CSR communication and legitimacy : an institutional and rhetorical perspective

This study drew on the notions of institutional theory, legitimacy, and rhetoric, and explored propositions drawn from these concepts to consider the why and how of corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication. In doing so, this thesis found that there was often a disconnect between why the organisations were communicating about CSR activities in their reports and how the organisations were communicating about these activities.

Antecedents of consumer brand loyalty in the Australian wine industry

The wine industry has become fiercely competitive worldwide and as a result, consumers are increasingly exposed to a wider range of wines in retail outlets. This expanding consumer choice means that there is a need for Australian wineries to develop and build consumer loyalty toward their brands. This paper aims to empirically examine the factors influencing consumer loyalty to wine brands. Using data from Australian wine consumers, the authors empirically test a model of antecedents of wine brand loyalty. The model considers wine brand trust, wine brand satisfaction, wine knowledge, and wine experience. Hypotheses were tested with structural equation modeling. The findings of this study show that wine knowledge and wine experience affect wine brand loyalty indirectly through wine brand trust and wine brand satisfaction. In addition, it is demonstrated that consumer satisfaction with a wine brand is the strongest driver of wine brand loyalty. The result of this study has value for Australian wineries, wine retailers, and wine marketers.

Enhancing learning in large undergraduate classes using custom made audio-visual cases

This is an exploratory study into the effective use of embedding custom made audiovisual case studies (AVCS) in enhancing the student’s learning experience. This paper describes a project that used AVCS for a large divergent cohort of undergraduate students, enrolled in an International Business course. The study makes a number of key contributions to advancing learning and teaching within the discipline. AVCS provide first hand reporting of the case material, where the students have the ability to improve their understanding from both verbal and nonverbal cues. The paper demonstrates how AVCS can be embedded in a student-centred teaching approach to capture the students’ interest and to enhance a deep approach to learning by providing real-world authentic experience.

Global business today, 3rd Asia Pacific Edition

The third edition of Global Business Today continues to effectively combine a world-wide orientation with an emphasis on the strategic issues that impact global business in our region. The authors provide background on the political, economic, social or cultural aspects of countries grappling with an international business issue, raising students' awareness of how national and geographic differences affect the conduct of international business. Chapter 7, for example, contains a new Country Focus box titled, "India's stuttering economic transformation". Developing economies are covered in the new Emerging Markets feature emphasizing the global coverage of the text and the increasing complexities and opportunities in international business. Chapter 13 contains Another Perspective box titled, "The China-plus-one Strategy."

Optimising employee engagement with internal communication : a social exchange perspective

Drawing on principles of social exchange this thesis employs mediated regression to investigate the relationship between internal communication and employee engagement in the Australian workforce. Findings suggest organisations and supervisors should focus internal communication efforts toward building greater perceptions of support and stronger identification among employees in order to foster optimal engagement. This research contributes to public relations and management scholarship through understanding how perceived support and identification act as mediating mechanisms in the relationship between internal communication and employee engagement at the organisational and supervisory level.

Strategic IMC : from abstract concept to marketing management tool

Although integrated marketing communication (IMC) has progressed towards midrange maturity level, its full-scale adoption has been impeded by a lack of consensus on its defining constructs. The purpose of this study is to move from abstraction to define the construct of strategic integration (SI) and develop this into a management tool, thus making an important contribution to both the theory and practice of IMC. Drawing from both IMC and strategic management literature, the construct of SI is operationalised into a number of key factors and a well-cited management model, Fuchs’ ‘integration valuator’ is explored as the starting point of a measurement tool for IMC. To do this, a Delphi study invites the scrutiny of an expert panel of world-leading IMC researchers and practitioners. The panel validated the model construction process,redefined overarching constructs and key factors with a high degree of consensus, supported a process measure, suggested a weighted evaluation measure and recognised the importance of developing such a measure. They delivered clear and consistent imperatives guiding model development. The result is a measure of SI that evaluates organisational proficiency and diagnoses the integration of IMC campaigns. It also advances theory by providing a better understanding of the construct of SI.

The role of desire in understanding intentions to drink responsibly : an application of the model of goal-directed behaviour

This study models young people's moderate drinking decision-making using the Model of Goal-Directed Behaviour (MGB), thus presenting insights into young people's desires and intentions to drink responsibly. Testing the applicability of the MGB to quantitatively analyse responsible drinking, the explanatory sphere of the MGB is extended. An online survey resulted in 1522 completed questionnaires from respondents aged between 18 and 25 years. Collected data were analysed with structural equation modelling (SEM) using SPSS AMOS21 (IBM, New York, NY, USA) software. The key finding of this study is that an individual's desire to drink moderately is the most important predictor of young people's responsible drinking intentions. Our use of MGB provides further evidence that there is a strong distinction between consumer desires and intentions.

Factors that influence young people's mental health help‐seeking behaviour : a study based on the Health Belief Model

Aim To identify key predictors and moderators of mental health ‘help-seeking behavior’ in adolescents. Background Mental illness is highly prevalent in adolescents and young adults; however, individuals in this demographic group are among the least likely to seek help for such illnesses. Very little quantitative research has examined predictors of help-seeking behaviour in this demographic group. Design A cross-sectional design was used. Methods A group of 180 volunteers between the ages of 17–25 completed a survey designed to measure hypothesized predictors and moderators of help-seeking behaviour. Predictors included a range of health beliefs, personality traits and attitudes. Data were collected in August 2010 and were analysed using two standard and three hierarchical multiple regression analyses. Findings The standard multiple regression analyses revealed that extraversion, perceived benefits of seeking help, perceived barriers to seeking help and social support were direct predictors of help-seeking behaviour. Tests of moderated relationships (using hierarchical multiple regression analyses) indicated that perceived benefits were more important than barriers in predicting help-seeking behaviour. In addition, perceived susceptibility did not predict help-seeking behaviour unless individuals were health conscious to begin with or they believed that they would benefit from help. Conclusion A range of personality traits, attitudes and health beliefs can predict help-seeking behaviour for mental health problems in adolescents. The variable ‘Perceived Benefits’ is of particular importance as it is: (1) a strong and robust predictor of help-seeking behaviour, and; (2) a factor that can theoretically be modified based on health promotion programmes.

Engagement as dialogue : presenting a pragmatic perspective

‘Engagement’ is one of the buzzwords of 21st century public relations theory and practice. Yet the concept of engagement remains frustratingly nebulous and intangible, lacking clear definition and consistent use. This paper suggests that the concept of dialogue can provide public relations practitioners and academics with a framework for defining engagement that allows deep insights into the range of ideas and contexts it covers. Specifically, this paper argues for the use of a pragmatic practitioner perspective on dialogue as a lens through which to study engagement. Current literature clearly articulates the normative and prescriptive perspectives on dialogue in public relations, but leaves the story of the reality of the practitioner experience of dialogue largely untold. New research tells this ‘missing’ story of the practitioner perspective on dialogue, which in turn offers some insights into the forms and functions of engagement in practice. Dialogue is seen as encompassing three different types of public relations practice: informing stakeholders of organisational decisions and receiving their feedback; consulting with stakeholders on the strategies and tactics used by organisations to achieve their chosen goals; and including stakeholder input in the making of decisions on what organisational goals should be. Adopting this pragmatic practitioner perspective on dialogue to view engagement provides scaffolding that is strong enough to encourage development of a consistent definition of its meaning; while still allowing the freedom and scope necessary to develop deep and rich understanding of the phenomenon.

Investigating online recognition for blood donor retention : an experiential donor value approach

Recognising that charitable behaviour can be motivated by public recognition and emotional satisfaction, not-for-profit organisations have developed strategies that leverage self-interest over altruism by facilitating individuals to donate conspicuously. Initially developed as novel marketing programs to increase donation income, such conspicuous tokens of recognition are being recognised as important value propositions to nurture donor relationships. Despite this, there is little empirical evidence that identifies when donations can be increased through conspicuous recognition. Furthermore, social media’s growing popularity for self-expression, as well as the increasing use of technology in donor relationship management strategies, makes an examination of virtual conspicuous tokens of recognition in relation to what value donors seek particularly insightful. Therefore, this research examined the impact of experiential donor value and virtual conspicuous tokens of recognition on blood donor intentions. Using online survey data from 186 Australian blood donors, results show that in fact emotional value is a stronger predictor of intentions to donate blood than altruistic value, while social value is the strongest predictor of intentions if provided with recognition. Clear linkages between dimensions of donor value (altruistic, emotional and social) and conspicuous donation behaviour (CDB) were identified. The findings provide valuable insights into the use of conspicuous donation tokens of recognition on social media, and contribute to our understanding into the under-researched areas of donor value and CDB.

Developing a multidimensional scale of customer-oriented deviance (COD)

Although frontline employees' bending of organizational rules and norms for customers is an important phenomenon, marketing scholars to date only broadly describe over-servicing behaviors and provide little distinction among deviant behavioral concepts. Drawing on research on pro-social and pro-customer behaviors and on studies of positive deviance, this paper develops and validates a multi-faceted, multi-dimensional construct term customer-oriented deviance. Results from two samples totaling 616 frontline employees (FLEs) in the retail and hospitality industries demonstrate that customer-oriented deviance is a four-dimensional construct with sound psychometric properties. Evidence from a test of a theoretical model of key antecedents establishes nomological validity with empathy/perspective-taking, risk-taking propensity, role conflict, and job autonomy as key predictors. Results show that the dimensions of customer-oriented deviance are distinct and have significant implications for theory and practice.

Unlocking the "reminder" potential when viewers pause programs : results from a laboratory test of a new online medium

The branded pause advertisement is a recently developed online television-advertising format that displays a full-screen still-image banner ad whenever a viewer pauses a streaming-video program. This study used a controlled lab experiment to compare the effectiveness of branded pause advertisements with normal online television advertisements. The results demonstrate that branded pause advertisements are effective but only when combined with a long-exposure advertisement for the same brand. Despite their short exposure time, pause advertisements function as effective reminders, building awareness through repeat exposure. The findings of the current study were similar regardless of whether pause advertisements were activated as a result of viewers’ pausing at a time of their own choosing or whether viewers were interrupted.

Are we there yet?

The political and bureaucratic discourse surrounding non-profit sector reform is centred on streamlining the regulatory framework. Phrases such as 'one-stop shop','reducing red tape' and 'duplicative, burdensome and unclear requirements' fill press releases, government reports and discussion papers. In this chapter, I examine quantitative measures of the current regulatory compliance burden facing non-profit organisations in Australia as a benchmark for measuring progress over the coming years. I focus on regulatory compliance estimates for four key stages of non-profit enterprise activity non-profit enterprise start-up and registrations; fundraising;grant paperwork; and regulation proportionate to the size of the non-profit enterprise.

Same but different? Mobile technology adoption in China

Purpose This paper seeks to answer two research questions which are “What are key factors which influence Chinese to adopt mobile technology?” and “Do these key factors differ from factors which are identified from Western context?” Design/methodology The findings from a pilot study with 45 in-depth interviews are used to develop questionnaires and test across 800 residents from the three research cities. The data were analyzed by Structural Equation Modelling together with Multi-group Analysis. Findings Our data suggest eight important concepts, i.e. utilitarian expectation, hedonic expectation, status gains, status loss avoidance, normative influence, external influence, cost, and quality concern, are influential factors affecting users’ intentions to adopt 3G mobile technology. Differences are found between the samples in the three research cities in the effect of hedonic expectation, status gains, status loss avoidance, and normative influence on mobile technology adoption intention. Research limitations/implications: As the stability of intentions may change over time, only measuring intentions might be inadequate in predicting actual adoption behaviors. However, the focus on potential users is thought to be appropriate, given that the development of 3G is still in its infancy in China. Originality/value Previous research into Information Technology (IT) adoption among Chinese users has not paid attention to regional diversity. Some research considered China as a large single market and some was conducted in only one province or one city. Culturally, China is a heterogeneous country.

Optimizing employee engagement with internal communication : a social exchange perspective

Employee engagement is linked to higher productivity, lower attrition, and improved organizational reputations resulting in increased focus and resourcing by managers to foster an engaged workforce. While drivers of employee engagement have been identified as perceived support, job characteristics, and value congruence, internal communication is theoretically suggested to be a key influence in both the process and maintenance of employee engagement efforts. However, understanding the mechanisms by which internal communication influences employee engagement has emerged as a key question in the literature. The purpose of this research is to investigate whether social factors, namely perceived support and identification, play a mediating role in the relationship between internal communication and engagement. To test the theoretical model, data are collected from 200 non-executive employees using an online self-administered survey. The study applies linear and mediated regression to the model and finds that organizations and supervisors should focus internal communication efforts toward building greater perceptions of support and stronger identification among employees in order to foster optimal levels of engagement.