Business: Theses and Dissertations

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Open Access
Integrating tax education into the tertiary education curriculum: a case study of Indonesia
(2024) Wicaksono, Panggah Tri
In the past few years, tax education has become one of the strategic business lines of many tax authorities globally, especially in developing countries with low levels of tax compliance. Various tax education programmes have been developed to engage not only existing taxpayers but also future taxpayers. Tax authorities provide tax education for future taxpayers (students) as a long-term investment in shifting attitudes and behaviour towards taxation. One of the programmes is to incorporate taxation into the education curriculum, ranging from primary school through to tertiary education, making the programme to be more systematic. Despite the importance of tax education, limited research has focused specifically on the implementation of tax education programmes, especially in teaching taxation to students as future taxpayers. This qualitative study draws on a case study of a tax education programme in Indonesia, where taxation has been taught to students at the tertiary education level as a part of citizenship education in the curriculum. This study aims to investigate the implementation of the programme and explore the factors that could influence the implementation. By using Neo-institutional Theory in Organisation Studies, this study, first, explores how Indonesia’s tax authority operationalises tax education in the form of the integration of tax education into the tertiary education curriculum. Subsequently, this study examines how institutional structures (that is, regulative, normative, and cultural-cognitive structures) shape the implementation of teaching taxation to students in Indonesian tertiary education institutions. This study employs analysis of documents (that is, educational acts and regulations, curriculum documents, and course syllabuses), and semi-structured interviews with policymakers (that is, Indonesia’s tax authority and education ministry) and academics from eight tertiary education institutions in Indonesia which have implemented the incorporation of tax awareness education into curriculum and teaching practices. This study contributes to the literature of tax education, by describing the detailed practice of tax education in a particular tax jurisdiction, and identifying key factors that influence the practice. This study also shows the potential role of non-governmental actors (particularly, tertiary education institutions) in the tax education programme. Moreover, the findings of this study indicate the complex interplay between regulative, normative, and cultural- cognitive structures that enable and/or constrain tertiary education institutions (and academics) in incorporating taxation into curriculum and teaching practices. Furthermore, this study also provides practical implications by providing recommendations to policymakers (especially tax authorities) and tertiary education institutions in Indonesia on the tax awareness education programme. However, this study could also be useful for other countries which are implementing tax education programmes or are considering creating such programmes.
Open Access
Effects of sustainability narratives and influencer popularity on consumers perceptions of fashion items featured on Instagram.
(2024) Schleuss, Emily Johanna
This research investigates the impact the perceived popularity of an Instagram influencer and the presence of a sustainability narrative have on consumers perceptions of a fashion item featured on Instagram. Previous research has not explored this combination of variables. This study looks at the effect of the variables independently, and in combination. Participants completed an online questionnaire after being exposed to one of four conditions, each representing a different mock Instagram post. These conditions varied influencer popularity (high, low) and the presence of a sustainability narrative (present, not present). Participants then answered questions regarding their perception of the dress featured in the Instagram post, alongside several covariates, including environmentalism, influencer influence, fashion consciousness, and social media usage. Demographic data was also collected. Results indicated that the presence of a sustainability narrative had significant effects on the perceptions of aesthetics, quality, cost, and intention to purchase the dress. Influencer popularity however only affected the perceived cost of the dress. No significant interaction effects were found, but when the independent variables were tested simultaneously, some differences in effects were found. This demonstrates that the presence of a sustainability narrative tended to have a more substantial impact on perceptions than the popularity of the influencer. Significant covariate relationships were also identified. Specifically, environmentalism affects all measures of perception, influencer influence affects perceptions of aesthetics and purchase intention, and fashion consciousness affects perceptions of aesthetics. Social media usage did not have any affects, but time spent on social media affected how much participants thought the item retailed for. These findings, their implications, and suggestions for future research are discussed.
Open Access
The global reach of US monetary policy: suggestive evidence from the global financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.
(2024) Greig, Jacob
The focus of this thesis is examining the global reach of US monetary policy in the recent past for a sample of 78 different countries and currency unions. I investigate for which countries spillovers of US policy are most pervasive and how this has changed from the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) to the more recent COVID-19 pandemic. In the first part of my analysis, I examine the prevalence of the zero lower bound (ZLB) problem across these countries in the periods before and after the two crises. I find that the problem was generally restricted to advanced economies or those with currencies tied to the US dollar during the GFC and was more widespread following the outbreak of COVID-19. I then explore to what extent central banks around the world matched the expansion of the US Federal Reserve (Fed)’s balance sheet in both nominal and real (CPI-adjusted) terms during both periods. I find that rapid expansion of the balance sheet on the same scale as the US was not common in either crisis period, with three central banks exceeding the Fed’s balance sheet expansion following the GFC and six during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, I find that during the COVID-19 pandemic, several central banks encountering the ZLB problem expanded their balance sheet by venturing into large-scale asset purchase (LSAP) programmes for the first time. In the second part of my analysis, I examine the relationship between US long-term interest rates and those in other countries. I find that the influence of US long-term interest rates is pervasive globally following the US monetary policy response to both the GFC and COVID-19. I also find that Euro Area long-term interest rates, and to a lesser extent those of Japan, had an influence on long-term yields in countries in their periphery.
Open Access
Raising cardiovascular disease knowledge and awareness through an information systems approach : an exploratory study in designing cardiovascular health applications for young adults.
(2024) Yu, Joanna
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death worldwide, representing a multifaceted challenge due to its complex nature and the interplay of various risk factors. While commonly prevalent in the elderly, there is a concerning trend of increasing incidence among younger age groups who may not prioritise their health adequately, attributed to the prevalence of unhealthy lifestyles. Increasing knowledge and awareness of CVD is essential to reducing CVD mortality and preventing CVD. Various interventions, including marketing campaigns and community events, aim to educate the general public and induce behavioural changes. Among these, information systems interventions, especially mobile phone applications, are the most applicable to young adults. However, there is limited research on utilising mobile applications to increase CVD knowledge and awareness among young adults. Therefore, this study aims to explore on how to design a fit-for-purpose cardiovascular-related health application for young adults to improve their knowledge and awareness, offering potential suggestions tailored to the needs of this population. Given that the research objectives involve multiple variables, such as knowledge and awareness levels, application usage experience, and design feature preferences, a qualitative research methodology has been adopted. This study employs two major processes: a systematic literature review and a survey questionnaire. The systematic literature review was conducted to guide the research. An online survey that includes a combination of multiple-choice and open-ended questions was applied to evaluate respondents’ existing knowledge and awareness levels, as well as their preferences regarding applications. A total of 118 responses were collected, comprising a gender distribution of 50.85% female and 50.00% within the 18 – 30 age range. Results from statistical analysis indicate a positive correlation between higher CVD knowledge levels and increased awareness of CVD risk factors among respondents. Over half of the participants reported the use of health-related applications, with more than 80% of those who had used a health application still utilising functions related to cardiovascular health. Detect Heart Rate or Blood Pressure, Calculate Cardiovascular Disease Risk, Support Wearable Devices, Track Lifestyle, and Suggestions to Change Unhealthy Habits were identified to be the top five preferred functionalities. Thematic analysis of open-ended questions identified five themes: Interface Aesthetics, Presentation Design, Information Management, Usability, and Operation. It was found that Interface Aesthetics was the most significant design feature influencing the usage of a cardiovascular related health application. This study provides an assessment of young adults’ cardiovascular health knowledge and awareness level, as well as their health application usage. It contributes to the literature on information systems interventions for CVD, facilitating the design of cardiovascular health applications tailored to this demographic’s needs. Future research should consider developing appropriate application prototypes and evaluating their effectiveness in raising CVD knowledge and awareness among young adults.
Open Access
Do robots decrease humans' wages?
(2024) Logchies, Thomas
Robots and how they influence labour market outcomes like wages are a current point of contention within the economic literature. Empirical studies show mixed results, and therefore, using 2,586 estimates from fifty-two studies, I undertake a meta-analysis to study the effects of robots on wages. Overall, while one can find individual studies that show a positive or negative impact of robots on wages, my analysis suggests that when we look at the literature as a whole, there is no clear evidence for a sizeable impact, as most estimates are not statistically significant, and those that are, fail to reach the minimum threshold for a small effect size. I do find evidence that differences in study characteristics lead to differences in estimated effect sizes: how wage is defined and to what extent the data are (dis)aggregated has an influence on the estimates. Finally, I find inconsistent results about whether publication bias exists in this literature.
Open Access
Essays on the effectiveness of carbon pricing policies.
(2024) Yu, Yanxia
This thesis aims at assessing the effectiveness of carbon pricing policies in reducing carbon emissions using replication analysis, regression analyses and metaanalyses. Three carbon pricing regimes are chosen as the focuses of the analyses, including the carbon taxes in Sweden and Norway and the pilot emission trading schemes (ETS) in China. The replication in Chapter 2 reproduces and confirms Andersson (2019a)’s findings that the Swedish carbon taxes significantly reduced per capita carbon emissions (by 6.3%) in the transport sector since its introduction in 1991. As I further extended Andersson’s approach to Norway’s transport sector, I found little effect (2.6%). In Chapter 3, I assessed the carbon mitigating effect of China’s pilot ETS program using advanced econometric techniques to control for the impact of confounding factors. The estimated effects vary from a statistically insignificant reduction of 12.5% in per capita CO2 emissions and to a significant 18.0% reduction. The results in Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 indicates the heterogeneity between estimated effect sizes across different countries, sectors and estimators. Thus, this thesis further conducts meta-analyses in Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 to synthesize the literature estimating the effect of China’s pilot ETS program. Chapter 4 uses a “multiverse” approach to generate effect sizes from 8192 regressions, basing on the same emission data set but varying the dependent variables, the time of treatment, the estimators and the control variables included in the model. Based on these estimates, a single-paper meta-analysis is conducted. The resulted estimate of the overall mean effect is 18.0% reduction in carbon emissions for the ETS pilots. In addition, a standard meta-analysis is conducted in Chapter 5, with 752 estimates from 80 studies drawn from the literature. To address inflation in estimated effects caused by publication bias, Chapter 5 employs procedures to adjust estimates for publication bias. The associated estimates of overall mean effect range between - 0.101 and -0.057 (using Fisher’s z scale). Several factors are identified as influential to the estimated effect sizes, including empirical methods such as “matching between the treated and control units before regression” and whether or not to control some covariates such as population. Overall, I found strong evidence that the carbon pricing policies reduced carbon emissions in countries and regions with such policies. But the effect of carbon pricing policies also seems to be country/region/sector specific. Thus, researchers and policymakers should be careful when drawing conclusions about the effectiveness of carbon pricing policies.
Open Access
Essays on the relationship between income inequality and mortality.
(2024) Wu, Weilun
This thesis systematically investigates the relationship between income inequality and mortality with a meta-science approach. Chapter 1 introduces the contested association between income inequality and mortality, respectively, through theoretical background and a critical review of the current literature. Chapter 2 replicates the study of Leigh and Jencks (2007). L&J find that the relationship between inequality and mortality is insignificant economically and statistically. In this chapter, I retrieve L&J’s missing data with the multiple imputation approach and re-analyze the authors’ specifications. I also extend L&J’s analysis with updated data to 2019. All my attempts indicate the replicability of L&J, providing robust evidence to support the insignificant inequality-mortality relationship. Chapter 3 reviews 1,000 published meta-studies from 10 different academic disciplines to understand the meta-analysis (MA) methodology and evaluate the established MA procedures. In this chapter, I highlight the challenges of multilevel meta-data and dependent standard errors associated with commonly used effect types in MA. For the following MAs, I advocate for using robust clustered standard error, a Three-Level meta-analytic model, and appropriate effect types to improve MA accuracy. I also advocate for standard MA procedures such as reporting I-squared values for effect heterogeneity, using meta-regression for identifying heterogeneity sources and addressing publication bias. Chapter 4 applies the above methodologies to an MA examining the income inequality-mortality relationship. This MA includes 84 studies and 1,008 Partial Correlation Coefficients (PCCs). Utilizing the Three-Level model with clustered robust standard error, my initial unadjusted results suggest a moderate, significant impact of inequality on mortality. However, after adjusting for publication bias, the impact appears small and statistically insignificant. Furthermore, Chapter 4 replaces PCCs with Fisher’s z, addressing the bias introduced by the dependency of PCC standard errors on effect sizes. This re-analysis confirms the previous findings with PCC, reinforcing the conclusion of an insignificant relationship between income inequality and mortality. Chapter 5 synthesizes the findings from each chapter and draws a conclusion. With consistent evidence, this thesis does not find that income inequality has a significant influence on mortality.
Open Access
What implicit expectations accompany casual employment in New Zealand?
(2024) Woods, Lance Knyvett
This study explores implicit expectations held by parties to the casual employment contract in a New Zealand context. Casual work arrangements have been on the rise in New Zealand over the last 30 years. Given the increased use of casual contracts over this relatively recent period, it begs the question as to what each party expects from the arrangement. Casual contracts do not explicitly address questions of work regularity, employment duration, or future prospects. It can therefore be inferred that any expectations of these nature are held implicitly. Extant literature on psychological contract theory lays a groundwork to understand these expectations, however there is sparse coverage of how expectations materialise for casual employment parties. To address this gap in the literature, a qualitative study was undertaken to interview employees and employers engaged in casual employment. Participants were drawn from a variety of industries where casual employment is common. Thematic analysis of interview data found two distinct categories of findings. The first category describes the content of implicit expectations as they pertain to unique qualities of casual employment. The expectation categories were composed of reasonable notification, work environment, future, and continuity expectations. The second category of findings explored factors which influence expectation content. From those findings, this thesis argues an implied bargaining model. The implied bargaining model builds on extant literature by identifying expectations unique to casual employment, suggesting a casual employee typology, and exploring trade-offs present in the formation of psychological contracts. Further, practical learning from this study can contribute to stronger employer/employee relationships and help provide a framework for better fit between both parties.
Open Access
The burden of dysphagia in New Zealand : Exploring prevalence, economic costs, and risk-sharing arrangements.
(2024) Duncan, Shnece
This thesis explores the economic consequences of dysphagia, a debilitating disorder characterised by impaired swallowing function, in New Zealand. By analysing various dimensions of this disorder, including its prevalence, economic burden, and the effectiveness of performance-based arrangements to increase uptake of new interventions, I provide a comprehensive understanding of dysphagia in New Zealand from an economic perspective. I draw on existing literature to estimate that 1.5% (1.1%–2.0%) of the total New Zealand population lived with the effects of dysphagia in 2020 and I project this to increase to 2.6% (2.0%–3.5%) by 2073. Using hospitalisation data from the Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB), I find that the presence of dysphagia in a hospital stay, relating to any primary condition, increases the total cost of hospitalisation on average by 56%. Through the REGIONS Care national research data, I estimate new onset stroke-related dysphagic patients in 2021 to present a total additional cost of $24,200 per patient, or $77.2 million overall, to New Zealand society. The increasing prevalence of dysphagia alongside the condition’s large cost will likely result in a major financial burden on the New Zealand healthcare system. Medical interventions designed to aid in the treatment or management of dysphagic patients could lead to significant future cost avoidance. I then explore the potential of Performance-Based Risk-Sharing Arrangements as a mechanism to mitigate the financial risks associated with dysphagia. Through an insurance framework, I show how these arrangements present a potential solution to increase the chance of new healthcare interventions being adopted and funded by healthcare payers and/or providers. My research lays a solid groundwork for policymakers, healthcare providers, and researchers to develop targeted interventions, optimise resource allocation, and enhance the well-being of individuals impacted by dysphagia.
Open Access
Sustainability reporting assurance practice in New Zealand : an accountability enabler or a managerial supplement?
(2023) Ahmed, Heba Gaber
Purpose: This thesis aims to understand the nature and role of sustainability assurance (SA) in the context of corporate accountability in the New Zealand (NZ) market. This understanding is developed based on an extensive investigation of the perspectives of sustainability managers (SMs), sustainability assurance providers (SAPs), and stakeholders. The study gives particular attention to understanding the perspectives of multiple stakeholder groups, which is missing in the literature. Stakeholders are overwhelmed with various corporate sustainability (CS) disclosures that are susceptible to greenwashing and there is an urgent need to ensure their integrity and reliability. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) recommends the use of SA to ensure the credibility of sustainability reports (SRs), but the practice is growing slowly in NZ and the assurance engagement parties are still determining the nature of best practice. The study contributes to the relevant literature in SA practice, highlighting its weaknesses and suggesting possible solutions to reach an ideal model. Approach: The study employed an interpretive qualitative approach, based on the philosophical assumptions of constructivism and interpretivism. A thorough understanding of SA practice was acquired through the application of the hermeneutic circle. Data was collected from 35 in-depth semi-structured interviews with three categories of participants: SMs from the NZX-listed companies and Sustainable Business Council (SBC) members, SAPs from accounting and non-accounting firms, and representatives from five different stakeholder groups: sustainability consultants, the External Reporting Board (XRB), the New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX), non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and financial capital providers. Findings: The practice of SA exists in the NZ market in the form of a weak model: an internal management practice. It is demanded by management and targeted at management, and focuses on the assessment of the quality of both internal control systems and SR presentations, without assessing sustainability performance per se. This weak model of SA achieves accountability to management, but fails to fulfil the promise of stakeholder accountability. Three fundamental factors are currently causing the practice of SA in NZ to diminish in importance. There is a high demand from internal stakeholders, coupled with a strong desire from accounting firms to gain SA market dominance against limited demand from external stakeholders. The study provides evidence that managerial and professional capture occur at different stages of the assurance engagement. Originality: To my knowledge, this is the first NZ study to make an extensive investigation into the perspectives of stakeholders. This is also the first NZ study to consider SMs, SAPs, and stakeholders simultaneously in the practice of SA. Considering the three parties of the SA equation together enriched the findings. These findings elicited a list of country-specific factors that are unique to the NZ market, which help in the interpretation of the weak model of SA. Practical implications: The findings of this study will prove beneficial to SMs, SAPs, and stakeholders. The proposed ideal model of SA practice offers detailed guidance for the three parties on specific mechanisms to achieve stakeholder accountability, instead of management accountability. It may assist them in developing new approaches before, during, and after the assurance engagement in order to avoid falling back into the weak model of SA. The depiction of the two contrasting models of SA practice together provides powerful insights for practitioners and researchers. Theoretical implications: The study helps to clearly visualise the weak model of SA practice, identify its causes, and suggest future practical steps that should be taken to turn the practice into its ideal shape. Furthermore, new insight is added through the application of Michael Power’s work in the interpretation of the findings.
Open Access
Conscious and unconscious sustainability : insights into Christchurch’s Café industry.
(2023) Wills, Krysta
Sustainability in business has evolved from simply concerning one's economic bottom line to now also encompassing environmental and social aspects commonly known as the triple bottom line. Sustainable practices can be a way by which businesses can actively improve their overall sustainability in either an economic, environmental, or social context. With the effects of increasing economic pressures, climate change, and poor social responsibility records becoming more apparent, there is a need to examine how small businesses are contributing towards creating a more sustainable world. Therefore, it is important to consider the impact this industry has on the triple bottom line and how it can be further improved. The scope of this study focuses on cafes within Christchurch’s hospitality industry as hospitality holds an important place in New Zealand’s business environment, contributing significantly to the national economy and employment rates. Furthermore most cafes are classified as small businesses and are owner/operated, and there is a research gap within the context of sustainable operations. This thesis explores the experiences of small business owner/operators and managers in order to understand how and why they employ sustainable business practices in their café operations. A multiple case study methodology (Yin, 2003) was conducted, consisting of ten in-depth semi-structured interviews with owner/operators and managers in Christchurch’s cafe industry. The result of these interviews were ten quality narratives which produced key findings regarding the influence of the triple bottom line in their daily operations. Four key operating objectives of participants: customer satisfaction, relationships, quality, and sustainability were applied to Carter and Rogers (2008) sustainability framework. An overarching theme of conscious and unconscious sustainability was discovered and is a key contribution of this study.
Open Access
Investigating the Effects of Sustainable Knowledge on Store Choice within the Fashion Sector
(2024) Elston, Jenna Simoné
This thesis aims to investigate the effects of sustainable knowledge on store choice within the fashion sector. More specifically, this research intends to address the following two research objectives: 1) to determine how consumers' attitudes and perceptions towards sustainability inform their store choice and what motivates them to visit certain fashion stores as opposed to others, and 2) to understand the process consumers go through when choosing a store based on their knowledge of sustainability in the fashion industry. A qualitative research approach was used, with data being collected using a two-phase approach. Firstly, protocol analysis was used, and following this, in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with twelve female participants aged between 18 and 25 years old. This was followed by a thematic analysis of the data collected to code and group the data into reoccurring themes. The study addresses a notable gap in the literature regarding how sustainable knowledge affects consumers (if at all) and the relationship that consumers have with the fashion industry. The findings presented in this research can be used to inform public policy to drive consumers sustainable knowledge, focusing on what the fashion industry does, especially considering if it is unsustainable. Seven overarching primary themes emerged from the data analysis: attitudes towards sustainability, shopping motivation, familiarity, level of knowledge about the fashion industry, environmental concern, strength characteristics and peer influence. Additionally, it was found that consumers hold substantial knowledge regarding sustainability within the fashion industry. However, sustainability is a relatively unimportant factor when shopping for fashion items. It was found that sustainability consideration is overridden by price, which was considered the most crucial aspect, and quality is closely behind. This research further shows that sustainability beliefs are prevalent among consumers but are not a key aspect that drives behaviour. This thesis contributes to an Attitude-Behaviour gap regarding the fashion sector and sustainability.
Open Access
Airbnb consumers’ notions of responsibility and cooperation : an integrative framework of NAM and SDT.
(2022) Zarakhsh, Shayan
Airbnb’s negative economic, social, and environmental impacts are well acknowledged in the literature. Despite the proliferation of research attempting to understand tourists’ socio-environmentally responsible behaviours with a view to improve tourism sustainability, such endeavour is hardly evident in Airbnb research. Drawing on the triple bottom line (TBL) framework of sustainability, and an integrative theoretical framework of norm activation model (NAM) and social dilemma theory (SDT), this study seeks to understand how Airbnb consumers’ (guests) awareness of the negative economic, social-cultural, and environmental impacts of Airbnb influences their responsibility and intention to cooperate in mitigating these impacts. To this end, adopting an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design, the study proposes a comprehensive conceptual model that is evaluated first using a qualitative phase, which allows for model refinement followed by a quantitative phase which tests the revised model through a national survey of Airbnb users in New Zealand. Qualitative data is collected from semi-structured interviews with 17 Airbnb consumers and thematically analysed. Quantitative data is collected from a sample of 500 Airbnb consumers and analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The findings suggest two potential ways in which Airbnb consumers would cooperate to mitigate the negative impacts of Airbnb: participating in activities against the use of Airbnb (i.e., use avoidance cooperation), or using Airbnb responsibly (i.e., responsible use cooperation). As for use avoidance cooperation, the results show that Airbnb consumers’ awareness of the negative impacts, ascription of responsibility, perceived efficacy in making useful contributions to solve the impacts, and expectation of other consumers’ cooperation positively and significantly affect their personal norms (a sense of responsibility/moral obligation) to cooperate, with the latter playing a significant role in predicting cooperation intention. In addition to personal norms, ascription of responsibility and product (Airbnb) preference are also directly related to cooperation intention with Airbnb preference representing the cost of, thus, a barrier to cooperation. With regard to responsible use cooperation, on the other hand, ascription of responsibility is the only factor that positively and significantly affects personal norms and personal norms is the only factor that positively and significantly influences cooperation intention. This study contributes to Airbnb literature by providing insights into how Airbnb consumers would cooperate in mitigating the negative economic and socio-environmental impacts of Airbnb, a nascent area of research. The study also contributes to this literature theoretically and methodologically through the application of an integrative framework of NAM and SDT, and a mixed-methods approach, highlighting various pathways to cooperation. Practical implications for marketing, customer experience management, Airbnb accommodation providers, Airbnb platform/company, and policy makers are also provided.
Open Access
War and subjective wellbeing : an analysis of WWII and the Ukraine-Russia War.
(2024) Landers, Jemesa
War dismantles the lives of civilians across the world. The psychological effects can be expansive and the influence that these events have on life satisfaction carry across time (Kijewski, 2020) and direct impact (Veronese and Pepe, 2020). The existing literature analyses the influence of war on life satisfaction, utilizing both country-level and individual-level survey data (see Coupe and Obrizan, 2023 for a summary of this literature). In this thesis, I will contribute to this literature through a replication of the works of Kijewski (2020) and Djankov et al. (2016), who investigate the influence of WWII experience on happiness. Despite these studies using a similar methodology and a shared dataset, they come to opposing conclusions. Replication of these studies allows a comparison of their findings to explore the factors influencing the different conclusions. This thesis builds on this by using a more recent survey conducted in 2022 by the European Commission to analyze the impact of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine on life satisfaction in Europe. This model adds a temporal and geographical dimension, revealing the indirect effects that the more current war has inflicted on the happiness of individuals residing outside the conflict zone. The results of these studies underscore the sensitivity of conclusions to specific methodological choices, primarily variable specification, and inclusion criteria. In general, this study challenges the notion that experience with war, whether it be 60 years ago or ongoing, has a true and significant impact on the wellbeing of European citizens.
Open Access
Food security and social entrepreneurship : an investigation into the Bangladesh agripreneurial ecosystem.
(2023) Ahmed, Sayed
Food security has remained a global concern since the world food crisis of the 1970s, focusing on ensuring sufficient food for marginalized populations. Including those experiencing poverty, vulnerability, women, and children. As a mission-driven business phenomenon, social entrepreneurship plays a pivotal role in society by integrating economic activities through small, and medium enterprises. Entrepreneurs leverage networks to address social problems, including the interplay between food security, economic growth, and the development of social entrepreneurship within an entrepreneurial ecosystem. This study examines the potential of social entrepreneurship in promoting sustainable regional food production to achieve food security, with a specific emphasis on appropriate models for the small agribusiness sector in Bangladesh, a developing country. The data collection for this study involved Zoom and telephone interviews, archival research, and a field visit to research sites in Bangladesh. Interviews were conducted with milk and beef farmers, government officials, NGOs, and private organizations, revealing shared goals and unique financial services through public-private collaborations. However, the findings underscored the challenges most milk and beef farmers face in enhancing food security, which affects socioeconomic conditions and well-being of the farmers. In addition, farmers require improved access to finance and increased cohesion among financial service providers. The study identifies issues relating to the accessibility of finance and timely provision of opportunities for promoting food security. Furthermore, it emphasizes the significance of sustainable production practices in achieving food security and enhancing household welfare through social entrepreneurship. Addressing these challenges necessitates policy changes that target the underlying causes of difficulties in loan disbursement in rural areas. This entails improving policies, legislation and taking necessary actions to mitigate the impact of climate conditions and corruption. Public-private partnerships and joint ventures emerge as potential solutions to reduce the high costs of loan disbursement and enhance food security, income, and economic well-being in rural areas.
Open Access
An investigation into digitalisation of the general practice health services during a pandemic : a New Zealand study.
(2023) Mashal, Nargis
The Covid-19 pandemic affected nearly every aspect of the world we live in, from economic and environmental fluctuations to changes in income, education, employment, sustainability, healthcare, and more. The tremendous speed of technological progress in the digital and remote workforce has accelerated the diffusion of digital innovation across all sectors, particularly in primary care within the healthcare sector. Compared to other industries, the slow adoption of technological innovation in healthcare has been a well-researched topic. Although several studies have been published on innovation in healthcare, few have focused on the process of digital innovation adoption by General Practice (GP) Medical centres during a pandemic. While the adoption of digitalised innovation is necessary for healthcare to meet the ever-rising demand for healthcare provision, the digitalisation capabilities of GP medical centres, which are the first point of contact in providing healthcare services within the communities, have surprisingly been neglected from further research. There is evidence that before the Covid-19 pandemic, few GP medical service providers were open to adopting digitalised solutions and innovation, resulting in missed opportunities for overt improvements in efficiency. Pandemics are becoming increasingly frequent due to the increasing human population, globalisation, and climate change. Using digitalised solutions and digitalised innovation to respond to challenges posed by pandemics has been touted as a necessary capability that GP medical service providers must adopt to achieve optimal healthcare service outcomes for their patients. This thesis aims to use the Covid-19 phenomenon to increase the understanding of the digital innovation adoption process and outcome of digitalisation amongst GP medical service providers. To this end, this thesis presents the results of the investigation into how GP medical service providers can respond better to pandemics by adopting digitalised solutions and becoming fluent across different types of digitalisation innovation within the New Zealand healthcare sector. A qualitative research approach was adopted using multiple case study design to achieve this aim. Cases were comprised of GP medical service providers in New Zealand. Data collected from in-depth interviews were analysed by thematic coding, using qualitative analysis software complemented by visual and hand coding. The findings show that GP medical centres have adopted digital solutions by following a forced adoption process to meet the demands of their patients in providing more healthcare services during a pandemic. Additionally, this thesis contributes to the understanding of digitalisation process enablers and barriers using the product innovation life cycle theory. This understanding is then used to provide relevant guidance regarding the Information Technology (IT) needs that need to be addressed to match the growth in health service demand. Furthermore, dynamic system methodology was used to effectively understand the links between enablers and be in a newly developed innovation life cycle framework for the digitalisation of GP Medical Centres during a pandemic. The further development of the general innovation life cycle framework by integrating enabler and barrier drivers influencing each phase of the digitalisation process is important to healthcare educators, and students as digitalisation transcends technological boundaries. Further research can be considered around the extension of the drivers for digitalisation post-pandemic and assessment of the impact of the digitalisation achieved during and post-pandemic.
Open Access
Exploring the impact of leadership framing approaches on the sensemaking of frontline employees at times of change.
(2023) Abdalla, Amr
While organisational change literature is extensive and continues to expand, it still prioritises top management/change leaders’ perspectives, and in doing so, sustains a predominantly managerial logic. Furthermore, a review of the literature on making sense of strategic change confirms that very little attention has been given to the intersection between the sensemaking of change leaders and non-managerial organisational citizens who are tasked with realising the leadership’s strategic mandates for change. This doctoral study addresses this shortcoming in sensemaking literature by examining how frontline workers engage with and make sense of senior managers’ sensegiving during a restructuring of non-academic functions in a university. The design included two phases. Firstly, it examined the university change leaders’ sense- giving frames and how these influenced frontline employees’ sensemaking and sensegiving frames, and secondly, it looked at why leaders and frontline workers’ frames were so divergent. At the core of this study, the following questions were posited: RQ1: How do frontline staff frame their responses to change agents’ framing of change? RQ2: How are the change agents’ frames related to the staff’s framing responses? The researcher employed an interpretative research approach, as its subjective ontology was ideally suited to a study of sensemaking. All formal emails and documents disseminated to all employees by the change leaders were collected and key staff forums were attended to gather the change leaders’ formal sensegiving accounts. Members of the executive team, which included the key change leaders, were interviewed while 43 semi-structured and unstructured interviews were conducted with 34 frontline participants over 18 months of the official 24-month life span of the change project. The first stage of the analysis found that frontline workers’ framing responses were not directly related to the management’s formally communicated frames. Rather, the frames workers (i.e., change recipients) employed various degrees of communicative bypassing, by virtue of the way they chose to focus on understandings and informational resources associated with historical changes and the current change context. The phase two analysis, which sought to explain from the workers’ perspectives why such bypassing was occurring, found that workers perceived the change initiative as part of an ongoing process of organisational change, rather than an isolated one-time change event occurring in the present. This meant that the organisation’s history of change as experienced by the individual or reported by his or her colleagues was shaping present-time sensemaking. Furthermore, workers’ trust in the management’s credibility and their perceptions of procedural justice, as well as individuals’ appraisals of the utility of proposed changes, were identified as the core factors impacting participants’ framing of change. This research study’s contributions are fourfold. Firstly, the study contributes a rich empirical case that addresses sensemaking at the interface between change leaders and change recipients. Secondly, it extends the conceptualisation of how frontline staff make sense of strategic change by incorporating change history. Thirdly, it reveals how, in an organisation with a history of frequent strategic changes, frontline workers targeted by these changes make sense of current change by mobilising expectations established by their past experiences of change and readily available information on the competence change histories of their organisation’s new change leaders. Finally, this study demonstrates how the failure to address information regarding past changes further compounds the bypassing effect between change leaders’ sensegiving and frontline workers’ sensemaking. Together, the findings contribute an original case study of sensemaking at the intersection between change leaders and change recipients, which includes an original conceptualisation that incorporates the concepts of temporality, organisational memory and prospective sensemaking. The case and especially this model have theoretical and practical implications.
Open Access
Tax education in New Zealand secondary schools and its impact on taxpayer compliance.
(2023) Beaver, Amy
Existing research conducted outside of New Zealand shows that the influence of education on taxpayer compliance has mixed effects, where increased levels of tax education can enhance compliance or enhance non-compliance. Hence, the impact of tax education on taxpayers’ compliance behaviour is still unclear. This research investigates the impact of tax education on taxpayer compliance in New Zealand, to determine whether increasing taxpayer education levels in New Zealand secondary schools would help to enhance taxpayer compliance behaviour and attitudes towards the tax system. Furthermore, the role of tax education in New Zealand requires further empirical research to determine the impact of education on tax compliance, an analysis of tax education research in a New Zealand context undertaken by Sawyer and Tan (2020) revealed only one publication from 2004. This shows a lack of research undertaken on this topic in New Zealand and requires further analysis. Hence, this study has been conducted in New Zealand to contribute to further research in this area and bridge this gap in the literature. This study will employ a mixed-method research design, comprised of two identical surveys of first-year undergraduate students taking separate courses at the University of Canterbury (UC), and semi-structured interviews of high school teachers across New Zealand. The surveys utilised replicate and extends the study conducted by Morgan and Castelyn (2018), who researched tax education and its impact on taxpayer compliance in an Australian context in 2018. The questionnaire used in the surveys mainly replicated Morgan and Castelyn’s (2018) questionnaire, with adjustments made to better suit the New Zealand context, to analyse students’ opinions and attitudes towards taxes and New Zealand’s tax system. In addition, interviews of high school teachers across New Zealand were conducted utilising a semi-structured approach. This allowed the researcher to analyse the feelings and opinions of those who would be conferring this information to students, to determine if the current curriculum contains any tax education and if teachers believe it would be beneficial for it to be included. The survey results provide a baseline of students’ attitudes and education levels, while the findings of the semi-structured interviews allow the researcher to see this topic through the lens of high school teachers for a more holistic view.
Open Access
Information transfer for sustainability outcomes in Waikato dairy farming : farmer’s perspectives.
(2023) Harris, Joseph Michael Dunstall
Environmental degradation caused by dairy farming can be positively affected through conscious decision making by farmers. This thesis examines how Waikato dairy farmers use information transfer processes within their environmental decisions. Previous authors have defined such processes, documenting how people progress from awareness to action in varying circumstances. However, there is a gap in the case of specific research regarding environmental action and the nature of interactions between farmers and their key information sources in New Zealand. Eleven in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted to provide insight into farmer’s perspectives, with real-world examples and outcomes being identified. Interview transcripts were then unpacked using thematic analysis to identify themes/trends amongst participants. Through this process, the requirements necessary for information to be actionable are identified, with examples of sources and channels that meet these criteria provided. Comparisons between sources of information (industry bodies, media, peers, salespeople, government, iwi, and scientific papers) gives perspective on the level of importance that each hold for farmers. When viewed in conjunction with the channels valued by farmers, information about environmental innovations/practices can be disseminated effectively, encouraging pro-environmental change. This improves current and future outcomes, from safe effluent and fertiliser management to the adoption of innovative cropping techniques and emissions reduction strategies. Effective information transfer is in the interest of both the dairy industry, through addressing evolving customer needs, and government, through reaching national and regional environment goals.
Open Access
Making the Crown accountable for Te Tiriti in the public budgeting process.
(2023) Maxwell, Julia Ann
This thesis explores ways in which Māori can hold the Crown accountable for Te Tiriti in the public budgeting process in Aotearoa New Zealand. Employing a kaupapa Māori case study research approach, it examines various perspectives of accountability within the public budgeting process and investigates how accountability mechanisms can be used as tools to both disempower and empower Indigenous Peoples. This thesis is driven by growing claims for the need to have greater Indigenous perspectives included in governance, and that the Crown's exclusive right to resource allocation in New Zealand fundamentally breaches Te Tiriti, as it limits Māori ability to exercise rangatiratanga. Thus, it explores potential avenues for how Māori can hold the Crown accountable for Te Tiriti in the public budgeting process. The suggested accountability mechanisms aim to not only fulfill Te Tiriti obligations, but also promote a more equitable public budgeting process for all of society. Through conducting semi-structured interviews with Indigenous and Non-Indigenous experts within relevant fields, the study uncovers the structural constraints within the kāwanatanga sphere. This highlights the imperative of pursuing constitutional transformation to enhance capacity within the rangatiratanga sphere and to promote the advancement of the relational sphere between sovereigns. These findings contribute to the limited body of public accountability literature by broadening the discourse within a settler-colonial context. This expansion goes beyond the formal public sector, to encompass both the rangatiratanga and relational spheres of influence. This development is argued to deepen democracy and create a more inclusive form of public accountability. This study holds implications, not only for New Zealand, but also for other settler-colonial states grappling with similar issues concerning reconciling with Indigenous Peoples, in alignment with Treaty rights and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.