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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the direct and indirect effects of flexible working arrangements (FWAs) on return on labour (ROL).

Data from 4,204 employees and their employers were used to construct regression models to assess separately, the direct relationships between the FWAs and ROL and also the indirect relationships, with job satisfaction and staff turnover as mediating variables, applying Baron and Kenny’s (1986) mediation rules.

Flexible work hours significantly and directly increased ROL and indirectly through reduction in staff turnover, while the negative direct effect of job sharing on ROL was indirectly reduced by its positive effect on job satisfaction. Time in lieu of overtime (TOIL) and working from home reduced ROL with the direct negative effects of TOIL on ROL worsened by a reduction in job satisfaction.

The results suggest that not all FWAs increase ROL and that the direct effects of FWAs on ROL emanate from the efficacy with which work is reallocated in FWA negotiations. The indirect effects derive from employees’ reciprocation of FWAs through improved job satisfaction and turnover. The onus is therefore, on employers to maximise returns from FWAs through efficient work reallocation during negotiations.

The study makes a contribution by examining the direction of effects of FWAs on ROL and the pathways (direct and indirect) by which the effects occur. Research in this area has hitherto considered subjective and qualitative performance measures. FWAs, such as job sharing and TOIL, which are rarely considered in the literature, are covered in the study.

This paper investigates similarities and differences in total quality management practices across different industry groups such as the service, manufacturing, and construction industries. The study also investigates the relationship between the quality management practices and business performance by industry category. A survey was conducted using Powell’s framework as a basis, and sent to Queensland businesses. A total of 140 responses were received – 58 from the service sector, 62 from the manufacturing sector, and 20 from the construction sector. The results suggest that there are some common factors including value chain integration, efficiency and employee involvement, though the composition of quality management practices comprising these factors differed somewhat between industries. The results reveal that value chain integration in particular appears to be an important factor for quality management in each of the industries examined. The results of MANOVA analyses suggest evidence of an association between some of the quality management practices and performance for the service and manufacturing industries but not for the construction industry.

The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the differences in residents' attitude to tourism by considering those who receive social and economic benefits from tourism and those who perceive that they do not; and those who want to move away from the Sunshine Coast and those who do not.

In conducting this investigation, information is collected from Sunshine Coast residents by using a survey approach. Altogether, 732 responses are received with a response rate of 14.64 per cent. Social, economic and cultural benefits are considered.

The paper finds notable differences in residents' attitude according to the type of benefit they receive from tourism. Similar observations are made regarding residents who are willing to move away from the Sunshine Coast and those who are not.

Not many studies are available comparing Sunshine Coast with other major cities such as Sydney or Melbourne in Australia. Therefore, in future research, it would be useful to establish some benchmarks that incorporate a seasonality aspect and to conduct comparative studies to identify residents' preferences for the development of tourist attractions and related developmental issues. Along with residents, it will be of some value to explore the visitors' perceptions of both positive and negative aspects of the Sunshine Coast Region as a tourist destination.

This paper identifies several notable differences which would assist the tourism planners in developing a policy for sustaining tourism development and aligning future growth with residents' desires. The findings of this paper are also useful in developing future benchmarking research projects in the hospitality and tourism industry.

This study aims to investigate the impact of quality management practices on performance and the extent to which industry rivalry and entry barriers moderate the relationship between the implementation of quality management practices and quality management performance.

A survey questionnaire was administered for this research using Powell's quality management framework. The respondents were required to indicate their degree of implementation of quality management practices and to rate their TQM performance in relation to overall performance, the firm's competitive position and the nature of the impact of quality management on the organisation. Structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses.

The results show that firms with high levels of executive commitment to quality management and those that pay close attention to customer needs tend to improve their competitive position, view quality as being positive for the organisation, and improve overall performance. The results suggest that the degree of quality management implementation is positively associated with entry barriers, which would mean reduced level of threat from new entrants; whereas the industry rivalry issues were not significantly associated with either quality management or organisational performance. The findings also show that existing firms' ability to create entry barriers facilitates increased opportunities to improve their organisational performance.

The sample was relatively small, subjective measures of organisational performance were used which may be biased due to respondents' interpretation of their own firm's performances, and there is a possibility that many firms with low levels of QM implementation may not have participated in the study, leading to self‐selection bias. These factors may limit the generalisability of the research findings to other settings. Therefore further research is required to ascertain whether the same practices are evident across organisations of different sizes and industry groups within a broader sampling frame.

The findings suggest that quality management implementation by firms within an environment where higher levels of entry barriers exist results in higher organisational performance due to the firms' relative protection against new competitors.

This is one of the very few papers to investigate the role of Porter's industry analysis framework in relation to quality management implementation and firm performance.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the key “hard” and “soft” quality management factors used by Australian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and their association with organisational performance.

A survey questionnaire was constructed for this research using Powell's quality management framework. The respondents were required to indicate their degree of implementation of quality management practices and to rate their TQM performance in relation to overall performance, return on assets, market share and customer satisfaction.

The study found that improved overall performance appears to be favourably influenced by a combination of “hard” TQM factors such as benchmarking and quality measurement, continuous improvement, and efficiency improvement; and the “soft” TQM factors consisting of top management philosophy and supplier support, employee training and increased interaction with employees and customers. Furthermore, the TQM factors of employee training, efficiency improvement, and employee and customer involvement would appear to be important in maintaining customer satisfaction, whilst employee and customer involvement also appeared to be important in maintaining a competitive edge in terms of return on assets.

The findings show that it is necessary to focus on a combination of soft or behavioural aspects and the hard “systems‐oriented” aspects of QM to achieve an improvement in overall performance, and that to maintain customer satisfaction and return on assets it is just as important to focus on employee involvement and training, as it is to have a customer focus.

This study aims to make an assessment of the status of various management practices/cultural attributes in local government and investigates their relationship with organisational performance. The local government organisation concerned is going through the process of cultural change in an effort to becoming a learning organisation.

The results of this study are based on employees' perceptions of management practices and organisational performance collected using a survey approach. The Denison Organisational Culture Survey (DOCS) was used for collecting the data.

Of the various management practices considered, the study found that team orientation has received top emphasis followed by dissemination of the core values and organisational capability development. In terms of performance measures, the offering of new services to their clients ranks number one followed by brainstorming practices in problems solving. Employee empowerment has not received much emphasis from the management despite being associated with various measures of performance such as client satisfaction, job satisfaction, quality of services, revenue growth, improved skills of employees in evaluating organisational success or failures, and successful implementation of organisational programs. Although creating change, organisational learning, and team orientation indicate positive correlations with the majority of performance measures considered in this study; there is no evidence of their relationship with financial measure of performance like revenue growth.

The organisational managers may find the outcomes of such investigations helpful as they provide useful information on the organisation's cultural strengths and weaknesses. Such studies would also assist managers to systematically assess their change initiatives and develop a better strategy for successful implementation of managements' tactics and business processes.

Investigates functional strategies aimed at developing competitive advantage in terms of both their perceived importance by management and their actual impact on organizational performance in Australian manufacturing companies. Considers factors such as productivity, research and development and human resources. Results of research include the finding that productivity strategies are preferred by Australian manufacturers and will continue to be so over the next few years, along with human resources strategies. Notes that a mix of functional strategies was seen as beneficial for performance. Concludes that TQM is an appropriate strategy for enhancement of competitiveness given the need for an holistic approach.

This aim of this study is to investigate whether food choice varies by the place of residence (dependent or independent) of a group of young adults.

A self‐administered questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data from 305 German students between the ages of 18 to 24 years.

It was found that students who lived in the family home consumed more helpings of both fruit and vegetables each day, compared with young adults who lived independently. Further, higher proportions of dependent students ate more servings of every food group each day compared with their independent counterparts. It was also found that there is a significant difference in mood, weight concern and attitudes towards healthy eating between students under 21‐years‐old and those above 21‐years‐old.

The research was a cross‐sectional study of a selected group of German university students from a single campus that was based on a quota sample and assessed self‐reported behaviour on a self‐administered questionnaire. While the limitations associated with these aspects of research design affect the generalizability of the findings, they, nonetheless, do not detract from the strengths and novelty of the research.

In terms of education, campaigns may consider focusing on improving the attitude toward healthy eating among young German adults who live in a dependent arrangement within the family home, perhaps encouraging the young adult to be an influencer in food purchases. Furthermore, it is suggested that social marketing campaigns that educate young adults about food‐related activities, such as budgeting, preparation and cooking, in readiness for, or in the early stages of, their transition to independent living would yield positive results. The motivation component of social marketing may also be informed by the research findings. Specifically, persuasive messages that correspond with Sheth and Frazier's inducement process may encourage healthier eating.

Being a relatively unexplored area, the findings are novel and provide valuable insights for the implementation of an inducement process for planned social change as well as informing the education and motivation elements of intervention strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between perceived susceptibility to alcohol retailers' sales promotion strategies and young, female university students' intention to buy alcohol and attitude towards alcohol consumption.

Data were collected from a convenience sample of three universities in three OECD countries with high alcohol consumption per capita: Australia (n=305), Germany (n=323) and Wales (n=361). A self‐administered survey approach was used to collect data from female university students between the ages of 18 and 24 years in one university in each country. The four alcohol sales promotion strategies of interest were price reductions, quantity specials whereby the more you buy the less you pay on a pro rata basis, bulk purchasing of alcohol, and purchasing from more than one store to take advantage of low prices.

The study found that except for retailer price reductions, the association between Welsh university students' intentions to buy alcohol and their susceptibility to the remaining retailers' sales promotions was greater than that of university students in Australia and Germany, respectively. Significant differences between the countries were found in terms of the salience of perceived susceptibility to retail sales promotion strategies and their correlation with students' attitude towards alcohol consumption.

The paper's findings provide insights particularly for upstream, legislative strategic interventions to combat the issue of alcohol drinking of young female university students.

Investigates the key strategic approaches used by Queensland businesses in achieving their quality objectives. Finds that the highest ranked quality management techniques of total sample firms included a program for reduction in defects, commitment and communication of commitment to quality programs, an open trusting culture and interaction with customers and suppliers. Finds also that in excess of 65 per cent of Queensland businesses adopt some form of quality management techniques, of which ISO 9000 was found to be dominant. Quality management approaches used by businesses committed to quality management were compared with those which had no formal commitment to quality management. The results suggest that businesses committed to a quality management program are more inclined to have top executive support for, and organisational communication of, quality management principles, plus greater emphasis on better customer relationships, and that these quality management approaches are positively associated with organisational performance.