using recent developments in Australia as an example, we argue that a hitherto unexamined source of difficulty concerns the way NEHRS disrupt the moral orders governing the production, ownership, use of and responsibility for health records. Policies that pursue digitalisation as a self-evident 'solution' to problems in healthcare without due regard to these disruptions risk alienating key stakeholders. We …

Tourism Marketing Communications On A Chinese Social Media Platform, Jing Ge

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Social media have become important communicative platforms for tourism marketers but it is not clear if and how the communicative language of marketerto- consumer is different from consumer-to-consumer. Given the enormous growth of both tourism and social media in China, this paper focuses on patterns in language use by the Chinese tourism marketers on Weibo. Using systemic semiotic approach, it selects and investigates two corpora of communication on Weibo - tourism to consumer and consumer to consumer. This study expects to provide the firm understanding and categorize the patterns in the language used by Chinese social media marketers so that …

Do Smart Phones Bring Us Closer? A Family Life And Vacation Perspective, Heather Kennedy-Eden

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Relationships developed in families are crucial because these bonds play an integral part in learning how to function and interact in society. In the past, these bonds were strengthened by spending leisure time together as a family but now smart phone technology provides opportunities for individual entertainment, connecting on social media, and spending time physically together while being emotionally separated. This research looks at this issue from a systems theory perspective, conceptualizing families as open, self-regulating social systems with the smart phone being a technical system within the family system. The smart phone acts as a conduit between immediate family …

Saving In Cycles: How To Get People To Save More Money, Leona Tam, Utpal Dholakia

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Low personal savings rates are an important social issue in the United States. We propose and test one particular method to get people to save more money that is based on the cyclical time orientation. In contrast to conventional, popular methods that encourage individuals to ignore past mistakes, focus on the future and set goals to save money, our proposed method frames the savings task in cyclical terms, emphasizing the present. Across the studies, individuals using our proposed cyclical savings method provide an average of 74% higher savings estimates and save an average of 78% more money when compared to …

Can A Carbon Tax Be Effective Without A Grand Coalition?, Amnon Levy

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This paper analyzes an interaction between a carbon-tax collecting and investing coalition of rich countries, abstaining rich countries and poor countries. The non-coalition countries may suffer from loss of reputation and guilt and may overstate the emission-moderating effect of the carbon tax. As long as these three types of countries react to their counterparts' emissions, taxing carbon-dioxide emissions unilaterally does not necessarily reduce the global emissions. Nor does it necessarily moderate the emissions of the coalition.

A Psychological Profile Of Potential Youth Mentor Volunteers, Melanie Randle, Leonie Miller, Joseph Ciarrochi, Sara Dolnicar

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Mentoring programs rely on adult volunteers to offer disadvantaged children friendship, role modeling, and insight into the way others relate. However, with the increasing numbers of children requiring mentors, programs are finding it difficult to attract enough volunteers. This study investigates (a) community awareness of an Australian youth mentoring program, (b) the proportion of the population who would consider becoming a mentor in future, and (c) whether those who would consider it differ significantly in their psychological characteristics. While awareness of the program is low, consideration of mentoring is relatively high. Those who would consider volunteering for the program have …

The Effect Of Financial Status On Earnings Quality Of Chinese-Listed Firms, Feng Li, Indra Abeysekera, Shiguang Ma

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This article investigates the relation between accounting-based earnings quality attributes and the financial status of Chinese companies listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2005 to 2007 by classifying them as either "healthy" or "bankrupt" firms. The authors find that accruals quality, earnings predictability, and earnings smoothness are significantly different between healthy and bankrupt firms, but not earnings persistence. Additional analysis undertaken indicates that firm categories (healthy, financially distressed, and bankrupt) based on financial status does not indicate distinct differences in earnings quality attributes.

In War As Well As In Peace: From The Displacement Effect To Incrementalism In Public Expenditures, Giuseppe Eusepi, Edgar Wilson

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

The paper will study the trend in public expenditure starting from the Peacock and Wiseman (1961)'s contribution known as displacement effect. In our view, the notion of displacement effect is important not for its capability to capture essentials in the mechanisms governing taxing and spending areas in public economy, but rather for what it does not explain: incrementalism in public expenditure. According to Peacock and Wiseman, wars allow governments to drastically increase expenditure without constraining government to go back to the pre-war levels once the war is over. Our main point is that the unbridled increase in public expenditure during …

Organizational Change Within Charities: Improved Performance Via Introduction Of Market Orientation And Other Strategic Orientations, Paul Chad

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Market orientation is recognised as the key strategic orientation enabling for-profit organizations to gain improved performance. Adopting such an orientation can also aid nonprofit charities facing pressure to become more businesslike due to increasing competition in the current global environment. Knowledge regarding exactly how charities can change is however highly under-researched. Based upon examination of multiple case studies of charities that underwent organisational change to improve performance, the change management process is analysed using a discourse transformation framework to identify how charity managers successfully introduced new strategic orientations dominated by a market orientation. A "checklist" is developed that offers nonprofit …

Does A Gender Disparity Exist In Academic Rank? Evidence From An Australian University, Arusha Cooray, Reetu Verma, Lynne Wright

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Employing a unique administrative data set on academics from the University of Wollongong (UOW), we investigate if women are under-represented in academic rank, taking into account information on personal characteristics, job characteristics, education and productivity. The results suggest that males have a significant advantage in rank attainment. The possession of a PhD, the number of years of experience and the number of journal articles, books, book chapters, competitive grants and ERA A* ranked articles appear to be important for academic rank attainment. A Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition test indicates that both supply side and demand side factors play a role; however, there …

Challenging Behaviours, Co-Morbidities, Service Utilisation And Service Access Among Community-Dwelling Adults With Severe Traumatic Brain Injury: A Multicentre Study, Grahame K. Simpson, Mark Sabaz, Maysaa Daher, Robert Gordon, Barbara Strettles

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Objective: To examine patterns, predictors and unmet needs of service utilisation and access to mental health and/or drug and alcohol services among community-dwelling adults with severe traumatic brain injury, and compare those who displayed challenging behaviours with those not displaying challenging behaviour. Design: Retrospective multicentre study.

Subjects: All active clients (n = 507) of the New South Wales (NSW) Brain Injury Rehabilitation Program (BIRP) community rehabilitation teams.

Methods: Clinician-rated data were collected on client challenging behaviours, mental health and functional status, service utilisation and unmet needs. Between-groups analyses (challenging behaviour versus no challenging behaviours) were conducted to examine patterns of …

An Evaluation Of The World's Major Airlines' Technical And Environmental Performance, Amir Arjomandi, Juergen Seufert

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

In this empirical study, we apply bootstrapped data envelopment analysis (DEA) models under variable returns to scale to examine both the environmental and technical efficiencies of airlines. Using the regional classification of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), we chose 48 of the world's major full-service and low-cost carriers from six different regions, and then estimated their performance over the period 2007-2010. Our empirical results show that many of the most technically efficient airlines are from China and North Asia, whilst many of the best environmental performers are from Europe. We also found that although the number of environmentally oriented …

Ownership Control And Debt Maturity Structure: Evidence From China, Wenjuan Ruan, Grant Cullen, Shiguang Ma, Erwei Xiang

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Purpose - The authors examine the debt maturity structure of Chinese listed companies during the period when bond market was under-developed and the majority of commercial banks were owned by the state. The purpose of this paper is to answer why and how the different ownership control types impact the firms' preference and accessibility to either long- or short-term debts.

Design/methodology/approach - The univariate analysis was used to test the differences of debt maturity choices for firms grouped by ownership control types, profitability and institutional development. Then, logit regression and ordinary least squares regression were applied to examine the determinants …

A Comparison Of Group-Based Research Methods, Melanie Randle, Hugh Mackay, Dorothy Dudley

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

In the modern era, group-based methods have come to largely dominate qualitative research, particularly in the commercial arena of market research. The most commonly used method is the "focus group" technique, which involves a group of strangers being directed to discuss a pre-determined set of topics. In reality, in many parts of the world, including Australia where this study was conducted, focus groups are often employed as the default technique without systematically questioning the appropriateness of methodological characteristics or the impact they have on the resultant data. This empirical study compares two different group-based methods - the "focus group" approach …

Theories To Define And Understand Family Firms, Mary Barrett

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

My earlier chapter in this volume on the four phases of learning in family firms relies on some important theories about the nature of family firms and how they differ from non-family firms. This chapter explains them briefly.

Actor Network Theory, Karin Garrety

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Actor-Network Theory (ANT) emerged from science and technology studies, though it was inspired by grounded theory and semiotics. In the 1970s, Bruno Latour (a French anthropologist and social scientist) and Steve Woolgar (a British sociologist) undertook ethnographic field work at the Salk Institute in California. This research was inspired by grounded theory and Latour and Woolgar approached their study of work in the endocrinology laboratory as if they were anthropologists observing a hitherto unknown and strange set of practices. In other words, they did not fit their observations into any preconceived notions of scientific method, or how science 'should' be …

Institutional Theory And Human Resource Management, Ali Najeeb

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

The study of institutions traverses the academic fields of economics, sociology, political science and organisational theory. The common denominator for institutionalism in various disciplines appears to be that of, 'institutions matter' (Kaufman 2011). An underlying assumption in the study of institutions is that organisations are deeply embedded in the wider institutional context (Powell 1988; DiMaggio & Powell 1991). Thus, "organisational practices are either a direct reflection of, or response to, rules and structures built into their larger environment" (Paauwe & Boselie 2003, p. 59).This institutional environment is the source of legitimisation, rewards or incentives for, as well as constraints or …

The Cynefin Framework: Putting Complexity Into Perspective, Helen Hasan, Alanah Kazlauskas

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Cynefin (pronounced cun-ev-in) 'is a Welsh word with no direct equivalent in English. As a noun it is translated as habitat, as an adjective acquainted or familiar. More poetically, it describes "that relationship: the place of your birth and of your upbringing, the environment in which you live and to which you are naturally acclimatised.' Cognitive Edge 2006).

Theories For Competitive Advantage, Hui-Ling Wang

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Introduction Competitive advantage is obtained when an organisation develops or acquires a set of attributes (or executes actions) that allow it to outperform its competitors. The development of theories that help explain competitive advantage has occupied the attention of the management community for the better part of half a century. This chapter aims to provide an overview of the key theories in this space. The overview will span a long timeline, starting from the 1960s to formulations that were introduced in mid-2013. In the early period, there were two dominant theories of competitive advantage: the Market-Based View (MBV) and the …

Complexity Theory, Helen Hasan

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Several years ago a prominent Australian politician, responsible for a new program to 'Network the Nation' used this diagram to try to explain what he envisaged. Popularly referred to as 'The Noodle Nation', the diagram was ridiculed for its apparent complexity. It seems that there are better ways to deal with complex issues!

Strategic Marketing Sustainability: From A Marketing Mix To A Marketing Matrix, Alan Pomering

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This paper proposes a marketing planning framework that will assist managers to address sustainability challenges in their decision making, in line with the American Marketing Association's (AMA) revised (2007) definition of marketing, which calls for a responsibility to society at large, not just individual consumers. At present, marketing's conceptual frameworks lag behind what is a fundamental and significant shift in marketing philosophy. We propose a Sustainability Marketing Model, a simple yet systematic framework that ensures sustainability cascades through the marketing planning process. In developing this, the marketing mix is replaced with a matrix that adds four critical decision fields to …

Stickiness In Knowledge Transfer, Margret Schuller

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Stickiness is a metaphor for the difficulties encountered in transferring knowledge. The concept of stickiness is first mentioned by Von Hippel (1994), who used the term to describe the costs in accessing and sharing information for technical innovation due to the fact that knowledge is socially embedded within the organisation and its practice. The way information is encoded is typically different from how it is socially embedded. As Nonaka (1995) argued, some knowledge systems are explicit whereas others are tacit. As the cost of encoding information, which is tacit, or socially embedded, increases, stickiness also increases.

The Responsible Leadership For Performance Framework, Carolyn Koh

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

A leader is assumed to be someone entrusted by his/her followers to lead, behave responsibly and be accountable for his actions. He/she would be someone righteous, with a high level of moral judgement and a good reputation, and thus, be held to a higher moral standard.

The Use Of Grounded Theory In Research: Knowledge Sharing In The Australian Film Industry, Michael Jones, Irit Alony

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Selecting the most appropriate research method is one of the most difficult problems facing a researcher. Grounded Theory is presented here as a method of choice as it is. This paper tracks a Grounded Theory research project undertaken to study the phenomena of collaboration and knowledge sharing in the Australian Film Industry. The detailed, rigorous, and systematic approach of the theory Grounded Theory also permits flexibility and freedom rendering Grounded Theory suitable for the investigation of complex multifaceted phenomena. Grounded Theory is also well equipped to explore socially related issues. This cha pter describes the techniques, utility, and ease of …

Connecting Isolated Senior Citizens: Illustrating The Complexity Of Social Information Systems Development, Carole Alcock, Lois Burgess, Helen Hasan

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

In Australia, complex issues relating to an ageing population are confronting governments, communities and individuals (APC 2011). This is a common concern in most developed countries and one where IS can play a significant role. Some studies have suggested that social well-being could be enhanced by participation in online activities (ADHA 2011). Reports in aged care research literature indicate that loneliness and isolation are among the main problems encountered by people living well into their 80s and 90s (Coughlan 2011). Those still in their home receive basic medical and support services, sometimes via the Internet, but their lack of mobility …

Making Sense Of Complex Dynamic Spaces: The Wicked Problem Of Doping Control In Sport, Alanah Kazlauskas

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Some of the problems shared by the world's citizens are 'wicked'! 'Wicked problems' are persistent with incompletely-known and contradictory elements that are interconnected and constantly changing (Rittel & Webber 1973). Contemporary 'wicked problems' that reside in the dynamic context of the global environment include climate change, economic and political refugees, epidemics, drug trafficking and disasters of immense proportions, some natural and others brought on by human activities.