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The purpose of this paper is to examine information and volatility linkages among real estate, equity, bond and money markets in Australia.

A novel rational expectations framework of financial contagion (Kodres and Pritsker, 2002), along with a combination of robust statistical methods including simple and dynamic correlations and generalized impulse response (Fereidouni et al., 2014) have been employed using data covering three dynamic pre-pandemic economic cycles, namely, global financial crisis (GFC) period, pre-pandemic housing boom and pre-pandemic housing downturn from 2008 (February) to 2019 (December).

Results reveal information linkages across real estate, equity, bond and money markets through correlations in return and volatilities of these series. Finding indicates that the three financial markets (equity, bond and money markets) are interdependent and integrated through information and volatility linkages during the GFC period and pre-pandemic housing downturn period. Financial markets have stronger associations with real estate market during pre-pandemic housing boom. The findings contribute to the general notion that the performances of three financial markets are closely related to the “boom” phase of the real estate cycle.

This research provides an extension of existing literature regarding the information and volatility contagion of the expanded set of core investment markets in Australia. The findings could assist household buyers and investors in designing strategic investment portfolios/hedging strategies and minimizing asset specific risks through diversification over short-term and long-term. In addition, results could support the maintenance, growth and development of a combination of competitive balanced investment markets including real estate, equity, bond and money markets in post-pandemic economy.

This paper aims to explore principal drivers affecting prices in the Australian housing market, aiming to detect the presence of housing bubbles within it. The data set analyzed covers the past two decades, thereby including the period of the most recent housing boom between 2012 and 2015.

The paper describes the application of combined enhanced rigorous econometric frameworks, such as ordinary least square (OLS), Granger causality and the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) framework, to provide an in-depth understanding of house price dynamics and bubbles in Australia.

The empirical results presented reveal that Australian house prices are driven primarily by four key factors: mortgage interest rates, consumer sentiment, the Australian S&P/ASX 200 stock market index and unemployment rates. It finds that these four key drivers have long-term equilibrium in relation to house prices, and any short-term disequilibrium always self-corrects over the long term because of economic forces. The existence of long-term equilibrium in the housing market suggests it is unlikely to be in a bubble (Diba and Grossman, 1988; Flood and Hodrick, 1986).

The foremost contribution of this paper is that it is the first rigorous study of housing bubbles in Australia at the national level. Additionally, the data set renders the study of particular interest because it incorporates an analysis of the most recent housing boom (2012-2015). The policy implications from the study arise from the discussion of how best to balance monetary policy, fiscal policy and macroeconomic policy to optimize the steady and stable growth of the Australian housing market, and from its reconsideration of affordability schemes and related policies designed to incentivize construction and the involvement of complementary industries associated with property.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the roles of virtual agents in a virtual co-creation context by exploring their influence on online trust. An empirical study is conducted in the French online wine business to analyse the impacts of different dimensions of virtual agents on generating online trust.

Primary data were collected through a questionnaire targeting French online wine shoppers.

The results demonstrate a positive effect of the utility and hedonic functions of virtual agents on online trust. The findings also confirm the moderating role of the perceived risk.

The authors’ convenience sample shows a bias towards a lack of familiarity with virtual agents.

Wine business actors need to consider their customers’ profiles in order to better adapt virtual agents’ functionality and hence improve their customers’ level of online trust while reducing their risk perception. Additionally, understanding virtual agents’ roles can help identify the underlying mechanisms that emerge in a co-creation process.

The study contributes to a better understanding of the human dimension of co-creation by examining the different roles of virtual agents as sources of customers’ online trust.

Purpose – Despite the rising number of unmarried and/or divorced parents, negative stereotypes of single parents are still prevalent. The current study aims to explore attitudes toward single mothers (choice vs circumstance) and personal willingness to become single parents in the future.

Design/Methodology/Approach – The current study used a 10-item Likert scale inventory to assess 230 female respondents’ attitudes toward fictitious single mothers; five open-ended questions explored advantages/challenges faced by each mother, and a single-item Likert scale assessed willingness to become a single mother by choice.

Findings – Although young adults (18–25 years) reported more positivity toward single mothers compared to adults (26–79 years), both groups were unwilling to become single mothers by choice. Qualitative findings suggested participants identified more advantages associated with being a single mother by choice (as compared to by circumstance).

Research Limitations/Implications – The majority of the sample consisted of “young adults” (undergraduates) ages 18–25, while the “adult” sample combined multiple generations ages 26–79, resulting in an unbalanced age distribution between groups.

Originality/Value – Few studies have acknowledged the existence of single mothers by choice; the current research provided supporting evidence that attitudes toward single mothers are increasingly more positive among Millennials despite unwillingness to become a single mother by choice in the future.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the direct and indirect role of autonomy on firm performance. It also determines the role of professional experience in the relationship.

The authors analyzed data collected from 124 small firms in Addis Ababa city using the ordinary least square (OLS) regression and hierarchical regression analysis.

The result of the OLS regression revealed that autonomy directly and indirectly (through entrepreneurial engagement) influences the firm's performance. Besides, professional experience moderates the relationship between autonomy and performance, as well as the relationship between autonomy and entrepreneurial engagement.

Entrepreneurs should tend to engage in the works that they have professional experience than involving in jobs that they have no experience.

This study examines the relationship between autonomy and firm performance in established firms. It is among the first studies that tested the moderation influence in the relationship. That is, determining the role of professional experience is a novel contribution of this study, which is forgotten previously.

This paper aims to identify key performance indicators (KPIs), and their corresponding attributes, required to successfully manage asset management sustainably in a built environment context. Improving the sustainability of existing housing stock is a major challenge facing the UK social housing sector. There is a lack of support to navigate the growing and often incongruent information relating to sustainable development and how to operationalise it. The problem is twofold; first, the current (single criterion) condition-based approach to maintenance planning constrains asset managers and does not fully address the social, environmental and economic aspects of sustainability. Second, the toolkits available for assessing the sustainability of housing are often generic and are time consuming and expensive to implement.

This paper reports the findings of a participatory research project with a leading London-based housing association, using a series of landlord and tenant workshops to derive a set of attributes associated with KPIs to fully reflect the local requirements of the landlord and their interpretation of the sustainability agenda. Five KPIs are considered to be measurable, directly affected by maintenance work and independent of each other were identified by this landlord (comfort, running costs, adaptability, maintenance costs and community).

The resulting outputs, in a policy context, will provide a clear route map to social housing landlords of how to improve the sustainability of their housing stock with the additional benefits of addressing fuel poverty and carbon emission targets, whilst at the same time, help create and maintain housing in which people want to live.

The proposed approach is flexible enough to incorporate the individual requirements of landlords and be able to adapt to changes in government policy (local and central) in a timely, robust, transparent and inclusive format.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the high failure among African entrepreneurs post-2008 financial crisis. It evaluates the evidence of actual and perceived disadvantage and endogenous and exogenous factors affecting black and minority ethnic businesses.

The research is based on an interpretivist frame which uses a dialogic methodology. It uses in-depth interviews. The researchers framed discussion questions so as to invite the participants to articulate directly their experiences for the benefit of the readership, other existing African businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs.

The findings from the interviews with 20 leaders of “dead” businesses indicate the impact that place, people and poverty have on business failure and identify reasons for African business failure rates compared to other minorities. This study reveals that culture, an often understated variable, is critical in understanding the deeper reasons for the under-performance of African small entrepreneurs and its impacts on individual and collective lives.

Recovery solutions ought to be formulated from participants’ call for diversification, inter-cultural learning and integration as potential remedies. The research addresses the socio-economic problems encountered by owners of “dead” businesses. Policymakers and financial organisations ought to pay heed to the skills and resources that minorities offer as part of remedies for future enterprises.

Studies on failed African businesses are under-represented in the literature. This study identifies the important role of culture on the failure of small businesses owned by African migrants in the UK. It highlights the significant socio-economic and situational barriers that they navigate in quest for recognition and cultural integration through business endeavours.

For decades organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) has been of interest to scholars and practitioners alike, generating a significant amount of research exploring the concept of what citizenship behavior is, and its antecedents, correlates, and consequences. While these behaviors have been and will continue to be valuable, there are changes in the workplace that have the potential to alter what types of OCBs will remain important for organizations in the future, as well as what types of opportunities for OCB exist for employees. In this chapter we consider the influence of 10 workplace trends related to human resource management that have the potential to influence both what types of citizenship behaviors employees engage in and how often they may engage in them. We build on these 10 trends that others have identified as having the potential to shape the workplace of the future, which include labor shortages, globalization, immigration, knowledge-based workers, increase use of technology, gig work, diversity, changing work values, the skills gap, and employer brands. Based on these 10 trends, we develop propositions about how each trend may impact OCB. We consider not only how these trends will influence the types of citizenship and opportunities for citizenship that employees can engage in, but also how they may shape the experiences of others related to OCB, including organizations and managers.

The purpose of this paper is to audit the efforts made around the support of indigenous players within the Australian Football League (AFL).

Content analysis of the publicly available information on websites of organizations associated with the AFL was undertaken to identify the extent of programs and policies around indigenous representation, inclusion, and development.

The AFL, as an organization, has a high percentage of indigenous players (employees) in comparison to the wider Australian workforce representation. Largely, indigenous representation within the AFL is merit based, prioritized on an individual’s ability to play football at an elite level. The website audit identified a number of inconsistencies in the public personas portrayed by the AFL and organizations aligned to it such as the AFL Players Association and clubs. The findings raise a number of questions for future research.

The main limitation is that the website audit represents a very small insight into the current situation and does not provide a depth of analysis into the circumstances around indigenous inclusion within the AFL. The audit also is very focused on one sporting organization which may or may not be representative of the sport industry.

The research introduces a number of questions for future discovery.