Business Commons^™

Viewing Wil In Business Schools Through A New Lens: Moving To The Edge Of Chaos With Complexity Theory, Laura L. Rook, Lisa Mcmanus

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Employers require well rounded work-ready graduates with the skills to adapt to a contemporary workplace. Australian universities are responding to these needs through the implementation of Work-integrated Learning (WIL) programs aimed at providing students with the necessary skills, knowledge and attributes employers seek. This paper describes a study of Work-integrated Learning programs in the Human Resource Management (HRM) discipline at a number of Australian business schools. Exploratory interviews were undertaken with a range of stakeholders and examined within a complexity theory lens. The findings suggest that WIL is viewed as a threat to the role of higher education rather than …

The Effect Of Voluntary Versus Mandatory Adoption Of Trading Policies On The Returns To Insider Trades, Millicent M. Chang, Marvin Wee

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

An insider trading policy is a critical aspect of a firm's internal governance which ensures the maintenance of corporate transparency. We examine the effect of trading policies on the returns to trades by corporate insiders over two periods: one where the adoption of a policy is voluntary and another where it is mandatory. In the former, we find that the requirement to notify the firm prior to trading does not result in lower trade returns on days outside the permitted trading windows. Where adoption of a policy is mandatory, trade returns made during the restricted windows are higher and the …

The Actual And Imagined Customer Experiences Of Blood Donation: A Customer Value Perspective, Rebekah Russell-Bennett, Josephine Previte, Charmine Hartel, Geoffrey Smith, Nadia Zainuddin

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

No abstract provided.

Insiders' Profits In The Australian Equities Market, Henk Berkman, Reza Bradrania, Tina Prodromou, P Westerholm

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

In this paper we investigate if directors of Australian companies earn persistent profits on their reported trades, if these abnormal profits are significant enough to be mimicked by outsiders, and if these insider trades have an effect on returns of other investors. We find that insiders take advantage of their private information in stocks of larger corporations, but generally do not in medium and small capitalization firms, indicating that they insiders are attracted to the liquidity and a greater presence of uninformed traders in large stocks. Insiders appear able to determine the value of their information in by trading larger …

Corporate Governance And Stock Liquidity In Australia: A Pitch, Searat Ali

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This pitch research letter (PRL) applies the pitch template developed by Faff to an academic project in corporate finance; that is, corporate governance and market microstructure, namely, stock liquidity for Australian firms. The pitch template is useful in identifying the core elements that form the framework of research project. This PRL encloses a brief background about the pitcher and pitch, followed by a brief commentary on the pitch and personal reflections of the pitcher on the pitch exercise itself.

Corporate Governance And The Insolvency Risk Of Financial Institutions, Searat Ali, Jamshed Iqbal

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

We investigate whether corporate governance is related to insolvency risk of financial institutions. Using a large sample of U.S. financial institutions over the 2005-2010 period, we find that corporate governance is positively related with insolvency risk of financial institutions as proxied by Merton's distance to default measure and credit default swap spread. We also find that "better" corporate governance increased insolvency risk relatively more for larger financial institutions and during the period of the global financial crisis. Our findings suggest that too-big-to fail and deposit insurance policies encourage excessive risk taking by financial institutions.

Does The Military Turn Men Into Criminals? New Evidence From Australia's Conscription Lotteries, Peter Siminski, Simon Ville, Alexander Paull

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

In this paper, we estimate the effect of military service on the perpetration of crime. Several hypothesized links exist between service and crime, but recent quasi-experimental studies on this subject have produced mixed results. Our contribution to this literature uses Australia's Vietnam era conscription lotteries for identification along with criminal court data from Australia's three largest states. We find no evidence that military service increases or decreases crime in any category. In our preferred specification, the 95 % confidence interval rules out positive (negative) effects larger than 11 % (10 %) relative to the mean crime rate.

Uncertainty, Crowding Aversion And Tourism Aversion In Tourism Destinations, Simone Marsiglio

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

The author analyses the implications of crowding aversion and tourism aversion for the economic performance of tourism destinations in the case of uncertain tourist inflows. He analytically characterizes all possible scenarios, showing how different preferences of tourists (towards crowding) and residents (towards tourism) interact and affect the economic outcome. The paper shows that when tourists are crowding-averse (crowding lovers), uncertainty leads to deterioration (improvement) of economic performance, while it does not affect performance at all when tourists are crowding-indifferent. However, assessing how this will be reflected in welfare changes is more complex, since it depends also on the degree of …

Industrial Relations Changes In The Maldives: Critical Events And Actors, Ali Najeeb, Mary Barrett

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This paper analyses recent changes in the industrial relations (IR) system in the Maldives. Critical incidents were compiled from interview and document data and analysed using a quasi-grounded theory approach. The analysis shows that, precipitated by the political events of September 2003, profound democratic and IR changes took place, including the emergence of new IR actors and institutions. However, the outcomes of these profound changes were short-lived, reverting to old undemocratic practices and arrangements. The paper highlights the reasons why democratic change occurred as it did in the Maldives and why it reversed.

Managerial Coaching: A Practical Way To Apply Leadership Theory?, Julia Milner, Grace Mccarthy

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Transformational leadership is one of the most researched leadership theories, but sometimes misunderstood by managers who believe that to be a transformational leader requires them to be charismatic and in some way extraordinary. Similarly, some sportspeople and sports coaches may be truly transformational in their achievements and yet not receive the same recognition as their more flamboyant colleagues. In this chapter, several similarities are identified between managerial coaching and transformational leadership. Some differences were also identified. Where there are similarities, it is argued that adopting coaching practices can help managers to put transformational leadership into practice and gain the associated …

Heterogeneous Effects Of High School Peers On Educational Outcomes, Silvia Mendolia, Alfredo R. Paloyo, Ian Walker

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

We investigate the relationship between peers' abilities and educational outcomes at the end of high school using data from the rich Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE) matched to the National Pupil Database of children in state schools in England. In particular, we focus on the effect of peers' abilities, measured through achievements in Key Stage 3 (Age 14), on high powered test scores at Ages 16 and 18, and on the probability of attending university. Our identification strategy is based on a measure of the peers of peers' ability. In particular, for each individual, we look at …

Talk Of Reforming Toxic Banks Is Misguided: Improve The Product And Culture Will Follow, Martin L. Gold

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

The recent and strident language from financial regulators, politicians and credit ratings agencies about financial services culture is a sure indicator that something is seriously amiss in the sector.

Bi-Lateral Co2 Emissions Embodied In Australia-China Trade, Kankesu Jayanthakumaran, Ying Liu

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This paper quantifies the CO2 emissions embodied in bi-lateral trade between Australia and China using a sectoral input-output model. The results revealed: (1) that China performs lower than Australia in clean technology in the primary, manufacturing, energy sectors due to their overuse of coal and inefficient sectoral production processes, and (2) that China had a 30.94 Mt surplus of bi-lateral CO2 emissions in 2010-2011 and (3) overall global emissions were reduced by 20.19 Mt through Australia-China trade in 2010-2011. The result indicates that the greater the energy efficient a country among the trading partners the lower will be the overall …

People's Republic Of China (Prc): Thailand Economic Relationship After Signing Of Free Trade Agreement In 2005, Ying Liu, Kankesu Jayanthakumaran

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

People's Republic of China (PRC) is the third biggest nation globally situated in East Asia with the land area of 9.6 million km2 , population of 1.36 billion people and population density of 139 km - 2 . PRC's capital is Beijing and comprises of 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four municipalities and two special administrative regions. Special administrative regions are Hong Kong and Macao. Thailand is the world's 51st largest country situated in Southeast Asia with the land area of 513,000 km2 and population of 67.1 million people. The population density of Thailand is around 131 km - 2 …

Islamic Finance Finally Has A Place In The Australian Economy, George Mickhail

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

In its executive summary, the board makes it very clear at the outset that the review was conducted on the basis of “its understanding of common Islamic fi nance structures, and that nothing in the report should be taken to suggest that a particular product or case study described is compliant with Shariah law”.

Differential Responses Of Loyal Versus Habitual Consumers Towards Mobile Site Personalization On Privacy Management, Hyunjin Kang, Wonsun Shin, Wing Yin Leona Tam

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

We examine how two different underlying mechanisms of behavioral loyalty to a brand - attitudinal loyalty and habit - impact smartphone users' privacy management when they browse personalized vs. non-personalized mobile websites. The online experimental study conducted with Amazon Mechanical Turk workers (N = 73) finds different responses of attitudinal loyalty and habit towards personalization in significant three-way interactions between personalization, attitudinal loyalty, and habit on privacy disclosure and protection behaviors. When interacting with a personalized website, highly habitual consumers without high level of attitudinal loyalty disclosed the most personal information on a personalized mobile site, and displayed the least …

Statistics On Indigenous Peoples: International Effort Needed, Richard Madden, Per Axelsson, Tahu Kukutai, Kalinda Griffiths, Christina Storm Mienna, Ngaire Brown, Clare Coleman, Ian T. Ring

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

In 2007, the UN General Assembly endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In the following years, there has been a strong call from a range United Nations agencies and spokespersons for countries to act to improve their statistics relating to Indigenous peoples as part of their response to the Declaration. These calls have emphasised the need for a holistic approach, describing strengths and resilience of Indigenous peoples and not just a focus on gaps and disadvantage. National responses have been mixed and overall statistics remain inadequate. Significantly, there has been no international statistical effort through …

Technological Innovation In The Maritime Industry: The Case Of Remote Pilotage And Enhanced Navigational Assistance, Benjamin Brooks, Tim Coltman, Miles Yang

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Advances in technological innovation have been deployed to support autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles in many industries. A question that remains unanswered is why very little progress has been made in remote pilotage over the past 15 years. This paper draws together theories from innovation management and the high reliability organisation literatures to shed light on this question. Using a case study of two Australian ports, we examine a business case for remote pilotage demonstrating that despite positive cost benefit models, ambiguities in benefits exist throughout the ecosystem. The discussion sheds light on unique challenges that Port executives face where it …

Big Data Analytics In E-Commerce: A Systematic Review And Agenda For Future Research, Shahriar Akter, Samuel Fosso Wamba

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

There has been an increasing emphasis on big data analytics (BDA) in e-commerce in recent years. However, it remains poorly-explored as a concept, which obstructs its theoretical and practical development. This position paper explores BDA in e-commerce by drawing on a systematic review of the literature. The paper presents an interpretive framework that explores the definitional aspects, distinctive characteristics, types, business value and challenges of BDA in the e-commerce landscape. The paper also triggers broader discussions regarding future research challenges and opportunities in theory and practice. Overall, the findings of the study synthesize diverse BDA concepts (e.g., definition of big …

Unlocking The Potential Of Branding In Social Marketing Services: Utilising Brand Personality And Brand Personality Appeal, Ross Gordon, Nadia Zainuddin, Christopher A. Magee

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Purpose - This paper aims to demonstrate the utility of branding theory for social marketing services. Specifically, this is to our knowledge the first to investigate brand personality (BP) and brand personality appeal (BPA) in a single study as predictors for consumer attitudes and intentions to engage with a service. Design/methodology/approach - The associations between BP and BPA and their subsequent associations with attitudes and intentions are tested in two service types, i.e. a commercial marketing service (banking) and a social marketing service (health screening). This involved a cross-sectional dual online survey administered to a sample of 395 women 50-69 …

Interactive Dynamic Learning Environment (Idle), Belinda Kathlyn Gibbons, Karlheinz Kautz, Mario Fernando, Trevor A. Spedding

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

The global business community requires graduates with skills and capabilities to cope with real-world interdisciplinary problems. Two key issues frequently noted are the silo disciplinary focus and the lack of exposure to responsible decision-making (RDM). IDLE (Interactive Dynamic Learning Environment) is a web-based computer simulated enterprise delivered through a systems approach broadening students' understanding of the interrelationship between corporations, society and the environment. Engagement in IDLE develops students' understanding and application of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability through the identification of business interdependencies. In IDLE, integrating systems dynamics with agile dynamic system development methods enabled the intricate multifaceted relationships …

Does Corporate Governance Affect Australian Banks' Performance?, Ruhul Salim, Amir Arjomandi, Juergen H. Seufert

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Worldwide, recent corporate collapses have added to the insecurity of financial markets, triggering regulatory responses. This study provides empirical evidence of the relationship between corporate governance and the efficiency of Australian banks between 1999 and 2013, using two-stage double-bootstrap data envelopment analysis. Of the five corporate governance factors considered, we find board size and committee meetings have robustly significant and positive effects on efficiency. We also find evidence of improvements in overall industry efficiency following the 2003 introduction of the Principles of Good Corporate Governance, but not of any statistically-significant influence of the GFC.

Conventional Accounting In Determining An Enterprise's Wealth: Sign Or Referent - A Theoretical Discourse For Augmentation, Sudhir C. Lodh

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Purpose: This paper is an attempt to assess the duality check of wealth determination through corporate reporting using the currently accepted accounting equation and/or conventional accounting. That is, the theory of interest here is to explicate as to whether prevailing accounting equation is adequate to capture all plausible realities in determining absolute economic (or otherwise) wealth of an entity.

Design/methodology/approach: In enhancing a theory of interest and sensitising our argument on conventional accounting, there is a necessity to use methodical discretions; which ultimately 'inform and reflect the implicit epistemology and metaphysics' (Ravenscroft and Williams 2009) of our discipline of accounting. …

Bank Outreach And Performance: Evidence From Banking Efficiency In Sri Lanka, Bolanda Hewa Thilakaweera, Charles Harvie, Amir Arjomandi

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This study evaluates the impact of geographical dispersion of bank branches and their growth on banking sector efficiency in Sri Lanka for the period 2006-2014. Deviating from conventional models used in literature this study employs double-bootstrap semi-parametric truncated regression models based on data envelopment analysis (DEA).Our empirical results show that bank efficiency is not significantly influenced by branch expansion and geographical dispersion in an environment of higher economic growth. This study concludes that a likely decline in bank efficiency with expansion in branch networks, as asserted in the mainstream literature, is not valid when there is a high demand for …

Preventing Tourists From Canceling In Times Of Crises, Homa Hajibaba, Yasemin Boztug, Sara Dolnicar

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Tourism destinations experiencing a crisis are vulnerable to trip cancelations and sudden drops in demand. Little is known about trip cancelations and how to prevent them. Specifically, it is unclear whether the effectiveness of different prevention approaches varies across crises and tourists segments. Using a conjoint design, the present study investigates the comparative stated effectiveness of different prevention approaches in situations where different crises hit a destination. Results indicate that certain prevention actions indeed have the potential to reduce cancelations. The most effective approach is change of accommodation-especially so when combined with an upgrade-followed by information updates and finally the …

Young Drivers' Responses To Antispeeding Advertisements: Comparison Of Self-Report And Objective Measures Of Persuasive Processing And Outcomes, Sherrie-Anne Kaye, Ioni Lewis, Jennifer Algie, Melanie White

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

OBJECTIVE: Self-report measures are typically used to assess the effectiveness of road safety advertisements. However, psychophysiological measures of persuasive processing (i.e., skin conductance response [SCR]) and objective driving measures of persuasive outcomes (i.e., in-vehicle GPS devices) may provide further insights into the effectiveness of these advertisements. This study aimed to explore the persuasive processing and outcomes of two anti-speeding advertisements by incorporating both self-report and objective measures of speeding behaviour. In addition, this study aimed to compare the findings derived from these different measurement approaches.

METHODS: Young drivers (N = 20, Mage = 21.01 years) viewed either a positive or …

Planning In The Poncini Family Business, Mary Barrett, Luca Gottardi, Ken Moores

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

The case relates the history of a diversified family business, Poncini Enterprises, located in the Trentino region of northern Italy. The firm began in the late 1940s with trucks and gradually diversified into property investment, retailing of bricks and construction tools and, more recently, grape growing. These various stages of diversification have stretched the firm's resources and heightened long-standing family difficulties and conflicts. The family business includes four siblings, three sons, a daughter, and their elderly, widowed father, who has recently experienced health problems. The youngest son, Lorenzo, has recently returned to the business after an extended period of accounting …

Unhappy Workplaces Look A Lot Like Unhappy Marriages, New Research Shows, Irit Alony

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Not all negativity in the workplace is a bad sign. Common sense says employees who describe their workplace in negative terms are the ones that are more likely to leave it, but new research shows this isn't the case.

How Does Corporate Governance Affect Loan Collateral? Evidence From Chinese Soes And Non-Soes, Can An, Xiaofei Pan, Gary G. Tian

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

We examine the effect of corporate governance on the collateral requirements for firms' bank loans in China. We find that firms with lower excess control rights and other large shareholders face lower collateral requirements, which is more pronounced in non-state-owned enterprises (SOEs) than in SOEs. Regarding board characteristics, we find that smaller board size, more independent directors, separation of the positions of CEO and chairman, and larger supervisory board size can reduce a firm's use of collateral; the effect of all the preceding characteristics is more pronounced in SOEs. Overall, our research suggests that, in China, corporate governance structures are …

Supporting Medicare Health, Equity And Efficiency In Australia: Policies Undermining Bulk Billing Need To Be Scrapped, Simon Eckermann, Lynnaire M. Sheridan

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Forget semantics; Federal health policies that undermine bulk billing and encourage 'user-pays' charging of patients for primary care move Australia towards a US-style health care system. They are expected to cost the health system more, not A$12 billion less, and undermine Medicare's bottom-line universal access equity, efficiency and health outcome objectives.