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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 22 December 2022

John Langdale

This study aims to examine the role of Australian casinos in facilitating money laundering and Chinese capital flight.

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to examine the role of Australian casinos in facilitating money laundering and Chinese capital flight.

Design/methodology/approach

The reports and transcripts of evidence from government inquiries into money laundering in Australian casinos are integrated with analyses of Asian transnational crime.

Findings

Money laundering in Australian casinos is linked to transnational crime and Chinese capital flight. A central finding is that junket operators play a key role in facilitating money laundering. The casinos are particularly exposed to criminal influences in the Chinese very important person gambling market, since they have used junket operators and underground banks, many of whom are closely linked to major Chinese criminal groups from Hong Kong and Macau.

Research limitations/implications

Very little information is available on money laundering in Australian casinos and this research has relied on the government inquiries that have been conducted over the past two years on the subject.

Practical implications

The author’s focus on money laundering in Australian casinos in the context of Asia-Pacific transnational crime is important for Federal and state government regulators grappling with the rapidly changing money laundering issues. The government inquiries recognised that the money laundering was related to transnational crime, but did not have the time and resources to explore the topic. The paper provides state government casino regulators and financial crime regulators with a broader international perspective to anticipate future money laundering and crime pressures facing Australia’s casinos.

Social implications

Money laundering in Australian casinos has had devastating social implications on the community. My research helps to focus attention on the problems of transnational crime and money laundering.

Originality/value

Little research has examined the linkages between casinos and transnational crime. This study has found that Australian casinos were used to launder the proceeds of illegal drug trafficking and to facilitate Chinese capital flight. While casinos have been forced by damming government inquiries to tighten anti-money laundering controls, it is likely that there will be pressure to relax these controls in the future because of competitive pressure from other casinos in the Asia-Pacific region.

Details

Journal of Money Laundering Control, vol. 26 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1368-5201

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 April 2012

Randall Bowden and Lynn P. Gonzalez

The faculty, as higher education's most valuable asset, is being dramatically altered. Changes in appointment status drive this alteration, resulting in the essential work of…

Abstract

Purpose

The faculty, as higher education's most valuable asset, is being dramatically altered. Changes in appointment status drive this alteration, resulting in the essential work of faculty being transformed. Given this change in faculty composition, this study seeks to examine how faculty appointments relate to the production of faculty work in teaching, research, and service. Faculty appointments affect faculty work and it implies that the function of higher education also is altered. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the rise of contingent faculty on the professoriate and higher education.

Design/methodology/approach

The National Study of Postsecondary Faculty of 2004 provided data for analyses. There were faculty and instructional staff participants (26,110) from a sample of 980 institutions in the USA and the District of Columbia. The National Center for Education Statistics provides access to its Data Analysis System (DAS) for public use. Basic calculations can result in straight counts, percentages, means, correlation coefficients, and tables. Complex analytic capabilities include covariance using both weighted least squares regression and logistic regression. The DAS was used to examine how changes in faculty composition were related to teaching, research, and service.

Findings

Overall, the results indicate that tenured and tenure‐track faculty out‐perform contingent faculty on all major items of teaching, research, and service. With few exceptions, contingent faculty can be viewed as less productive faculty members within the historical function of higher education to promote inquiry and advance the sum of human knowledge, provide general instruction to the students, and develop experts for various branches of the public. If faculty are the heart and health of colleges and universities, the future of higher education may be bleak if the reliance on contingent faculty continues to soar.

Practical implications

The gap between performance levels of tenure/tenure‐track and contingent faculty in teaching, research, and service indicates the quality of higher education is rapidly eroding. This study indicated that the contributions to promoting inquiry and advancing the sum of human knowledge are diminished with increasing use of contingent faculty. It suggests that not only is the work of faculty threatened by a contingent faculty approach but the well‐being of higher education is threatened also.

Social implications

Overall, tenured and tenure‐track faculty out‐performed other types of faculty appointments according to essential values of faculty – teaching research, and service. Faculty appointments play a significant role in the overall performance of higher education. The function of higher education cannot help but be affected. Society relies on higher education for not only career training but an educated citizenry. If left to contract and part‐time help, it raises concern for the overall well being of society.

Originality/value

Although there is literature discussing concerns about the influx of contingent faculty, there is little, if any, empirical evidence of its impact on the professoriate and its relationship to the overall health and well being of higher education. This study suggests that the traditional framework of faculty work – teaching, research, and service – is being dramatically altered.

Details

Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, vol. 4 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2050-7003

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 January 2014

Paul Andon and Clinton Free

Arguing that the print media act as a claims-making forum for the social construction and contestation of crises, the aim of this paper is to explore how the print media mediated…

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Abstract

Purpose

Arguing that the print media act as a claims-making forum for the social construction and contestation of crises, the aim of this paper is to explore how the print media mediated two audits commissioned following a high-profile salary cap breach in the National Rugby League (NRL) in Australia.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper draws upon critical discourse analysis to examine the media coverage of the two audits by the two major Australian media organisations, News Limited and Fairfax Media Limited. The analysis is based on a qualitative study complemented by quantitative techniques that explore critical incidents and representations in the daily press.

Findings

The paper illustrates the way in which News Limited, the owner of the infringing club, mobilised its media platform to promote favourable viewpoints and interpretations and how these were challenged in the Fairfax press. Evidence of both coverage bias and statement bias in the treatment of the two audits is produced.

Originality/value

This paper provides evidence that commercial interests of owner/publishers coloured media coverage of the two audits, which were central pillars of the crisis management strategy of News Limited and the NRL. Implications for the media's contribution to public accountability, accounting outputs and impression management, and the growing commercial diversification and reach of media outlets are considered.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 27 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 1995

Rajaram Veliyath and James W. Bishop

The study supports the existence of a relationship between components of CEO compensation and firm performance. On average, the sampled firms can be characterized as having high…

1147

Abstract

The study supports the existence of a relationship between components of CEO compensation and firm performance. On average, the sampled firms can be characterized as having high levels of CEO cash compensation and high ROE, as well as high levels of stock option values and high market returns. These between‐firm effects suggest the existence of labor market norms linking executive compensation with firm performance. CEO cash compensation was also strongly influenced by CEO age and firm size.

Details

The International Journal of Organizational Analysis, vol. 3 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1055-3185

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1997

Susan Key

This paper develops the concept of managerial discretion. Discretion, defined as individual empowerment to act, has received increased attention in the management literature…

Abstract

This paper develops the concept of managerial discretion. Discretion, defined as individual empowerment to act, has received increased attention in the management literature, particularly in the policy area. This research develops an instrument to measure discretion of individual managers. Vignettes are used to measure the willingness of managers to act in response to dilemmas that have organizational policy implications. The investigation of the reliability and validity of the developed measure, the Individual Discretion Questionnaire (IDQ), reveals that it identifies variability in managerial response and correlates significantly with two other established measures: locus of control and organizational ethical culture. The results suggest that this assessment tool may provide a means to identify how willing individual managers are to take preventive action in situations that present financial and sociopolitical risks to their organization.

Details

The International Journal of Organizational Analysis, vol. 5 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1055-3185

Article
Publication date: 25 November 2019

Ademola Amida, Isaac Chang and David Yearwood

This paper aims to present the finding of a practical lab assessment used to evaluate students’ mastery of Ohm’s law. The researchers used an approach combining different…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to present the finding of a practical lab assessment used to evaluate students’ mastery of Ohm’s law. The researchers used an approach combining different instruction types and lab formats to examine whether this combination produced a unique effect on students’ performance. This multifaceted approach provided evidence about how assessment design could affect students’ lab performance. The study also discussed various strategies that could guide instructors and curriculum designers about how to incorporate lab tasks into their curriculum to facilitate students’ mastery of subject content.

Design/methodology/approach

This study was a quantitative experiment that used a factorial repeated measures design. The design allowed the researchers to measure participants’ task scores and time across different treatment conditions, hence enabling the effects of lab format and instructional type to be observed. All participants were recruited through the convenience sampling strategy.

Findings

The results suggested that there was a statistically significant difference in the time taken to complete the task. However, no statistically significant difference was recorded in the participants’ task scores. Overall, it appeared that participants performed better in the simulation-based labs with expository instructions.

Originality/value

The current study contributes to the body of knowledge on the effect of lab format and instructional type on students’ performance in lab-based assessments. The results presented here may also help instructors to determine the most appropriate form of lab formats and instruction types to be used in an electronics course.

Details

Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology , vol. 18 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1726-0531

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 June 2017

Jon Aarum Andersen

This paper aims to assess the concept of managerial discretion with respect to its theoretical and empirical usefulness for corporate governance research.

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to assess the concept of managerial discretion with respect to its theoretical and empirical usefulness for corporate governance research.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper scrutinises applied theoretical claims, definitions and methods, as well as a number of empirical studies on managerial discretion.

Findings

To date, no empirical definition of the concept has been presented and no measurement has been developed and tested for reliability and validity that contains all three factors of the managerial discretion concept, as proposed by Hambrick and Finkelstein (1987).

Practical implications

Research on managerial discretion does not provide owners and directors of boards with any advice on granting top managers a high or low degree of discretion.

Originality/value

This paper concludes that corporate governance scholarship will improve if it abandons the concept of managerial discretion.

Details

Corporate Governance: The International Journal of Business in Society, vol. 17 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1472-0701

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 October 2010

Justin L. Davis, R. Greg Bell, G. Tyge Payne and Patrick M. Kreiser

Organizational researchers have long recognized the important role that top managers play within entrepreneurial firms (Ireland, Hitt and Sirmon 2003). Utilizing Covin and…

2680

Abstract

Organizational researchers have long recognized the important role that top managers play within entrepreneurial firms (Ireland, Hitt and Sirmon 2003). Utilizing Covin and Slevin’s (1989) conceptual framework, the current study explores three key entrepreneurial characteristics of top managers and the impact these characteristics have on firm performance. Specifically, we argue that top managers with a high tolerance of risk, those who favor innovative activities and those who display a high degree of proactiveness will positively impact firm performance. In addition, this study examines the influence of top managers’ prestige, structural and expert power on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance. We conclude the study with a discussion of theoretical and practical implications of our findings and suggestions for future research in this area of study.

Details

American Journal of Business, vol. 25 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1935-5181

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 July 2005

Gregorio Sánchez Marín and Antonio Aragón Sánchez

This paper analyzes the effect of strategic context on managerial compensation design, and the interactive influence on firm performance for a set of Spanish companies…

886

Abstract

This paper analyzes the effect of strategic context on managerial compensation design, and the interactive influence on firm performance for a set of Spanish companies. Specifically, this study examines the performance implications of the fit between different managerial compensation systems and diverse firm’s strategic orientations – representing various levels of managerial discretion. Based on a framework combining agency theory and managerial discretion concept, a research design with both archival and survey data is used to test hypotheses in a sample of 82 firms. The findings offer sufficient confirmation of theoretical arguments, providing extensions of this research stream for non‐U.S. firms. Results show that firms benefit from the design of managerial compensation systems when they match the managerial control and risk‐bearing requirements imposed by the strategic context. Specifically, risk‐encouraging compensation systems are better for prospector firms – high level of managerial discretion – whereas risk‐discouraging compensation systems are better for defender firms – low level of managerial discretion.

Details

Management Research: Journal of the Iberoamerican Academy of Management, vol. 3 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1536-5433

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 28 October 2019

Rita Goyal, Nada Kakabadse and Andrew Kakabadse

Boards presently are considered the most critical component in improving corporate governance (CG). Board diversity is increasingly being recommended as a tool for enhancing firm…

12240

Abstract

Purpose

Boards presently are considered the most critical component in improving corporate governance (CG). Board diversity is increasingly being recommended as a tool for enhancing firm performance. Academic research and regulatory action regarding board diversity are focussed mainly on gender and ethnic composition of boards. However, the perspective of board members on board diversity and its impact is mostly missing. Moreover, while strategic leadership perspective suggests that a broader set of upper echelon’s characteristics may shape their actions, empirical evidence investigating the impact of less-explored attributes of diversity is almost non-existent. While the research on the input–output relationship between board diversity and firm performance remains equivocal, an intervening relationship between board diversity and board effectiveness needs to be understood. The purpose of this paper is to address all three limitations and explore the subject from board members’ perspective.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper presents the findings of qualitative, exploratory research conducted by interviewing 42 board members of FTSE 350 companies. The data are analysed thematically.

Findings

The findings of the research suggest that board members of FTSE 350 companies consider the diversity of functional experience to be a critical requirement for boards’ role-effectiveness. Functionally diverse boards manage external dependencies more effectively and challenge assumptions of the executive more efficiently, thus improving CG. The findings significantly contribute to the literature on board diversity, as well as to strategic leadership theory and other applicable theories. The research is conducted with a relatively small but elite and difficult to approach set of 42 board members of FTSE 350 companies.

Practical implications

The paper makes a unique and significant contribution to praxis by presenting the perspective of practitioners of CG – board members. The findings may encourage board nomination committees to seek board diversity beyond the gender and ethnic characteristics of directors. The findings may also be relevant for policy formulation, as they indicate that functionally diverse boards have improved effectiveness in a range of board roles.

Social implications

Board diversity is about building a board that accurately reflects the make-up of the population and stakeholders of the society where the company operates. The aim of board diversity is to cultivate a broad range of attributes and perspectives that reflects real-world demographics as boards need to continue to earn their “licence to operate in society” as organisations have a responsibility to multiple constituents and stakeholders, including the community and the wider society within which they exist. Building social capital through diversity has value in the wider context of modern society and achieving social justice.

Originality/value

The paper makes an original and unique contribution to strategic leadership theory by strengthening the argument of the theory. The paper explores beyond widely researched attributes of gender and ethnicity on boards and explores the impact of a less-researched characteristic of directors – their functional experience. Moreover, the paper opens the “black box” of CG – boards, and presents the perspectives of board members. The findings indicate that board members in FTSE 350 boards define diversity more broadly than academics and regulatory agencies often do.

Details

Journal of Capital Markets Studies, vol. 3 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2514-4774

Keywords

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