Business Commons^™

Decentralization And Firm Investment: Evidence From China, Xiaofei Pan, Yiping Wu, Huihang Wu

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Taking advantage of decentralization reform that enlarges the authority of county government in China, we construct a quasi-experiment. Using a large sample of Chinese firms, we show that after the implementation of decentralization reform, firms located in decentralized counties experienced a significant increase in investment expenditure compared with other firms. We also find that after the decentralization reform, state owned enterprises (SOEs) experienced greater increase in investment expenditure on average compared with non-SOEs, and that, within non-SOEs, collective firms have an even larger increase in investments, followed by foreign firms and private firms. Further analysis shows that the influence of …

Rights, Respect And Responsibilities Online - Reflections And Efficacy, Michelle J. Eady, Michael L. Jones, Irit Alony, Yoke Berry

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Demands for moral development are increasing in business and professional training. Mixed results of diversity training programs in the higher education sector suggest that innovative approaches are required for preparing students to become morally upright leaders and teachers. This research looks at the implementation of an online interactive tutorial that focuses on students working and learning together with others from a variety of diverse backgrounds. The study comprises a three-year investigation on the attitudes and understandings of students prior to a group work assessment task, and after completing the online tutorial. First year primary education students (n=594) completed pre- and …

Contemporary Trends In Professional Doctorates, Michael L. Jones

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Undertaking a PhD is commonly viewed as an apprenticeship, where the student learns the trade of becoming an academic. However, the doctoral degree did not start off with that intention, and it may not continue this way into the future. The initial design of the PhD was a professional degree which gave students the licence to teach. Research was not a focus of the degree until the 1800s. Recently, the purpose of the doctorate has been under examination. This re-examination has come about for a number of reasons: (1) Employment options within academe are no longer as abundant or secure …

Women's Gambling Behaviour, Product Preferences, And Perceptions Of Product Harm: Differences By Age And Gambling Risk Status, Simone Mccarthy, Samantha L. Thomas, Melanie J. Randle, Amy Bestman, Hannah Pitt, Sean Cowlishaw, Mike Daube

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Background: Women's participation in, and harm from gambling, is steadily increasing. There has been very limited research to investigate how gambling behaviour, product preferences, and perceptions of gambling harm may vary across subgroups of women.

Methods: This study surveyed a convenience sample of 509 women from Victoria and New South Wales, Australia. Women were asked a range of questions about their socio-demographic characteristics and gambling behaviour. Focusing on four gambling products in Australia-casino gambling, electronic gambling machines (EGMs), horse betting, and sports betting-women were asked about their frequency of participation, their product preferences, and perceptions of product harms. The sample …

Big Data And Predictive Analytics In Humanitarian Supply Chains: Enabling Visibility And Coordination In The Presence Of Swift Trust, Rameshwar Dubey, Zongwei Luo, Angappa Gunasekaran, Md Shahriar Akter, Benjamin Hazen, Matthew A. Douglas

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Purpose - The primary objective of this research is to understand how big data and predictive analytics (BDPA), as an organizational capability, can improve both visibility and coordination in humanitarian supply chains.

Design/methodology/approach - We conceptualize a research model grounded in contingent resource-based view (CRBV), where we propose that BDPA capabilities affect visibility and coordination under the moderating effect of swift trust. Using Ordinary Least Squares Regression, we test the hypotheses using survey data collected from informants at 205 International Non-Government Organizations (NGOs).

Findings - Results indicate that BDPA has a significant influence on visibility and coordination. Further, results suggest …

Effect Of Non-Ifrs Earnings Reporting Guidelines On Underlying Earnings Reporting Quality: The Case Of Australian Listed Firms, Yiru Yang, Indra Abeysekera

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This study investigates Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) 200 firms in the post-Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) period (2011-2014) to examine how listed firms follow the non-International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) earnings reporting guidelines issued by ASIC to communicate underlying earnings reporting quality. We find that firms that do not comply with the ASIC guidelines have lower underlying earnings reporting quality than do firms that comply with these guidelines. Firms that do not follow the ASIC guidelines are found to exclude income-increasing underlying earnings adjustments to make underlying earnings appear more profitable than IFRS earnings when they miss earnings targets …

Changing Board Behaviour: The Role Of The 'Two Strikes' Rule In Improving The Efficacy Of Australian Say-On-Pay, James Borthwick, Aelee Jun, Shiguang Ma

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This article analyses whether the transition from the 2004 CLERP 9 advisory Say-on-Pay regime to the 'Two Strikes' rule in 2012 influenced CEO pay in Australian firms. Analysing a panel of 2,074 firm-years (2005-2015), we find that (i) CEO pay is a positive predictor of shareholder dissent; (ii) firm performance has a reducing effect on shareholder dissent; (iii) excessive shareholder dissent moderated CEO pay under the 'Two Strikes' rule relative to the CLERP 9 regime, and (iv) the market responded favourably to the introduction of the 'Two Strikes' rule and negatively to 'strike' instances after its introduction.

Have Asian Airlines Caught Up With European Airlines? A By-Production Efficiency Analysis, Amir Arjomandi, K Herve Dakpo, Juergen Heinz Seufert

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This paper extends previous approaches to meta-efficiency measures by incorporating meta-frontiers using good-output, bad-output and by-production efficiencies to compare European and Asian airlines. We also examine whether the heterogeneity in environmental regulatory standards between these regions has emboldened Asian airlines to be less eco-friendly and/or more market-share seeking. We find that the environmental performance of European airlines improved continuously between 2007 and 2013, unlike their competitors in Asia. We argue that this improvement in the environmental performance of the European airlines could be an outcome of the European Emission Trading Scheme (ETS), which set incentives for European airlines to renew …

Wikirate Student Engagement Report: International Case Studies, Stephanie Perkiss, Bonnie Amelia Dean, Belinda Kathlyn Gibbons, Theresa Heithaus, Alec Wersun, Maria Alejandra Gonzalez-Perez, Stephanos Anastasiadis, Pilar Acosta, Roman H. Mesicek, Hannah Jun, Richard Mills

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This report is the product of a year-long international collaboration across eight countries. The research was initiated to explore the multiple ways the WikiRate Student Engagement Project was being implemented in higher education institutions in diverse classrooms around the world. By eliciting the perspectives of students and teachers, our aim was to learn more about its impact, challenges and potential.

On The Implications Of Tourism Specialization And Structural Change In Tourism Destinations, Simone Marsiglio

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

We explore the relationship between tourism specialization and structural change in an endogenous growth model, analyzing its implications for both economic growth and tourist flows. We consider a two-sector economic growth model where the development of tourism activities generates a production externality and a structural change, which modifies the resources-use intensity, ultimately affecting tourist flows. We characterize the balanced growth path equilibrium and analyze under which conditions structural change may generate fast economic growth, providing a theoretical support for the empirical evidence on tourism countries. We also show that structural change may alternatively lead to stages of rejuvenation, stagnation, or …

Designing A Knowledge Management System For Social Services Not-For-Profit Organisations, Peter R. Massingham, Rada Massingham, Alan A. Pomering

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This article discusses knowledge management system design for SSNFPOs. The transfer of best practice knowledge management to SSNFPOs is not easy. SSNFPOs have different strategies and ways of doing business compared to 'for-profit' organisations. Sector reforms in disability services, aged care, and child services in Australia threaten to disrupt social value as new for-profit rivals enter and pursue economic value. In response, the case study organisation (CSO) has been working with the research team to consider how knowledge management might help it become a stronger organisation and ensure its survival and growth in the reformed sector. The research was informed …

Constructing Careers And Negotiating Barriers: Success Factors Of Skilled Immigrants In Western Countries, Santina Bertone, Marian Crowley-Henry, Shamika Almeida

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Abstract presented at the International Metropolis Conference, 29 October - 2 November 2018, Sydney, Australia

Price Discovery In Short-Term Interest Rate Markets: Futures Versus Swaps, Alessandro Frino, Michael Garcia Santana

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This study examines price discovery at the short end of the yield curve by examining the lead–lag relationship in the prices of Australian interest rate swap and bank accepted bill futures contracts. Consistent with previous research, we find strong bidirectional flows of information between swap and futures markets during daytime trading. However, the swap market leads price discovery during overnight trading while futures markets lead swap markets on macroeconomic announcement days-both new findings. We demonstrate and conclude that price discovery in derivatives at the short end of the yield curve is driven by transaction costs.

Do We Really Need Funeral Insurance?, Sandra L. Van Der Laan, Lee C. Moerman

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

TV advertisements for funeral insurance often warn of the huge financial impost created for families when you die. They argue the only way to protect your loved ones is to take out insurance. However, what these ads don't tell you is that funeral insurance is a financial product and not really any different from life insurance, except the cover is usually for a much lower amount.

Rotating The Medical Supplies For Emergency Response: A Simulation Based Approach, Quan Zhou, Tava Lennon Olsen

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Serious expiration problems exist in national medical reserves prepared for emergency response. One alternative to reduce expiration is to rotate the reserve to hospitals so products can be used for day to day operations. Yet, rotation incurs extra handling costs and needs to be combined with hospitals' ordering decisions. This decision process is complex and involves various sources of uncertainty. In this paper, we use discrete-event simulation to model the rotation of the reserve in combination with the hospitals’ inventory management, and combine it with optimization to search for the optimal rotation policy. With simulation experiments, we evaluate the performance …

Moderator Impact Of Preferred Hrm Culture On The Relationship Between Work Values On Contextual And Task Performance, Palli Mulla K A Chandrakumara

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This study examines the moderator effect of individual preferences for HRM practices on the relationship between work values and contextual and task performance (CTP).The relevant literature suggests that the notion of individual preferences in regard to their effect on CTP, moderator effect in particular, has received scant systematic attention.The data were obtained in a sample of 356 manufacturing sector employees in Sri Lanka. A three-step moderated hierarchical regression procedure was adopted to examine the moderating effect of individual preferences. The results of the study supported the hypotheses. Originally, work values and ethics had a direct effect on CTP. However, this …

Sydney Siege, December 2014: A Visualisation Of A Semantic Social Media Sentiment Analysis, Jan Wendland, Christian Ehnis, Rodney J. Clarke, Deborah Bunker

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Sentiment Analyses are widely used approaches to understand and identify emotions, feelings, and opinion on social media platforms. Most sentiment analysis systems measure the presumed emotional polarity of texts. While this is sufficient for some applications, these approaches are very limiting when it comes to understanding how social media users actually use language resources to make sense of extreme events. In this paper, the authors apply a Sentiment Analysis based on the Appraisal System from the theory of communication called Systemic Functional Linguistics to understand the sentiment of event-driven social media communication. A prototype was developed to code and visualise …

Political Promotion, Ceo Incentives, And The Relationship Between Pay And Performance, Xiaping Cao, Michael Lemmon, Xiaofei Pan, Meijun Qian, Gary G. Tian

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Both theory and empirical evidence suggest that managers' career concerns can serve as an important source of implicit economic incentives. We examine how incentives for political promotion are related to compensation policy and firm performance in Chinese state-owned enterprises. We find that the likelihood that the CEO receives a political promotion is positively related to firm performance. We also find that CEOs with a higher likelihood of political promotion have lower pay levels and lower pay-performance sensitivity. Overall, the evidence suggests that competition in the political job market helps mitigate weak monetary incentives for CEOs in China.

Dynamic Service Analytics Capabilities For Service Systems In The Global Big Data Economy - A Systematic Review And Agenda For Future Research, Shahriar Akter, Saradhi Motamarri, Mujahid M. Babu, Mario Fernando, Samuel Fosso Wamba, Kathy Ning Shen

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Extended abstract presented at the Data, Organisations and Society Conference, 21 November 2018, Coventry, United Kingdom

Exploring Children's Experiences In Community Gambling Venues: A Qualitative Study With Children Aged 6-16 In Regional New South Wales, Amy Bestman, Samantha L. Thomas, Melanie J. Randle, Hannah Pitt, Mike Daube

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Issue addressed: Community-based gambling venues provide a range of activities for children alongside adult products, such as gambling. However, there has been little examination of children's experiences with, and exposure to, a range of gambling and non-gambling activities within venues.

Methods: Visual sociology methods were used to measure unprompted recall, prompted recall, current use and intended adult use of activities in community gambling venues in 44 children who attended venues. Qualitative data were also collected to gain further insight into children's perceptions of the venue and the activities within.

Results: Children displayed high unprompted and prompted recall …

An Investigation In The Sustainable Economic Practices Of Ecovillages, Belinda Kathlyn Gibbons, Emma Elizabeth Heffernan, Oriana Price, Simon Ville, Mary C. Johnsson

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This 2018 research report represents Phase 1 of a small project investigating economic practices within one Australian ecovillage. Phase 2 of the same project (a longitudinal progress update) was completed in 2019. The 2018 report provides a summary of 'lessons learned' findings from a literature scan on ecovillages including the websites of 14 ecovillages. In addition, the report contains analysis of findings from mixed method research including an online survey, focus group, individual interviews and other qualitative data collection activities generated from interacting with members of the Australian ecovillage.

Does Corporate Governance Quality Affect Default Risk? The Role Of Growth Opportunities And Stock Liquidity, Searat Ali, Benjamin Liu, Jen Je Su

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

A series of defaults, a distinctive corporate environment and inconclusive findings in literature make Australia an interesting case in which to investigate the association between corporate governance and default risk. Using a large panel of 1086 non-financial firms from 2001 to 2013, we find that better governed firms are strongly associated with a lower level of default risk, and that the association is stronger among firms with more growth opportunities. Moreover, empirical evidence supports the role of stock liquidity as a channel of the relationship. Overall these findings have practical implications for the stakeholders in Australia.

Fractal Attractors In Economic Growth Models With Random Pollution Externalities, Davide La Torre, Simone Marsiglio, Fabio Privileggi

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

We analyze a discrete time two-sector economic growth model where the production technologies in the final and human capital sectors are affected by random shocks both directly (via productivity and factor shares) and indirectly (via a pollution externality). We determine the optimal dynamics in the decentralized economy and show how these dynamics can be described in terms of a two-dimensional affine iterated function system with probability. This allows us to identify a suitable parameter configuration capable of generating exactly the classical Barnsley's fern as the attractor of the log-linearized optimal dynamical system.

On The (Nonmonotonic) Relation Between Economic Growth And Finance, Alberto Bucci, Simone Marsiglio, Catherine Prettner

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

We analyze the simplest possible model of endogenous growth to account for the role of financial development. In our setting, financial development affects productivity and determines the amount of resources subtracted to capital investment. We show that under very general assumptions, the relation between economic growth and financial depth is nonmonotonic, and eventually bell-shaped. We empirically assess our results in a framework that allows to distinguish between long-run and short-run effects. We establish a cointegrating relation and derive the long-run elasticities of per capita gross domestic product (GDP) with respect to employment, the physical capital stock, and financial depth-relying on …

The Knowledge Enhancement Process Of Knowledge Workers, Carol Mcgowan, Kate L. P Reid, Lee Styger

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Using Constructivist Grounded Theory this research sought to explore the nature of knowledge workers and knowledge work itself. The interview findings reveal that knowledge workers have a set of processes they employ to remain connected and informed both personally and professionally in their domain area of expertise. They have learned to collect, curate, work with and share information to their best advantage. We have described this as knowledge workers knowledge enhancement process. A deeper understanding of this process has implications for organisations aiming to optimise the work of knowledge workers and for those teaching new knowledge workers for the future.

Social Marketing And The Implementation Of The National Disability Insurance Scheme, Jodie Kleinschafer, Felicity Small, Mona Nikidehaghani

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is a nation-wide government policy designed to support people living with a disability (PWD) and constitutes a significant reform in the provision of disability funding in Australia. This reform is a rapidly implemented response to the poor living conditions for PWD, as identified in the Australian Productivity Commission's report in 2011. It is founded on the social aim of empowering PWD with choice and control so they can "live an ordinary life". As such the implementation of this policy could have benefited from the application of social marketing strategy from the beginning, as the …

Lending To Private Firms: Evidence From China On The Role Of Firm Openness And Bribery, Wenjuan Ruan, Erwei Xiang, Shiguang Ma

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This article investigates the effects of firm openness and bribery on bank lending decisions. Using World Bank data covering 1,781 private firms, we do not find supportive evidence on the role of bribery in helping private firms to obtain bank credit. However, we find evidence that firm openness has a positive effect on helping private firms to obtain banking finance. This finding holds true only for large firms, manufacturing firms, and firms located in regions with good banking development. We also find that private firms with greater government assistance are more likely to obtain bank loans, and more credit overall.

Grappling With Grapes: Developing Strategy For The Poncini Vineyards, Mary Barrett, Luca Gottardi, Ken Moores

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Brothers Lorenzo and Angelo Poncini are part of a family business in the Trentino region of northern Italy. It began as a trucking firm but diversified over the years. One such diversification is grape growing, which began in 1988. The Poncini family sends its grape harvest, currently Pinot Grigio, to a local cooperative, Gruppo Italiano Cantine, which makes and markets the wine. However, the vines the family originally planted - a major proportion of the planting surface - are getting past their prime and the quantity, if not the quality, of the family's grapes will soon begin to decline. Lorenzo …

Lean Six Sigma And The Australian Business Excellence Framework: An Exploratory Case Within Local Government, Oriana Price, Matthew P. Pepper, Matthew Stewart

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine a contextualized local government case study of the application of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) in conjunction with the Australian Business Excellence Framework (ABEF) to highlight the importance of a good strategic fit between LSS and organizational objectives before implementation.

Design/methodology/approach A local government council is used in a case study-based approach. Organizational artefacts and documents were used for data collection in conjunction with interviews from senior executives within the organization.

Findings Results indicate that when used in conjunction with the ABEF, LSS provides focus on organizational learning practices embedded within the …

Supervision's 'Three Amigos': Exploring The Evolving Functions Of Supervision And Its Application In The Field Of Coaching, Mike Armour

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

The literature on supervision includes an enduring theme related to the 'functions' of supervision. However, each helping profession has defined the functions of supervision somewhat uniquely. Within the field of social work functions are defined as being "administrative, educational and supportive" (Kadushin, 1976, pp. 20-21), indicating specific roles that are undertaken by the agent-supervisor. The notion of functions also appears to have been widely embraced within counseling literature, although the terms have been adapted as a framework of tasks being "formative, restorative and normative" (Proctor, 2000, p. 12), to describe processes which are for the benefit of the therapist. More …