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The purpose of this paper is to postulate that the technique of Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) is currently underutilised in visitor management studies reported in the peer-reviewed marine wildlife tourism (MWT) research literature. Further, this paper provides insight into how IPA could inform future research and management of tourism experiences at marine wildlife destinations.

This paper synthesises learning gained from the natural area tourism and recreation literature that report the application of IPA in MWT and insights from a recent study at the Dolphin Discovery Centre in Bunbury, Western Australia.

Although currently underutilized in MWT research, IPA is a relatively straightforward, easy to interpret, and, if correctly applied, a powerful tool that managers and researchers can employ to investigate and enhance visitor satisfaction in the short-term and for longer-term sustainability of the industry through visitor-informed tourism management.

Having identified the opportunity to enhance visitor experiences, site management and target species welfare through increased IPA research, this review provides a plain language introduction to the application of IPA and direct access to comprehensible academic discourses and exemplars for the technique. Moreover, in light of increasing tourism demand, IPA can assist in determining management options for the future.

A number of studies conducted in the 1970s observed that males and females differed in their job attribute preferences. This study revisited the issue of gender differences in attribute preferences. Final‐year undergraduates (n= 270) were asked to rate 17 job attributes in terms of how important each was to them in choosing a job/employer. Results indicated that the effect of gender on job attribute preferences was generally weak. Other variables such as age, ethnicity, professional training area, and prior work experience also did not have a significant impact on undergraduates′ preferences.

While considerable prior research has focused on the development of standardized viewer response scales in advertising, such studies have, without exception, taken an emic approach. In other words, the scales have first been developed in one country, often the U.S., and then validated or replicated in other countries. Emic approaches have obvious limitations in an increasingly multicultural environment. By contrast, we offer a simple uni-dimensional advertising response scale developed following an etic approach, in which a universal measurement structure across cultures is sought using multiple cultures simultaneously. Psychometric tests demonstrate that the new scale is reliable, valid, parsimonious and generalizable across cultures and product categories. Theory-building and managerial implications of the approach are discussed, limitations noted and future research directions outlined.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate relational contracting (RC) practices that give rise to higher quality interpersonal relations between these pairs of stakeholders at the end of public projects: clients and contractors; contractors and consultants; and clients and consultants. It developed models to predict the level of quality of interpersonal relations between the stakeholders at the completion of public projects.

Using a set of questionnaire, data were collected from randomly selected construction industry practitioners who have had experience in public projects in Singapore. The data were analysed to identify association between the use of RC practices and quality of interpersonal relations between stakeholders. In-depth interviews with experts were conducted.

It was found that when certain RC practices were adopted to a larger extent, public projects also have significantly higher quality of interpersonal relations between clients, contractors and consultants. Three mathematical models were developed to predict the relationship quality between stakeholders at the end of the public project.

The limitations include the subjective nature of the Likert scale that was used in answering the questionnaire survey and the limited number of interviews. The effect of existing good relations among stakeholders was not taken into account.

Suitable RC practices for adoption by public clients, contractors and consultants in public projects are recommended. These include developing deeper mutual trust and understanding, sharing project information, and having real gain-share/pain-share among contracting parties.

RC practices that are significantly associated with relationships among contracting parties in public projects in Singapore are uncovered. Contracting parties may use the recommendations to help enhance their relationships with one another in a public project.

In this article, I propose a theory of network opportunity emergence. The core of the argument is that as an overall industry network structure becomes centralized, opportunities emerge for new entrants. As the institutional environment evolves toward a centralized network flow structure, innovators can identify newly emerged rich resource niches that serve as the perfect breeding ground for an entrepreneurial start-up. While the framework is an aggregate level conceptualization of market opportunities, it also identifies specific actionable opportunities at a very micro level. Examples from the networks of the airline industry illustrate the logic. I conclude by discussing the innovation and entrepreneurship implications for a wide variety of industries and network tie types, calling for utilization of the framework to answer a broad variety of research questions.

Volume 8 Number 5 of Women in Management Review contains three articles. In the first, entitled “Gender Effects in Salary Increases: A Shifting Pendulum?” by Kenneth W. Thornicroft, the author maintains that a large number of studies suggest that in experimental reward allocation scenarios, females tend to under‐reward themselves vis‐a‐vis similarly situated males. However, the principal studies date from the 1970s and early 1980s. In the past decade there has been a substantial public policy effort, reflected in employment equity legislation and organisation‐level initiatives, targeting direct and systemic gen‐der‐based discriminatory practices. There is some evidence that gender‐ based discriminatory employment practices are receding. In this study, involving 127 undergraduate business administration students, the student allocator's gender was not a significant predictor of reward allocation behaviour. Even more provocative, the results suggest that a reward allocation bias systematically operated in favour of women.

Outlines previous research on the underpricing of initial public offerings (IPOs), describes the institutional framework for IPOs in Malaysia and presents a study of long run Malaysian IPO performance using 1992‐1996 data on 258 IPOs, classified into growth or value portfolios. Explains the methodology and presents the results, which show that value IPOs outperform growth IPOs, while both outperform the market. Finds their cumulative market adjusted return (averaged at 41.7 per cent) positively correlated with book‐to‐market equity, earnings‐to‐price, cashflows‐to‐price and the time lag between close of application and actual listing; and negatively related to the IPO price and size. Briefly considers consistency with other research and the market implications.

The consideration of external stakeholders has proven to be more critical than internal stakeholders in construction projects. The purpose of this paper is to present the diverse expectations of external stakeholder groups, i.e. governmental authorities, general public, and affected local communities, in construction projects. The practical steps to manage the expectations are also outlined.

A three-stage methodology was adopted for the review. The primary terms “stakeholder,” “project participants,” or “project environment” were first searched in four popularly search engines and eight top journals that publish construction research to retrieve publications. After a second-stage filtering process, the selected data were then analyzed and reviewed in line with the objectives.

In total, 49 common expectations were identified and classified. The results indicate that each stakeholder group pursues expectations in line with the social, environmental, and economic sustainability objectives. For effective management, project managers (PMs) must know stakeholder opportunities and threats, fulfill social responsibilities, establish common goals, apply appropriate strategies, and enhance stakeholder satisfaction.

The identified expectations are only based on the selected publications. Even though the expectations have been categorized in line with the triple bottom line model, the relative importance of the expectations cannot be ascertained since there is no empirical support.

PMs can play safe by acknowledging the stakeholder expectations and employ such strategies to curtail resulting impacts and maximize mutual benefits. The list of expectations could also be used to promote equitable value optimization in projects, enhance needs fulfillment, and facilitate the evaluation of external stakeholder satisfaction.

This study provides a comprehensive checklist of construction stakeholder expectations which hitherto, is lacked in the literature. Moreover, practical steps to manage the expectations of external stakeholders have been discussed.