Business Commons^™

Who Responds To Financial Incentives For Weight Loss? Evidence From A Randomized Controlled Trial, Alfredo R. Paloyo, Arndt R. Reichert, Monika Reuss-Borst, Harald Tauchmann

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

There is a paucity of evidence on the heterogeneous impacts of financial incentives on weight loss. Between March 2010 and January 2012, in a randomized controlled trial, we assigned 700 obese persons to three experimental arms. We test whether particular subgroups react differently to financial incentives for weight loss. Two treatment groups obtained a cash reward (€150 and €300 with 237 and 229 participants, respectively) for achieving an individually-assigned target weight within four months; the control group (234 participants) was not incentivized. Participants and administrators were not blinded to the intervention. We find that monetary rewards effectively induced obese individuals …

Back To The Future: Using The Ethical Climate Questionnaire To Understand Ethical Behaviour In Not For Profits, Donna Dark, Mark Rix

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

The ethical climate of an organisation can be described as the lens by which employees determine what comprises 'correct' behaviour within that organisation. As an outcome of the organisation's culture, many factors influence an ethical climate's design and configuration, including the organisation's history, its structure and management systems, the external environment and the individuals working within it. In order to work out the best ethical structure or ethical framework to support ethical behaviour, ethical climate must first be understood. The ethical climate questionnaire, (ECQ) a tool developed more than 25 years ago, has been applied and refined in empirical research …

Relationship Initiation Between Universities And Manufacturing: A New Perspective, Adrian Tootell, Elias Kyriazis, Sam Garrett-Jones, Gordon G. Wallace

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Presentation only

Reflecting On Ethics In Netnographic Research, Namita Roy, Ulrike Gretzel, Venkata K. Yanamandram, Gordon R. Waitt

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Netnography uses a mix of unobtrusive as well as interactive methods of research to study consumer behaviour online. The evolving technology has created greater avenues for researchers to apply different ethnographic methods online. However, it has also posed a number of ethical debates. This paper provides a reflective account of ethical dilemmas that were faced by me (researcher) while working on an ethics application using the methods of Netnography. It uses the context of the researcher's PhD research ethics application, to highlight the issues of domain, consent and privacy encountered while working on the ethics application. This paper contributes through …

Idiosyncratic Volatility And Momentum: The Performance Of Australian Equity Pension Funds, Amalia Di Iorio, Bin Liu

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

We investigate the importance of idiosyncratic volatility for pricing of equity funds by using a comprehensive dataset of Australian retail equity pension funds from January 1995 to December 2008. We find strong evidence to support that idiosyncratic volatility is a significant pricing factor for returns of the equity funds implying that investors should consider idiosyncratic volatility when evaluating the performance of funds. We also find strong evidence to support that idiosyncratic volatility is strongly associated with momentum effect of Australian equity pension funds as equity pension funds with high idiosyncratic volatilities exhibit a high momentum effect.

The Incidence And Perceived Managerial Merit Of Customer Accounting In New Zealand, Farzana A. Tanima, Ken Bates

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Purpose - Two prior survey papers on the use and perceived merit of customer accounting (CA) practices, one in Australia and one in New Zealand (NZ), disclosed contrasting results with confusing elements. The purpose of this paper is to replicate and extend previous survey research in order to update and clarify our understanding of CA practices in NZ.

Design/methodology/approach - Within a contingency theory framework, a mail questionnaire survey is used to measure the use and perceived merit of CA practices in NZ and investigate their relationship with six contingent factors: competitive strategy, market orientation, environmental uncertainty, costing methodology, company …

Informational Efficiency Of The Real Estate Market: A Meta-Analysis, Shanaka Herath, Gunther Maier

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

The growing empirical literature testing informational efficiency of real estate markets uses data from various contexts and at different levels of aggregation. The results of these studies are mixed. We use a distinctive meta-analysis to examine whether some of these study characteristics and contexts lead to a significantly higher chance for identification of an efficient real estate market. The results generated through meta-regression suggest that use of stock market data and individual level data, rather than aggregate data, significantly improves the probability of a study concluding efficiency. Additionally, the findings neither provide support for the suspicion that the view of …

Disadvantaged Places In Urban Australia: Residential Mobility, Place Attachment And Social Exclusion, Hal Pawson, Shanaka Herath

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Analysis of Census data can usefully identify spatial concentrations of socio-economic disadvantage and certain characteristics of local populations. However, it is also important to understand residents' views about such areas. People living in disadvantaged communities may have a variety of experiences which can inform much richer insights into both the positive and negative aspects of place. As part of a larger study on spatially concentrated disadvantage in Australia, we therefore commissioned a survey of residents in four such areas of Sydney. To complement extensive secondary data (including Census) analysis and qualitative fieldwork involving local agencies and other stakeholders, the survey …

The Microstructure Of Australian Takeover Announcements, Martin Bugeja, Vinay Patel, Terry S. Walter

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Using several microstructure variables, this study provides an intra-day examination of aggressive trading around Australian takeover announcements. We conduct this analysis for both target and bidding firms. We examine aggressive trading (i.e. by those who initiate the trade) using the abnormal behaviour of returns, trading volume, volatility and time-weighted spreads and depth. In addition, we develop a novel profit/loss measure (PLM) based on trade initiation and provide new evidence using the recently developed volume-synchronised probability of informed trading (VPIN) metric. In a univariate setting, these measures provide evidence of increased aggressive trading in Australian target firms. Further, after controlling for …

Coachable Moments: Identifying Factors That Influence Managers To Take Advantage Of Coachable Moments In Day-To-Day Management, Christina Turner, Grace Mccarthy

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

The purpose of this study was to identify the factor s that influence managers to take advantage of coachable moments in day-to-day management. Inte rviews with ten managers found that time, skills, and relationships were key factors considered by ma nagers, but that these were considered within the context of potential "risk" to the manager. Th is paper elaborates on these findings and makes recommendations for further research into how manage rs consciously assess the risks associated with coaching, in order to decide whether to take a dvantage of an informal coaching opportunity.

Dimensions Driving Business Student Satisfaction In Higher Education, Mazirah Yusoff, Fraser Mcleay, Helen Woodruffe-Burton

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Purpose - This study aims to identify the dimensions of business student satisfaction in the Malaysian private higher educational environment and evaluate the infuence that demographic factors have on satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach - A questionnaire was developed and distributed to 1,200 undergraduate business students at four private higher educational (PHE) institutions in Malaysia. Exploratory factor analysis was used to identify the underlying dimensions that drive student satisfaction. ANOVA and t-tests were conducted to evaluate the influence that demographic factors have on the results.

Findings - Factor analysis resulted in the adoption of a 12-factor solution from an original set of …

The Social Innovation Network (Sinet) University Of Wollongong Final Report 2015, Helen M. Hasan

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

[extract] A decade ago, discussions were held between Prof Margaret Sheil, the then Pro Vice- Chancellor (Research), and researchers in the social science on the most effective structures by which the University's Research Office could recognize and support research excellence in areas other than science and engineering. Most of the Research Strengths funded at the time adopted the traditional institute structure, which suited science and engineering where costly laboratories and equipment were needed. We pointed out that research in Social Sciences, Humanities, Business and Education tended to occur in small groups all over campus between which there were multiple connections. …

Fitting The Mould: The Role Of Employer Perceptions In Immigrant Recruitment Decision-Making, Shamika Almeida, Mario Fernando, Zeenobiyah Nadiyah Hannif, Shyamali Dharmage

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Human capital theory presumes that skill-accredited immigrant professionals can access positions in the labour market to match their skills and qualifications. It implies that employers have little power to influence the labour market outcomes of immigrant professionals. Using social identity theory, we examine the influence of similarity effect in recruitment decision-making involving immigrant information technology (IT) professionals in New South Wales, Australia. We assess how decision makers (N = 331) hiring IT professionals need to associate and identify with people that resemble themselves in some way more than those that do not, can influence their perception of the immigrant candidate's …

Reflections On A Bilingual Peer Assisted Learning Program, Jin Cui, Tairan Huang, Corinne L. Cortese, Matthew P. Pepper

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to identify and evaluate faculty and academic staff perceptions, experiences and expectations with respect to a voluntary, bilingual peer assisted learning (PAL) program, which operates for the benefit of students studying in the Faculty of Business at a regional Australian University.

Design/methodology/approach - A survey instrument and semi-structured interviews were used to faculty executive and academic staff in order to collect information about the perceived benefits of the program and identify opportunities for improvement.

Findings - Based on an analysis of student results, the bilingual PAL program is shown to have a …

The Relationship Between Human Capital, Value Creation And Employee Reward, Peter R. Massingham, Wing Yin Leona Tam

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Purpose

This paper examines the relationship between human capital (HC) and value creation and employee reward. HC is an important component of intellectual capital (IC). There is growing interest in how IC can be used to create organizational value. This paper addresses the need for critical analysis of IC practices in action. Based on data gathered from three annual surveys at Australia's second largest public sector organization, the paper introduces psychological contract as new HC factors, and develops a method to measure HC in terms of value creation (work activity) and employee reward (pay). The findings have practical implications for …

Sustainability And Intertemporal Equity: A Multicriteria Approach, Cinzia Colapinto, Danilo Liuzzi, Simone Marsiglio

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

In (macro)economics literature, the need to consider sustainability and intertemporal equity issues leads to propose different criteria (discounted utilitarianism, green golden rule, Chichilnisky criterion) in order to define social welfare. We compare and assess the outcomes associated to such alternative criteria in a simple macroeconomic model with natural resources and environmental concern (Chichilnisky et al. in Econ Lett 49:174-179, 1995), by relying on a multicriteria approach. We show that among these three criteria, the green golden rule (discounted utilitarianism) yields the highest (lowest) welfare level, while the Chichilnisky criterion leads to an intermediate welfare level which turns out to be …

On Dynamic Multiple Criteria Decision Making Models: A Goal Programming Approach, Belaid Aouni, Cinzia Colapinto, Davide La Torre, Danilo Liuzzi, Simone Marsiglio

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Dynamic multiple criteria decision making (DMCDM) represents an extension of classical multiple criteria decision making to a context in which all variables are depending on time. This complex decision making problem requires the development of methodologies able to incorporate different and conflicting goals in a satisfying design of policies. We formulate two different goal programming models, namely a weighted goal programming model and a goal programming model with satisfaction functions, for solving DMCDM models. We present an application of this methodology to analyze the trade-off between consumption and investment in a traditional Ramsey-type macroeconomic model with heterogeneous agents. For a …

Innovation Determinants And Barriers: A Tri-Perspective Analysis Of It Appropriation Within An Early Childhood Education And Care Organisation, Melinda Plumb, Karlheinz Kautz

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Empirical studies on information technology (IT) in early childhood education and care organisations are scant, despite an increasing number of these organisations choosing to innovate with IT. This paper presents a framework to understand the appropriation of IT as an innovation within such an organisation. The framework consists of three perspectives on innovation: an individualist, a structuralist and an interactive process perspective. While the first focuses on concepts such as leadership, IT champions, previous IT exposure, the second focuses on organisation size, parents as stakeholders, competitors, government compliance and regulatory requirements. The third perspective views the innovation as a dynamic …

Green Intraprenurial Flexibility Towards Sustaining Competitive Advantage: A Case Of South Asian Context, G D. Samarasinghe, Ananda Wickramasinghe, Helan Ramya Gamage, Nalin Abeysekera

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This study explores how green based intrapreneurial flexibility affects sustainable business performance of the Sri Lankan hotel industry. A survey was administered to a random sample of senior managers of hotels in Sri Lanka. Linear regression analysis revealed a significant path coefficient which explained green based intrapreneurial flexibility positively influenced sustainable competitive advantage. The findings suggest that hotel industry policy makers develop green specific intrapreneurial capabilities so that they can quickly adapt their green based product and service offerings in responding to changes of the green market requirements by focusing on green based new venture creation, green innovation, green related …

Australia Slow To Capitalise On Islamic Finance Opportunities, George Mickhail

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Australia has one of the most efficient and competitive 'full service' financial sectors in the Asia Pacific region and is situated close to the fastest-growing region in the world. The Islamic finance industry is not only growing rapidly in the world, but is also showing stability and resilience in the face of instability in the global markets. However, Australia has been slow to capitalize on the opportunity to develop and export Islamic finance services.

It's All About The Money: Adding Value To Industry Through Industrial Design-Led Innovations, Blair Kuys, Elias Kyriazis

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

There are a lot of studies describing the importance of university-industry engagement (Shane, 2004; Friedman and Silberman, 2003; Jensen et al., 2003; Link et al., 2003, D'Este and Patel, 2007), however very few describe the detailed working relationships required to satisfy both the university and the company involved. More importantly, there is limited work done showing the value of such engagement from a commercial point of view. This study provides an authoritative guide for understanding successful engagement with industry to help manufacturers diversify their output to increase profit margins and sustain production in often declining industries. This study plays particular …

Oil Production Rehabilitation, Fiscal Policy And Economic Development In Libya: A Future View, Issa Saleh Ali, Charles Harvie

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This paper develops and simulates a dynamic general equilibrium macroeconomic model to analyze the likely impact of oil production and revenue rehabilitation on the Libyan economy, under different government fiscal policy responses. The model is ideally appropriate to analyze macroeconomic issues in oil-producing developing countries. In particular, it is capable of incorporating alternative government policy responses toward the allocation of the oil revenue either upon consumption spending or development spending in the form of government investment spending upon infrastructure, human capital formation and technology acquisition in non-oil production. It is also capable of incorporating different degrees of international capital mobility …

Cross-Border Electricity Cooperation In South Asia, Anoop Singh, Tooraj Jamasb, Rabindra Nepal, Michael Toman

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

South Asian countries, facing challenges in efficiently meeting growing electricity demand, can benefit from increased cross-border electricity cooperation and trade by harnessing complementarities in electricity demand patterns, diversity in resource endowments for power generation, and gains from larger market access. The region has witnessed slow progress in expanding regional electricity cooperation and trade, and undertaking needed domestic sector reforms. Although bilateral electricity sector cooperation in the region is increasing, broader regional cooperation and trade initiatives have lagged in the face of regional barriers and domestic sector inefficiencies. Deeper electricity market reforms are not a necessity for further development of cross-border …