Business Commons^™

An Ambience Of Power? Challenges Inherent In The Role Of The Public Transport Transit Officer, Christine Teague, Lelia Green, David Leith

Research outputs pre 2011

No abstract provided.

Dysfunctional Audit Behaviour: An Exploratory Study In Malaysia, Halil Paino, Zubaidah Ismail, Malcolm Smith

Research outputs pre 2011

The quality of the opinion provided by audit firms is an important determinant of their long-term survival, but audit quality is difficult to gauge, which makes it particularly sensitive to the behaviour of the individuals who carry on audit work. This paper seeks to identify the incidence of dysfunctional audit behaviours and audit quality reduction behaviours, actions taken by an auditor during engagement that reduce evidence-gathering effectiveness. The paper is based on a survey of 244 auditors working in small/medium and big audit firms in Malaysia. The paper identifies key variables leading to dysfunctional audit behaviour. The paper is subject …

Preface To Special Issue: Environmental Sustainability And Business, Elizabeth Walker, Janice Redmond, Margaret Giles

Research outputs pre 2011

The issue of environmental sustainability and the need to address the collective environmental impact of business is discussed. In particular, the need to engage small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in environmental management is highlighted. The papers presented in the Special Issue of 'The International Journal of Business Studies' are dicussed.

Personal Knowledge Management And Student Learning, Stuart Garner

Research outputs pre 2011

Students who undertake courses of study at colleges and universities are generally more successful in their learning outcomes if they are able to manage their personal knowledge well and effectively. This paper begins by discussing the meaning of personal knowledge management (PKM) and how it relates to teaching and learning, particularly to a commonly used instructional design framework. Some of the electronic tools that students might utilise are then discussed. Finally several electronic tools that might prove useful to students to aid their PKM are suggested

I Was Banging My Head Against A Brick Wall: Exclusionary Power And The Gendering Of Sport Organizations, Ruth Sibson

Research outputs pre 2011

The under-representation of women in sport management has increasingly been recognized by government and nongovernment organizations, and there has been some attempt to redress the imbalance. Research has indicated, however, that the gendering of sport organizations is not simply a numbers' game. The purpose of this study was to analyze the exercise of exclusionary power as an aspect of gender relations within a six member volunteer Board of Directors of an Australian local, grass-roots sport organization. Data were gathered using semistructured interviews, participant observation and documentary evidence over a 15-month period. This study identified that, although numerical under-representation of men …

A Proposed Methodology To Promote Adoption Of 'Green' Production By Small Firms, Elizabeth Walker, Janice Redmond, Margaret Giles

Research outputs pre 2011

Small firms are critical to all economies but also have a significant negative impact on the environment. Their collective footprint equates to 60% of industrial pollution yet small firm owner-managers are not convinced of the necessity for behaviour change. This paper develops a proposed methodology to engage small firm owner-managers in 'green' production, in particular adoption of energy saving and waste recycling practices. This methodology includes a suggested approach to determining the 'tipping point' for the investment of time and resources by small firms. The paper argues that knowing the 'tipping point' and making a realistic business case should encourage …

Overseas Students In Australia: An Experiential View, Maria Ryan, Madeleine Ogilvie

Research outputs pre 2011

Overseas students have access to a number of learning opportunities available by virtue of a highly competitive tertiary education market system. Despite the increasing trend for remote, online-based learning programs, many students elect to travel outside their home country to experience the cultural difference of studying abroad. The benefit is symbiotic, with crucial university funding being attracted by increased numbers of overseas students seeking an enriched studying experience. The focus of this paper is the on-campus learning experience received by expatriate students studying in Australia and Singapore. How these students adapt to the different physical, social and emotional environments is …

Women's Knowledge And Attitudes Regarding Alcohol Consumption In Pregnancy: A National Survey, Elizabeth Peadon, Jan Payne, Nadine Henley, Heather D'Antoine, Anne Bartu, Colleen O'Leary, Carol Bower, Elizabeth Elliott

Research outputs pre 2011

Background: Alcohol exposure in pregnancy is a common and modifiable risk factor for poor pregnancy and child outcomes. Alcohol exposure in pregnancy can cause a range of physical and neurodevelopmental problems in the child including the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). In order to improve prevention strategies, we sought to describe the knowledge and attitudes of women of childbearing age regarding alcohol consumption during pregnancy and its effects on the fetus. Methods: We conducted a national cross-sectional survey via computer assisted telephone interview of 1103 Australian women aged 18 to 45 years. Participants were randomly selected from the Electronic White …

An Analysis Of Small Business Owners' Participation In Online Learning, Tara Smith, Susan Stoney, Elizabeth Walker

Research outputs pre 2011

Small business owner-managers are a difficult group to engage in training and learning activities and the delivery medium has often been cited as a reason. This paper reports the preliminary findings of a qualitative research project regarding small business owner-manager participation in an online collaborative learning forum. The findings suggest that three principle themes emerged to explain why some small business owner-managers participated in the forum. These include; access to a networked computer; the personal characteristics of the small business owner-manager, and the design of the online learning forum. The findings also suggest that learning styles need to be specifically …

A Multi-Factor Analysis Of Areit Returns, Jaime L.P. Yong

Research outputs pre 2011

Since 1990, the Australian Real Estate Investment Trust (AREIT) sector has experienced substantial growth and popularity. While the AREIT sector had benefit from the increased flow of funds from institutional investors during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the recent impact of the 2008 global financial crisis has been a negative one. In this paper, we examine the sensitivities of annualised AREIT returns against a set of seven firm-specific variables and four market-wide risk variables. Balanced and unbalanced panel regressions are conducted on three sub-periods during 1990 – 2008 corresponding to the major phases in evolution of the AREIT sector. Our …

A Review Of Interventions To Encourage Smes To Make Environmental Improvements, Craig M. Parker, Janice Redmond, Mike Simpson

Research outputs pre 2011

Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are an important part of the world economy but they are thought to be responsible for around 60% of all carbon dioxide emissions and 70% of all pollution. SMEs often have major problems with limited resources, limited knowledge and limited technical capabilities to deal with their own negative environmental impact. SMEs exhibit widely differing characteristics and commitment where environmental issues are concerned. Yet under these conditions they are all expected to engage in environmental improvement. Interventions that encourage environmental improvement are often polarised between regulation and legislation at one extreme and voluntary environmental agreement …

Environmental Education In Small Business: The Owner-Manager's Perspective, Janice Redmond, Elizabeth Walker

Research outputs pre 2011

Traditionally, environmental education has been aimed at the community or in primary schools and governmental pressure to reduce environmental damage has focussed on large businesses. More recently, the role and importance of small business and how to engage them in the environmental debate has come under scrutiny. Researchers have identified education as one method of increasing the understanding of small business owner-managers’ role and knowledge of practices that, when implemented, will reduce the negative impacts of their businesses. However, there is little attention given in the literature to the perspective of the small business owner-manager and environmental education. This research …

Knowledge Management In An Organisational Climate Of Uncertainty And Change: A Longitudinal Case Study Of An Australian University, Denise Gengatharen, Craig Standing, Shirlee-Ann Knight

Research outputs pre 2011

Universities are in the knowledge business and are expected to be at the forefront of knowledge management (KM). However, KM in a university is complex given the diversity of stakeholder groups. This is exacerbated in the Australian context by the changing climate of rationalisation, corporatisation and marketisation universities faced in the past decade. This paper investigates KM strategies in an Australian university to uncover barriers to knowledge-sharing among academics. Although the organisational infrastructure supports KM, many academics have not actively embraced it. One reason is that they struggle with KM for operational excellence in the increasing administrative aspects of the …

Small And Medium Enterprises And The Environment: Barriers, Drivers, Innovation And Best Practice: A Review Of The Literature, Beth Walker, Janice Redmond, Lynnaire Sheridan, Calvin Wang, Ute Goeft

Research outputs pre 2011

Small and medium enterprises are the largest business sector in every economy in the world 1, and generate the majority (up to 60%) of global economic output2. In the Australian context, a small business or enterprise is one that employs up to 20 staff while a small and medium sized enterprise (an SME) is a business that employs up to 200 staff. By this definition, more than 99% of all actively trading businesses (more than 1.95 million enterprises) in Australia are SMEs3 . There is a growing body of research supporting the need for SMEs to become engaged in the …

Business Trends In Malaga 2001-2008 : Comparative Report, Beth Walker, Bernadette Straham

Research outputs pre 2011

No abstract provided.

Information Systems Teaching And Research In West Australian Universities, Janice Burn, Craig Standing, Chad Lin

Research outputs pre 2011

The authors of this chapter examine the current state of the development of information systems (IS) teaching and research within Western Australia (WA). A brief overview of the WA environment is followed by an exploration of teaching and research in the four main universities. This is examined against the framework for the study and, in particular, the impact of social processes (Ariav et al. 1987; Klein et al. 1991) and local contingencies (Culnan et al. 1993; Checkland and Holwell 1998), which are found to be of relevance to historical developments.

Mad About The Boy, Debra Mayrhofer

Research outputs pre 2011

The media coverage of an out-of-control teenage party in the Melbourne suburb of Narre Warren on 12 January 2008, and its construction of the protagonist who threw the party, has highlighted once again the inequitable treatment of youth, particularly adolescent males, in the Australian media. This paper examines the coverage in terms of the discursive strategies used by the mainstream Australian media to legitimise and naturalise the denigration and humiliation of the boy involved. It will discuss the ongoing demonisation of young males in general, and the concomitant ‘panics’ about their degeneration into moral lassitude, as well as the particular …

Soft Computing In The Forecasting Of The Stock Exchange Of Thailand, Suchira Chaigusin, Chaiyaporn Chirathamjaree, Judith Clayden

Research outputs pre 2011

Stock markets are affected by many uncertainties and interrelated economic and political factors at both local and global levels; determining the set of relevant factors for making accurate predictions is a complicated task. This paper analyzes relevant literature on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), according to the categories of techniques used. The research proposes an approach of soft computing on the SET forecasting and exposes the main driving indicators, from the literature, including Dow Jones, Nikkei index, Hang Seng index, Minimum Loan Rate, the value of the Thai baht and the gold price.

Final Report : Bellevue Sustainable Industry Project, Beth Walker, Janice Redmond, Ute Goeft

Research outputs pre 2011

This report is the result of a grant from the W A Waste Management Board's Waste Management and Recycling Fund to investigate the attitudes and practices of Bellevue business owner-managers to environmental issues and waste management since 2005. In 2005 data was collected to provide baseline information of the level of business interest in the environment and waste management practices in the Bellevue industrial area. After. the analysis of that data was reported, an intervention program was implemented by the Swan Catchment Council. The intervention program included the following...

Delivering The Business Value Of Information Technology: Evaluation Practices Of Construction Sme's, P Love, Craig Standing

Research outputs pre 2011

With cal/sfrom the govemmentfor the construction industry to improve its peiformance and openly embrace information technology (IT), this research sought to examine the practices that organisations use to evaluate and justify their investments in IT. It was considered that this would enable those areas for improving the evaluation process to be identified and the business value of IT was maximised. A questionnaire survey was used to obtain information about the evaluation practices of 126 construction organisations. The analysis of their responses identified three key findings. First, different organisation types significantly differ in the amount they investment in IT and firm …

The Performance Of Seasoned Equity Issues In A Risk-Adjusted Environment, David E. Allen, V Soucik

Research outputs pre 2011

We show that firms issuing seasoned equity possess unique risk characteristics as captured by beta. We use a benchmark to control for this risk and then measure the extent of risk-adjusted underperformance using a longer time-frame than the five-year period used in most studies. We examine the impact of various factors on post-issue performance as well as initial issue underpricing. Why do companies making seasoned equity offerings (SEOs) significantly under perform in the post-issue period? Loughran and Ritter (1997) suggested transitory over-pricing prior to issue, or agency and information costs, Healy and Palepu (1990) and Masulis and Korwar (1986). Rangan …

Small Business Owners: Too Busy To Train?, Elizabeth Walker, Janice Redmond, Beverley Webster, Megan Le Clus

Research outputs pre 2011

Purpose – The reason often cited for the poor relationship between small businesses and their uptake of vocational education and training is that small business owner-managers claim that they are too busy to engage in training or any type of learning activity and that most training is of little value to them. The aim of the research is to examine the relationship between these factors.

Design/methodology/approach – Using qualitative research methods the study collected data of the knowledge, attitudes and needs of small business owner-managers, both before and after participation in a training program.

Findings – This study has indicated …

Explaining The Lack Of Strategic Planning In Smes: The Importance Of Owner Motivation, Calvin Wang, Elizabeth Walker, Janice Redmond

Research outputs pre 2011

Considerable evidence shows that strategic planning leads to increased firm performance. Yet, the majority of SMEs do not plan and the reasons why are not well understood. This article questions the common approach to understanding this problem based on identifying business barriers to planning. For the majority of SME owner operators, business performance often ranks far behind intangible goals such as autonomy, personal satisfaction and lifestyle. Strategic planning may therefore have little value to owner-operators driven by such motivators. This article presents an alternative perspective to the issue by arguing that owner aspirations are integral to whether or not SMEs …

A Monetary Union In East Asia: What Does The Common Cycles Approach Tell?, K Sato, David E. Allen, Zhaoyong Zhang

Research outputs pre 2011

There is controversy about whether a monetary union is feasible in the East Asian region. Amongst the criteria for establishing a monetary union, most of the existing studies focus on the symmetric issue of fundamental shocks and the extent of correlations by applying the Blanchard and Quah (1989) structural vector autoregression (VAR) technique, which includes the firstdifferenced variables in the model and examines only bilateral relationships. When forming a monetary union, the member countries need to renounce their monetary policy autonomy. If shocks to respective economies are symmetric, the cost of relinquishing the discretionary monetary policy is likely to be …

Thoughts On Var And Cvar, David E. Allen, Robert J. Powell

Research outputs pre 2011

Value at Risk (VaR) is an important issue for banks since its adoption as a primary risk metric in the Basel Accords and the requirement that it is calculated on a daily basis. VaR calculates maximum expected losses over a given time period at a given tolerance level. Conditional Value at Risk (CVaR) measures extreme risk. It calculates the risk beyond VaR. Relative industry risk measurement is also very important to Banks in their management of risk, such as for setting risk concentration limits and developing investment and credit policy. This paper examines market Value at Risk (VaR) and Conditional …

Always The Optimist?, Eric Kordt, Craig Standing

Research outputs pre 2011

The purpose of this research is to determine the attributional style (optimistic or pessimistic) of Information Technology support workers and executive managers using attribution theory, This research suggests that support workers are likely to exhibit an optimistic attributional style whilst executive managers are likely to exhibit a pessimistic attributional style, The differences in attributional style reflected in aspects such as the strength to participate (support workers) or avoid (executive managers) projects destined for failure, The research suggests that managers can positively influence the causal dimensions of attributional style by increasing support worker involvement, supporting executive managers, empowering employees and supporting …

Free To Be Obese In A 'Super Nanny State'?, Nadine Henley

Research outputs pre 2011

Should individuals be free to make lifestyle decisions (such as what, when and how much to eat and how much physical activity to take), without undue interference from the state, even when their decisions may lead to negative consequences (obesity, heart disease, diabetes)?

Values And M-Services Adoption, Craig Standing, Patricia Mcmanus, Susan Standing, Heikki Karjaluoto

Research outputs pre 2011

The use of mobile services has increased rapidly in recent. Although research has been conducted on which services people use and the benefits they attach to those services, the values associated with the adoption and use of m-services at the individual level is still unclear. This formation systems field various technology adoption models have been proposed and validated in relation to technology adoption within an organisational setting but personal adoption and use of technology is less researched. To help uncover the values behind adoption of m-services we use means-end chains and laddering techniques. The analysis of the interviews shows that …

Developing A Positive Experience Of Introductory Information Systems For Women At Two Australasian Universities, Rosemary Stockdale, Susan Stoney

Research outputs pre 2011

This paper examines how academics can contribute to encouraging greater uptake of IS majors by women. Using a qualitative reflective approach we identify the perceptions and experiences of female undergraduates taking introductory IS courses in two universities, one in Australia and one in New Zealand, and discuss ways in which to improve their learning experience. We examine ways to improve the delivery of introductory IS courses in order to make information systems more relevant and less dreary to women undergraduates. The paper concludes with some recommendations for marketing courses and areas of further research.

Information Systems In Western Australian Universities, Craig Standing, Janice Burn, Chad Lin

Research outputs pre 2011

Systems (IS) teaching and research within Western Australia (WA). A brief overview of the WA environment is followed by an exploration of teaching and research in the four main Universities. This is examined against the framework for the study and, in particular, the impact of social processes (Ariav et al, 1987; Klein et al, 1991) and local contingencies (Culnan et al, 1993; Checkland and Howell, 1998), which are found to be of relevance to historic developments.