Business: Theses and Dissertations

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Open Access
Flood wave travel time in the Upper Tekapo River
(2005) Dark, Andrew Laughton
The travel time of flood waves in the Upper Tekapo River, caused by opening of the Lake Tekapo control gates, was investigated in relation to the operation of this river as an element of the Waitaki hydro scheme. It is envisaged that better knowledge of the parameters that cause variability in the time taken for water to travel down the river will lead to more efficient and reliable operation of this part of the hydro scheme. An integrated approach was used, including analysis of hydrological data, fieldwork, computational modelling and laboratory modelling. It was found that the variability observed in the travel times can be attributed to a number of parameters, not all of which can be directly measured. Although travel times were reproduced with reasonable accuracy by a computational model, the potential for the model to be used as a predictive tool for improving the hydro scheme's control system is limited by the difficulty in modelling the initial and antecedent conditions for flow events, particularly for incipient flows. The effect of depression storage in the river bed on the propagation of a flood wave, both in terms of the effect on travel time and the interaction between the wave front and the ponded water, was investigated in the laboratory. The volume of water initially stored in the river bed was shown to have an effect on the flood wave travel time. While this result could be applied qualitatively to the Upper Tekapo River, it was not possible to scale the quantitative results. Overall, the results of this study add to the understanding of unsteady flow in the Upper Tekapo River. They are likely to be useful both for the operation of the river with its current control system, and as a basis for increasing the efficiency with which water is used for energy generation by refining the control strategy.
Open Access
Exploring the impact of corporate social responsibility strategy and practices of dairy brands on the purchasing intention of Chinese consumers
(2023) Yi, Ying
In recent years, the importance of corporate social responsibility has been widely recognised and emphasized in various industries and sectors, including the dairy industry. Some may argue that the corporate social responsibility strategies and practices of companies could generate a positive impact on the financial and non- financial performance of the organisations over the medium and long run, while others believe that the contributions are not well illustrated and justified. This research aimed to explore the impact of the companies’ corporate social responsibility practices on the level of the customers’ brand trust, the purchasing intention of their Chinese consumers in the market space in China and New Zealand dairy industry. The research problem was stated: what is the impact of the corporate social responsibility strategy and practices of brands on the purchasing intention of Chinese consumers in the dairy industry? The objective of the research was to identify the relationship between corporate social responsibility strategies and the customers’ purchasing intention and brand trust, to generate the useful implications for the improvement of organisational performances. In addition, this research explored the influence of the corporate social responsibility on the brand trust, which could have a lasting impact on the future performance of brands. This research conducted online questionnaire survey among 481 consumers from China respectively. The findings show that CSR practices are positively related to brand trust of consumers. In the relationship between CSR and brand purchase intention and positive brand referrals, brand trust plays as a mediator. Among the three lines of CSR, social and environmental CSR generate more positive impacts than economic CSR. Also, the impacts of CSR on brand trust and brand purchase intention are more intensive than that of positive band referrals. Both Chinese and New Zealand brands demonstrate some similarities. Despite of some limitations, the findings of the research fulfill some gaps at theoretical and practical levels.
Open Access
Green training and development within NZX listed organisations : motives, content and methods of delivery.
(2023) Catto, Emma
Green training and development (GT&D) plays an important role in establishing sustainable organisational practices (Stefanelli et al., 2020). Despite this importance, little is known about the extent of adoption of GT&D within New Zealand organisations. Accordingly, this study aimed to investigate GT&D adoption in NZX-listed organisations. The study employed a cross-sectional research design, utilising surveys for data collection, to examine a broad spectrum of GT&D practices . Specifically, the contents, methods, and motives behind the adoption of GT&D were assessed. The study’s findings show that New Zealand organisations are currently in the early stages of GT&D adoption, with the majority of participants currently having no dedicated GT&D practices in place. That said, over 90 percent of the sample did incorporate aspects of GT&D within more mainstream training and development activities. Where specific GT&D practices were adopted, there was considerable diversity in the training content and methods of delivery, which suggests that GT&D is tailored to the needs of the organisations. Encouragingly, the study shows that organisations have maintained or increased levels of GT&D adoption over the past five years, which further supports that the organisations are in the early stages of GT&D and broader GHRM adoption to combat societal pressure to react to climate change. The study drew on institutional and legitimacy theory to understand how extra- and intra-organisational factors related to GT&D adoption. to identify predicting variables. Findings demonstrate that external coercive, mimetic, and normative forces were poor predictors of GT&D adoption. Contrastingly, internal regulative, moral and normative forces were found to be strong predictors for GT&D adoption, with regulatory forces being the strongest predictor of GT&D adoption. The study’s findings suggest that governing bodies and regulatory industry authorities have more sway over organisations' adoption of GT&D than they may realise. These findings aid in the development of a deeper understanding of GT&D in New Zealand’s business environment. The results from the study contribute to literature as the adoption and nature of GT&D within NZX-listed organisations at this point in time has been identified, information that has previously not been studied to this capacity. This data also provides similar demography organisations with benchmarking data to compare their GT&D adoption. Despite the limitations of the research, the study has allowed for a general foundation to build on for future research, specifically looking into the GHRM genre within New Zealand.
Open Access
Universities as tourism destinations, attractions, and generators : the relationship between university students and VFR tourism.
(2023) Thomas, Daniel
This thesis presents findings of a systematic literature review on the relationship between university student related VFR tourism, attractions, and generators, and the impact that this has on the destination and the surrounding region. The aim of this review is to collate and synthesise the current literature on student related VFR tourism, generating new insight into the relationship and highlighting potential areas for further investigation. The research was informed by an initial thematic literature review on six key components of campus tourism. Which revealed a significant gap in available literature on student related VFR, thereby justifying the need for a comprehensive systematic review on the phenomenon. Using a predefined and methodical approach protocol, the systematic review revealed a total of sixteen relevant publications of which the full texts were analysed in two distinct ways. Firstly, an analysis of article characteristics was conducted, followed by a thematic analysis to identify the relevant themes and findings present across the sixteen articles. Data collected in this analysis was then used to reveal trends in the literature, to draw meaningful conclusions about the relationship of student related VFR tourism, and its potential future impact.
Open Access
An exploratory analysis of blockchain technology research in humanitarian supply chains and logistics using the Latent Dirichlet Allocation based topic modelling approach
(2023) Patil, Shriniket
In humanitarian relief operations, the logistics aspect accounts to approximately 80% of the effort (Ko & Verity, 2018; Trunick, 2005; Van Wassenhove, 2006) wherein the sector experiences significant challenges related to the last mile distribution, transparency, collaboration, accountability, trust, information sharing, time, cost and resilience (Aranda et al., 2019; Cozzolino, 2012; Dubey et al., 2020; Kovács & Spens, 2007; L'Hermitte & Nair, 2020; Negi & Negi, 2020). Extant literature suggests that the academia and industry have extensively researched the use cases and applications of emerging blockchain technology in commercial supply chains and logistics, and identified promising benefits such as trust, transparency, traceability, immutability, provenance, disintermediation and compliance for enabling its adoption (Kshetri, 2018; Min, 2019; Nandi et al., 2021; Niranjanamurthy et al., 2019; Sharma et al., 2019; Wang et al., 2019). However, corresponding blockchain technology led research initiatives in the context of non-commercial humanitarian supply chains have remained extremely scant. Subject matter experts, noted academics and specialists in the humanitarian sector have been calling for emerging technology led and interdisciplinary research initiatives in this scantly explored area (Aranda et al., 2019; Baharmand & Comes, 2019; Coppi & Fast, 2019; Dubey et al., 2020; Keenaghan et al., 2019; Zwitter & Boisse-Despiaux, 2018). Taking into consideration the research gap as well as the strong endorsement from the expert humanitarian logistics community, the study at hand explores the blockchain technology research literature in humanitarian supply chains and logistics operations by employing a generative probabilistic Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modelling technique. A predetermined dataset comprising 54 full-text documents pertaining to blockchain technology research in humanitarian supply chains and logistics is analysed using the LDA topic modelling method to reveal three i.e., k = 3 topics – Technology, Organisational Operations, Systems Adoption. The LDA topic model also uncovers pertinent key words such as trust, transparency, coordination, traceability, smart contracts, cost, time, communication, coordination, and food which are consistent with the factors confirmed in the previous and ongoing research initiatives on blockchain technology applications in humanitarian supply chain and logistics. Next, a comparative analysis between the manual thematic analysis and the machine learning based topic model illustrates that in case of a successful LDA topic extraction process, there is ample scope to integrate the two methods and utilise them as a concurrent mixed methods strategy to inform subsequent qualitative and quantitative research initiatives. Correspondingly, based on the LDA topics and thematic analysis of the literature, researchers may contemplate on diversifying and extending the extant socio-technical information systems theories such as the TOE Framework (Baker, 2012; Tornatzky et al., 1990) with state-of-the- art macro and micro level theories such as the Mikropolis model (Wahoff et al., 2012) for advancing the knowledge in the context of blockchain technology and humanitarian supply chains and logistics studies. And lastly, the application of the LDA topic model in conjunction with the thematic analysis approach and literature reviews may demonstrate the viability of a unique type of a secondary mixed methods approach.
Open Access
What factors influence the wellbeing of migrant women employed in aged care in New Zealand?
(2022) Alwan, Sarah
An extensive review of literature, news articles and reports highlighted the challenges, shortcomings and on-going issues within the aged care sector particularly around attraction and retention of workers. Wellbeing in particular has been shown to have an impact on the attraction and retention of workers. However, there was a lack of research that explored the wellbeing of the aged care workers (ACW) and what influences impact their wellbeing. This study aimed to gain further understanding into the realities of these women and what factors are most impactful on their wellbeing. This was done by undertaking a qualitative study interviewing 18 migrant women employed in aged care in New Zealand and posed the following question: What factors influence the wellbeing of migrant women employed in aged care? The participants have varied backgrounds, employment histories and time within the sector. However, there were several common key themes across participants which were found to influence participant wellbeing. These were: safety; a culture of caring; mental and physical health; self-determination; and rules/education. These themes were organised into the overarching wellbeing framework of ‘Having, Doing, Loving, Being’ (HDLB), by Helne (2021) and the creation of the study’s methodology, findings and discussion were driven by the application of a migrant women centered lens (MWCL). This study has offered theoretical contributions by applying the relevant lens and wellbeing theory to ensure the most useful and accurate results. In conclusion the study found that the participants’ wellbeing was influenced positively and negatively by several factors that related to their occupation, gender, immigration status, organisational dynamics and their personal lives. Overall, the findings suggest that migrant women employed in aged care within New Zealand can live happy fulfilling lives that include increased safety and self-determination; however, there are several industry, societal and organisational issues that prove to be extremely difficult barriers to overcome. This study concludes with practical recommendations that were discussed by participants that would improve their wellbeing and experience as migrant women employed in aged care in New Zealand.
Open Access
From sustainability reporting to integrated reporting: a New Zealand case study.
(2023) Yang, Xiaoting
A major development in corporate reporting internationally in the past few years is the development and implementation of integrated reporting, acting as a primary tool to address increased stakeholder demand for more transparent, holistic and long-term decision-useful information. Despite the significant growth in integrated reporting research, there is little existing research into motivations for voluntary adoption and consequential changes in reporting practices, especially in New Zealand. The objective of this research was to explore why one of New Zealand’s largest commercial fishing companies, Sanford Limited, voluntarily adopted integrated reporting and how this adoption influenced its reporting practices. This study took the form of a single case study involving qualitative analysis of Sanford’s sustainability reports and integrated reports from 2013 to 2020 (i.e., before and after the adoption of the integrated reporting framework in 2014). It also involved in-depth, semi- structured interviews with the people in the company who are key to the preparation of the integrated reports. The findings were analysed through the lens of diffusion of innovation theory and stakeholder theory. The study found that the motivation for the adoption of integrated reporting is complex and multidimensional. Leadership, with a mission for the company to pursue sustainability over profitability and be the best in the world plays, an important role in initiating voluntary adoption of integrated reporting. Other main motivations for adoption include integrated reporting’s compatibility with the adopter’s existing system and seeing its relative advantages over existing practices. The findings reveal that for an innovation to be adopted, not only does it need to be resilient and robust, but internal top-down support is essential, emphasising the critical role of leadership in innovation adoption. Furthermore, the case company’s view, that integrated reports are the best communication tool to satisfy the increased stakeholders demand for more transparent information and accountability, encourages the adoption of integrated reporting. This finding indicates that stakeholder demand also plays a part in the adoption decision of innovation, particularly for public listed companies, whose success is dependent on their stakeholders. The study also found significant changes to report content and incremental changes in the process of preparing integrated reports. Although improved and more collaborative internal and external communication has evolved and continues to evolve, with a cross-departmental team established to break down silos, it appears there have been only minor changes to the existing processes of preparing sustainability reports. As pioneer research in the New Zealand context, this study provides empirical evidence that contributes to our understanding of the motivation for the voluntary adoption of an integrated reporting framework in a voluntary context and changes that prospective integrated reporting adopters could encounter or anticipate. The findings of this study bridge the existing research gaps as earlier studies of the drivers of integrated reporting adoption focused mostly on countries where integrated reporting is mandatory. It also provides some practical guidance for organisations embarking on the integrated reporting journey to ensure that their reporting practices proceed smoothly.
Open Access
Understanding the role of local food providers in building community well-being
(2022) Cameron, Jessica Margaret
This master’s thesis research project aims to investigate how local food providers who use short food supply chains contribute to community well-being. This research contributes to the supply chain management knowledge base, with a focus on community well-being and supply chain social capital. This research is conducted in Christchurch, New Zealand, and provides context for local policy makers looking to develop community well-being and resilience. This research also enhances our understanding of how organisations contribute to creating sustainable cities and communities, which is a UN Sustainable Development Goal. Achieving the SDGs is important for society as a whole, as they help to prepare us for future long-term grand challenges, such as climate change. Literature on the broad topic of food supply chains is reviewed, with the focus then narrowing to short food supply chains. Food security is also addressed. Next, the concepts of community well-being and community resilience are introduced. These two topics are then discussed together, in the context of communities. An interpretivist paradigm using qualitative research methods and a social capital lens is used to answer the research question “How do local food providers use their supply chains to contribute to community well-being?” A multiple-case study approach is employed for analysing data gathered through participant-observation and semi- structured interviews. Within-case and cross-case analysis is performed to understand how these organisations use short food supply chains to contribute to community well-being. Two theoretical propositions emerge as a result of this study, which aid the wider Christchurch community in achieving the City Councils objectives, and New Zealand in working towards achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Open Access
Essays on a study of statistical power in economics.
(2023) Tian, Jiarui (Alex)
Knowing the statistical power of an empirical analysis after it is completed can be very useful. Among other things, it can help one determine whether a finding of statistical insignificance is due to a small effect size or insufficient statistical power. This thesis consists of five studies linked together by my attempts to study how best to calculate ex post statistical power. Chapter One provides an introduction and the background for this thesis. In Chapter Two, I detail what is meant by statistical power (including ex ante and ex post power) and why it is important to researchers. I also identify the various factors that affect statistical power. Chapter Three explains why ex post power has a “bad reputation.” A common practice for calculating ex post power employs an inappropriate method known as “observed power.” “Observed power” uses the estimated effect size as the assumed true effect size and then calculates the associated power. Though widely used, this method has been demonstrated to produce biased estimates of statistical power (Yuan & Maxwell, 2005). I present two approaches for calculating ex post power suggested by researchers to avoid the problems of “observed power”. Chapter Four begins by replicating a recent paper by Brown, Lambert and Wojan (2019). BLW use a bootstrapping procedure to calculate ex post power and apply it to a benefit-cost analysis of a U.S. conservation program. I reproduce BLW’s results. I call their method for calculating ex post power BLW1. I then propose a variant of their method, which I call BLW2. I use Monte Carlo experiments to compare both methods in a simple data environment where there is no clustering. In Chapter Five, I detail two more methods for calculating ex post power. The first procedure is taken from a blog post by David McKenzie and Owen Ozier (2019). I call this approach the SE-ES Method (for Standard Error – Effect Size). I then propose yet another variant of the BLW method, BLW3, which uses a wild-cluster bootstrap for handling clustered data. Chapter Five subjects all four methods to an extensive set of Monte Carlo experiments to assess their reliability in calculating ex post statistical power. I find that the SE-ES method is superior to BLW’s method (BLW1, BLW2 and BLW3) and has good overall performance. Chapter Six applies the SE-ES method to a set of 23 development studies that were funded by the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie), a non-profit organization that supports research on ways to help the poor in low- and middle-income countries. I analyze the ex post power of these studies and explore factors that may be responsible for differences between ex ante and ex post statistical power. Chapter Seven concludes this thesis. It provides an overview of my chapters, as well as a summary of my main findings.
Open Access
Sustainable Transformation of Individuals and Families: Design and Implementation of Holistic Personalised Socially Driven Persuasive Systems
(University of Auckland, 2020) Chung, Claris
Sustainability is a topic that has matured and has evolved from organisational sustain ability to societal sustainability and more recently to individual sustainability. As an individual is the core, basic component of society, and plays a critical role in societal transformation, there is growing interest and discussions on individual sustainability and wellbeing. Since the publication of Our Common Future – the report commis sioned by the UN General Assembly in tackling environmental and natural resources issues – the concept of ‘sustainable development’ has taken root in firms and govern ments, both in optimising their supply chain and in the planning of the sustainability of the society. However, counterintuitively, the fabric of the society – individuals and families – has been neglected in this journey of understanding their roles in sustaina bility, as well as in the nexus between their decisions and social outcomes. This thesis bridges the gap. Sustainability is a transformative process of improving the quality of lives by balancing various of our life aspects, such as economic, ecological, and societal dimensions. In this process, information systems often take a critical part as an analytical tool, which provides insightful decision support and recommendations based on collected data and information. In contrast to systems employed by corporates and governments, the development of sustainability systems for individuals and families is still in its infancy. Existing systems mostly are only focusing on one aspect of life and prescribe a single dimensional solution, without regard to the contextual and circumstantial complexi ties of life. In this light, this thesis aims to design and implement systems that adopt a holistic approach in understanding users’ individualistic needs, and in synthesising their life status and goals. The vision is to recognise the multifaceted aspirations of the users, and to nudge them toward a lifestyle that is sustainable, practical, and, above all, enjoyable. To realise this vision, the thesis adopts the multimethodological design science approaches (Hevner, March, Park, & Ram, 2004; Nunamaker, Chen, & Purdin, 1991) with the design eval uation methods from Hevner, March, Park, and Ram (2004) to address the challenges. ii First, the thesis defines individual and family sustainability and a set of nine principles named SSHARRPPP (Sustainable, Social, Holistic, Adaptive, Real-time, Real-world, Precise, Personalised, Persuasive). Based on these principles, the thesis develops sus tainable transformative processes that are applied to key activities and can bring fun damental changes for one’s life. From these conceptual and procedural foundations, the thesis designs system architectures and implements four systems as proof of con cepts. They are, namely, the SSHARRPPP Measurement, Shopping, Modelling, and Games. SSHARRPPP systems support individual and family sustainability holistically as they work together seamlessly. SSHARRPPP Measurement and Shopping measure key ac tivities that are performed by individuals and families. Based on the measured data, SSHARRPPP Modelling grasps causal effect relationships of one’s life dimensions and develops models. Lastly, SSHARRPPP Games helps people to stick with sustainable lives by making their journey enjoyable. All systems are designed to educate people to transform their lives. During the research, all of these conceptual, procedural, and sys tem artefacts are validated through publications, presentations and peer-review pro cesses. This thesis fills the gap in individual and family sustainability by bringing understand ing of human nature and systems together. Taken as a whole, it provides holistic un derstanding on sustainable life transformation and benefits researchers in both infor mation systems and sustainability. The thesis also lays the ground for future work in health and self-management, as it provides system solutions by synthesising core ideas from purposes of life and values, various human processes, and mechanisms to trans form our lives. At the practical level, the system architecture and the applications guide the system developers to design and implement systems for the sustainable transfor mation of individuals and families. Importantly, this thesis benefits individuals and families by making their sustainable life transformations holistic.
Open Access
Derivatives usage by New Zealand companies
(2000) Chan, Karen Sook Choo
This study examines how derivatives are used by New Zealand companies. The analysis of risk characteristics of firms with and without derivatives show that, on average, firms with derivatives hedge firm-specific risks - users have lower standard deviations of equity returns and idiosyncratic risks. Their market risk, exchange rate exposure and interest rate exposure are not significantly higher or lower than those of non-users. Derivatives are also found to explain close to I 0% of the total variation in equity returns. However, the tests do not rule out possible speculative activities. The observation of motivations for derivatives usage by New Zealand companies indicate that the likelihood of firms using derivatives increases the higher the financial risk and the larger the firm size. The incentive for managerial self-utility maximisation is another reason. These findings are not completely consistent with optimal hedging theories. The departure of the results from that predicted by theory may be attributed to New Zealand's imputation taxation system. Under the classical taxation system, firms are hypothesised to hedge because of taxation, costs of financial distress, debt capacity, underinvestment problems, managerial risk-aversion, use of alternative hedging instruments and economies of scale in information and transaction costs. Under the imputation taxation system, firms are unlikely to have incentives to use derivatives to hedge because of taxation and debt capacity considerations nor will the decision to use derivatives be influenced by the use of alternative hedging instruments. But firms under imputation are still expected to use derivatives to hedge because of financial distress costs, managerial risk aversion and economies of scale in information and transaction costs. Underinvestment problem is likely to remain a motivator for derivatives usage under imputation, but results find no support for this.
Open Access
The usage of video assistant referee (VAR) and its impact on players’ and fans’ emotional experience of football.
(2022) South, Zin
Video assistant referee (VAR) is comprised of three people who work together to review controversial decisions made by the on-pitch referee. VAR is used in four match-changing situations; penalties, red cards, goals, and mistaken identity (Chandler, 2021; FIFA, 2021). There are various gaps in past literature; notably, previous studies have not explicitly focused on the emotional impact VAR is having on both players and fans. This study addresses these gaps, conducting explorative research to collect qualitative data using interviews and Twitter sentiment analysis, to form the basis of this study. Primary semi-structured interviews are done with six professional players and six fans. Seven secondary interviews with professional players are also incorporated. This qualitative data is further analysed in terms of thematic analysis and sentiment analysis to help interpret and classify players' and fans' feelings and emotions resulting from VAR decisions in football. The findings illustrate that VAR is having more of an effect than its stated purpose of correcting ‘clear and obvious errors’. Fans and players highlight that VAR creates consistent feelings of doubt and hope due to the suspense it creates during key moments in matches. They also felt that VAR is currently ambiguous, as well as disruptive to the time and flow of football matches. The Twitter sentiment analysis revealed that sentiment is more negative than positive but overall very neutral, which is reflected in the interviews. The findings of this paper can help those who want to contribute to the advancement of the application and functionality of VAR technology in football. This study aims to provide useful information and encourage researchers and governing bodies to further investigate the application of technology in football and the impact on stakeholders in order to promote the growth and advancement of football, as well as further the application of VAR across professional football leagues worldwide.
Open Access
The need for disruption in the credit ratings landscape : a model for machine learning computed credit ratings.
(2022) Vasin, M. V.
I present the results from the research on the topics of (1) credit ratings, which are usually provided by credit rating agencies, and (2) Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning as a form of solving classification tasks, such as credit ratings, without the involvement of human experts. My research problem is stated as follows: to improve the solutions for the credit rating problem introduced by other credit rating agencies, I propose a rating system in the form of an expert system. Then I show that this system is more efficient than traditional rating systems on different hold-out samples of large-scale, multi-period data for public nonfinancial corporate entities worldwide, and with respect to different forecasting horizons. I show that my rating system, which is based on an ensemble machine learning method, specifically Gradient Boosted Decision Trees, when applied to the rating process, outperforms incumbent rating systems on the accuracy-stability scale measured by a compound metric Index of the Quality of Ratings, which I develop and introduce. In the course of the research in addition to the topic of rating performance evaluation, I have included the comparison of market-implied ratings with fundamental ratings, ratings forecasting and replication, mapping of ratings of different providers to the universal scale, financial effects of qualitative ratings for the investors, the stability of ratings, and the cyclical effects of ratings. The novelty is in the amount of data that I used, including the number and diversification of the rated entities, also in the number of other rating providers involved in performance comparison tests and the number of optional models built and tested. I have shown performance results for different forecasting horizons. The complexity of the proposed model, its iterative revisions throughout the estimation periods, as well as mapping of ratings directly through the default ratios, also mark out my research. The significance of the research is in showing a more reliable, hi-tech, cost- and timeeffective solution for the problem of credit risk assessment for financial markets participants, who now rely upon the opinion of credit rating agencies. The key output of the research is therefore to re-imagine the credit ratings according to modern advances in finance, datascience, information technology and software. The results of my analysis can be used as a starting point or proxy for choosing the optimal rating agency for investor’s needs, as a stepby- step manual to develop a rating system, as a benchmark for the regulation of rating agencies, or when discussing the quality of ratings in academic and financial papers.
Open Access
Defining the sports fan : a typology
(2000) Rich, Adrienne Clare
Sports are becoming increasingly more important in our society. The following thesis presents a six-fold typology of sports fans based on their psychological motivations for following a sport. It uses and interesting methodology that makes use of pictures and is based on the ZMET qualitative interviewing technique. A missing type, the impact of gender on the typology, the factors that determine whether fans attend the game or watch it at home and research implications are discussed. Areas for future research are recommended.
Open Access
An examination of the ethical reasoning of future New Zealand accounting professionals
(1995) Walkey, Celestine Therese
A high level of ethical reasoning and behaviour is integral to the professional status of accounting. The credibility of accounting professionals has been challenged with recent media exposure of fraud and misconduct cases, both overseas and within New Zealand. A concern that the accounting profession could lose its professional status has led to research in the area of moral psychology to gain information on appropriate methods for ensuring high ethical standards. This thesis examines the level of ethical reasoning of a sample of 201 accounting students, and the variables that affect their ethical reasoning. The accounting students within this study exhibited a significantly lower level of moral reasoning than in previous research concerning university students and non- university educated adults. Minority ethnic subjects exhibited lower levels of moral reasoning than New Zealand European subjects. The results suggested that cumulative ethics education can have a positive effect on the moral reasoning of students, however, some individual courses that contain ethics education may not be effective by themselves. Subjects classified as educational/career orientated, that is, individuals who work hard, enjoy learning, and have well defined goals, exhibited high levels of moral reasoning. Few subjects perceived the learning environment of the accounting programme to be intellectually stimulating and those who did exhibited low levels of moral reasoning. Female subjects exhibited higher levels of moral reasoning than males. The implications of the results with regard to the development of the accounting curriculum, codes of ethics and counselling services are discussed.
Open Access
Sociomaterial struggles at the frontline of strategy : a postphenomenological view of practice and power.
(2022) Bate, Guy W.
An important line of inquiry aligned with the ‘strategy as practice’ domain considers how strategy work is an exercise in power. Applying a lens influenced by—among others—Foucault, such work shows how actors shape their identities through and in relation to strategic discourses. Upper echelon managers discursively construct themselves as strategists, holding power over the subjectivities of those involved in implementing strategy. These discourses thus also work to shape the roles, identities and actions of these lower echelon actors to align with strategic intent. In turn, these same actors then construct their own identities in relation to these dominant discourses. Some studies build upon this position by attending to the role of technologies (e.g., accounting systems) in these flows of power, highlighting how such systems impose ways of working and thinking, and so define identities. However, such studies tend to dichotomise control and resistance, and tacitly view technology as an embodiment of pre-existing managerial intent. This under-emphasises the relational, co-productive nature of power and of technology’s role therein. This thesis aims to develop such an emphasis. I adopt a strong view of sociomateriality which sees the social and material as ontologically entangled. This is informed by Heideggerian conceptualisations, and also by ideas from ‘postphenomenology’, a school which further develops Heideggerian thought while also considering Foucauldian power in relation to technology use. Working with these ideas allows me to conceptualise human and technology as co-constitutive of (and within) the struggles that take shape as power flows through an organisation. Adopting this position, I examine ‘sociomaterial struggles’ in a study of frontline practitioners in a subsidiary company of a multinational health technology firm. Over 10-months, I collected their self-reported accounts of working with a new software suite as part of a ‘digital customer engagement strategy’. Analysing these accounts as ‘narratives of practices’, I show how the sense of self of each practitioner was first threatened and then (re)claimed through their individual, idiosyncratic relations with the technology—specifically, relations that set up struggles over subjectivities through a play of technology mediated objectivities, technology mediated intersubjectivities, and technology mediated subjectivities. Their stories weave together to reveal how the praxis that unfolded through these struggles shaped the local work of strategy. Overall, my thesis extends our understanding of how strategy is accomplished, attending to workers’ involvements with novel managerial ‘technologies of control’. It also contributes to theory, specifically to theorising power/resistance in strategy on the basis of a strong sociomaterial ontology.
Open Access
How do restaurants present themselves online? : a content analysis on Christchurch restaurants.
(2022) Marquez Diaz, Valentina
The use of content marketing among businesses has substantially grown with technological advancements and with the hit of the COVID-19 pandemic. The hospitality industry was immensely affected and businesses needed to change the way they normally operate and market themselves to their consumers. Therefore, this thesis explores restaurants’ online platforms in a content marketing context. The aim of this research is to gain insight into restaurants and cafes’ content strategies and identify and assess the different forms of content uploaded by businesses on several different online platforms. In particular, it explores how they present their brand to the consumer online and which content they use to do so. The research begins with an overview of the digital marketing literature with a specific focus on restaurants where applicable. The literature review indicated an important research gap regarding content marketing in a restaurant context, whereas the researched areas on this topic mostly take a consumer perspective instead of viewing what restaurant owners and marketers are doing on their online platforms. The research took a content analysis approach. The study analysed the content posted by 188 restaurants and cafes in Christchurch, New Zealand, on five different platforms, websites, Instagram, Facebook, Uber Eats and YouTube. The results showed that restaurants utilise different platforms to share different information and that the majority of restaurants are not highly active on all platforms. In addition, the platform with the most active restaurant accounts was Facebook, and restaurants use it to share general information about the business. In contrary to Instagram, which is the second most popular platform within Christchurch restaurants, and restaurants use it to promote their business. Overall, the results provide a clear indication of what Christchurch restaurants are utilising to present themselves to their consumers and provide insight to future restaurant owners and marketers to create a tailored content strategy for their business.
Open Access
Interoperability framework to enhance the DLT based systems integration with enterprise IT systems.
(2021) Hushare, Jitendra Vijaysingh
Distributed ledger technology (DLT) has generated tremendous interest due to its popular application to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Despite its enormous potential business benefits and even greater hype, DLT never attracted significant investment and its widespread implementation failed to occur. One of the most recognised reasons is the lack of an integration framework for integrating DLT-based systems with centralised or non-DLT information technology (IT) systems. This research endeavours to fill this gap by designing a DLT interoperability framework (DIF). This framework is based on the interoperability principles derived from integrated DLT-based solutions and modern organisations' integration needs and practices. DIF enables organisations to design interoperability architecture and integrated solutions for enterprise implementation. Based on the DIF, this research also developed and instantiated a Hyperledger Fabric DLT solution prototype (HDSP) on Amazon Web Services (AWS) for the manuka honey supply chain (MHSC) use case. The research utilised design science research (DSR) methodology to develop the DIF and HDSP. Iterative artefact evaluations were undertaken using formative (ex-ante), summative (ex-post), maturity model for enterprise interoperability (MMEI), IT professional evaluation, and artefact instantiation and demonstration techniques suggested in the DSR. The DIF, HDSP and their evaluation provide a pathway for organisations to design and implement integrated DLT-based solutions. The knowledge generated and utilised in this research provides a robust theoretical foundation for building and implementing such integrated solutions.
Open Access
Consumer perceptions of brands and the effect of store image.
(2022) Bryden, Amelia
The aim of this thesis is to explore the interrelationship between store image and the different types of brands a store sells. Specifically, this research looks to discover whether store image influences consumers’ perceptions of the types of brands a clothing retail store sells, in addition to whether the brands a store stocks influence how a consumer perceives the image of store. A qualitative research approach was used in order to better understand and comprehend the relationship between store image and brands and the effect they have on how consumers form perceptions and evaluate both store and brands in a retail environment. Data was collected using protocol analysis and through conducting in-depth, semi-structured interviews with twelve participants. This was followed by a thematic analysis of the collected data. From the data analysis, eight central themes emerged. Those being; image reflection; interaction between store and brand types; familiarity; brand trust; reputation and status; building reciprocal relationships; consistency with one’s self; and social influence. The study suggests that the way in which consumers form their perceptions is very much a complex understanding, and whilst in a general sense each of the themes discovered are independent of one another, they are very much interrelated in the way that they work together in a consumer’s mind. These themes contribute to a framework that was developed to represent the key findings of this research. As a result, this research shows how millennial consumers form perceptions of stores and brands in a novel situation, and what the role both store image and brands play in that. This research contributes to extant literature on consumers’ perceptions of stores and brands and the influence branding has on those perceptions by bridging the gap between knowing and understanding that store image influences consumers’ perceptions, and how it is that these perceptions are formed exactly and what effect store image and brands have on those perceptions. It looks to establish and understand the evaluative process of millennial consumers when they are choosing and forming perceptions of stores and brands, and how that interrelationship between store image and brands works through the themes that emerged.
Open Access
The Board of Directors, the budget and company oversight : a New Zealand case study
(2001) Gregg, Peaches Rennet
The corporate budget is one of the means by which boards of directors can exercise their governance, as it is a tool traditionally used in strategic planning and management. This thesis examines the role of the budget in the board of directors’ execution of company oversight. A single case study using interviews as the main data collection method was conducted of a New Zealand based company to shed light on how boards of directors really perform their corporate fiduciary duties. The board's use of the budget in the areas of strategy, control and evaluation were examined. The board's use of the budget to signal to the rest of the company that goals and objectives had changed demonstrates the application of the budget in strategy implementation. The audit committee's active involvement in allocating and approving the resources in the proposed budget provides an example of how the board can achieve control in public corporations. The application of the budget by the board in evaluating results is evidenced by the compensation committee's utilisation of the yarious segments' sales and expenditure variance reports m determining bonuses to be received by the managers of these segments. This particular board had rethought the extent of its responsibility to its shareholders. Whereas in the past the board did not delve into matters such as efficient use of resources, the reliability of financial information and appropriate pay for performance, the new board now deals with such issues as part of its performance of oversight. Unlike the old board which was composed of seven executives and only two non-executive directors, the new board comprises eighty three percent non-executive directors. The mainly non-executive board has brought its skills and experience to bear upon its entire approach to oversight. This case illustrates the way in which a board of directors can use the budget in its role of corporate oversight and governance. This relationship between budgeting and corporate governance has not been explored before. The findings of this research may also be of practical interest, by providing examples of improvement in how boards perform company oversight.