Business Commons^™

Rethinking Work And Family Policy: The Making And Taking Of Parental Leave In Australia, Marian Baird, Adam Seth Litwin

Adam Seth Litwin

Despite the continued increase in female participation rates, Australia remains one of only two developed nations in the world without a paid maternity leave scheme. While research interest and public policy debate about paid maternity leave entitlements continues, little is known about the actual utilization of the 52 weeks unpaid parental leave that is currently available to all employees. Moreover, research and policy debate on the availability and provision of paid paternity leave has only just begun. This paper argues that, given the gendered nature of employee entitlements, it is time to re-evaluate all aspects of parental leave policy in …

Australian Momentum: Performance, Capacity And The Gfc Effect, Bruce Vanstone, Tobias Hahn

Bruce Vanstone

This paper assesses the performance of momentum strategies in Australia, and how they were affected by the GFC. This paper is the first to address the issue of the dollar capacity of momentum strategies in the Australian market. We find evidence of a strong momentum effect in Australia amongst the S&P/ASX200 constituents. We find that momentum portfolios suffered during the GFC, but the effect was not persistent. Finally, we show that the capacity of the momentum effect in Australia is large enough in dollar terms to reject the assertion that momentum is more of a theoretical than a practical construct.

Australian Momentum: Performance, Capacity And The Gfc Effect, Bruce Vanstone, Tobias Hahn

Tobias Hahn

This paper assesses the performance of momentum strategies in Australia, and how they were affected by the GFC. This paper is the first to address the issue of the dollar capacity of momentum strategies in the Australian market. We find evidence of a strong momentum effect in Australia amongst the S&P/ASX200 constituents. We find that momentum portfolios suffered during the GFC, but the effect was not persistent. Finally, we show that the capacity of the momentum effect in Australia is large enough in dollar terms to reject the assertion that momentum is more of a theoretical than a practical construct.

Long Service Leave In Australia: An Examination Of The Options For A National Long Service Leave Minimum Standard, Rebecca Casey, John Mclaren, John Passant

John Passant

Long service leave is an employment condition that provides paid leave to employees who serve an employer over a long period of time without a break in service. A common feature of long service leave is continuous service with an employer, which then entitles an employee to paid leave as a reward for their service. This means that in most jurisdictions the leave is generally not portable and is lost when transferring between employers. This paper will explore the long service leave entitlements for national system employees that currently exist in state and territory long service leave legislation in Australia …

Attaining Legitimacy By Employee Information In Annual Reports, Pamela Kent, Tamara Zunker

Tamara Zunker

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to provide evidence on the category, quantity and quality of voluntary employee-related information Australian listed companies disclose in their annual report. An explanation is also sought to determine whether companies adopt employee-related disclosures to legitimise their relationship with society. Voluntary adoption of corporate governance best practice recommendations is used as a measure of companies’ attempts to attain ex ante legitimacy. Media agenda setting theory is used as a measure of an attempt to gain legitimacy ex post following adverse publicity from the media. Design/methodology/approach – The annual reports of all companies with …

Do Australian And American Consumers Differ In Their Perceived Shopping Experiences?, Marilyn Jones, Sonya Vilches-Montero, Mark Spence, Sevgin Eroglu, Karen Machleit

Mark Spence

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present findings from an experiment designed to test the impact of crowding perceptions (both human and spatial), emotions (positive and negative) and shopping values (utilitarian and hedonic) on shopper satisfaction. Culture is explored as a moderating variable with the expectation that it systematically affects perceptions and values, which, in turn, influence the shopper's experience with the store.

Design/methodology/approach - Data were collected via a 2 x 2 x 2 full factorial between subjects design with two variables, one manipulated and one measured. The two manipulated variables were spatial density (high versus …

Do Investors Herd Intraday In Australian Equities?, Julia Henker, Thomas Henker, Anna Mitsios

Thomas Henker

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to consider whether market wide herding occurs intraday.

Design/methodology/approach – Using the 1995 Christie and Huang and the 2000 Chang et al. models, the paper tests whether market wide and industry sector herding occurs intraday in the Australian equities market.

Findings – Neither market wide nor industry sector herding occurs intraday.

Research limitations/implications – Both herding measures focus on one specific type of herding, herding evidenced by changes in the cross-sectional return distribution. Therefore the herding measures are ill suited to capture the effects of period specific abnormally high or low market …

Attaining Legitimacy By Employee Information In Annual Reports, Pamela Kent, Tamara Zunker

Pamela Kent

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to provide evidence on the category, quantity and quality of voluntary employee-related information Australian listed companies disclose in their annual report. An explanation is also sought to determine whether companies adopt employee-related disclosures to legitimise their relationship with society. Voluntary adoption of corporate governance best practice recommendations is used as a measure of companies’ attempts to attain ex ante legitimacy. Media agenda setting theory is used as a measure of an attempt to gain legitimacy ex post following adverse publicity from the media. Design/methodology/approach – The annual reports of all companies with …

Long Service Leave In Australia: An Examination Of The Options For A National Long Service Leave Minimum Standard, Rebecca Casey, John Mclaren, John Passant

John McLaren

Long service leave is an employment condition that provides paid leave to employees who serve an employer over a long period of time without a break in service. A common feature of long service leave is continuous service with an employer, which then entitles an employee to paid leave as a reward for their service. This means that in most jurisdictions the leave is generally not portable and is lost when transferring between employers. This paper will explore the long service leave entitlements for national system employees that currently exist in state and territory long service leave legislation in Australia …

A Uniform Land Tax In Australia: The Potential For This To Be A Reality Post The 'Henry Review', John Mclaren

John McLaren

No abstract provided.

The Act Has Increased Land Tax For All Homeowners And Reduced Stamp Duty: Should This Approach Be Adopted By All States In Australia?, John Mclaren

John McLaren

From 1 July 2012 the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) imposed land tax, in the form of general rates, on all homes in the ACT, including owner occupied homes on a progressive basis. Different marginal rates of tax are applied at different values of the land. The ACT is unique in that there is no local government so the ACT government was able to increase its general rates on owner-occupied homes and reduce land tax on investment properties and commercial properties. As a result of the resultant increase in government revenue, the ACT has substantially reduced stamp duty on real property …

Commercial And Economic Law In Australia, Eugene Clark, Lynden Griggs, George Cho, Arthur Hoyle, John Mclaren

John McLaren

No abstract provided.

Australia Has Had A Petroleum Resource Rent Tax Since 1987: Why The Concern About A Proposed 'Mineral Resource Rent Tax'?, John Mclaren

John McLaren

The Australian Government introduced a resource rent tax on offshore oil and gas deposits in 1984 and since then it has raised in excess of an additional $1 billion a year in revenue over and above the normal company tax on income1. At the time it was being introduced a great deal of controversy followed the proposed introduction of the resource rent tax. The Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT) was introduced by the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax Act 1987 (Cth) and is imposed on the profit at the rate of 40 percent. The Petroleum Resource Rent Tax Assessment Act 1987 …

An Investigation Of Measurement Error In Visitor Expenditure Surveys, Mike Raybould, Liz Fredline

Michael Raybould

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether providing additional prompts in a visitor expenditure survey results in higher reported expenditure.

Design/methodology/approach – Respondents to a self-completion survey of event visitors were randomly allocated either an aggregated or disaggregated expenditure format in a asi-experimental design. ANOVA is used to identify significant differences in mean reported expenditure to the alternative formats.

Findings – The research finds that provision of additional prompts in the expenditure module of a visitor survey results in higher reported expenditures in half the expenditure categories and, most importantly, in total expenditure.

Research limitations/implications – …

Financial Sustainability And The Imperative For Reform In Investment Organisation In Australia's Local Government , Martin Gold

Martin L Gold

The losses reported from the so-called sub-prime category, and the collateral damage suffered by some councils, has brought renewed scrutiny of their financial viability and the investment practices which are employed across the local government sector. The diversity of prudential investment standards which currently apply in Australia also suggests that the investment policies expected to deliver optimal economic outcomes for ratepayers require reform. In conjunction with the moves to address the financial sustainability of the sector, this paper argues that reforms are needed to standardise investment powers, empower councils to develop appropriate investment objectives, and to centralise funds management.- 2

Equity Issuance Trends In Australia's Listed Investment Fund Markets, Martin Gold

Martin L Gold

No abstract provided.

Towards A Measure Of Function For Home And Community Care Services In Australia: Part 1 - Development Of A Standard National Approach, Nicholas Marosszeky, Kathy Eagar, Roslyn Poulos, Alan Owen

Alan G Owen

No abstract provided.

Towards A Measure Of Function For Home And Community Care Services In Australia: Part 2 - Evaluation Of The Screening Tool And Assessment Instruments, Robert Gordon, Kathy Eagar, Janette Green, Alan Owen, Karen Qunisey

Alan G Owen

No abstract provided.

Union Presence, Employee Relations And High Performance Work Practices, Carol Gill, Denny Myer

Carol Gill

Purpose – To investigate the relationship between unions, employee relations and the adoption of High Performance Work Practices (HPWP). Design/methodology/approach – This study uses survey data collected from the senior members of the HRM function in 1789 large Australian organisations. Findings – We found that unions, when coupled with good employee relations, facilitate the adoption of HPWP and consequently have a positive impact on organisational competitiveness, contradicting the simplistic notion that unions are ‘bad for business’ Research limitations/implications – This study used cross sectional survey data from HRM managers, who whilst being the best single source of information, may have …

The Grouping And Prioritizing Of Driving Forces For Ict Adoption By Medical Practitioners: Do These Differ Between Rural And Urban Gps In Australia?, Robert Macgregor, Charles Harvie, Peter Hyland

Associate Professor Peter Hyland

Increasing use of ICT technologies in medical practices has led to a number of studies examining their use in rural as well as urban settings. The purpose of this study is to examine how GPs in rural and urban practice group and prioritise the driving forces for ICT adoption. Correlation and factor analysis was performed on the data sets (198 GPs, 122 Rural - 76 urban) obtained by means of a survey questionnaire. Not only do the results show that the drivers can be 'simplified' from 16 to 2 or 3, but they also show that there are differences both …

The Grouping And Prioritising Of Driving Forces For Ict Adoption By Medical Practitioners: Do These Differ Between Rural And Urban Gps In Australia, Peter Hyland, Charles Harvie, Robert Macgregor

Associate Professor Peter Hyland

No abstract provided.

Investing In Australia: A Cultural And Practical Guide, John Glynn, Martin O'Shannessy, Rob Goodfellow

John J Glynn

This practical guide for overseas investors and visitors to Australia who want to consider setting up a new business operation or investing in business there provides the background to the country's business culture. It also includes a directory listing agencies and selected resources.

The Development Of Performance Auditing In Australia, John Glynn

John J Glynn

No abstract provided.

The Decision To Outsource Management Advisory Services, Pamela Kent

Pamela Kent

Purpose – The purpose of this paper, using transaction cost economics as a theoretical framework, is to seek an understanding of a company's decision to purchase Management Advisory Services (MAS) from their external auditors and other consultants as opposed to assembling MAS internally within the company.Design/methodology/approach – Data from annual reports for a pooled sample of 3,154 company years were collected for listed Australian companies to determine MAS from auditors. Data for a second sample were collected by undertaking a survey of listed companies to provide a figure for total management advisory services paid to auditors and other consultants. Ordinary …

Which Farmers Turn To Tourism? A Continental-Scale Analysis, Claudia Ollenburg, Ralf Buckley

Claudia Ollenburg

Many urban tourists like to visit farms, but only some farm landholders offer tourism accommodation and activities. Their motivations have been explored previously in several countries, using stated-preference approaches. Here we report the first continental-scale revealed-preference analysis, which yields significant additional information and insights. Using multiple data sources, we inventoried, mapped and characterized all known Australian farm tourism enterprises, and examined patterns using both size-based and multi-criterion classifications. There are clusters of farm tourism enterprises close to cities and gateways, and isolated operations in more remote areas. We identified four groups: full-time, part-time, retirement and lifestyle operators. Characteristics of the …

Affordable Housing Solutions: Affordable Housing Providers' Perspective, Connie Susilawati, Lynne Armitage

Lynne Armitage

Accessibility to housing for low to moderate income groups in Australia has experienced a severe decline since 2002. On the supply side, the public sector has been reducing its commitment to the direct provision of public housing. Despite strong demand for affordable housing, limited supply has been generated by non-government housing providers. This paper identifies and discusses some current affordable housing solutions which have been developed by non-government housing providers to ameliorate the problem.This study utilises case studies generated from nineteen housing providers during in-depth interviews in South East Queensland in 2007-2008. The case studies are classified into four categories …

Green Offices In Australia: A User Perception Survey, Lynne Armitage, Ann Murugan, Hikari Kato

Lynne Armitage

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to deepen understanding of what is working and what is not working within green workplace environments. The paper examines management and employee perceptions of their experiences of working in green workplace environments and assesses the effectiveness of such places.Design/methodology/approach – Being the second stage of a longitudinal study, this paper relies on a data set derived from its survey of 31 management and 351 employee respondents occupying Green Building Council Australia Green Star-rated offices for more than 12 months.Findings – The green workplace is a great place to be, at least most …

Evolution Of Australian Government Industry Statement: Building A Competitive Australia, Robert Castle

Robert G. Castle

No abstract provided.

Regional Problems In The Implementation Of Labout Market Programs: Aboriginal Employment Programs In Australia, Robert Castle

Robert G. Castle

No abstract provided.

The Economic Imperative For Restructuring In Australia And New Zealand, Robert Castle, Nigel Haworth

Robert G. Castle

No abstract provided.