Business Commons^™

The Impact Of Moral Stress Compared To Other Stressors On Employee Fatigue, Job Satisfaction, And Turnover: An Empirical Investigation, Kristen Bell Detienne, Bradley R. Agle, James C. Phillips, Marc-Charles Ingerson

Faculty Publications

Moral stress is an increasingly significant concept in business ethics and the workplace environment. This study compares the impact of moral stress with other job stressors on three important employee variables—fatigue, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions—by utilizing survey data from 305 customer-contact employees of a financial institution’s call center. Statistical analysis on the interaction of moral stress and the three employee variables was performed while controlling for other types of job stress as well as demographic variables. The results reveal that even after including the control variables in the statistical models, moral stress remains a statistically significant predictor of increased …

Emerging Issues Of Health And Safety Training Delivery In Australia: Quality And Transferability, Susanne Bahn, Llandis Barratt-Pugh

Research outputs 2012

This paper presents some initial findings that have emerged from a critical realist study in progress in Western Australia that is examining the impact of health and safety training in relation to the introduction of a national Work Health and Safety Act (WHS Act). Training has been identified as a key support mechanism to implement improved work health and safety under the newly harmonised regulatory framework through professional development, workplace certificated training, and tertiary educational training. There are a limited number of studies that evaluating safety training programmes by examining the quality of training and the impact on reducing work-related …

Developing A Model For Identifying Students At Risk Of Failure In A First Year Accounting Unit, George Smith, Leonard Therry, Jacqueline Whale

Research outputs 2012

This paper reports on the process involved in attempting to build a predictive model capable of indentifying students at risk of failure in a first year accounting unit in an Australian university. Identifying attributes that contribute to students being at risk can lead to the development of appropriate intervention strategies and support services. In this study, regression analysis was used to model the impact of individual factors on grade performance based on a review of the literature and using data extracted from a university’s student information database for all students who completed a first year accounting unit in one semester. …

To What Extent Do Wineries Study Their Consumers And Visitors? Implications For Wine Tourism Development, Abel Alonso, Alessandro Bressan, Michelle O'Shea, Vlad Krajsic

Research outputs 2012

In their quest for long-term sustainability and financial success, winery entrepreneurs increasingly perceive wine tourism and tourism-related enterprises as important facets of their business strategy. However, to benefit from wine tourism activities, winery operators will need to develop new skills and business capabilities. In this context, learning from and understanding consumers and visitors' preferences and expectations is of paramount importance to wineries' long-term sustainability and, importantly, their financial success. This study examines the extent to which winery owners and managers "study" their visitors, gathering data from 451 Italian, Spanish, and New World small and medium wineries. The majority of respondents …

When Is A Bystander Not A Bystander? A Typology Of The Roles Of Bystanders In Workplace Bullying, Megan Paull, Maryam Omari, Peter Standen

Research outputs 2012

The role of the bystander is one which has received only a small portion of the research attention that has been paid to workplace bullying. This paper will argue that bystanders are not just incidental but are an integral part of the context of bullying. Drawing on qualitative data from two separate studies, a typology is presented which outlines thirteen potential roles bystanders can take. This typology can be employed as an awareness-raising tool to encourage individuals to examine their own behaviour in a range of situations, and to acknowledge that their actions, either deliberate or inadvertent, can contribute to …

Moving From Contractor To Owner Operator: Impact On Safety Culture; A Case Study, Susanne Bahn

Research outputs 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether a change in staffing contractual arrangements, specific training in hazard identification, mentoring of supervisors and the introduction of a robust safety system could improve an organisation's safety culture. How safety conditions change under contracted out labour compared to direct labour and the influence that contracting out has on organisational safety culture is explored.

Design/methodology/approach: The study used a case study methodology to detail how the change occurred over a six month period in 2011. As part of the analysis a model of the change process and push-pull factors is offered. …

Keeping Academic Field Researchers Safe: Ethical Safeguards, Susanne Bahn

Research outputs 2012

Competent risk management is central to the ethical conduct and profitability of organisations including universities. Recent UK research highlights the risks of physical and psychological harm and emotional distress for researchers and the importance of developing strategies to deal with these issues prior to data being collected. Actual numbers of incidents of researcher harm in Australian universities are unavailable; however anecdotal evidence and Bloor et al.'s (2010) case studies suggest that this is a significant issue. They recommended risk management practices such as training about researcher safety, pre-trip security briefings, established call-back systems, working in pairs, and compulsory de-briefings are …

The Employment Of Skilled Migrants On Temporary 457 Visas In Australia: Emerging Issues, Susanne Bahn, Llandis Barratt-Pugh, Ghialy Choy Lee Yap

Research outputs 2012

Australia is characterised as a migrant nation, and yet rhetoric rather than evidence-based research dominates current discussion about skilled migration. This paper reports on the scoping phase of a national industry-collaborative study that explores the issues associated with employing skilled migrants entering Australia on temporary 457 visas. It is well established that the Australian economy is currently almost unique amongst first world nations in entering an extended phase of growth fuelled by the developing nations' hunger for natural resources. How Australia should balance the current need for skilled migrants to sustain this growth, with the concerns for sustainable population growth, …

Business Undergraduates' Perceptions Of Their Capabilities In Employability Skills : Implications For Industry And Higher Education, Denise Jackson

Research outputs 2012

In response to the continuing disparity between industry expectations and higher education provision, this study examines the self-assessed capabilities of 1,024 business undergraduates in employability skills typically considered important by industry in developed economies. The findings indicate relative perceived strengths in 'social responsibility and accountability', 'developing professionalism' and 'working effectively with others', and weaknesses in 'critical thinking', 'developing initiative and enterprise' and 'self-awareness'. Although these findings align with those of recent employer-based studies, undergraduates rate themselves considerably higher than their industry counterparts. The implications of this overconfidence in personal ability, commonly associated with so-called Generation Y graduates, for persistent graduate …

Predicting Management Development And Learning Behaviour In New Zealand Smes, David Deakins, Martina Battisti, Alan Coetzer, Hernan Roxas

Research outputs 2012

Despite concern on the part of policy makers to raise managerial capability in SMEs, there is little evidence on the key drivers of owner-manager participation in management development programmes. The authors argue that such participation is poorly understood. The paper develops a predictive model of the drivers of participation in sources of learning by owner-managers. It tests a theoretical model, based on the small firm as a learning organization, which posits that participation is driven by owner-managers' learning orientation and the extent of their belief in self-improvement. The implications of the results are discussed in light of the provision of …

A Non-Parametric And Entropy Based Analysis Of The Relationship Between The Vix And S&P 500, David Allen, Michael Mcaleer, Robert J. Powell, Abhay K. Singh

Research outputs 2012

This paper features an analysis of the relationship between the S&P 500 Index and the VIX using daily data obtained from both the CBOE website and SIRCA (The Securities Industry Research Centre of the Asia Pacific). We explore the relationship between the S&P 500 daily continuously compounded return series and a similar series for the VIX in terms of a long sample drawn from the CBOE running from 1990 to mid 2011 and a set of returns from SIRCA's TRTH datasets running from March 2005 to-date. We divide this shorter sample, which captures the behaviour of the new VIX, introduced …

Ethical Dilemmas During Mergers, Acquisitions And Takeovers, Edmond La Vertu, Llandis Barratt-Pugh

Research outputs 2012

The organisational world is still shaking from the impact of individual and organisational actions that are contrary to the open-ended community standards of ethics. Yet, ethical values have to fight continually for organisational space as the conflict between many differing corporate values problematises the workplace environment and decision-making for managers. This paper is based on a study that is investigating the relations between such values at times of significant organisational stress, when organisations merge, are acquired, or are taken-over, and the ethical dilemmas that arise from these events within the framework provided by Kidder (2009). The paper concludes by summarising …

Singapore, Diversification Theory And The Global Financial Crisis (Gfc), Ian Austin

Research outputs 2012

Since independence in 1965, Singapore has grown rich by opening its borders and encouraging Multi-National Enterprises (MNEs) to call the small city state home. However, the Asian financial crisis (1997-08), which saw Singapore experience its first significant economic downturn in decades, led to a change in direction with economic public policy being directed towards achieving strategic diversification of the national economy. This paper will examine how the 2007-09 Global finance crisis (GFC) exposed Singapore’s uber form of economic diversification - financial sector internationalisation, multinational enterprise (MNE) strategic engagement, biotechnology and medical research and so on - as being incapable of …

Can Retail Liminal Space/Places Transcend Gender Segmentation?, Nathalie Collins

Research outputs 2012

Transcendent Customer Experiences (TCEs) transform a customer’s self-identity and imbues them with quintessence: a sacred feeling toward the brand, product and experience. Although TCEs need not happen in a sacred place, they occur in spaces of non-geographical liminality. The ordinary world seems to falls away, replaced by an authentic connection between actors in a communitas, or community of sacred feeling. In the last thirty years, marketers have been further developing consumer religiosity as a sales strategy. This paper explores questions regarding the affect on gender and gender neutrality in consumer religiosity, especially as it applies to liminal space/places in retail …

An Examination Of The Effects Of Exchange Rates On Australia's Inbound Tourism Growth: A Multivariate Conditional Volatility Approach, Ghialy Choy Lee Yap

Research outputs 2012

The appreciation of the Australian dollar has been a concern as Australia has become less competitive compared to neighbouring countries. This paper investigates to what extent exchange rates could adversely affect Australia's inbound tourism and whether volatility in exchange rates could increase the uncertainty in international tourist arrivals to Australia. The study is based on nine countries of origin, namely China, India, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, the UK and the USA for the period January 1991 to January 2011. It uses multivariate conditional volatility regressions to model the time-varying conditional variances of international tourism growth and exchange …

Internal Whistle-Blowing Intentions: A Study Of Demographic And Individual Factors, Syahrul Ahmad, George Smith, Zubaidah Ismail

Research outputs 2012

Internal auditors hold a unique position in their organizations to prevent, deter, and detect corporate wrongdoings. However, the role of this profession in investigating their ethical decision-making behaviors towards internal whistle-blowing intentions has been very often neglected. Furthermore, although extensive researches have been undertaken on the issue of whistle blowing globally, empirical studies on this area are still scarce in Malaysia. This paper examines internal whistle-blowing intentions among internal auditors in Malaysia by utilizing three independent vignettes. A mail survey was conducted to investigate demographic and individual factors that could influence internal auditors’ ethical decision-making processes. The likelihood for internal …

The Relationship Between Board Skills And Conservatism: Malaysian Evidence, Rahimah Yunos, George Smith, Zubaidah Ismail

Research outputs 2012

This study seeks to examine the influence of board skill, multiple directorships (BSHIP), and tenure of independent directors on accounting conservatism, as measured by asymmetric timeliness and accrual-based conservatism (CONACCR). Fixed-effect regression models were constructed on a sample of 2016 firm-year observations for asymmetric timeliness model and 2033 firm-year observations for CONACCR model, which covered from 2001 to 2007. The findings show that the degree of financial expertise on the board is positively associated with the recognition of bad news which is relative to good news into earnings. BSHIP appears to have no effect on conservatism. Independent directors who have …

Thumbs Up To Parametric Measures Of Relative Var And Cvar In Indonesian Sectors, David Allen, Ray Boffey, Akhmad Kramadibrata, Robert Powell, Abhay Singh

Research outputs 2012

We examine relative share market risk between Indonesian sectors and how this changes during extreme market fluctuations. Ten sectors comprising the IDX Composite Index are examined over an eight-year period spanning the pre-GFC, GFC and post-GFC. Risk is measured using parametric and nonparametric Value at Risk (VaR) and Conditional Value at Risk (CVaR), which measures risk beyond VaR. In contrast to studies on most global markets, and due to relative stability in the Indonesian market, no significant differences are found in relative portfolio risk between the conditional and non-conditional measures, or between parametric and nonparametric measures. The insights are important …

Conditional Value At Risk Applications To The Global Mining Industry, David Allen, Akhmad Kramadibrata, Robert Powell, Abhay Singh

Research outputs 2012

It is generally accepted that asset returns are not normally distributed, especially during volatile economic circumstances such as those seen during the global financial crisis. Yet portfolio optimisation is often based on lower order moments of mean and standard deviation, which do not take into account the tail of a distribution. The mining industry can be extremely volatile during times of economic downturn. We compare extreme risk in mining share portfolios from each of the world’s seven leading mining areas using Conditional Value at Risk (CVaR) which measures those risks beyond traditional Value at Risk (VaR) metrics. We also show …

The Impact Of Contagion On Non-Performing Loans: Evidence From Australia And Canada, David Allen, Ray Boffey, Robert Powell

Research outputs 2012

Despite Canadian and Australian banks being widely perceived as having weathered the storm of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) very successfully, the impaired assets (also known as non-performing loans) of both these two countries increased several fold during this crisis. Previous studies in other countries have tended to focus on the impact of bank specific factors, such as size and return on equity, in explaining bank risk. Our approach involves including those traditional variables, plus Distance to Default (DD), and a novel contagion variable, which is the effect of major global bank DD on Australian and Canadian non-performing loans. The …

Is There A Consensus Towards Transparency: International's Corruption Perceptions Index?, Shrabani Saha, Rukmani Gounder, Jen-Je Su

Research outputs 2012

Given the clandestine nature, corruption is intrinsically a complex phenomenon and hard to measure. This paper examines whether Transparency International's corruption perception index converges towards consensus over time? Furthermore, we estimate the speed of adjustment towards general agreement. The results indicate differences in the degree of concordance, i.e. high level of agreement for the mostlyclean and most-corrupt countries but disagreement remains high for the mediumcorrupt countries. The speed of converge is high for the most-corrupt and mostlyclean countries and a decline for the medium corrupt countries.

Option Valuation And Accounting For Contingent Consideration In Mineral Sector Acquisitions, Atul Chandra, Pietro Guj

Research outputs 2012

Vendor consideration on acquisition of mineral sector companies/projects may include shares and/or options contingent on achievement of uncertain milestones either financial (specified levels of future profit, share price etc) or physical (delineation of specific levels of mineral resources). Accounting standards on business combination, fair value and financial instruments have recently undergone major changes, with potentially significant impact on the valuation and accounting of the consideration transferred. The valuation approaches to assess the "fair value" of contingent consideration in the form of financial instruments include expected present value techniques and option-pricing models. These are discussed and applied to an actual acquisition …

Superannuation Fund Communications In Good And Bad Times, George Smith, Paul Gerrans, Jacqueline Whale

Research outputs 2012

We examine the content and presentation of the first statement to members appearing in a Superannuation Fund’s annual report (typically made by the Chairperson or the CEO). We reflect on the words and themes employed, and the clarity and readability of communication. Our focus is on the respective differences between statements made in the year prior to the global financial crisis (GFC) and those made during the GFC. A content analysis of the CEO statement was conducted for 81 annual reports in each of the two years - respectively ‘good news’ and ‘bad news’ years. The readability of statements (as …

Investigating The Interaction Effect Of Democracy And Economic Freedom On Corruption: A Cross-Country Quantile Regression Analysis, Shrabani Saha, Jen-Je Su

Research outputs 2012

This paper explores the interaction effects of economic freedom and democracy in controlling corruption for 100 countries by using quantile regression technique. The main contribution is to explore the interaction effects throughout conditional distribution of corruption across nations. Our results reinforce some findings in the literature, but also provide new conclusions. The findings suggest a stronger and significant interaction effect in reducing corruption, especially in the most-corrupt countries. However, democratic and economic freedoms alone may not cure corruption effectively in the most-corrupt nations, a sound democratic reform can eliminate corruption substantially only after achieving a threshold level of economic freedom.

Viability Of Healthcare Service Delivery Alternatives For The Australian Mining Sector, Patricia Williams, Margaret Giles

Research outputs 2012

The changing and demanding nature of the mining workforce in rural and remote Australia brings unique challenges to the delivery of healthcare services. In an attempt to control costs whilst delivering cost effective and quality healthcare, new models of delivery must be considered. For a workforce that is fly-in/fly-out, the provision of healthcare is problematic given the lack of consistency in location. A cost-benefit framework is analysed comparing three models of service provision using travel to a major location, locum services and remote health monitoring. Ultimately, new models of care must be considered to address the issues of increasing workforce …

Workplace Hazard Identification: What Do People Know And How Is It Done?, Susanne Bahn

Research outputs 2012

The correct and proactive identification of hazards in the workplace underpins all occupational health and safety practice and risk management strategies and is therefore paramount to effective business practices and the health and safety of all organisational members. It is a basic right of employees to be safe at work, but working safely relies on identifying risk. If managers and employees cannot identify risk then their safety cannot be assured. Managers and employees need to have sufficient knowledge to identify hazards that lead to risk in the workplace in order to inform processes to successfully control those risks. This paper …

Harmonised Health And Safety Legislation In Australia: Confusion And Complexity For Training Remains, Susanne Bahn, Llandis Barratt-Pugh

Research outputs 2012

This paper presents findings from a study that examined the impact of the national Work Health and Safety Act 2011 on training delivery for safety professionals and their perceptions of what assisted in reducing industrial accidents. The study identified an increased uptake of safety training including high risk licensing and post-graduate degrees and the inclusion of safety elements across many courses in TAFE and universities. In addition industry is calling for safety professionals with a formal tertiary qualification in the discipline. However, national and state regulators are limited in their understanding of the complex training framework. The paper concludes by …

Where Has The Strategic Thinking Gone In The Non-Profit Board Room? A Study Of Board Member Perception And Reality, Matthew Bambach

Research outputs 2012

As a practitioner working closely with independent school boards the researcher observed that many boards of small to medium sized independent schools were operationally focussed to the detriment of strategic thinking. Much of the literature on board governance effectiveness stresses the importance of strategic thinking, yet some empirical studies suggest not all non-profit boards are strong in this area. Research however is limited, especially in the independent school sector. This paper therefore presents an empirical study of the extent of strategic thinking in seven independent school boards. The study reveals an alarming picture as to the extent their strategic thinking. …

Skilled Labour Supply And Demand In Resource Rich Regions In Australia, Susanne Bahn, Rosalyn Cameron

Research outputs 2012

The demand for specific skills for the current resources boom in Australia is placing extreme pressure upon the Australian workforce and economy to supply this labour for billion dollar resource sector projects primarily in Western Australia and Central Queensland. This paper is a conceptual think piece which overviews the current demand and supply of specialised labour for the Australian resources sector before presenting two resource rich region case studies. The first is the mining sector in Western Australia and the second is the coal seam gas/liquefied natural gas (CSG/LNG) industry in Central Queensland. This is followed by a mapping of …

The Impact Of The Interaction Between Economic Growth And Democracy On Human Development: Cross-National Analysis, Shrabani Saha, Zhaoyong Zhang

Research outputs 2012

This paper evaluates the effects of economic growth and democracy on human development using panel data over 170 countries for the period 1980-2010. Our results show that democracy enhances human development in any level of economic development. However, economic growth increases human development only in developing countries. The interaction effect between economic growth and democracy shows that democracy increase human development in developing countries where growth level is low.