Business Commons^™

The 4-L Framework Of Family Business Leadership, Mary Barrett

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

The 4-L framework for learning family business leadership is a practical model based on empirical research into the learning experiences of second or later generation family business owners who attained the CEO role in the family firm. The strength of this framework is that it takes account of:

• The special characteristics of firms run primarily by blood-related members of a single family;
• The paradoxes family firm leaders have to manage in combining two conventionally unrelated systems: business and family.

Analysing Banks' Intermediation And Operational Performance Using The Hicks-Moorsteen Tfp Index: The Case Of Iran, Amir Arjomandi, Abbas Valadkhani, Martin O'Brien

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

In order to analyse the impact of policy reforms on the performance of the banking sector in Iran we present a decomposition of the Hicks-Moorsteen Total Factor Productivity (TFP). This entails a comparison of both the intermediate and operating performances of different types of banks in the pre- and post-reform eras. Our results show that under the intermediation approach, state-owned banks (public banks) were considerably more efficient than private banks in the post-regulation period. In contrast, under the operating approach, private banks were fully technically efficient and mix efficient in both pre and post-reform eras. This paper highlights the importance …

Convergence In Sovereign Debt Ratios Across Heavily Indebted Eu Countries: Evidence From Club Convergence, N Apergis, Arusha Cooray

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

We study the convergence of sovereign debt accumulation in five European Monetary Union (EMU) countries using quarterly data from June 2009 to June 2013, with a focus on debt ratio convergence following the 2009 sovereign debt crisis and the adoption of fiscal consolidation programmes. We test the Phillips and Sul (2007) club convergence hypothesis. We find the evidence of a lack of debt convergence for Greece and Portugal. Our results support the view that there is not a uniform austerity prescription for all, especially, without emphasizing friendly growth policies, which makes these countries more prone to investors' sentiments.

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 …

A Critical Reflection On The Role Of Stakeholders In Sustainable Tourism Development In Least-Developed Countries, Sotear Ellis, Lynnaire Sheridan

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

While investigating the implementation of community-based tourism in least-developed countries (LDCs), the critical role of stakeholders in sustainable tourism development became apparent. External stakeholders, in particular, develop theory models and define policy for translation into the field yet there is little critical consideration of their role and influence. This article encapsulates insights achieved by the researchers at the interface of theory and practice in a challenging LDC setting.

University Teaching With A Disability: Student Learnings Beyond The Curriculum, Lynnaire Sheridan, Suzanne Kotevski

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This research examines the learning experience of university students who were tutored by a teacher with quadriplegia mixed type cerebral palsy. It was inspired by Pritchard's [2010. "Disabled People as Culturally Relevant Teachers." Journal of Social Inclusion 1 (1): 43-51] argument that the presence of people with a disability in the classroom is important as these teachers deliver both content and generate 'other' learnings. This study examines what was different about the learning experience and what additional learnings may have occurred because of the students' interaction with a tutor with a disability. It begins to explore what educational scaffolding may …

Peer-Pressure And Rational Underage Binge-Drinking, Amnon Levy

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This paper provides a utility-based definition of binge-drinking and examines the compatibility of this phenomenon with a rational decision making. Prohibition of young people's consumption of alcohol is frequently violated by binge-drinking in groups. The analysis considers the roles of peer-pressure, full price of alcohol and crowding in underage group-drinking sessions and identifies the conditions for binge-drinking by expected utility maximizing members. Rational binge-drinking occurs when the impact of the peer-pressure on the individual member's utility exceeds the loss of utility from the forgone spending on all other goods associated with the expected full marginal cost of consuming alcohol.

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.

Ethnic Or Political Fractionalisation? A District Level Analysis Of The Provision Of Public Goods In Sri Lanka, Arusha Cooray

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This study investigates the influence of ethnic and political fractionalisation on the provision of public goods at a district level in Sri Lanka. Evidence shows that political fractionalisation has a greater negative impact on the provision of public goods compared with ethnic fractionalisation. Similarly, political polarisation has a greater negative effect on the provision of public goods compared with ethnic polarisation. The interaction between ethnic and political measures suggests that political fractionalisation (political polarisation) exacerbates the negative effects of ethnic fractionalisation (ethnic polarisation) on the provision of public goods. The ethnolinguistic fractionalisation (ELF) index assumes greater statistical significance under fixed …

Activity Theory: Who Is Doing What, Why And How, Helen Hasan, Alanah Kazlauskas

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

In simple terms, Activity Theory is all about 'who is doing what, why and how'. However, things are rarely that simple. Sometimes referred to as the Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), Activity Theory is grounded in the work of the Russian psychologist Vygotsky and his students, in particular, Leontiev, in the 1920s. Activity Theory provides a lens with which to tease out and to better understand human activity.

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 …

Action Regulation Theory, Michael Jones

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Action Regulation Theory (ART) is a cognitive theory that draws heavily on work by German and Scandinavian researchers. It brings together Levin's Field Theories and the fundamentals of Activity Theory proposed by Leontiev and Vygotsky. However, where Activity Theory looks at activities, which are comprised of sets of goal oriented actions, ART focuses on specific actions: actions coupled with an inherent feedback cycle. This allows for the concept of an action as a pseudo-iterative process. ART can be seen as a part of Activity Theory, which is concerned with the structure of goals and sub-goals that are guided within a …

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 …

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 …

Communities Of Practice: Doing It Together, Alanah Kazlauskas

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Humans beings learn from a great deal from and with one another. Recognising this, Lave and Wenger (1991) describe a community of practice as a community whose members engage in and shape a particular shared practice over time. They regard learning as situated, having a location in space and time as well as a social setting, giving community members the role of engaging in, 'the generative process of producing their own future' (p. 58-9). Noting the relevance of the concept to the world of work and to learning in the workplace, Wenger (1998) developed and extended his earlier work with …

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!

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).

Attribution Theory: Untangling The Relationship Between Management And Workers, Irit Alony

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Attribution theory deals with how and why people form an opinion about the reasons for an event or observation (Winkler 2010). This theory is based on the idea that perception is the foundation of human understanding, sensemaking, and behaviour. This theory claims that people develop explanations for the behaviours of others, similarly to how scientists try to understand the world. The theory asserts that people's opinions are formed based on how they perceive the behaviour and the reality surrounding it. This explanation, the attribution, is based on how the observing person perceives a cause for the actor's behaviour.

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 Processual Perspective: Studying Change In Organisations, Patrick Dawson

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

The processual approach for understanding organisational change takes time seriously in addressing how an organisation moves from point A to point B. The temporal dynamics are often understood within a broader contextual frame that accommodates the past (historical and retrospective analyses) and the future (analyses of future expectation before and after the event), as well as the current ongoing processes of change (Dawson 2013, p 252). The processual approach is based on the assumption that change is complex and at times chaotic (Alvesson & Sveningsson 2008). It recognises that the unplanned, unforseen and unexpected will occur and that consequently, organisational …

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 …

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.

A Conceptual Model Of B2b Online Service Quality, Lois Burgess

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This paper presents a conceptual model on the determinants of Business-to-Business(B2B) online service quality. It is derived form a study of literature and the results of a set of interviews where participants had extensive experience with online customer service.

Modes Of Knowledge Sharing Between Groups, Joseph Meloche, Helen Hasan

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

The inspiration for this work comes from a research consultancy project aimed at assessing the use of the web to enhance communication between two groups, namely, teams of clinicians and the families of patients in Intensive Care Units (ICU). As this project unfolded, the challenge of enabling knowledge sharing between these two disparate groups was encountered. In the ICU situation the patient usually does not have the capacity to contribute to their healthcare choices so that decisions have to be made on their behalf using the combined knowledge of the clinicians and the patient's family. The situation is made more …

A Green Is Taxonomy, Helen Hasan, Alemayehu Molla, Vanessa Cooper

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

As a specialisation within the field of Information Systems (IS), Green IS encapsulates the responsibility of IS researchers and practitioners towards environmentally sustainable development. There is a growing community of IS scholars who are accepting this responsibility and creating an emerging body of Green IS knowledge over a disparate range of topics. Drawing on the emerging Green IS literature, we propose the following set of 11 categories as a taxonomy of Green IS in an endeavour to stimulate efforts to determine the scope and content of the field.

• Creating, Managing and Using Information;
• Supporting and Transforming Human Enterprises; …

Social Risk In Female Entrepreneurship, Roshni Narendran

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

The aim of this chapter is to introduce an alternate means of conceptualising risk, as well as, intercede the concept to the situation of Indian female entrepreneurs. In most contexts, risk tends to be associated with finance (Buttner & Rosen 1988; Jianonkoplos & Bernasek 1998; Verheul & Thurik 2001); however, other intricacies hindering the growth of female entrepreneurship need to be considered. This aspect is trivial when studies are conducted in a culturally rich country like India. When analysing the situation of women in India, researchers refer to the Manusmriti to highlight the social stigma against women in India. Manusmiriti …