Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Concept Mapping To Enhance Student Learning In A Financial Accounting Subject, H. J. Irvine, K. Cooper, G. Jones

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The purpose of this paper is to raise awareness of the potential of concept mapping as an aid to enhancing students’ understanding of the interrelationships between financial accounting concepts. The paper integrates student learning literature with an actual case study of a concept mapping exercise. Concept maps prepared by students are described and analysed, as is student feedback on the effectiveness of the exercise in increasing their understanding. While this is a first attempt at concept mapping, it shows promise of providing students with a deeper understanding of subject matter and a greater appreciation of the linkages between various financial …

Ranking Australian Economics Departments By Research Productivity, F. V. Neri, Joan R. Rodgers

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This study ranks Australian economics departments according to their average research productivity during 1998-2002. The highest ranked departments are those at ANU, JCU, Melbourne, Tasmania and UWA. We also rank departments according to the variability of research productivity among their members, the assumption being that, other things being equal, the less variable is productivity within a department, the better. Research productivity is found to be highly skewed within all departments. However, in general, research productivity is more (less) evenly distributed within those departments that have relatively high (low) average research productivity.

Taxation And The Australian Superannuation System: An International Comparison, Corinne Cortese, John Glynn

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This study demonstrates the taxation burden applied to Australian superannuation. The superannuation schemes and supporting taxation systems of five OECD countries are reviewed. A hypothetical scenario is applied to demonstrate the imbalance of the Australian system relative to comparable nations. Given concerns about the aging population, this research supports calls for further reforms to the taxation of superannuation in Australia, highlighting the need to make superannuation taxation policies more consistent with government efforts to encourage superannuation savings and self-funded retirement.

Political Cycles In The Australian Stock Market Since Federation, A. C. Worthington

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

December 2005. The period selected includes fifty-nine Liberal-National (or their antecedents) and Labor ministries and forty-seven elections. The political cycle is defined in terms of the party or coalition in power, ministerial tenure and election information effects. The market variables are defined in terms of returns, excess returns over inflation and excess returns over interest rates. Descriptive analysis indicates that mean returns and excess returns over inflation are nearly 85 percent higher and excess returns over interest rates 193 percent higher under Liberal-National ministries. Put differently, the market premium for Liberal-National ministries averages between 3.2 and 5.2 percent over comparable …

The Decline And Fall Of Seasonality In The Australian Stock Exchange, 1958-2005, A. C. Worthington

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

1958 to 30 December 2005. Three principal calendar effects – day-of-the-week, day-of-the-month and month-ofthe- year – are examined separately and jointly using parametric tests of differences in means and variances and a regression-based approach. The results indicate that the Australian market is characterised by seasonality of all three forms, with Tuesday, December and the second day of the month among the most significant. However, there is also evidence of structural change in these relationships, with indications that the market has become more efficient in recent years, with day-of-the-week and day-of-the-month effects becoming less important in the post-1987 crash period.

Efficiency In The Australian Stock Market, 1875-2006: A Note On Extreme Long-Run Random Walk Behaviour, A. C. Worthington, H. Higgs

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This note examines the weak-form market efficiency of the Australian stock market. Daily returns from 6 January 1958 to 12 April 2006 and monthly returns from February 1875 to December 2005 are examined for random walks using serial correlation coefficient and runs tests, Augmented Dickey-Fuller, Phillips-Perron and Kwiatkowski, Phillips, Schmidt and Shin unit root tests and multiple variance ratio tests. The serial correlation tests indicate inefficiency in daily returns and borderline efficiency in monthly returns, while the runs tests conclude that both series are weak-form inefficient. The unit root tests suggest weak-form inefficiency in both return series. The results of …

Political Cycles And Risk And Return In The Australian Stock Market, Menzies To Howard, A. C. Worthington

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper examines the presence of a political cycle in Australian daily stock returns over the forty-seven years from 6 January 1958 to 30 December 2005. The period selected includes nineteen federal elections, twenty-five ministries and five terms of Liberal-National or Labor government. The political cycle is defined in terms of the party in power, the time since the last election and election information effects. The market variables are defined in terms of nominal and real returns and nominal and real return volatility. The results indicate returns are highest during the ministries of Holt-McEwen and Hawke and lowest during Whitlam …

Personal Bank Account Access And Awareness: An Analysis Of The Technological And Informational Constraints Of Australian Consumers, A. C. Worthington

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Logit models are used to predict access and awareness of personal bank accounts. Access is defined as the ability and willingness to use ATM, EFTPOS, telephone and internet banking. Awareness relates to the understanding of bank statements, fee and charges, account shopping around and internet calculators. Newer ways of accessing bank accounts are confined to young, urban, well-educated, white-collar occupations. Awareness is lower for respondents with less education, non-workers, farm workers, unskilled and renting households, and higher for white-collar occupations, couples and those with higher incomes and savings.

Modelling The Usage And Understanding Of Financial Products: An Empirical Analysis Of Australian Owner-Occupied And Investor Mortgages, A. C. Worthington

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Binary logit models are used to predict usage and understanding of owner-occupied and investor mortgages on the basis of demographic, socioeconomic and financial characteristics. The data is drawn from the 2003 ANZ Survey of Adult Financial Literacy in Australia and relates to 3,548 respondents. Factors examined include financial literacy, gender, age, ethnicity, occupation, educational level and family structure, along with household income, savings and debt. Understanding is defined in terms of knowledge of mortgage rates, fees and charges and familiarity with key mortgage terms. The results indicate that being middle-aged or a couple with children increases the likelihood of an …

Switching Barriers In Business-To-Business Services: A Qualitative Study, Venkata K. Yanamandram, L. White

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Purpose - To investigate the determinants of behavioural brand loyalty amongst dissatisfied customers in the business-to-business (B2B) services sector. Design/methodology/approach - A qualitative study was conducted, with 28 personal interviews undertaken with managers who are involved in the choice of service providers. The respondents belonged to 24 organisations located in Australia. Template analysis and eyeballing were techniques used to analyse the data collected. Findings - Assessment of the reasons why dissatisfied customers stayed with the service providers resulted in six categories. The categories were found to be, in order of decreasing frequency, impact of alternative providers, switching costs (18), others …

Protecting Consumer Privacy In The Company’S Best Interest, Sara Dolnicar, Yolanda Jordaan

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The increasing use of consumer databases by companies has led to increased levels of concern among consumers that their personal information may not be in safe hands once divulged to companies. A few studies have shown that consumer concern about information privacy may impact on consumer behaviour in ways directly opposed to the aims of the very marketing campaigns developed to increase sales. Should this indeed be the case, it would be in companies’ best interest to make protection of consumer privacy a priority. The aim of this paper is to investigate whether there is potential for such a market-driven …

Fear And Loathing In The Field: Emotional Dissonance And Identity Work In Ethnographic Research, S Down, Karin Garrety, R. J. Badham

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper seeks to open up for discussion the emotional world of researchers in a manner that encourages and supports reflective practice. Drawing on the work of Clifford Geertz (1968) we focus on the ‘irony’ inherent to research – elaborated via the concept of ‘covertness’ – whereby ethnographic researchers construct mutual fictions in their relationships with respondents, which obscure the authenticity and sincerity of the emotional exchange between researcher and researched. Specifically we discuss examples of interpersonal dynamics which generate uncomfortable emotions and identity work on the part of researchers. Ultimately, we advance understanding of how emotions and identity work …

Are We Drawing The Right Conclusions? The Dangers Of Answer Format Effects In Empirical Tourism Research, Sara Dolnicar

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Empirical tourism research has a long history and empirically based findings represent an important component of theory development and managerial insight. Nevertheless, empirical data of any kind is susceptible to misinterpretation. The aim of this study is to investigate to which extent empirical tourism research accounts for three sources of potential misinterpretation of results: (1) the occurrence of answer format effects, (2) the occurrence of culturally specific response styles, and (3) the selection of data analytic techniques appropriate for the data format. A review of 43 academic publications from 2000 and 2001 suggests that empirical tourism research is strongly guided …

Integrating Information Literacy To Enhance Postgraduate Learning, George K. Kriflik, Lynda S. Kriflik

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Sourcing appropriate and reliable information is an area of skill development that requires active intervention to support the learning of postgraduate students. The investigative case study presented in this paper discusses the design, the application, and the preliminary outcomes of a group of tasks that were structured to enhance the information literacy skills of a class of postgraduate students at an Australian university. After providing the background, with reference to the literature, the discussion reviews student performance in the tasks set and the quiz questions used, as well as the students' reaction to this intervention. The results of the trial …

Environments For Change In A Faculty Of Arts: The Impact Of Teaching Off Campus, Geraldine E. Lefoe, Rebecca Albury

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

For a university in regional Australia, a new degree program offered through a remote campus and access centres, provided a supportive environment for faculty to try out new teaching and learning methods, specifically making use of a learning management system (WebCT) for aspects of communication and content. This article examines the impact this had on the faculty, in particular at the increased usage of ICT in subjects offered on campus and also examines issues such as workload and curriculum redesign, which were identified as problematic by faculty as they embraced innovative methods of teaching and learning.

Dreaming An Identity Between Two Cultures: The Works Of Alootook Ipellie, Kimberley L. Mcmahon-Coleman

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

Alootook Ipellie argues that the harsh reality of life in the Arctic was the deciding factor in the development of Inuit literature. In his seminal work, "Arctic Dreams and Nightmares," his pen-and-ink drawings and short stories focus on the figure of the shaman as an entity powerful enough to mediate complex and conflicting worlds.

This paper examines how the circumstances of Arctic colonisation and the author's early life have influenced his stories. Through close critical analysis, it is suggested that Ipellie's shaman draws on the twin crises of extreme initation and colonisation in order to harness his magical powers. In …

Cognitive Tools Of Classsim: Building Connections Between Theory And Practice, Lisa Carrington, Lisa K. Kervin, Brian Ferry

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

This paper reports on the incorporation of an embedded tool within a virtual classroom environment (ClassSim) and the use of this by pre-service teachers as they engage with the software. The classroom simulation reported on in this research was developed to provide pre-service teachers with a safe virtual environment in which they are able to explore ‘authentic’ and practical classroom scenarios. The embedded tool, referred to as the ‘Thinking Space’, was developed to support pre-service teachers in capturing their reflections about the complex role of a teacher as they move through the experience. Encouraging reflection has long been acknowledged as …

Authentic Learning In Crime Prevention Practice, Catherine Layton

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

Authentic learning activities closely approximate the interrelationships, differing perspectives in, as well as complexity and competing outcomes of, everyday life. In the online environment, collaborative studies can constitute authentic learning by offering opportunities for the personal construction of knowledge through dialogue and reflection. This paper outlines aspects of learning demonstrated by five crime prevention practitioners, mostly police, who undertook the online supported postgraduate subject ‘Partnerships in Crime Prevention’. Students were required to identify problems in their communities, and to work ‘in partnership’ with fellow students and the lecturer as they moved through an action research process in seeing how these …

Developing Familiarity With Learning Design Tools Through Subject Analysis, Christine A. Brown

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

The application of quality processes to tertiary teaching can result in a more team-based approach to course curriculum planning, the instructional design of individual subjects or units, the learning support associated with subject implementation and subsequent evaluation. The "art" of teaching requires more explicit communication within and across different teams that may be involved in each stage. Learning designs provide tools for design teams to map out learning environment attributes such as resources, tasks, people and interactions. Experienced teaching academics, unfamiliar with such tools, require orientation to them to achieve their communication potential. One way to introduce learning design models …

Students' Preference For Teaching Strategies That Strengthen The Learning Of Economics In Middle Eastern Universities, Mokhtar M. Metwally, Nelson Perera

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

A survey, covering a random sample of 139 students, was conducted at the University of Wollongong in Dubai during the months of September-November 2004, to gather opinions of students about their attitudes towards strategies that promote the teaching and learning of economics The technique of factor analysis was used to model the preference of students for various strategies. Multiple discriminant analysis was used to find out whether there are any significant differences in the attitudes of students at different stages :"students learning introductory economic subjects", "students learning intermediate economic subjects" and "students learning advanced and applied economic subjects" Factor scores …

Collaborative Action Research: Making It Happen, Victoria Traynor, Phillipa Baker, Joanna Defriez, Wilna Dirkse Van Schalykwyk, Julie Mcgarry, Deborah Thompson, Ruth Bartlett

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

No abstract provided.

Does Landing Technique Displayed During Volleyball Training Replicate The Demands Of Competition?, C Wild, Bridget J. Munro, Julie R. Steele

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Despite chronic lower extremity syndromes being extremely problematic in volleyball internationally, there is a lack of research pertaining to the demands experienced by volleyball players in terms of landings performed during competition and whether these are replicated during training. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the differences in landing mechanics displayed by volleyball players during competition compared to training. Video data (25 Hz) of the Australian Men's volleyball team were collected for three training sessions and two competition matches at the Asian men's Volleyball Championships in 2003. Frequency data for six players were analysed (Chi-square analysis) to …

Ada Emerge Symposium, Dunedin, November 2005, Su Ballard, Stella Brennan

Faculty of Creative Arts - Papers (Archive)

Aotearoa Digital Arts is New Zealand/Aotearoa's only digital artists' network. Instigated in 2003 by Stella Brennan and Sean Cubitt during Brennan's stint as inaugural Digital Artist in Residence at Waikato University's Screen and Media Department, ADA has grown to claim a particular place in the local context. ADA was born of the observation that although new media artists were often highly networked in terms of both their own practice and their professional relationships, there was no national organisation drawing together those with a common interest in digital art. This recognition suggested the irreversible importance of place against the frictionless communication …

Stochastic Price Modelling Of High Volatility, Mean-Reverting, Spike-Prone Commodities: The Australian Wholesale Electricity Market, Andrew C. Worthington, Helen Higgs

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

It is commonly known that wholesale spot electricity markets exhibit high price volatility, strong mean-reversion and frequent extreme price spikes. This paper employs a basic stochastic model, a mean-reverting model and a regime-switching model to capture these features in the Australian national electricity market (NEM), comprising the interconnected markets of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Victoria. Daily spot prices from 1 January 1999 to 31 December 2004 are employed. The results show that the regimeswitching model outperforms the basic stochastic and mean-reverting models. Electricity prices are also found to exhibit stronger mean-reversion after a price spike than in …

Organisational Factors And Australian Ict Professionals' Views Of Wireless Network Vulnerability Assessments, Keir Dyce, Mary Barrett

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

No abstract provided.

Leaning Into The Steel Industry: Lean Supply And The Steel Industry, Matthew P. Pepper, Trevor A. Spedding

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The steel industry contributes substantially to Australia’s economy. However, globalisation has forced steel producers and exporters to reassess their strategic direction and seek out different management approaches to maintain market share. This paper promotes the concept of lean supply and its effectiveness (when used in conjunction with other strategic tools), in responding to the challenges of globalisation and other changes in the operating market; by strengthening the industrial supply chain for competition. Future considerations for practitioners and researchers are identified in the concluding discussion.

Whose Story Is This? The Selective Retelling Of Organizational Change, Patrick M. Dawson, David Buchanan

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Organizational change is a multi-authored process in which respondent and research narratives have causal as well as documentary and explanatory properties, shaping reputations and seeking to colour the nature and direction of future actions. We argue that academic case study narratives are too readily excluded from analysis and regarded as unproblematic solutions to logistical questions of data analysis. However, intervention narratives typically rely on respondent accounts that exhibit inconsistencies and are attributable to personal sense making, impression management, and political agendas. By drawing on processual and narrative approaches, we show how coherent narratives of change are achieved despite such inconsistencies …

The Equity Premium In Australia And The United States: 1889-1978, Simon Ville

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The equity risk premium puzzle has received regular attention by economists since it was first invoked by Mehra and Prescott twenty years ago. In a recent paper, they revisit the question and reject many of the explanations offered but we are left with no clear alternative account. The current paper seeks to do two things. We provide matching historical evidence of the equity premium for Australia and compare the results for the two nations. Resulting from this, we argue that a closer understanding of phases of economic history helps to explain the puzzle.

Mobile Information Access And Diffusion In Ambulatory Care Service Settings, Jason P. Sargent, Peter W. Eklund, Amanda Ryan, Lois Burgess, Joan Cooper, Carole Alcock, Damien Ryan

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Clinical information systems for Ambulatory Care are predominantly paper-based. This paper represents a preliminary overview (work-in-progress) of the electronic Point of Care (ePOC) Personal Digital Assistant Project- a mobile e-Health research and development project and the intrinsic considerations which arise when designing alternative electronic patient data management systems tailored to Ambulatory Care. Its purpose is to address issues which allow technological enablement of electronic patient data management in the delivery of home-based medical care. We present the methodological considerations for document management within this e-Health setting and proposed rollout of an electronic Point-Of-Care (ePOC) system. While the replacement of more …

Investing In Inter-Organisational Communication: The Melbourne Wool Brokers Association, Simon Ville, David Merrett

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Trade associations were common in Australia in the 1960s with an estimated 1250 in existence (Freeman 1968: 443–58). Their primary role, as perceived by economists of the day and the Attorney-General intent on introducing legislation to quell restrictive trade practices, was to create economic gain for the association’s members at the expense of their suppliers and/or customers. While Freeman (1968: 457–58) argued that trade associations were neither necessary nor sufficient conditions for restrictive trade practices, such an interpretation was swept aside by Mancur Olson’s influential work on the rent-seeking ‘distributional coalition’ from the 1960s to the 1980s (Olson 1965, 1982).