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1 – 10 of over 48000Abhishek Sharma, Chandana Hewege and Chamila Perera
This study explores the decision-making powers of Australian female consumers in the financial product market. More precisely, it examines how the integrative effects of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study explores the decision-making powers of Australian female consumers in the financial product market. More precisely, it examines how the integrative effects of rationality, emotions and personality traits influence the decision-making powers of Australian female consumers when making financial product purchase decisions.
Design/methodology/approach
The study employs a quantitative research approach, utilising a survey strategy. The proposed conceptual model was tested using structural equation modelling (AMOS) on a valid 357 responses from Australian female consumers.
Findings
The findings revealed that rationality, self-efficacy and impulsivity have a positive impact on the decision-making powers of Australian female consumers. Besides this, self-efficacy and anxiety had significant moderating effects on the decision-making power of Australian female consumers when buying financial products, whereas anger and impulsivity were found to have no moderating effects.
Research limitations/implications
The study offers understanding on the role of emotions and personality traits in financial decision-making, which can help financial institutions design sound products and services that can also ensure consumers' overall well-being.
Originality/value
Informed by the theoretical notions of the appraisal-tendency framework (ATF) and emotion-imbued choice model (EIC), the study makes a unique contribution by investigating the impact of rationality, emotions and personality traits on the decision-making powers of female consumers in the Australian financial product market.
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This paper aims to explore how the Australian Government represented issues of sustainability in Australian international higher education (IHE) policies and how it framed efforts…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore how the Australian Government represented issues of sustainability in Australian international higher education (IHE) policies and how it framed efforts to foster enhanced strategies for sustainable development of IHE. This research calls for a change from one-dimensional economic sustainability to a more multi-dimensional conception of sustainability, including emphasizing the role of the political sphere in issues of sustainability.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses discourse analysis of policy documents, specifically Bacchi’s (2009) “what is the problem represented to be” approach, to explore the problematization behind selected government policies related to IHE in Australia.
Findings
This research identified existing challenges and factors that have affected the sustainability of Australian IHE and examined how the Australian Government constructed this issue. In light of this approach, a theoretical model is proposed from internal resource analysis and external industry and foreign market structure analysis to help foster more sustainable development of IHE.
Research limitations/implications
This study is based on policy document analysis. Consequently, future empirical research is needed to examine the impact of these policies and further substantiate the findings of this study.
Practical implications
This paper proposes a theoretical model for strategy making that helps gain and maintain sustainable competitive advantage in IHE from a more integrated perspective; such an approach enables more systemic thinking on strategy proposals and offers a reference for future practice. This research will contribute to policy design for the sustainability of the Australian IHE industry and promote change from a one-dimensional economic sustainability to a more multi-dimensional sustainability approach, thereby offering a point of reference for other countries that face similar issues.
Social implications
This study points out the need to broaden the business focus, expand the value created from shareholder value to the common good and change “inside-out” economic perspectives to “outside-in” integrated perspectives for business, including the IHE industry.
Originality/value
The sustainability of IHE has become an important concern in Australian policies but is an area for further inquiry in academic discussion and research. By closely examining government policies, particularly from a discursive approach (after Bacchi), this paper makes a contribution to policy design for the sustainability of the Australian IHE industry, helping to promote a more multi-dimensional approach to sustainability.
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Ashesha Paveena Weerasinghe, Larelle Chapple and Alexandra Kate Williamson
This paper aims to explore how corporate Australia engages in reconciliation through recognizing and providing pathways for Indigenous Australians' corporate leadership…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore how corporate Australia engages in reconciliation through recognizing and providing pathways for Indigenous Australians' corporate leadership aspirations.
Design/methodology/approach
The research design is informed by the prior literature on pathways by minority groups to corporate leadership through the theoretical lens of transformational leadership. The investigation is conducted using textual analysis of reconciliation action plans (RAPs), a contemporary and voluntary practice adopted by Australian listed companies to disclose their commitment to national reconciliation. RAPs are publicly available from the official websites of listed companies.
Findings
The analysis of contemporary RAPs highlights organizational initiatives to support Indigenous Australians related to corporate and community leadership. Since the authors’ focus is the former, corporate leadership initiatives are further analyzed. Two initiatives for Indigenous Australians to pursue corporate leadership positions are emerging future leaders' programs and mentoring programs. This is the extent to which the authors observe Australian firms' transformational leadership. While some firms have implemented these initiatives with specific targets, other firms do not have specific initiatives or targets. The paper also conducts longitudinal analysis into the transformational leaders' past RAPs and triangulates to other evidence of reconciliation commitment such as the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
Research limitations/implications
This paper contributes new insights to the research area of board cultural diversity, specifically to the limited literature on Indigenous reconciliation. It provides insights into firms and policymakers to address the ongoing issue of the underrepresentation of Indigenous Australians in corporate leadership. The sample of firms comprises Australian listed firms that have adopted higher-order RAPs, which restricts the generalizability of the findings to other sectors.
Originality/value
This paper explores the under researched phenomenon of Indigenous people's pathways to corporate leadership. The research design is informed by transformational leadership theory through considering institutional actions for reconciliation. This research provides evidence of the extent to which corporate Australia has taken action on the issue of the under-representation of Australian Indigenous people in corporate leadership.
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Glenice J. Wood and Marilyn J. Davidson
Research in indigenous small business entrepreneurship in Australia is sparse. This paper aims to provide a review of the available literature culminating in a comprehensive model…
Abstract
Purpose
Research in indigenous small business entrepreneurship in Australia is sparse. This paper aims to provide a review of the available literature culminating in a comprehensive model of characteristics, motivations and potential barriers to entrepreneurial activity.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper takes the form of a literature review.
Findings
“Push” factors were predominant as motivators for setting up business ventures and were strongly linked to the desire to improve severe disadvantage through very poor economic situations and negative racial stereotyping, discrimination and prejudice as well as addressing the needs of their community. Potential barriers to business development included lack of formal education, prior work experience, language barriers, culture conflicts and problems attaining sufficient finance. Female indigenous entrepreneurs faced both gender and racial discrimination.
Practical implications
This paper concludes with some suggestions on future research and government and policy directions to encourage indigenous Australian entrepreneurship as a means of economic development for this population.
Originality/value
The paper presents a unique comprehensive review and model of both male and female Australian indigenous entrepreneurs.
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There exists no detailed account of the 40 Australian women teachers employed within the “concentration camps” established by British forces in the Orange River and Transvaal…
Abstract
Purpose
There exists no detailed account of the 40 Australian women teachers employed within the “concentration camps” established by British forces in the Orange River and Transvaal colonies during the Boer War. The purpose of this paper is to critically respond to this dearth in historiography.
Design/methodology/approach
A large corpus of newspaper accounts represents the richest, most accessible and relatively idiosyncratic source of data concerning this contingent of women. The research paper therefore interprets concomitant print-based media reports of the period as a resource for educational and historiographical data.
Findings
Towards the end of the Boer War in South Africa (1899-1902) a total of 40 Australian female teachers – four from Queensland, six from South Australia, 14 from Victoria and 16 from New South Wales – successfully answered the imperial call conscripting educators for schools within “concentration camps” established by British forces in the Orange River and Transvaal colonies. Women’s exclusive participation in this initiative, while ostensibly to teach the Boer children detained within these camps, also exerted an influential effect on the popular consciousness in reimagining cultural ideals about female teachers’ professionalism in ideological terms.
Research limitations/implications
One limitation of the study relates to the dearth in official records about Australian women teachers in concentration camps given that; not only are Boer War-related records generally difficult to source; but also that even the existent data is incomplete with many chapters missing completely from record. Therefore, while the data about these women is far from complete, the account in terms of newspaper reports relies on the existent accounts of them typically in cases where their school and community observe their contributions to this military campaign and thus credit them with media publicity.
Originality/value
The paper’s originality lies in recovering the involvement of a previously underrepresented contingent of Australian women teachers while simultaneously offering a primary reading of the ideological work this involvement played in influencing the political narrative of Australia’s educational involvement in the Boer War.
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The extent of bibliographic database development in Australia is summarised with reference to all of the publicly available machine‐readable files. An analysis is made of the…
Abstract
The extent of bibliographic database development in Australia is summarised with reference to all of the publicly available machine‐readable files. An analysis is made of the telecommunications network development that has enhanced access to the data. Particular reference is made to the bibliographic services of CSIRONET, AUSINET and the Health Communications Network.
Beverley Jackling, Paul de Lange, Jon Phillips and James Sewell
The purpose of this paper is to identify the underlying motivations of Australian and international students for studying accounting and entering the accounting profession.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the underlying motivations of Australian and international students for studying accounting and entering the accounting profession.
Design/methodology/approach
The study reports results from a cohort of second‐year accounting students drawing on the theory of reasoned action (TRA) to assess intentions and behaviours in making decisions, particularly in relation to employment choice. The study utilises a validated attitude to accounting scale (AAS) which measures how the accounting profession is viewed by students generally, and more specifically, differences in attitudes towards accounting and the accounting profession between Australian and international students.
Findings
The study finds that students have a positive attitude towards accounting as a profession. However, there are significant differences between Australian and international students' levels of interest in accounting and attitudes towards the work of accountants.
Research limitations/implications
It is recognised that the differences in attitudes towards accounting between Australian and international students may be linked with motivations to pursue accounting based on personal, cultural and social influences. A limitation of the study is that international students are treated as a homogeneous group.
Practical implications
The findings of the study have implications for marketing accounting education internationally; in particular, acknowledging the impact of different attitudes towards accounting by international students.
Originality/value
The study not only addresses motivation to study accounting but also attitudes towards the accounting profession. By applying the TRA, the study has identified that government policy may influence motivation of international students towards accounting and the accounting profession.
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Australia has strong European traditions, rooted in its history of the past 200 years. On the other hand, Australia differs from many European countries in a number of important…
Abstract
Australia has strong European traditions, rooted in its history of the past 200 years. On the other hand, Australia differs from many European countries in a number of important respects, including geography, population density and aspects of government economic policy. This paper uses data from the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (1996‐98) to examine how these similarities and differences may have impacted on the manufacturing strategies adopted by firms in the two regions. Whilst Australian and European manufacturers seem similar in many respects, in that they are listening to their customers, adopting quality strategies and utilizing technology, there are important differences in the speed of adoption of some aspects of these approaches. In particular, European manufacturers introduced a number of manufacturing technologies earlier and are using them more extensively than their Australian counterparts, whilst health, environmental and safety activities seem to be more prominent among Australian firms.
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In the context of possible future directions in the accounting regulatory arena, this paper considers what policy makers can learn from the experiences of Australian managers and…
Abstract
In the context of possible future directions in the accounting regulatory arena, this paper considers what policy makers can learn from the experiences of Australian managers and investors in relation to capitalization of intangible assets. Focuses on features of the Australian institutional setting, the motivations behind Australian managers’ decisions to capitalize intangible assets, and capital market efficiency implications. Australian GAAP leaves corporate managers wide discretion to capitalize intangible assets irrespective of whether the assets are acquired or generated internally. One central element of this accounting discretion is the historically liberal attitude of Australian accounting regulators to deviations from the historic cost basis of measurement. Concerns about the availability, and abuses, of reliable measures in relation to intangible assets and revalued assets prompted the USA to proscribe these practices generally. Evidence from the Australian setting suggests these concerns could be overstated. Evidence to date suggests Australian equity markets are no less efficient than the USA markets. Existing evidence suggests uncertainty about intangible investment outcomes is a central property of intangible investment which could quasi‐regulate accounting capitalization practice in a discretionary accounting setting. Supports future regulatory deliberations and research focus on the economics of intangible investments, and information search behaviours of investors, as one way to move forward in the regulatory sphere.
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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the property investment decision-making process of Australian unlisted property funds.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the property investment decision-making process of Australian unlisted property funds.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on previous research into property investment decision making by Australian REITs, a normative model of the unlisted property fund investment decision-making process is proposed. Based on exploratory investigation through semi-structured interviews with senior Australian unlisted property fund decision makers, a descriptive model of the property investment decision-making process by Australian unlisted property funds is developed. The normative model and descriptive model are compared and a prescriptive model of the Australian unlisted property fund investment decision-making process proposed.
Findings
A four-stage, 20-step process proposed in the normative model was found to be generally supported by the descriptive model developed, potentially comprising a possible prescriptive model for the Australian unlisted property fund investment decision-making process.
Research limitations/implications
Further research is required to investigate risk-return issues, whether the prescriptive model is generalisable across other property investment decision-making groups or over time and whether it may lead to “good” decisions.
Practical implications
The prescriptive model proposed may contribute consistency and transparency to the decision-making process, if adopted by Australian unlisted property funds, potentially leading to better decisions.
Social implications
Greater consistency and transparency in property investment decision making by Australian unlisted property funds may lead to the optimal allocation of capital and greater investor confidence in the sector.
Originality/value
The findings comprise the first possible prescriptive model of the Australian unlisted property fund investment decision-making process, forming a basis for comparative investigation of that process adopted by other property investment decision-making groups such as Australian REITs and Australian retail property funds.
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