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1 – 10 of 71Mamun Billah, Zahir Uddin Ahmed and Mohobbot Ali
This study aims to examine staff responses to management control systems (MCS) changes in an Australian university. Through the analysis of the category of staff responses, it…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine staff responses to management control systems (MCS) changes in an Australian university. Through the analysis of the category of staff responses, it aims to understand the perception gaps among the staff at different levels of the university.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a case study approach on an Australian university, data was collected from interviews with staff across three hierarchical levels to explore their behavioural responses.
Findings
This study finds that staff at all levels largely complied with MCS changes due to institutional enforcement. Top management emphasised aligning with government policies and funding, often using manipulation and compartmentalisation tactics in implementing the new MCS. Mid-level managers generally favour research strategies but feel excluded from decision-making and have limited influence over funding. They adopted a balancing tactic within a compromise strategy. Meanwhile, operating-level academics had mixed experiences, feeling largely powerless in influencing MCS while also showing instances of self-motivated compliance. Overall, the study reveals varying responses across different hierarchical levels, highlighting the complexities of MCS changes in staff behaviour and attitudes.
Research limitations/implications
The insights from this study can guide university administrators and policymakers in understanding the intricate variations in staff reactions to institutional changes. By recognising the factors that drive compliance and defiance, institutions can better navigate and implement changes in MCS.
Originality/value
This research offers a unique perspective on the behavioural side of MCS changes in higher education. By focusing on varied hierarchical levels within a university, the study provides a granular understanding of individual responses, enriching the existing literature on MCS transitions in academia.
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Mahmood Ahmed Momin, Zahir Uddin Ahmed and Renhe Liu
The purpose of this research is to investigate the use of visuals in communicating symbolic sustainability information by the New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX) listed companies…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to investigate the use of visuals in communicating symbolic sustainability information by the New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX) listed companies through their standalone sustainability reports.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the impression management theoretical framework and Barthes' conceptions of denotation and connotation, the study seeks to examine the way visuals, such as photos, tables and figures, are used to convey symbolic sustainability messages and information. The content analysis method was used to analyse 1,064 visuals from 20 New Zealand Stock Exchange listed companies' standalone sustainability reports for 2017.
Findings
The authors observe variations in the use of visuals to convey messages about sustainability and the appeal of these visuals to readers in the process of creating a symbolic sustainability message. While photos focus on emotions as their main method of impression management, tables and figures focus on the logical link between readers and a positive sustainability message.
Research limitations/implications
The study adds to the impression management theory work that companies use a combination of photos, tables and figures in communicating symbolic positive sustainability messages. The insights inform the corporate culture of the use of visuals and the effect of future reporting practices regarding sustainability information in New Zealand and globally.
Originality/value
Unlike other studies on sustainability reporting, we contend that a company uses a combination of visuals to create impressions that include not only positive but also negative and neutral sustainability messages.
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Tarek Rana, Zahir Uddin Ahmed, Anil Narayan and Mingxing Zheng
This paper aims to examine new public management (NPM) reform in New Zealand Universities (NZUs) and the process by which government policy changes generated service performance…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine new public management (NPM) reform in New Zealand Universities (NZUs) and the process by which government policy changes generated service performance reporting (SPR), and how the SPR practices were institutionalised. It seeks to explain the underlying institutional forces of the reform process, how universities were subjected to accountability pressures through government-imposed managerial techniques and how universities responded to them.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors draw on the theoretical lens of neo-institutional theory and the concept of NPM to interpret the setting of SPR. Data comprise annual reports and other documents produced by the NZUs.
Findings
The findings show that the development of the SPR was driven by NPM ideals and rationales of greater transparency and accountability. The institutional pressures bestowed extra power to the government by demanding greater accounting reporting of university performance. It also shows the ensemble of institutions, organisations and management practices that were deployed to reorganise performance reporting practices.
Research limitations/implications
The study adds to the neo-institutional theory work that universities are experiencing extraordinary institutional pressure to become a market-type commodity in New Zealand and internationally. The findings have implications for government, universities, policymakers and public sector professionals who work in public sector reform.
Originality/value
Through the institutional theoretical lens, the study offers new insights into our understanding of NPM-driven regulation and institutionalisation of managerial techniques. The insights inform policy and practice surrounding design, implementation and the potential effect of future policy changes with reference to the performance of NZUs and internationally.
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Abdul Haris Muhammadi, Zahir Ahmed and Ahsan Habib
The purpose of this paper is to examine the challenges faced by Indonesian tax auditors in auditing multinational transfer prices of intangible assets. This study then explores…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the challenges faced by Indonesian tax auditors in auditing multinational transfer prices of intangible assets. This study then explores the suitability of mechanisms currently used by Indonesian tax auditors to ensure appropriate tax audit adjustments.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use a qualitative research method involving semi-structured and open-ended interviews with the tax auditors in Indonesia. The authors also include some Indonesia court decisions pertinent to the research question above.
Findings
Findings indicate that Indonesian tax auditors face a number of difficulties during the audit of transfer pricing cases derived from intangible property, including a lack of transparency in taxpayers’ bookkeeping; limited taxpayer cooperation in providing data and documents; transfer pricing regulations; and problems related to organization and human resources. The study also finds that Indonesian tax auditors and tax officials handle transfer pricing cases by using a legal basis as reference and by performing a number of activities, including among others, comparable analysis.
Originality/value
The findings of this study should assist policy makers to improve the quality of transfer pricing audit. Also, tax auditors and account representatives who do not have enough experience in auditing transfer pricing cases derived from intangible property rights might use the outcomes of this study as a guide for dealing with those cases.
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Mohammad Niknami, Zahir Ahmed, Bashar Albaalbaki and Roger E Khayat
The post-critical convective state for Rayleigh-Benard (RB) convection is studied using a nonlinear spectral-amplitude-perturbation approach in a fluid layer heated from below…
Abstract
Purpose
The post-critical convective state for Rayleigh-Benard (RB) convection is studied using a nonlinear spectral-amplitude-perturbation approach in a fluid layer heated from below. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
In the spectral method the flow and temperature fields are expanded periodically along the layer and orthonormal shape functions are used in the transverse direction. A combined amplitude-perturbation approach is developed to solve the nonlinear spectral system in the post-critical range, even far from the linear stability threshold. Also, to leading order, the Lorenz model is recovered.
Findings
It is found that very small Prandtl numbers (Pr < 0.1) can change the Nusselt number, when terms to O(ε5/2) and higher are considered. However, to lower orders the Prandtl number does not affect the results. Variation of the Nusselt number to different orders is found to be highly consistent. Comparison with experimental results is made and a very good qualitative agreement is observed, even far from the linear threshold.
Originality/value
Unlike existing nonlinear formulations for RB thermal convection, the present combined spectral-perturbation approach provides a systematic method for mode selection. The number and type of modes to be included are directly related to the post-critical Rayleigh number. The method is not limited to the weakly nonlinear range.
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Shahed Imam, Zahir Uddin Ahmed and Sadia Hasan Khan
Examines whether audit delay of Bangladeshi companies is associated with audit firms’ links with international firms. The study is based on a sample of 115 listed companies of the…
Abstract
Examines whether audit delay of Bangladeshi companies is associated with audit firms’ links with international firms. The study is based on a sample of 115 listed companies of the Dhaka Stock Exchange for the year ended 1998. A non‐parametric tool has been used to find whether any significant difference exists among audit firms. The results of previous studies on audit delay show that firms associated with international audit firms appear to provide motivation for shorter audit delays. However, this study reveals that firms associated with international firms in Bangladesh have longer audit delays with a mean of 6.31 months, whereas the overall mean is 5.86 months.
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Ahmed Elragal and Nada El-Gendy
Trajectory is the path a moving object takes in space. To understand the trajectory movement patters, data mining is used. However, pattern analysis needs semantics to be…
Abstract
Purpose
Trajectory is the path a moving object takes in space. To understand the trajectory movement patters, data mining is used. However, pattern analysis needs semantics to be understood. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to enrich trajectories with semantic annotations, such as the name of the location where the trajectory has stopped, so that the paper is able to attain quality decisions.
Design/methodology/approach
An experiment was conducted to explain that the use of raw trajectories alone is not enough for the decision-making process and detailed pattern extraction.
Findings
The findings of the paper indicates that some fundamental patterns and knowledge discovery is only obtainable by understanding the semantics underlying the position of each point.
Research limitations/implications
The unavailability of data are a limitation of the paper, which would limit its generalizability. Additionally, the lack of availability of tools for automatically adding semantics to clusters posed as a limitation of the paper.
Practical implications
The paper encourages governments as well as businesses to analyze movement data using data mining techniques, in light of the surrounding semantics. This will allow, for example, solving traffic congestions, since by understanding the movement patterns, the traffic authority could make decisions in order to avoid such congestions. Moreover, it could also help tourism authorities, at national levels, to know tourist movement patterns and support these patterns with the required logistical support. Additionally, for businesses, mobile operators could dynamically enhance their services, voice and data, by knowing the semantically enriched patterns of movement.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the already rare literature on trajectory mining, enhanced with semantics. Mainstream literature focusses on either trajectory mining or semantics, therefore the paper claims that the approach is novel and is needed as well. By integrating mining outcomes with semantic annotation, the paper contributes to the body of knowledge and introduces, with lab evidence, the new approach.
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Sevgi Ozkan, Refika Koseler and Nazife Baykal
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the importance of undertaking a systemic view of learning management systems (LMSs) evaluation addressing the conceptualization and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the importance of undertaking a systemic view of learning management systems (LMSs) evaluation addressing the conceptualization and measurement of e‐learning systems success in higher education.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper adopts a quantitative case perspective and derives a conceptual model for e‐learning assessment (Hexagonal e‐learning assessment model – HELAM). The model is empirically tested for validity and reliability in the university setting.
Findings
Qualitative and quantitative findings have been presented, which will be valuable for academics and practitioners doing research in e‐learning evaluation. The findings support the flexibility and relevance of HELAM as an e‐learning assessment model. It highlights a number of success measures which are grouped under six dimensions.
Research limitations/implications
Further research efforts should explore new dimensions or test the causal relationships among proposed dimensions within the boundary of e‐learning. In that, the paper is limited contextually where attention should be made not to generalize the findings beyond the empirical findings within the case analysis.
Practical implications
The paper supports a practitioner perspective through a consideration of a holistic approach to e‐learning assessment. E‐learning system developers may find the findings useful when designing and implementing the LMS.
Originality/value
The paper is original as the conceptual model has been derived through both theoretical constructs and empirical analysis. It provides an innovative approach to e‐learning assessment.
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The purpose of this paper is to consider the challenges, advantages and limits of ethnographical approaches to the study of parliament. Challenges in the study of political…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to consider the challenges, advantages and limits of ethnographical approaches to the study of parliament. Challenges in the study of political institutions emerge because they can be fast-changing, difficult to gain access to, have starkly contrasting public and private faces and, in the case of national parliaments, are intimately connected to rest of the nation.
Design/methodology/approach
Ethnography usually tends to be difficult to plan in advance, but especially so when parliament is the focus.
Findings
Research in parliament requires clear questions but an emergent approach for answering them – working out your assumptions, deciding on the most appropriate methods depending on what wish to find out, and continually reviewing progress. Its great strengths are flexibility, ability to encompass wider historical and cultural practices into the study, getting under the surface and achieving philosophical rigour. Rigour is partly achieved through reflexivity.
Research limitations/implications
One implication of this is that not only will each study of parliament be different, because each is embedded in different histories, cultures, and politics, but the study of the same parliament will contain variations if a team is involved.
Originality/value
Ethnographical research is a social and political process of relating; interpreting texts, events and conversations; and representing the “other” as seen by observers.
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Bushra Rashid Al-Ghafri, Maram Qasim Al Nabhani, Hamed Al-Sinawi, Abdulaziz Al-Mahrezi, Zahir Badar Al Ghusaini, Ahmed Mohammed Al-Harrasi, Yaqoub Al-Saidi and Moon Fai Chan
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries have implemented preventive measures that may negatively affect the physical and mental health of older adults. This study…
Abstract
Purpose
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries have implemented preventive measures that may negatively affect the physical and mental health of older adults. This study aims to investigate the changes in life satisfaction, depressive symptoms and quality-of-life (QoL) of older adults during the post-COVID-19 pandemic in Oman.
Design/methodology/approach
A prospective four-week follow-up study was conducted in one health-care center in Muscat, Oman. Convenience sampling was used, and the recruitment was from November 2021 to October 2022, with 38 participants aged 60–81, of whom 36 completed the study. The study evaluated changes in psychological well-being over time and analyzed gender differences.
Findings
The study revealed a positive impact of the preventive measures on the QoL (F = 3.08, p = 0.032) and a reduction in depressive symptoms (F = 3.09, p = 0.045). However, there was no significant change in life satisfaction (F = 1.90, p = 0.165). In particular, older women reported decreased depression (F = 5.31, p = 0.006), while older men reported improved QoL (F = 4.27, p = 0.025).
Practical implications
Few studies have reported on the well-being issues of older adults in Oman during the pandemic. Thus, the findings of this study can contribute to the international understanding of the impact of pandemics on the well-being of older adults in Oman and help health-care professionals tailor health-care programs for older adults in the community setting.
Originality/value
This study provides valuable insights into the well-being of older adults in Oman during the pandemic. Understanding the effects of long-term health hazards is crucial for developing community-level intervention plans and strategies for older adults in the community setting.
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