Business: Journal Articles
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Item Open Access “A war waged with numbers”: Accounting and accumulation by alienation in Australia’s border industrial complex(Emerald, 2023) Scobie, Matthew; Laird LThis paper explores the role of accounting and accountability techniques in contributing to Australia’s border industrial complex. Design/methodology/approach: We use the political thought of Behrouz Boochani to explore the role that accounting techniques play at the micro and macro level of his dialectic of alienation and freedom. Firstly, we explore the accounting and accountability techniques detailed in Boochani’s No Friend but the Mountain, which gives an account of his life in Manus Prison, and the accounting techniques he experienced. Secondly, we explore the discourse of alienation created within the annual reporting of the Australian Federal Government regarding the border industrial complex. Findings: We argue that the border industrial complex requires the alienation of asylum seekers from their own humanity for capital accumulation, and that accounting and accountability techniques facilitate this form of alienation. These techniques include inventorying, logging and queuing at the micro level within Manus Prison. This alienates those trapped in the system from one another and themselves. Techniques also include annual reporting at a macro level which alienates those trapped in the system from the (White) “Australian Community”. However, these techniques are resisted at every point by assertions of freedom. Originality/value: We illustrate the role of accounting in accumulation by alienation, where the unfreedom of incarcerated asylum seekers is a site of profit for vested interests. But also that this alienation is resisted at every point by refusals of alienation as assertions of freedom. Thus, this study contributes to the accounting literature by drawing from theories of alienation, and putting forward the dialectic of alienation and freedom articulated by Boochani and collaborators.Item Open Access Unethical practices in response to poor student quality: An Australian perspective(2016) Steenkamp, Natasja; Roberts RThe purpose is to ascertain accounting academics’ perceptions whether (a) the standard of accounting education at Australian universities has deteriorated, (b) the quality of undergraduate students has deteriorated in recent years, and if the latter (c) impacted them, their jobs, their teaching and ethical practices, and (d) is obstructing the attractiveness of accounting academia as a career. An on-line survey was sent to accounting academics at 39 Australian universities to investigate participants’ perceptions about the deterioration in the standard of accounting education and the quality of undergraduate students and the impact on respondents’ well-being, ethical practices and their job satisfaction. The majority of respondents believe the standard of accounting education and the quality of undergraduate students have deteriorated. Many academics have experienced increased frustration, disillusionment, and struggle with workload. Respondents experience institutional pressures to achieve higher pass rates, deal with sub-par core skills, treat students as clients and increase student retention. As a result, a significant number of academics, have inflated grades or deflated coursework in order to ameliorate these pressures. Nonetheless, despite these challenges, the majority is not actively seeking to change jobs or leave academia, but agree that it is not a good time for others to aspire an academic career in accounting.Item Open Access Stuck in Limbo: how sensemaking discrepancy over strategy-related performance leads to disjointed collaboration in an international joint venture(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2023) Zhao , Xiaoli; Stiles, DavidA major issue in international business is why many International Joint Ventures (IJVs) fail to live up to partners’ expectations. Research into why IJVs underperform centres on differences between partners’ equity, resources, technical knowledge and cultural values, but seldom internal sensemaking conflicts. We address this research gap: specifically, the sense managers make of their own and their partner managers’ perceived performance in relation to strategy practices, and the effects of sensemaking upon collaboration. Some IJV studies examine outright organizational failure, but we focus on a common situation where partner firms’ expectations about each other’s performance are not met. Our case is a major Sino-New Zealand dairy IJV in a Limbo-like state of severe sensemaking discrepancy. Here, managers struggled to perform strategy effectively in a context of mutual misunderstanding and profound miscommunication, rooted in sensemaking differences. Using a strategy practice lens, we explore how this sensemaking discrepancy arose over organizational identity, learning and experience, strategizing, communication and trust. This eroded meaningful cooperation over strategy, leading to disjointed collaboration: a new concept capturing a state of compromised engagement, where the IJV continued operationally, but collaboration became increasingly difficult. We provide a theoretical framework to help understand sensemaking discrepancy in IJVs, based on a reconceptualization of sensemaking discrepancy in terms of own and others’ expected and perceived performance. We also offer essential practice-based insights into cognitive barriers to strategy collaboration.Item Open Access Globalisation and tax administration – a New Zealand perspective(2023) Sawyer, AdrianThe work of the G20 and OECD in relation to Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) 1.0, and more recently with BEPS 2.0, has shown unprecedented levels of cooperation between revenue authorities globally. While the work to date has increased the sharing of information and improved cooperation on cross-border investigations, it has also led to enhancements (some currently at the policy refinement stage) that expand the tax base (such as new taxing rights for jurisdictions where value has been added), and buttress existing core tax concepts (such as residence and source). This article, taking the form of a case study, examines and reflects upon how these policy developments are impacting revenue authorities, with a focus on New Zealand. It traverses the administrative direction and political influences over the last six to eight years, within the wider context of Inland Revenue’s Business Transformation project (BT) that was completed in 2022. Digitalisation has been critical to the way Inland Revenue has navigated the challenges it faces, many of which are common to tax administrations globally. In general terms, New Zealand is a ‘strong supporter’ of the work of the G20/OECD with respect to BEPS but would not be considered to be a leader. Being a small jurisdiction, New Zealand is less impacted by BEPS issues, but nevertheless it faces its fair share of administrative challenges, including the ongoing impact of COVID fiscal reforms on tax administrations.Item Open Access Understanding accounting students' intentions to use digital badges to showcase employability skills(Informa UK Limited, 2023) Steenkamp, Natasja; Fisher, Richard; Nesbit, TrevorBy incorporating employability skills within the accounting curriculum, universities face the issue of how best to recognise students’ achievements. Digital badges are emerging as a potential means to recognise such achievements. Being shareable on social media sites, such as LinkedIn, and on other platforms, badges allow students to showcase their attainment of employability skills to potential employers. As student acceptance is a prerequisite to the success of this technology, this exploratory study examines accounting students’ perceptions of badge usefulness and ease of use, and whether these influence their intentions to use them for job applications. We also examine factors that contribute to these perceptions. A survey is undertaken of accounting students within a single university. Results suggest that both subjective norm and perceived usefulness directly influence intentions, while job application relevance and perceptions of external control have important indirect effects. Implications for universities are discussed and future research opportunities identified.Item Open Access Transformative places and the citizenship experience: a dynamic perspective of disasters, transitional servicescapes, and place attachment(2023) Finsterwalder, Jörg; Chen , Ning (Chris); Hall , C. Michael; Prayag , Girish; Tombs , AlastairA city can be regarded as a servicescape, serving its citizens by providing the opportunity to co-create and experience services, such as in the retail or hospitality sectors. In case of a disaster and the collapse or (partial) destruction of a city’s servicescape, the connection of citizens to place, i.e., their place attachment might be impeded, transformed or lost as might be their usual citizenship experiences. The present paper fuses the domains of Transformative Service Research (TSR), environmental psychology, disaster science, and citizenship experiences. Via an exploratory qualitative investigation it finds that transitional, i.e., temporary servicescapes which are put into place until more permanent servicescapes can be rebuilt, can be transformative places in regard to creating novel citizenship experiences to “re-attach” residents to their city.Item Open Access Sustainability control systems in short-term operational and long-term strategic decision-making(Emerald, online-publication-date) Kuruppu , S. C.; Milne, Markus; Tilt, C. A.This paper responds to recent calls for rich, holistic and contextually grounded perspectives of sustainability processes at an extractives company. The study provides novel insight into how sustainability control systems are used (or not used) in short-term or long-term decision-making and external reporting. The paper illustrates how a large company is responding to sustainability pressures within the unique contextual setting of New Zealand. The study outlines the imitations of existing practice and provides implications for how sustainability-based internal controls can be better embedded into organisations.Item Open Access Implications of climate change for strategic management theory(Emerald, online-publication-date) Knott, PaulPurposeThe purpose is to stimulate scholarship in the strategic management field that accounts for conditions implied by projected impacts of climate change.Design/methodology/approachFollowing conceptual logic, the article analyses how changes in the strategic environment brought about by climate change may challenge current strategic management theory. It develops avenues for theory development based on expanding the field’s scope and extending its limits of applicability.FindingsThe article highlights the extent to which the strategy field has evolved in a stable empirical context, despite its attention to dynamism and hence is less well aligned with potentially pervasive new pressures and impacts. It sets out a rationale for moving beyond symbolic environmentalism, possibilities to harness cognitive and behavioural insights, dilemmas in strategic innovation and the empirical potential of non-mainstream contexts.Practical implicationsFirms and organisations can expect widespread systemic effects from climate change that challenge established ways of operating. The article explores how strategic management could better support strategists in navigating these shifts such that firms can continue to thrive.Originality/valueThe article approaches the issue of climate change specifically from the perspective of strategic management of firms rather than as policy or social advocacy. It focuses on pressures and characteristics that distinguish climate change from other environmental and social impacts on firms.Item Open Access Anaesthetising Taxation? Fairness in New Zealand Taxation Discussions(2023) Vosslamber, RobLong before Adam Smith included equality as one of his taxation maxims, governments have endeavoured to present taxation as more or less fair or equitable, and taxpayers have questioned the fairness or equity of the same. This article considers how the language of fairness or equity has been used in the reports of past New Zealand tax committees. The article then questions the meaningfulness of such language. The article concludes that the presentation of taxation as more or less fair plays an important motivational, rather than substantive role. As an open access journal, all content is freely available without charge to users and their institutions, and articles are accepted on condition that users may read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author.Item Open Access Tax justice and Indigenous sovereignty(2023) Scobie, Matthew; Willson, Holly; Evans, Rachel; Williams, MadiThis study investigates Māori taxation or tax-like practices to explore the relationship between taxation and Indigenous self-determination in Aotearoa New Zealand. We find historical examples of customary distribution practices, harbour dues, tollways, stock grazing fees and fines and joint stock subscriptions, all practiced by Māori leadership to raise revenues and assert authority. These findings contribute to tax research by advancing an argument for tax justice that takes Indigenous sovereignty seriously.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 Unknown 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 Unknown Positioning of aerial ambulances to improve health care access: A framework using fuzzy DEMATEL and fuzzy ANP(Informa UK Limited, 2023) Ghaderi M; Jahantigh FF; Koushan, Mona; Wood LCAir ambulances are a crucial enabler of emergency health care because of their high speed, ability to reach impassable areas, relocate more patients, provide better treatment while carrying patients, and ease of access to the hospital without traffic or sudden accidents. The right location must be selected according to scientific principles that address relevant factors to increase air ambulance efficiency in an emergency. A descriptive-analytical approach was adopted to solve the problem of identifying the best locations for aerial ambulances, combining three distinct methods. The first step was to identify criteria affecting the location of air ambulances. Then, the location was determined using a fuzzy analytical network process model coupled with a fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) technique and a geographic information system. To examine the method, a case study was conducted in a province in southeast Iran. Case study results showed insufficient aerial ambulance stations and roads to meet the need. This study provides helpful information for city planners and health policymakers to determine the optimal location of air ambulances by analyzing geographical conditions and barriers to delivering high-quality care to remote area. The study can contribute to more sustainable cities through better health services for communities.Item Unknown 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 Unknown 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 Unknown 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 Unknown 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.