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The purpose of this paper is to comparatively analyse the best human resource management (HRM) practices in the hotel sector of Samoa and Tonga.

This study examined best HRM practices used by the hotel sector of Samoa and Tonga by using self-administered questionnaires. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 73 hotels in Samoa and 66 hotels in Tonga. Out of the 73 self-administered questionnaires that were distributed in Samoa, 58 usable questionnaires were returned resulting in a response rate of 79 per cent. In the case of Tonga, out of the 66 self-administered questionnaires were distributed, 51 usable questionnaires were returned resulting in a response rate of 77 per cent.

The findings of this study show that there are 28 best HRM practices in Samoa and 15 best HRM practices in Tonga. This study also found that best HRM practices differ based on differences in internal and external environmental factors present in different geographical areas. The findings of this paper support the assumptions of the Contextual Paradigm of HRM and strategic human resource management.

This study is based on a single sector of Samoa and Tonga. A single sector study limits the generalisations that can be made across different sectors in Samoa and Tonga.

Human resource managers should incorporate cultural, political, legal, economic and social factors in HRM practices.

None of the existing studies have examined best HRM practices used by the hotel sector of Samoa and Tonga. This study is a pioneering study that comparatively analyses the best HRM practices used by the hotel sector of Samoa and Tonga.

Globally, there is an increased recognition of the important role played by micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the economic development of a country. Similarly, in the South Pacific region, MSMEs is the main engine behind the economic growth. In particular, MSMEs is one of the biggest contributors to GDP, employment and plays a core role in the supply chain of large businesses. One of the major problems faced by MSMEs in South Pacific Island countries is a lack of finance to advance business growth. Against this backdrop, the purpose of this paper will be to examine the financial obstacles faced by MSMEs.

The main objective of this study is to explore the financial obstacles faced by MSMEs in the manufacturing sector of Fiji and Tonga. In particular, this research tries to evaluate the severity of the impact of each of the financial obstacles on the growth and survival of MSMEs in Fiji and Tonga.

The research involved conducting a survey of 200 MSMEs in Fiji and Tonga. The study concluded that financial problems faced by the MSMEs could be divided into three broad categories: financing problems; operational and administrative problems; and sales and debtors problems. The 19 financial obstacles tested in this research falls under these broad categories.

This research is original and highly value to a wide range of readers. Scholars, practitioners, aid donors are widely interested to understand the status of MSMEs in Fiji and Tonga. Research of this nature has never been conducted in Fiji.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of innovation in handicraft industry of Fiji and Tonga.

Data for this study was collected via face-to-face interviews with handicraft sellers in Fiji and Tonga. In total, 368 interviews were conducted in Fiji and Tonga out of which, 48 was from Tonga and 320 was from Fiji.

The results of this study show that eight factors; namely, value adding, design uniqueness, new product development, cultural uniqueness, advanced technology, experience of owner, ability of owner to adapt to trends in market and quality of raw materials have significant impact on level of innovation in handicraft industry of Fiji and Tonga.

To date, none of the existing studies have examined determinants of innovation in handicraft industry of the Pacific Island countries. This is a pioneering study that examines determinants of innovation in handicraft industry of Fiji and Tonga.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the fluid role of accounting both as a form of power and resistance in the context of World Bank projects in the Island Kingdom of Tonga.

Bourdieu’s concepts of doxa and capital provided the framework for problematizing the fluidity of practices of accounting as both a form of power and of resistance. The authors used a qualitative field study design based on a combination of a documentary analysis of these loan agreements and interviews with key actors and informants.

The role of accounting in relation to subaltern groups is mediated by the doxic rules and existing capital arrangements at the national and the local or village level. Understanding accounting as both capital and as doxa explains why it can be both a form of power and of resistance.

This study provides policy makers and foreign donors of Tonga and other Pacific Islands a deeper understanding on the struggles to implement and the impacts of accounting at local level as accounting is deployed as part of struggles in various social contexts each with its own doxa and capital arrangements.

This study contributes to the growing accounting body of work that seeks to better understand accounting by proposing that role of accounting as a tool for domination is mediated in various social settings by the doxic value and the existing capital arrangements in those settings.

This chapter focuses on donating to the church on the part of Wesleyan Methodists in the Kingdom of Tonga. It illuminates the dynamism and tension emerging between religious faith and economic practice. Quantitative analysis of income and expenditures are combined with qualitative observations of villagers' actions and discourse in this microanalysis of donating events, which seeks to comprehend the situation from point of view of the local adherents. It concludes that what might appear in Tonga on the surface to be a purely competitive practice is actually a complex blend of competition and cooperation, with the latter probably having a larger role than the former in these transactions.

The paper seeks to investigate the impacts of government's incentives and internal aspects (i.e. firms' ethics and firms' attitudes) on the implementation of sustainability-oriented technology (SOT) among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Tonga. Those aspects are imperative to examine as numerous enterprises in developing nations possess insufficient assets that suspend applying innovations, specifically SOT incorporated with enterprise management. Thus, it is unavoidable for an intermediary to intervene in technology implementation, and developing the more effective implementation process is reckoned. Meanwhile, governments possess the assets and authority to motivate the SOT implementation extensively. Therefore, this paper assesses governmental factors as influencing drivers for realizing cost-effective and well-organized implementation.

The paper employs the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique to assess the information collected from 266 Tongan SMEs.

The outcomes indicate that government's policy and subsidies positively and significantly shape firms' ethics and attitudes regarding SOT implementation in Tonga.

The research analyzes the SOT implementation in a single country of Tonga; thus, the findings cannot be generalized to other emerging countries. Besides, this study selects SMEs as the sample; hence, it cannot be used to explain the behaviors of large companies.

The research is the first attempt to assess such impacts in the SMEs of a South Pacific nation.

Integrating gender equality objectives was one of the development objectives, along with economic development, food security and poverty/hardship alleviation of the featured rural community-based development project. In this case study, the rural development project was structured around women and men who were community leaders; those elected as town and village officers and those who held high positions in schools or within the government. In the first stage of the project, local committees were initiated by these leaders, which comprised equal numbers of women and men, to manage the project and facilitate training and skill development. Although there was much focus on creating the opportunity for women and men to equally contribute to leading and benefitting from the project, what was not considered was the gendered nature of the implementing partner institutions and the impact that would have on the project. By using gendered stakeholder analysis at two points in the project lifecycle, we take a closer look at the implementing organisations and view the turning over of power between actors on the project through a gender lens.

For more than a quarter of a century there has been substantial emigration from the smaller island states of the Pacific to metropolitan fringe states, mainly the USA, New Zealand and Australia. Migration reduced unemployment in island states and remittances have contributed to raised living standards. This paper provides a better understanding of the implications of remittances for economic and social development in the Pacific region. It discusses alternative explanations of remittances, estimates of the size of remittance flows, the impact of remittances on the home country, and policies that influence the flow of remittances. Much of the empirical work in this paper is based on Tonga and Samoa, although the findings apply more generally to other Pacific island nations.

Activism in the sport world is often connected to iconic images like the raised fists of John Carlos and Tommie Smith in a Black Power salute at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics or the figure of Cathy Freeman, wrapped in the Aboriginal flag, taking her victory lap at the 1994 Commonwealth Games and the 2020 Sydney Olympics. Activism, be it individual or through collective action, is a contemporary reality in sport. These actions reverberate out, sometimes joining with or magnifying other significant social and political currents to create waves that shift society. They may take the form of supporting mental health conversations, developing sporting infrastructure and support to expand opportunities for the next generation, concerted efforts at changing governance representation, or challenging sexist policy in sports, for example. This chapter draws from a talanoa on activism in Pacific sport, bringing these various activities together in order to surface the activism taking place, and better understand and reframe how we think about sport activism in Pacific communities. On the one hand, we recognize that particular cultural values like humility, respect, and orientations to servant leadership naturally encourage activism in the form of everyday advocacy and grassroots interventions. On the other, we discuss whether these values also prevent more outspoken and disruptive forms of activism which are often required to challenge systems of injustice and enact structural change. In this preliminary look at Pacific activism in sport, we surface some insights and raise questions for future research.

As a scholar from Tonga, I developed this reflection based on my own experiences as a training Pastor for the Free Wesleyan Church (FWC), working in Pacific Island region on the area of climate change and religion. Here, I am taking a quote from the Bible (e.g. Luke 18:27) and used it as a theme to tell the story of Pacific people about Moana and how this state-of-the-art idea helps in shaping resilience (Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction). In the context of the Pacific (e.g. Tonga), the meaning of Moana is complex. Using this leading-edge idea as a guide, I model a framework named ‘Moana: Nothing is impossible with God’. By implementing this model to affected communities, Resilience Moana and Sustainable Development Goals are expected to be achieved by 2030 and beyond.