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The purpose of this paper was to investigate the influences of calendar year, year level, gender and language background other than English (LBOTE) on student achievement in literacy and numeracy relative to class size.

Data for this study were collected over five years (2008-2012) as test results from the Australian National Assessment Plan in Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) in Years 3 and 5 from over 100 Sydney primary schools.

It was found that the most important factors influencing academic performance in literacy and numeracy were, in descending order: gender, LBOTE, the calendar year in which the test was conducted, followed by class size. All variables were significantly associated with NAPLAN performance, but effect size estimates for class size were close to zero.

The results of this study support other studies suggesting that factors other than class size are more important in influencing academic performance.

While advances in big data analytics (BDA) provide valuable business insights and immense business value, many firms find it difficult to gain advantage from their BDA initiatives. Noting the strategic role of firm-specific knowledge, we develop a framework examining the relation between firm specificity of BDA knowledge and competitive advantage. We also examine the dynamic evolution of BDA capabilities and the associated knowledge management strategies.

We review the resource-based view (RBV), capabilities life cycles and absorptive capacity perspectives along with the literature on BDA competitive advantage. Identifying two key BDA factors, application customization and data proprietorship, we develop a BDA competitive advantage framework. We also investigate the absorptive capacities employed by firms to advance their BDA capabilities. We use anecdotal cases to support our theoretical arguments.

We propose that BDA solutions with vendor-based applications (noncustomized) and public data will not generate firm-specific knowledge and therefore not provide competitive advantage. In contrast, BDA solutions with custom applications and proprietary data will provide high-level firm-specific knowledge and potentially result in sustained competitive advantage. We further suggest the relevant absorptive capacities and the knowledge management strategies for BDA capability development.

Our framework provides managers with insights into how to develop and enhance firm-specific knowledge from their BDA solutions to gain competitive advantage.

Our study offers a new BDA firm-specific knowledge framework for competitive advantage.

The purpose of this paper is to address a deficiency in the literature by exploring the impact of negative workplace safety announcements on firm performance. The authors analyze the issue from a corporate social responsibility perspective and explore ways supply chain managers can contribute to improve firm performance through the development of safe working environments.

Utilizing a sample of 227 negative workplace safety announcements, this paper explores the implications of negative workplace safety announcements on the stock price of a firm using event study methodology.

The authors find that negative workplace announcements are associated with an abnormal decrease in shareholder value. Furthermore, the authors find evidence that negative workplace safety announcements have a more pronounced negative effect on firm value in the present environment than in any previous time period.

Operations managers need to play leading roles in ensuring safe working environments. The results provide the support needed to acquire the financial resources necessary to mitigate exposure to unsafe working conditions.

This study explores the impact of negative workplace safety announcements on a firm’s stock performance. It is the first large-scale study to look at public announcements of workplace incidents and to explore the impact of such announcements in the context of time.

The purpose of this paper is to review current practice in sharing and mining medical data revealing benefits, costs and ethical issues. Based on stakeholder perspectives and values, the authors create an ethical code to regulate the sharing and mining of medical information.

The framework is based on a review of academic, practitioner and legal research.

Owing to the inability of current safeguards to protect consumers from risks related to the disclosure of medical information, the authors develop a framework for ethical sharing and mining of medical data, security, transparency, respect, accountability, community and quality (STRACQ), which espouses security, transparency, respect, accountability, community and quality as the basic tenets of ethical data sharing and mining practice.

The STRACQ framework is an original, previously unpublished contribution that will require modification over time based on discussion and debate within and among the academy, medical community and public policymakers.

The framework for sharing borrows from the Fair Credit Reporting Act, allowing the collection and dissemination of identified medical data but placing strict limitations on use. Following this framework, benefits of shared and mined medical data are freely available with appropriate safeguards for consumer privacy.

Mandates for adoption of electronic health-care records require an understanding of medical data mining. This paper presents a review of data mining techniques and reasons for engaging in the practice of identifying benefits, costs and ethical issues. The authors create an original framework, STRACQ, for ethical sharing and mining of medical information, allowing knowledge exploration while protecting consumer privacy.

The aim of the discipline of Operations Management is to gain competitive advantage. One more recent and lesser‐known Operations Management technique that is finding greater acceptance is the Theory of Constraints (TOC). This paper illustrates the use of a specific TOC technique termed “The Thinking Processes” to solve an airline industry case toward improved competitive outcomes.

Environmental management systems (EMS) seek to make companies simultaneously more competitive and environmentally responsible. Improved environmental performance can be sought from the adaptation of techniques that emphasize reduction of waste and process/product redesign in the quest of reducing environmental impact. However, EMS lacks a framework to quantify improvements and much of the evidence of EMS's impact on financial performance is anecdotal. This lack of theoretical development has served to diminish corporate support, thus reducing the likelihood of EMS implementation due to a perceived cost disadvantage. This paper proposes, and tests, a framework to quantify EMS improvements to determine the impact of EMS strategies on financial performance. Our findings suggest that implementation of an EMS strategy does not negatively impact a firm's financial performance.

This paper examines beliefs and attitudes in the context of how they influence the decisions of university Human Research Ethics Committees (HRECs) as a preface to undertaking an empirical study in this area. It also aims at establishing a conceptual framework to guide the design of a questionnaire targeting beliefs about research ethics and the implications of these beliefs on review practices of HREC members throughout Australia.

Using content analysis of the extant body of the literature the paper examines the relationship between the concepts of beliefs and knowledge, beliefs and attitudes, and among beliefs, attitudes and behaviour in the context of research ethics.

The discussion suggests that ethics approval practices can, at times, be influenced more by personal beliefs than by contemporary review standards. It is also suggested that personal beliefs can be transmitted through the review process and that HRECs can serve to influence the transfer of values from reviewers to researchers.

The framework that this paper presents has the potential to appraise an array of perspectives which in turn would guide the design of professional development programs. In addition, an improved, more nuanced understanding of how HREC members make ethical decisions will positively impact and inform best practice in the review of ethical applications for research projects.

The paper presents a novel theoretical framework underpinning research ethics reviewer beliefs and attitudes within a contemporary context.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Organizations of all sizes are looking to big data to boost competitive advantage and create sustained growth. Yet bulk data is not typically enough on its own, and proprietary applications and organizationally-specific data is required.

The briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.