Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Book Review Of J. L. Collins And V. Mayer (2010) Both Hands Tied: Welfare Reform And The Race To The Bottom Of The Low-Wage Labor Market, Scott Burrows

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

Jane L Collins and Victoria Mayer's book, Both Hands Tied: Welfare Reform and the Race to the Bottom of the Low-Wage Labor Market provides a timely analysis on the state of contemporary welfare reform in the USA with a focus on the lives of 33 women in Milwaukee and Racine, Wisconsin, As the book notes, these areas were formerly manufacturing centres but in the recent years have experienced deindustrialization and an emergent service-based economy that continues to have quite dramatic effects on the lives of low-wage workers.

Digital Media: The Cultural Politics Of Information, Andrew M. Whelan

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

The term 'digital media' is contrastive - specifically, it is contrasted with 'analogue media'. This binary runs roughly in parallel with the distinction drawn between 'new' and 'old media', although, of course, new media are now not quite as 'new' as they once were. Technically speaking, where analogue technologies record signals as electric pulses (and usually to a fixed physical format, or intended for diffusion through such formats); digital technologies render those signals in binary form, as sequences of zeroes and ones. While the distinction is somewhat blurry, examples of analogue media include television, radio, vinyl records, video and audio …

Death Of The “Legendary Okama" Togo Ken: Challenging Commonsense Lifestyles In Postwar Japan, Mark J. Mclelland

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

“What’s wrong with being a fag? What’s shameful about being a fag? Why is it wrong for a man to love a man? Why is it wrong for a woman to love a woman? What is shameful is living a lie. What is shameful is not loving others.” Tōgō Ken campaign slogan.

The Role Of Beyond Zero Emissions In The Australian Climate Debate, Adam Robert Lucas

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

Early in 2011, the Journal of Australian Political Economy (JAPE) published a special issue titled, ‘Challenging Climate Change’. It brought together a number of papers by climate change researchers and activists who had been invited during 2009 to contribute their perspectives to a one-day forum covering four different aspects of the climate change debate: carbon markets and the regulation of renewable energy; technological pathways toward sustainability versus a low-tech, ecosufficiency future; climate justice; and the experiences of a variety of environmental NGOs in campaigning for policy reform (Goodman & Rosewarne, 2011: 7). The aim of the forum and those who …

Auch Ich In Arkadien? The Allure Of Italy For The German Traveller In Goethe’S Italienische Reise, Eichendorff’S Aus Dem Leben Eines Taugenichts And Heine’S Reise Von München Nach Genua, Lukas Bauer

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

In the early nineteenth century, Italy was linked with the experiences of Goethe and his Italienische Reise in the German imagination. Consequently, a later generation of writers could challenge Goethe and distance themselves from his influence by offering an alternative experience of the South. Eichendorff’s Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts and Heine’s Reise von München nach Genua directly respond to Goethe and subvert his representation of Italy. Eichendorff rejects Goethe’s concept of Bildung, while Heine disapproves of Goethe’s emphasis on antiquity and focuses instead on Italy’s present poverty and oppression. The texts represent three key exponents of competing and largely …

Suppression Of Dissent: What It Is And What To Do About It, Brian Martin

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

Suppression of dissent is defined; reasons for it are described; examples are given; responses are outlined.

Responsibility And Intergenerational Equity, Sharon Beder

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

Retaining environmental quality for future generations means passing on the environment in as good a condition as we found it. It does not preclude some trade-offs and compromises but it requires that those tradeoffs do not endanger the overall quality of the environment so that environmental functions are reduced and ecosystems are unable to recover.

Mobbing And Suppression: Footprints Of Their Relationships, Brian Martin, F P.S Martin

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

Aims:

Two important processes involving the exercise of power are mobbing and suppression of dissent. These are examined, compared and contrasted with the aim of expanding the understanding of organisational and professional negative dynamics.

Methods:

The characteristic features and patterns of mobbing and suppression of dissent are examined. Areas of overlap and difference are noted and discussed.

Results:

Dissent is a challenge to a dominant group or set of ideas, and often met with various reprisals, such as ostracism, harassment and censorship: dissenters are frequently subject to mobbing. However, there are some different processes involved. Some targets of mobbing are …

Elites, Elements And Events: Practice Theory And Scale, Thomas Birtchnell

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

Practice theory appears to be a flat ontology in conventional renderings, but it is unclear why this is so. In attempting to scale socio-technical systems practice theory finds itself needing to think about new possible strategies to both compete with other ontologies and rebrand itself as capable of mapping the world outside of everyday life, the domestic and the home. In pursuit of this goal three unfamiliar new terrains are explored: elites, elements and events. In this paper a method for practice theory to broach scale while retaining its current value is articulated through ideas about the synchronization of elements …

Transcolonial Influences On Everyday American Imperialism: The Politics Of Chinese Domestic Servants In The Philippines, Julia T. Martinez, Claire Lowrie

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

From the first years of the American occupation of the Philippines, the American colonial elite ran their households with the help of Chinese servants. The preference of government officials, including Governor William Howard Taft himself, for Chinese domestic labor was in flagrant disregard for the policy of Chinese exclusion as well as the principle of “benevolent assimilation,” according to which the Americans claimed to be “uplifting” the Filipino people by providing them with the opportunity to experience the dignity of labor. In opting for Chinese rather than Filipino domestic labor, elite Americans were replicating the traditions of the “Old World” …

Global Commodity Chains In Crisis: The Garment Industry In Malaysia, Vicki D. Crinis

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

This paper examines the garment industry in Malaysia from the 1970s to the present. It looks at the strategies employed by manufacturers to cope with both the end of the Multi-fibre Arrangement (MFA) and the effects of the global economic crisis on the industry in Malaysia. The garment industry in Malaysia is situated on the periphery and is almost totally reliant on contracts from the United States (US) and Europe for its survival. Since the global economic recession, contraction in the consumption of garments in these countries has translated into factory closures and lay-offs in Malaysia. According to industry experts, …

Board Structure And Survival Of New Economy Ipo Firms, Nongnit Chancharat, Chandrasekhar Krishnamurti, Gary G. Tian

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Research Question/Issue: This study examines the relevance of currently accepted best practice recommendations regarding board structure on the survival likelihood of new economy initial public offering companies. We argue that industry context determines governance outcomes.Research Findings/Insights: We study 125 Australian new economy firms listed between 1994 and 2002. Each firm is tracked until the end of 2007 for monitoring their survival. We find that board independence is associated with an increase in the likelihood of corporate survival. We also find that the benefits of board independence increase at a decreasing rate.Theoretical/Academic Implications: The standard best practice recommendation of board independence …

Industry Associations And Non-Competitive Behaviour In Australian Wool Marketing: Evidence From The Melbourne Woolbrokers' Association, 1890-1939, David Merrett, Simon Ville

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

From the 1890s the sale of Australian wool was organised through a series of regionally based associations of wool selling brokers and wool buyers. They engaged in cartel-type behaviour by price fixing and exclusive dealing. We ask the question whether the wool selling brokers exploited their monopoly power to the full in setting fees and charges paid by the growers and buyers. Association records provide data on the pricing structure and rationale for changes. We surmise that the existence of the cartel lifted prices above competitive levels. However, the pricing behaviour was moderated to a strong form of limit pricing.

Measuring The Banking Efficiency And Productivity Changes Using The Hicks-Moorsteen Approach: The Case Of Iran, Amir Arjomandi, Charles Harvie, Abbas Valadkhani

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This study is the first to use a comprehensive decomposition of the Hicks–Moorsteen TFP index developed by O’Donnell (2010a) to analyse efficiency and productivity changes in a banking context. The paper investigates the efficiency and productivity growth of the Iranian banking industry between 2003 and 2008, encompassing pre- and post-2005-reform years. The advantage of this approach over the popular constant-returns-to-scale Malmquist productivity index is that it is free from any assumptions concerning firms’ returns to scale. We assume that the production technology exhibits variable returns to scale. Our findings show that the banking industry’s technical efficiency level – which had …

Stock Market And Gdp Growth Volatility Spillovers, Indika Karunanayake, Abbas Valadkhani, Martin O'Brien

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper examines the interplay between stock market returns and GDP growth rates in four Anglo-Saxon economies located in three separate continents (namely, the US, the UK, Canada and Australia). We analyse the dynamics of cross-country volatility transmission across these countries by using quarterly data from 1959 to 2010 and a multivariate GARCH model. Country specific cross-mean spillovers from GDP growth to stock market returns exist only from the US growth towards its stock market, while country specific cross-mean spillovers from stock market returns towards GDP growth exist in both the US and Australia. The US economy influences all three …

The Effect Of Female And Male Health On Economic Growth: Cross-Country Evidence Within A Production Function Framework, Gazi Hassan, Arusha Cooray

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

It is widely believed by development economists that the role of human capital is one of the most fundamental determinants of economic growth. Sustained growth depends on the level of human capital whose stocks increase due to better education, higher levels of health, new learning and training procedure. The intuition that good health raises the level of human capital and has a positive effect on productivity and economic growth has been modelled by enodogenous growth theorists. But empirically ascertaining the causal relationship between health and growth is more difficult due to the possible existence of endogeneity between these two variables. …

Bragging Rights And Destination Marketing: A Tourism Bragging Rights Model, Gregory M. Kerr, Clifford Lewis, Lois Burgess

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

In a study seeking to understand destination choice, focus group participants consisting of travellers, mentioned the importance of ‘bragging rights’. Additionally, tourism marketers when interviewed about destination choice also referred to bragging rights. An online search of ‘travel’, ‘tourism’ and ‘bragging rights’ revealed thousands of links. Despite this, bragging rights has received limited attention in tourism research. This paper defines bragging rights, discusses its relevance to tourism and proposes a conceptual model suggesting how bragging rights can be managed by destination marketers to enhance destination image and consequently increase visitation.

Reflective Assessment In Work-Integrated Learning: To Structure Or Not To Structure, That Was Our Question, Bonnie Amelia Dean, Chris Sykes, Shirley Agostinho, Mike Clements

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper reports the findings of a research study on whether or not to structure reflective assessment tasks. It examines students' perceived benefits or limitations from structuring reflective assessments in a Commerce WIL program at the University of Wollongong. Sixty-four students over two semesters responded to a questionnaire on their perceptions of structured reflective assessments in the Internship Program. The findings of the self-reported experiences were heterogeneous and indicative of the dominant themes relevancy and flexibility. We suggest these themes stem from a misalignment of assessment and reflective practice. Correcting this misalignment could be achieved by providing a balance of …

Banking Records, Business And Networks In Colonial Sydney, 1817-24, Leanne Johns, Simon Ville

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Examining accounting transactions between depositors in the first accounts ledger of the Bank of New South Wales contributes to our knowledge of early Australian colonial businesspeople and their business activities. A social network analysis framework is applied to the transactions to disclose business networks and prominent individuals in the networks. The analysis seeks to ascertain the importance of these people to commerce and the significance of their networks in facilitating commercial relationships in a business environment fraught with uncertainty. The results illustrate the importance of networks to colonial trade and mercantile activity, especially for smaller scale businesspeople.aehr_348

Social Networks, Social Learning And Service Systems Improvement, Andrew Sense, Matthew Pepper

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This article illustrates and qualitatively explores the value of understanding the social networks present in a service operation through a case study of a local government service network that manages regional development applications. It also examines how social learning underpins service systems performance improvement and how it is instrumental in creating a richer environment for ongoing service network innovation and development. It is argued that gaining a better understanding of these social networks and the social learning potential in a system offers substantial and highly practitioner-friendly avenues to progress service systems capability development. These fi ndings clearly place an emphasis …

Interest Rate Pass Through And The Asymmetric Relationship Between The Cash Rate And The Mortgage Rate, Abbas Valadkhani, Sajid Anwar

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

There is an ongoing controversy over whether banks’ mortgage rates rise more rapidly than they fall due to their asymmetric responses to changes in the cash rate. This paper examines the dynamic interplay between the cash rate and the standardvariable mortgage rate using monthly data in the post-1989 era. Unlike previous Australian studies, our proposed threshold and asymmetric error-correction models account for both the amount and adjustment asymmetries. We found that the Reserve Bank of Australia’s rate rises have a much larger and more instantaneous impact on the mortgage rate than rate cuts.

Media-Induced Voluntourism In Yunnan, China, Jun Shao, Michelle Scarpino, Yoonjung Lee, Ulrike Gretzel

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Media-induced tourism as well as voluntourism are topics increasingly investigated in the tourism literature. However, a discussion of the intersection of these two forms of tourism (i.e., mediainduced voluntourism) is currently missing from the literature. Using the example of two Chinese TV dramas, this article seeks to shed light on motivations and activities of media-induced voluntourists to the Chinese province of Yunnan. Based on a thematic analysis of online postings of the fans of these Chinese TV dramas, the article finds empirical evidence for media-induced voluntourism. The findings reveal that fans travel to Yunnan not only to engage in altruistic …

Tourist-Activated Networks: Implications For Dynamic Bundling And En Route Recommendations, Florian Zach, Ulrike Gretzel

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This article discusses tourist-activated networks as a concept to inform technological applications supporting dynamic bundling and en route recommendations. Empirical data were collected from travelers who visited a regional destination in the US and then analyzed with respect to its network stmcture. The results indicate that the tourist-activated network for the destination is rather sparse and that there are clearly differences in core and peripheral nodes. The findings illustrate the stmcture of a tourist-activated network and provide implications for technology design and tourism marketing.

Organization-Based Social Marketing: An Alternative Approach For Organizations Adopting Sustainable Business Practices, Mary Franks Papakosmas, Gary Noble, John Glynn

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This article conceptualizes a new area for social marketing practitioners by focusing on individual behavior change that might occur within organizations. Organization-Based Social Marketing (OBSM) draws from organization change theory and internal marketing theory, while maintaining social marketing’s focus on beneficial behavior modification. The article argues that as such, OBSM represents a viable approach for organizations seeking to address the increasing demand for change strategies that promote proenvironmental behavior among their employees

How To Use Qualitative Research To Design A Managerially Useful E-Service Questionnaire, John R. Rossiter

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

E-service questionnaires must be content-aligned with the company or organization’s customer relationship management system (CRM). Four phases of qualitative research will ensure this alignment. The first phase is a qualitatively evaluative search of the practitioner literature on e-retailing, both B2B and B2C, and on CRM so as to capture evolving knowledge in both fields. The second phase is individual depth interviews (IDIs) with potential, current, and lapsed customers to map their e-interactive behavior and experiences. The third phase is dyadic depth interviews (DDIs) with the marketing manager and the website designer to fully understand the company’s current and potential e-service …

Role Of Remuneration Committee In Narrative Human Capital Disclosure, Indra Abeysekera

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This study empirically investigates whether independent directors on the remuneration committee influence narrative human capital disclosure (NAHCD) in firms where independent directors dominate the board composition. NAHCD is measured by frequency of occurrence, using latent content analysis in the annual reports of the top 30 listed firms on the Colombo Stock Exchange from 1998 to 2006. This study examines two attributes of corporate governance, controlling for other corporate governance attributes and firm-level attributes. The findings highlight the importance of considering a firm’s independent director involvement in the remuneration committee when determining NAHCD strategy.

Emotional Branding Pays Off: How Brands Meet Share Of Requirements Through Bonding, Companionship, And Love, John Rossiter, Steven Bellman

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Emotional branding is defined here as the consumer’s attachment of a strong, specific, usage-relevant emotion—such as Bonding, Companionship, or Love—to the brand. The present large-scale survey of buyers of frequently purchased consumer products finds that, for such products, full-strength emotional branding is attained among, at most, only about 25 per cent of the brand’s buyers but that, if attained, it pays off massively in terms of personal share of purchases. Emotional branding may well be more widely effective for high involvement, positively motivated products (not surveyed here). It seems that advertising can generate the expectancy of strong, specific, emotional attachment, …

How Coviewing Reduces The Effectiveness Of Tv Advertising, Steven Bellman, John R. Rossiter, Anika Schweda, Duane Varan

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

In the present study – a naturalistic laboratory experiment – coviewing of TV commercials reduced their effectiveness (delayed proven ad recall) from 63%, obtained by single viewers, to 43%, for both coviewers. During coviewing, the ‘mere presence of another’ apparently distracts each coviewer’s attention from the screen. The reduction in TV ads’ effectiveness due to coviewing is equivalent to the loss from channel-change zapping, which reduces ad recall to 45%. More deleterious but less prevalent modes of digital video recorder-enabled ad avoidance are skip-button zapping, which reduces recall to 35%, and moderately fast zipping (X 8 fast forward), …

The Impact Of Migrant Remittances On Economic Growth: Evidence From South Asia, Arusha V. Cooray

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Incorporating migrant remittances among other variables into a growth model, and employing panel data over the 1970-2008 period, this study investigates the impact of migrant remittances on economic growth in South Asia. Migrant remittances are found to have a significant positive effect on economic growth. A significant positive interactive effect of remittances on economic growth is detected through education and financial sector development.

Tribes In Personal Finance? The Dave Ramsey Phenomenon, Ciorstan Smark

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Purpose: This paper explores the Dave Ramsey financial planning phenomenon (comprising his syndicated Radio Programs; Books on the New York Times Bestseller List; Twitter and Facebook presence; Program of Live events and seminars) and considers whether this financial planning phenomena meets the criteria set out by Godin (2008, 13) for a "tribe" and by Foucault (1977) for a "disciplinary Institution".

Design/methodology/approach: This paper employs a form of the Socratic or dialogue approach to explore and comment on various aspects of the tribe mentality that is evident in Davey Ramsey phenomenon. The discourse seeks to deconstruct the alignment of the phenomenon …