Business: Journal Articles
Permanent URI for this collection
Browse
Recent Submissions
Item Open Access R&D Partner's Network Position and Focal Firm's Innovation Performance: A Knowledge Spill-In Perspective(Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), 2024) Yang , Jinyu; BI, Qingqing—Research and development (R&D) collaboration is an important source of innovation. Network researchers have identified the importance of network resources in a firm’s innovation performance. However, previous studies have largely focused on the ego network (i.e., a firm’s own network position). In this study, we adopt an alter network perspective and explore how the network position of a firm’s alter (i.e., R&D partner) influences the focal firm’s innovation process. Drawing upon social capital theory and the knowledge-based view, we argue that R&D partners’ superior network positions (e.g., structural holes and centrality) provide second-order social capital, and positively influence a firm’s innovation performance through increased knowledge spill-in (or incoming knowledge spillover). We also find that relationship duration between firms and R&D partners moderates the relationship between R&D network positions and knowledge spill-in in an inverted U-shape. This study highlights the impact of second-order social capital on a firm’s innovation process from a knowledge-based view. We suggest that firms leverage both direct and indirect network resources and consider the dynamics in their R&D partnerships to facilitate better knowledge flows in the focal firms.Item Open Access Managing material value creation matters in integrated reporting(Emerald, 2022) Steenkamp, Natasja; Roberts, RPurpose: This paper aims to explore how advanced integrated report preparers internalise and operationalise material value creation information to manage the generation of such information for the integrated report. Design/methodology/approach: The paper adopts a qualitative approach using in-depth semi-structured interviews to examine how information about material value creation matters in six South African organisations are managed. Findings: The findings will be useful to integrated reporting adopters as to how they might implement appropriate processes and systems to determine, communicate, collect and process information about matters that substantively affect their value creation. Originality/value: The paper contributes to the body of knowledge by providing insight on how material value creation matters are determined, communicated internally and information about such matters generated.Item Open Access Accounting and religious influence in the seventh day Adventist church in the Pacific islands(Emerald, 2023) Kuma C; Fukofuka, Peni Tupou; Yong SPurpose: This paper aims to investigate the practice of accounting in the Seventh-day Adventist church of the Pacific Islands and pays particular attention to the coexisting of two control devices: accounting and religion. Design/methodology/approach: This paper implemented a qualitative field study design collecting interview data from church members from the Solomon Islands, Tonga and Fiji. Data were also collected through focus group discussions, document reviews, website analysis and participant observations. Pierre Bourdieu’s thinking on symbolic violence, doxa and capital are used to interpret the findings. Findings: This paper’s main contribution shows that while there is a divine and profane divide, social agents, given their agency, can move back and forth from one side of the divide to the other. Accounting as a control device does not include features such as faith, which is helpful for decision-making; accordingly, religion is relied upon when it comes to decision-making. In contrast, accounting has features that are useful for stewardship purposes. Accordingly, when it comes to the church’s stewardship function accounting in the form of financial reports is relied upon. Research limitations/implications: Pacific Island culture almost permeates all facets of life, including church life; however, this study did not clarify this. Later studies can explore the implications of culture on the deployment of accounting in a religious setting. Practical implications: This rich empirical study describes the control dynamics and the tension between accounting and religion in a religious organisation. Accounting needs to adapt to churches’ unique characteristics, whereby religious/doctrinal beliefs must be accounted for and respected. Unlike in the corporate world, accountants in churches cannot fully practice their training or exercise the kind of influence they usually hold in organisations due to their religious belief systems. Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is one of a few studies on the religion-accounting relationship. While the focus of earlier studies was generally on a secular and sacred divide, this study looks at coexisting of accounting and religion. This study adds to the sparse literature on accounting and religion and their controlling influence.Item Open Access Editorial(2023) Sawyer, Adrian; Tan, Lin MeiIn this third issue of the New Zealand Journal of Taxation Law and Policy (the Journal) for 2023 we feature four articles. The articles focus on a range of themes, namely sentencing of tax offences, retrospective application of legislation, the interpretation of tax treaties (with a focus on good faith), and the need to address bracket creep with respect to personal income taxation. This fourth article is of particular relevance as the 2023 General Election is but a few weeks away as at the time of writing, with adjustments to tax thresholds (and rates) for personal income tax featuring prominently amongst some political parties’ tax policies.Item Open Access Accounting as capital and doxa: exploring power and resistance in World Bank projects in Tonga(Emerald, 2018) Fukofuka, Peni; Jacobs KPurpose: 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. Design/methodology/approach: 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. Findings: 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. Practical implications: 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. Originality/value: 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.Item Open Access Editorial(2023) Sawyer, Adrian; Tan , Lin MeiIn this second issue of the New Zealand Journal of Taxation Law and Policy (the Journal) for 2023 we feature four articles. The articles focus on the new business continuity test (BCT) for companies, whether New Zealand should have a wealth tax, a practitioners’ views on dispute resolution in New Zealand, and tax compliance supporting cash flow management for small businesses in Australia.Item Open Access Growth-oriented management and employee outcomes: Employee resilience as a mechanism for growth(2023) Franken E; Plimmer G; Malinen, SannaPurpose Support from managers that enables employee growth promotes adaptation to changing and complex job challenges. Guided by social exchange theory, this study establishes growth oriented management (GOM) as a key management capability to support employee growth. It also identifies employee resilience as a mechanism for growth in employees and examines its role in mediating the relationships between GOM and key employee outcomes: wellbeing and work engagement. Design/methodology/approach This study draws on survey data (n=751) from white-collar employees in Australia. Structural equation modelling was used to estimate the fit of the hypothesized model to the data. Confirmatory factor analysis was also performed to examine convergent and discriminant validity of the study variables. Findings Findings show GOM influenced wellbeing and work engagement, both directly and indirectly through employee resilience. This reveals more broadly that the unique combination of behaviors that comprise GOM plays a pivotal role in supporting growth-oriented outcomes in employees. Originality/value This is the first empirical study on the impact of GOM on wellbeing and engagement, as well as on the mediating mechanism of employee resilience in these relationships. GOM is an innovative contribution to scholarship on employee and organizational development, reflecting the changing nature of management, and responding to the increasingly diverse development needs of employees.Item Open Access Deferential Tailoring: a grounded theory of how women respond and adapt to social conditions and gender-related challenges in the New Zealand construction industry(Informa UK Limited, 2022) Hegarty T; Lord B; Wright, Sarah; Wordsworth, RussellIn this article we utilize grounded theory to explore women’s experiences in the unique construction industry context that followed the 2010 Canterbury (New Zealand) earthquakes. Data were obtained from 36 semi-structured interviews conducted with women working in a variety of occupations in the construction industry. We identify three inter-related categories: capitalizing on opportunity, demonstrating capability and surface tolerance, which together represent a response process that we label ‘deferential tailoring’. The deferential tailoring process explains how women intentionally shape their response to industry conditions through self-regulating behaviors that enables them to successfully seize opportunities and manage gender-related challenges in the working environment. Our findings challenge existing research which suggests that women adopt submissive coping strategies to conform to androcentric norms in the construction industry. Instead, we argue that the process of deferential tailoring can empower women to build positive workplace relationships, enhance career development, and help shift perceptions of the value of their work in the industry.Item Open Access Marketing and sustainability: Business as usual or changing worldviews?(MDPI AG, 2019) Kemper, Joya A.; Hall, Colin Michael; Ballantine, PaulMarketing, and the business schools within which most marketing academics and researchers work, have a fraught relationship with sustainability. Marketing is typically regarded as encouraging overconsumption and contributing to global change yet, simultaneously, it is also promoted as a means to enable sustainable consumption. Based on a critical review of the literature, the paper responds to the need to better understand the underpinnings of marketing worldviews with respect to sustainability. The paper discusses the concept of worldviews and their transformation, sustainability's articulation in marketing and business schools, and the implications of the market logic dominance in faculty mind-sets. This is timely given that business schools are increasingly positioning themselves as a positive contributor to sustainability. Institutional barriers, specifically within universities, business schools, and the marketing discipline, are identified as affecting the ability to effect 'bottom-up' change. It is concluded that if institutions, including disciplines and business schools, remain wedded to assumptions regarding the compatibility between the environment and economic growth and acceptance of market forces then the development of alternative perspectives on sustainability remains highly problematic.Item Open Access The interactive effects of emotions and numerical information in increasing consumer support to conservation efforts(Elsevier BV, 2020) Septianto F; Chiew TM; Kemper, Joya A.Nearly 50% of all Earths’ forests have been cleared and considering forests hold 80% of the world's diversity, it is crucial to support efforts by non-profit organizations (NPO) and government to stop deforestation. Yet, NPOs combat in an increasingly competitive donation sphere, with only 3% of donations going to conservation and animal welfare NPO's. The present research aims to develop a novel perspective to increase consumer support (financial and time resources) to NPOs by examining the use of emotion (hope vs. fear) and numerical information (range vs. point value). Across three experimental studies, we provide concrete empirical evidence that hope increases the effectiveness of numerical information specified as a point value format, whereas fear will increase the effectiveness of numerical information specified as a range format. Our results provide practical implications for conservation NPO marketers in terms of matching emotion and numerical format.Item Open Access An investigation into the digitalisation of New Zealand general practice services during COVID-19(2023) Mashal N; Morrish, Sussieaim: This study investigates the digital transition initiated by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the factors that enabled the digitalisation of general practices (GPs) in New Zealand. method: Using a multiple case study design, we conducted 86 in-depth interviews with staff from 16 GP centres in New Zealand. results: The critical enablers of digital transition in response to the pandemic were support from the community, agility and adaptability of GP medical centres and the ability to pragmatically create external operational processes to ensure business continuity and to meet patient expectations. Major barriers to digitalisation at the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic (28 February to 30 August 2020) included lack of organisational leadership, financial support availability, systems management collaboration, and patient and staff knowledge and preferences. Digitalisation was characterised by the GP centre’s ability to provide telehealth services using existing systems and technology, embracing e-prescription, e-referrals, e-lab and video-only consults. conclusion: The decision to adopt digitalisation had a significant impact on GP centres, disrupting the norm but also allowing continued access to health services to patients who were the most vulnerable during the pandemic. The pandemic forced GP medical centres to change to digitalisation and led to significant changes in GP medical centres' business models. However, it remains to be seen how the rapid change effected at this time correlates with patient satisfaction and how the digitalisation capabilities that have been built impact on future primary care services. This study suggests that changes brought about by COVID-19 may pave the way to an expansion of GP telehealth services, which has the potential to permanently change the primary care landscape.Item Open Access The power of beauty? The interactive effects of awe and online reviews on purchase intentions(Elsevier BV, 2020) Septianto F; Choi J; Kemper, Joya A.Prior research has established that online consumer reviews can have significant influences on the evaluations of a product or a service. In particular, studies show that negative (vs. positive) reviews lead to unfavorable evaluations because they heighten purchase risk. The present research seeks to examine a contextual cue that can alleviate this potential problem. Across three studies, this research demonstrates how the emotion of awe – elicited by a beautiful product in the advertisement – can reduce the perception of purchase risk, leading to favorable consumer evaluations of a product or service even though it has negative reviews. The implications of this research are beneficial for advertisers by highlighting the potentials of eliciting awe (e.g., by utilizing beauty) in their advertisements.Item Open Access Thanks, but no thanks: The influence of gratitude on consumer awareness of food waste(Elsevier BV, 2020) Septianto F; Northey G; Kemper, Joya A.Food waste is a major burden on the planet due its effect on increased greenhouse gas emissions (from landfill and lost production) and issues associated with food security. To reduce the human propensity to waste food, behaviour change studies have mostly focused on cognitive aspects of selection and consumption. However, evidence suggests emotional, rather than cognitive, appeals may be a fruitful avenue for reducing food waste. Yet linking food waste, emotions and framing remains an understudied research area. Our research undertakes three quantitative studies to examine the positive emotion (gratitude) as a message component to effect behavioral change. Study 1 demonstrated an advertisement with a ‘gratitude for having’ message led to higher intentions to reduce food waste when paired with loss framed implications (increased environmental damage) than when paired with gain framed implications (less environmental damage). In contrast, an advertisement with a ‘gratitude for not having’ message led to higher intentions to reduce food waste when paired with gain framed implications than when paired with loss framed implications. Studies 2 and 3 further showed that a ‘gratitude for having’ message was more effective when combined to loss framed implications, while ‘gratitude for not having’ message was more effective when combined to gain framed implications, to encourage participants to receive additional information and volunteer to help with food waste than when combined with gain framed implications. The research demonstrates that food waste reduction campaigns should pay attention to how messages are framed. Overall, this research builds on current theory involving food waste and behaviour change, presents a number of areas for future research and discusses managerial implications, particularly to improve social marketing and education campaigns.Item Open Access Motivations, barriers, and strategies for meat reduction at different family lifecycle stages(Elsevier BV, 2020) Kemper, Joya A.The consumption of animal products, especially meat, contributes heavily to climate change. Despite an increased number of individuals reducing their meat consumption, little research has explored flexitarianism. The objective of this study was to explore the motivations, barriers, and strategies for reduced meat consumption. The qualitative study, utilizing six focus groups in New Zealand, explores the cognitive, affective, and cultural components of meat reduction through the examination of the different stages of the family lifecycle. The research finds significant differences in motivations for meat reduction between young adults, families, and retirees, with health, environmental and cost important factors but to different degrees. However, all continue to eat meat due to cravings, taste and nutrition beliefs. Strategies for substitution are similar for young adults and families but differ from retirees, with the former populations exhibiting greater creativity and exploration, not seeing meat reduction as ‘meat replacement’ but instead as a recreation of the main meal. The barriers to meat reduction are similar across the family lifecycle with a lack of information and cultural, media, and institutional discourse large inhibitors to reduction. Yet, social and cultural factors also encourage individuals to reflect on their meat consumption and social connections (including social media) provide accessible and persuasive messaging for meat reduction. Consequently, public education and social marketing campaigns need to be implemented to provide information and recipes, and such information should be in varied formats to appeal to different consumer segments.Item Open Access Encouraging intelligent failure in an MBA class(Wiley, 2022) Walsh, ChristianFailure has an important role to play in learning how to navigate highly uncertain orga- nizational environments. But “failing fast” just for its own sake may in fact undermine learning if not set up or handled correctly. Using failure-based pedagogy, including generative failure, whole-person learning, and entrepreneurial thinking, an MBA course was designed and experienced by 48 students in three instances. Structured around a novel guiding framework of “brains, bravery, and belief,” the course has resulted in highly impactful learning for students. Student experiments are typically based around either exploring an entrepreneurial idea, developing or enhancing a particular skill, or applying skills and knowledge to help improve a societal problem. In each case, stu- dents are supported but also challenged to go beyond their comfort zones and encounter some intelligent failure in the journey. Regular reflection on their experiences, both from a cognitive and an affective perspective, is an essential element built into the course experience. The course, which itself was an experiment and not without its own instructive failures, is now an essential part of the MBA experience.Item Open Access Brands Taking a Stand: Authentic Brand Activism or Woke Washing?(SAGE Publications, 2020) Vredenburg J; Kapitan S; Spry A; Kemper, Joya A.In today’s marketplace, consumers want brands to take a stand on sociopolitical issues. When brands match activist messaging, purpose, and values with prosocial corporate practice, they engage in authentic brand activism, creating the most potential for social change and the largest gains in brand equity. In contrast, brands that detach their activist messaging from their purpose, values, and practice are enacting inauthentic brand activism through the practice of “woke washing,” potentially misleading consumers with their claims, damaging both their brand equity and potential for social change. First, the authors draw on theory to inform a typology of brand activism to determine how, and when, a brand engaging with a sociopolitical cause can be viewed as authentic. Second, a theory-driven framework identifies moderate, optimal incongruence between brand and cause as a boundary condition, showing how brand activists may strengthen outcomes in an increasingly crowded marketplace. Third, the authors explore important policy and practice implications for current and aspiring brand activists, from specific brand-level standards in marketing efforts to third-party certifications and public sector partnerships.Item Open Access Socio-Technical Transitions and Institutional Change: Addressing Obesity through Macro-Social Marketing(SAGE Publications, 2017) Kemper, Joya A.; Ballantine, PaulObesity, climate change and poverty are some of the most serious health, environmental and social issues of the 21st century. Current initiatives to address these wicked issues typically focus on the individual and community, with social marketing being a common tool. However, the effectiveness of social marketing in helping to combat these wicked issues has been mixed at best. We use the multi-level perspective on socio-technical transitions (MLP) to further our understanding of how macro-social marketing might be used to address the wicked problem of obesity. In doing so, we further conceptualize how formal and informal institutions might contribute to the emerging field of macro-social marketing.Item Open Access Global warming and sustainability: Understanding the beliefs of marketing faculty(Wiley, 2017) Kemper, Joya A.; Ballantine, Paul; Hall, Colin MichaelAddressing climate change and sustainability topics in university research and teaching is paramount; however, the majority of marketing studies and courses do not examine these concepts. We investigate global warming beliefs and the sustainability values, attitudes, and beliefs of marketing faculty to understand how these may impact upon the state of sustainability research and teaching within the marketing academy. Using an online survey method, marketing faculty were surveyed from around the world. We found that belief in global warming was high and that this was affected by political ideology and research area. We also found broad perceptions of sustainability (i.e., beyond the environmental domain) in marketing faculty, possibly more so than previous higher education studies have revealed. However, a greater belief in market ideology to solve sustainability issues also exists. We found significant effects or associations between gender, political ideology, religion, expertise, region of current residence, and region of conferred highest degree on sustainability beliefs (definition, conception, and attitudes). Considering that we find a high belief in global warming and a broad and holistic understanding and positive attitude towards sustainability, questions remain about why only limited research and teaching has been done on the intersection between marketing and sustainability.Item Open Access What do we mean by sustainability marketing?(Informa UK Limited, 2019) Kemper, Joya A.; Ballantine, PaulSustainability in marketing has gained some traction over the years, yet we still remain uncertain about exactly what ‘sustainability marketing’ means. Utilising the Scopus database, a discourse analysis was conducted on nearly 200 published journal articles. The analysis categorises multiple sustainability views and outlines three conceptualisations of sustainability marketing: Auxiliary Sustainability Marketing (which focusses on the production of sustainable products), Reformative Sustainability Marketing (which extends the auxiliary approach through the promotion of sustainable lifestyles and behavioural changes) and Transformative Sustainability Marketing (which further extends the auxiliary and reformative approaches through the need for transformation of current institutions and norms, and critical reflection). This paper then discusses how these three conceptualisations might be used by scholars and practitioners to interpret and implement sustainability marketing going forward.Item Open Access The role of imagery in promoting organic food(Elsevier BV, 2019) Septianto F; Paramita W; Kemper, Joya A.While prior research has examined the importance of organic food and the reasons why consumers might purchase it, how marketers can develop effective advertising strategies to promote organic food remains unclear. Drawing upon construal level theory, the present research investigates the role of visual imagery (illustrations vs. photographs) and advertising claims (altruistic vs. egoistic) in promoting organic (vs. conventional) food. Across three experimental studies, this research demonstrates that matching illustrations (photographs) with organic food (conventional) food increases advertising effectiveness (Study 1). Furthermore, matching illustrations (photographs) with altruistic (egoistic) claims can increase likelihood of purchasing (Study 2) and willingness to pay for organic food (Study 3). The findings of this research contribute to the literature on construal level and offer practical implications for marketers and how they can promote organic food.