Australian Business Research Articles

Non-compete clauses in employment contracts: The case for regulatory response

Abstract In the employment context, non-competes are contractual terms which provide that once the employment ends the employee cannot work for another employer in the same industry or field (i.e. a competitor), within a specified geographic area, for a specified time. The existing law and practice regarding non-competes in Australia is plagued with confusion and uncertainty. Non-competes also have adverse economic consequences; they are associated with reduced employee mobility and consequent negative impacts on wages and productivity. The use of non-competes by Australian business has increased over the past 5 years and absent a policy response; this trend is likely to continue. Non-competes are no longer limited to highly paid executives but now apply to about one in five Australian workers, across income, age, occupational, and education groups. The distribution and prevalence of non-competes in Australia are broadly consistent with data in other developed economies. A number of jurisdictions within the Organisation for Economics Co-operation and Development have imposed restrictions on the use of non-competes. The US Federal Trade Commission is considering a ban on their use and, in the UK, the government has announced its intention to limit the term of non-competes to 3 months. In Australia, the Competition Minister has recently asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and Treasury for advice on the competitive aspect of non-competes. The Australian Government released an Issues Paper (https://treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2024-04/c2024-514668-issues-paper.pdf#page40) – ‘Non-competes and other restraints: understanding the impacts on jobs, business and productivity’ in April 2024. The Issues Paper outlines the existing research and evidence in Australia and overseas on the use and effects of non-competes. A public consultation process will conclude in May 2024 and Treasury will advise the Government on the outcomes of the consultations by the end of 2024. After reviewing the arguments for and against restricting the ‘reach’ of non-competes, I conclude that the weight of the evidence favours a regulatory response to ameliorate the unfairness inherent in the existing law and practice. A number of possible regulatory responses are considered.

Ask Me

In this poster, we share ongoing research into the use of realistic AI-generated avatars for education in a large Australian business school. These highly realistic avatars have been used as educational presenters to provoke critical discussions on ethical AI by immersing students in text-to-video technology (Vallis et al., 2024). From this initial study, an emergent typology for avatars in educational media has been developed, to help educators design for teaching and learning based on learning purposes and modes of delivery Britton & Vallis, 2023; Vallis & Britton, 2024). Such practical, theoretical guidance in designing, developing, and deploying AI in education is much needed (Dawson et al., 2023). Drawing upon learnings to date, we further explore synthetic media designs for effective and ethical use in education. The poster presents three use cases of synthetic media with QR codes to demonstrate their application and to facilitate discussion at the conference. An additional fourth QR code will be added to gather participant feedback on which use case they found most compelling and educational, as well as their reasons for their preferences. The first use case explores short video presentations, where synthetic media offers students a choice of accents, voices, and faces to present educational content (Dao et al., 2021). This approach aims to free teacher time for more learner guidance and communication, potentially enhancing learning outcomes. Video-based learning can enhance student engagement and understanding by providing flexible, interactive, and visually stimulating experiences (Sabli? et al., 2021). The second use case is ‘Ask me’, a trial of a realistic avatar that answers frequently asked questions. Multimodal AI, like GPT-4o, with integrated voice, video, and audio capabilities, can simulate real-world scenarios for educational scenarios with engaging and realistic experiences (Mollick & Mollick, 2023). Future use cases may include specific learning activities such as role-play and rehearsal. Multimodal feedback on student progress is presented in the third use case. A lifelike digital representation of a teacher has been designed to closely mimic a real human teacher’s appearance and expressions. Simple video feedback, generated based on student interactions with university systems and combined with a teacher’s text, is sent via email to enhance engagement. This trial is designed to augment feedback, rather than replace interaction between students and teachers (Bozkurt & Sharma, 2023). By presenting these use cases, we aim to provide practical insights and stimulate discussions on the ethical and effective use of synthetic media in education. Our preliminary findings indicate benefits to using AI-generated avatars, if the ethical implications and the quality of human-AI interactions are carefully considered in the learning design (Vallis et al., 2024).

Marking ‘on the fly’ in interactive oral assessments in Business

Interactive orals (IOs) are described as a pedagogically rigorous and authentic form of assessment. However, there is little research to-date on the assessor experience of facilitating a conversation and marking ‘on the fly’, nor the student experience of thinking ‘on the spot’. This paper investigates assessor and student experiences of IOs in the context of a large Australian business school where IOs were implemented in five courses from several sub-disciplines. Participant interviews confirmed what is already known about IOs and their place as an assured assessment of learning in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) age. This study contributes to new knowledge on the assessor experience and suggests that academics will need a distinct skillset to ensure reliable and valid ‘conversational’ assessments.

Gendered enterprise: Women and Australian business history

AbstractThis special issue examines women and Australian business history. Contributions explore women's entrepreneurship in small urban businesses, side hustles, agriculture, and family companies. Articles highlight the importance of women's businesses, as a financial necessity for women, their families, and their communities. Authors examine the barriers for women in business, including legislation, licensing, societal expectations, and discrimination. Articles also explore women's intersections with other demographic characteristics, with access to enterprise mediated by class and the rural–urban divide. Finally, contributions examine the way traditional archives have obscured histories of businesswomen, and the opportunities offered by feminist historical methodologies for studying business history.

Journey of financial inclusion: a systematic literature review and conceptual framework for future research

PurposeThis article provides a systematic literature review on financial inclusion, offering a comprehensive overview of research publications. It also develops a conceptual framework to outline future research objectives, enhancing understanding and identifying key areas for further investigation.Design/methodology/approachThe data extraction concentrates on facts and figures about financial inclusion from 2005 to 2024. Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA), the study reviews and synthesizes insights from 115 pertinent articles published in 77 high-ranked journals, indexed across three academic databases: Scopus, Web of Science (WoS) and the Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC).FindingsPrevious research on financial inclusion demonstrates that out of 115 articles, 50 were published between 2020 and 2024 and 43 between 2015 and 2019. This indicates the increasing trend of research on financial inclusion. Another interesting point is that researchers mostly use regression techniques to analyze the relationship between variables. Notably, reviewing the selected literature is valuable for researchers and practitioners interested in financial inclusion. It synthesizes the existing knowledge on the topic, identifies research gaps and suggests a conceptual framework to direct future studies.Originality/valueThis unique study contributes original value to the financial inclusion literature through a systematic literature review. By synthesizing existing knowledge and identifying research gaps, it presents a novel framework that offers new perspectives and highlights areas for future research, advancing the understanding of financial inclusion.

Closing the employment gap: Estimations of Indigenous employment in Indigenous- and non-Indigenous-owned businesses in Australia

Abstract Indigenous-owned businesses in Australia are strong employers of Indigenous people, maintaining rates of Indigenous employment that are not seen across the breadth of the Australian economy. Despite an increasing focus from governments and private organisations to improve rates of Indigenous employment, there is limited evidence to suggest that substantial improvements are being made. Despite acknowledgement from government of the crucial role played by Indigenous employers in creating Indigenous employment, there has been little focus on what may be learned from the Indigenous business sector in informing public and private Indigenous workplace and recruitment policies. Given the significantly strong levels of Indigenous employment in Indigenous-owned businesses, it is important to interrogate the extent to which this employment differs from that in non-Indigenous businesses and the potential explanations for such divergence. Using data from Supply Nation (2,291 Indigenous-owned businesses) and a survey of 680 non-Indigenous businesses, this paper finds that Indigenous businesses employ Indigenous people at a rate 12 times higher than non-Indigenous businesses. Regression analyses and Oaxaca–Blinder decompositions reveal that these divergent employment outcomes cannot be explained by the broad characteristics of the two sectors (such as industry, location, or profit status). These findings help confirm that the unique workplace practices of Indigenous businesses may explain their strong Indigenous employment and, therefore, provide the template for all Australian businesses to be better employers of Indigenous people.

Special Issue of the Asian Journal of Business Ethics on Global Survey of Business Ethics (GSBE) Reports 2022–2024 from Asia, Australia, and Russia: Australia

AbstractThis report examines a study focused on current interest areas and themes of business ethics in Australia as discussed in the Australian media (major national and State newspapers) across the years 2019–2022, using content analysis and stakeholder frame of focus. The identified themes are then compared with themes identified in the Global Survey of Business Ethics 2022–2024. These themes provide a framework to compare with themes identified as important for teaching and research through a survey of Australian university educators in business schools involved in ethics teaching and research in South Australia and Western Australia. Findings indicate that ethics and ethical concerns appear across a range of media publications in Australia which in turn is placing pressure on businesses to respond to this ethics talk in the media in explaining or justifying their actions. Although no particular pattern is identified from responses, some topics are gaining more prominence such as climate change and artificial intelligence, both in the media and in university courses and research. Topics of discussion were ranked from very important to important. It is concluded that ethical issues are important for Australian business and business is responding. Key ethical issues include climate change and sustainability, governance, government and transparency, and organizational culture with ethical issues of interest to Australia featuring including sport, corporate misconduct, and Indigenous issues.

A TCCM-Based Review of Consumer Behaviour Towards Digital Voice Assistants and Future Research Agenda

This Systematic Literature Review explores the evolving landscape of consumer behaviour towards DVAs using the TCCM (Theory-Context-Characteristics-Methodology) framework. Through a comprehensive analysis of 64 research papers sourced from the Scopus database, indexed in the ABDC (Australian Business Deans Council) category list, and published until December 2023, we uncover pivotal themes and significant knowledge gaps in the current body of research. The findings show that most studies on consumer-DVA interactions are empirical in nature, predominantly focused on the shopping and hospitality sectors, and grounded in the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) frameworks. Applying the TCCM framework, this paper uncovers fertile ground for future research, highlighting opportunities for further exploration and development. Building on the identified research gaps and our insights, we present integrated frameworks on consumer behaviour towards DVAs. Additionally, we provide actionable recommendations for DVA researchers, developers, and marketers, highlighting critical areas for future research, such as integrating sentiment analysis and emotional recognition capabilities. We also propose tailored strategies, including customizable DVA personalities and engaging voice experiences, to enhance consumer engagement and brand loyalty. The paper concludes with a summary of limitations and key findings.

Indigenous workplace policies: the crucial role of Indigenous management

Indigenous employment is a critical policy area in Australia, with businesses adopting targeted workplace and recruitment practices to increase their levels of Indigenous employment. However, non-Indigenous-owned Australian businesses are still struggling to meet their Indigenous employment targets, and the national gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous employment rates remains wide. Despite the increased popularity of Indigenous-specific workplace and recruitment policies, there is a lack of research that aims to determine their associations with Indigenous employment. This paper addresses this gap by surveying 680 non-Indigenous-owned Australian businesses, detailing the uptake of various Indigenous-focused workplace and recruitment practices and their associations with Indigenous employment. The study finds that there is limited uptake of policies and practices such as Reconciliation Action Plans, cultural competency training, and Indigenous employment strategies, and some scepticism from respondents about their efficacy. OLS and negative binomial estimations could not demonstrate consistent associations between the implementation of these policies and Indigenous employment. However, the paper finds a significant association between the presence of Indigenous people in management positions within non-Indigenous-owned businesses and higher rates of Indigenous employment. This finding is consistent with previous research, which suggests that Indigenous-led approaches lead to improved Indigenous employment outcomes.

Workplace diversity and positive leadership style: impacts on employee well-being in Australian businesses

PurposeIncreasing workforce diversity requires leadership to ensure employees retain their well-being. This study aims to examine how employees’ and managers’ co-creation of diversity in the workplace influences positive leadership (PL) style, which in turn affects employee well-being (EWB) positively.Design/methodology/approachEmployees and managers of Australian businesses participated in a cross-sectional survey. EWB was regressed on PL style and diversity dimensions (DDs). Also, the mediation effect of PL style between DDs and EWB was tested.FindingsResults suggest that Australian organisations appear to have more employee diversity with its partial impact on managers’ PL style, which then positively affects on employee well-being (EWB). Furthermore, the PL style partially mediated the relationship between DDs and EWB.Practical implicationsManagers will better understand workplace diversities and the key role that PL style can play in enhancing EWB.Social implicationsThis study will help improve employees' and managers' personal and social lives by developing a better understanding of health and well-being. It will have further economic impacts, such as higher organisational productivity.Originality/valueThis study fills the gap in the literature where PL style will positively affect EWB. Investigating the relationship between DDs, PL style and EWB using PERMA-profiler is a unique contribution.

Teacher wellbeing and teaching excellence in higher education: Exploring the interplay through the lens of the PERMA framework

AbstractRecognising the pivotal role of teacher wellbeing in fostering teaching excellence, this paper explores the intricate relationships in the context of higher education. Employing an abductive, qualitative methodology and expanding the use of the PERMA framework to in the realm of higher education, this paper investigates the associations between teachers' perceptions of excellence to five elements of wellbeing: positive emotions (P), engagement (E), relationships (R), meaning (M) and accomplishment (A). Drawing insights from a case study of an Australian business school, the findings of this paper reveal dynamic interactions among these elements. Contextual variations give rise to virtuous or vicious cycles, allowing for the facilitation or degradation of both teacher wellbeing and teaching excellence. This underscores the interplay between the dimensions of teaching quality and wellbeing of educators in higher education, shedding light on the potential cyclical influences that can either bolster or undermine the symbiotic relationship between teacher wellbeing and excellence.

Is no (soft) skill left behind? Do soft skills enable job mobility

ABSTRACT High job mobility or labour turnover is historically treated as detrimental for businesses and workers. With new technologies including artificial intelligence (AI) that further increase soft skill demand, there is an opportunity for beneficial job mobility of workers reallocating to productive businesses supported by transferable soft skills. However, Australian businesses risk missing these benefits as Australian workers have yet to reach pre-GFC mobility. We use the HILDA longitudinal dataset for Australia to test how the soft skill measures of communication skills, time management, and low task repetitiveness are associated with mobility for Australian workers measured using changing jobs directly and hourly wages as a measure of mobility success. The survival analysis for changing jobs finds soft skills have no significant effect on the expected employment duration prior to changing jobs, while measures of overall skills beyond soft skills increase this duration. Further, measures of soft skills and overall skills have mixed effects on wages by themselves, and when moderated with changing jobs these terms are almost completely insignificant. Overall, the potential transferability of soft skills does not translate into practical mobility, suggesting limitations for workers seeking to improve their working conditions via changing jobs.

Building supply chain resilience in small and medium-sized clothing retailers in Australia: an empirical study

Purpose In today’s complex and globalised business setting, Australian clothing retailers are ever more vulnerable to supply chain disruptions. Supply chain resilience reduces the effect of a disruption, which permits the members of a supply chain to respond aptly to disruptive events. This study, hence, aims to uncover the details of how the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of clothing retailers in Australia build supply chain resilience and what are the major issues experienced by the SMEs while building resilience. Design/methodology/approach This study is carried out using a descriptive qualitative research design, and data are collected from semi-structured interviews with key informants from managerial levels within the Australian clothing retailers’ businesses. Findings This study identifies five enablers, namely, collaboration, multi-sourcing, visibility, flexibility and information systems, that the SMEs of clothing retailers mostly consider to achieve resilience in the supply chain. This study also finds that SMEs’ capabilities, cost and financing, lack of managerial autonomy and the inability to create redundancy are the key impediments hindering SMEs from attaining the expected level of resilience. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study contributes to the body of knowledge by being one of the first empirical studies to explore the SMEs of clothing retailers’ supply chain resilience in the Australian business context, which can add valuable insights for academics and practitioners in guiding supply chain design decisions for the SMEs in other sectors.

What Earnings Management Has to Do with Corporate Social Responsibility

With the continuing rise of attention towards societal challenges like, e.g., climate change, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) becomes an increasingly important topic for companies. While there is no question that CSR activities are on the rise, the connection towards Earnings Management in companies is less clear. Therefore, this research paper not only aims to provide an up-to-date picture on the literature addressing this interconnection, but also provides a profound base for a more solid theoretical framework. Thus, it delivers a critical basis for further empirical analyses in this field. In order to illustrate this interconnection between those two topics, this paper presents an SLR analysis of articles published in the Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS) or Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC), focusing on empirical analyses of CSR performance and Earnings Management. Overall, it can be stated that CSR performance has a negative influence on Accrual-Based Earnings Management, while findings on the influence on Real Earnings Management are contradicting. Furthermore, the relationship of CSR performance and Accrual-Based Earnings Management/Real Earnings Management is especially vague when the used methods are moderated by different variables such as family involvement or managerial entrenchment. While the connection between Accrual-Based Earnings Management and CSR performance is widely covered in the existing literature, the relationship between Real Earnings Management and CSR performance is clearly less outlined. This research paper makes key contributions to the existing literature, as it combines and structures results of conducted studies during the last ten years and elaborates on the differences on commonalities of the results. This analysis also suggests that other factors that possibly influence Earnings Management or CSR should be included in a future research model for upcoming analyses. It places the findings of earlier studies into the context of the Ethical Approach, creating a roadmap for the future.

The application of machine learning to study fraud in the accounting literature

PurposeThis study aims to objectively synthesize the volume of accounting literature on financial statement fraud (FSF) using a systematic literature review research method (SLRRM). This paper analyzes the vast FSF literature based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. These criteria filter articles that are present in the accounting fraud domain and are published in peer-reviewed quality journals based on Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) journal ranking. Lastly, a reverse search, analyzing the articles' abstracts, further narrows the search to 88 peer-reviewed articles. After examining these 88 articles, the results imply that the current literature is shifting from traditional statistical approaches towards computational methods, specifically machine learning (ML), for predicting and detecting FSF. This evolution of the literature is influenced by the impact of micro and macro variables on FSF and the inadequacy of audit procedures to detect red flags of fraud. The findings also concluded that A* peer-reviewed journals accepted articles that showed a complete picture of performance measures of computational techniques in their results. Therefore, this paper contributes to the literature by providing insights to researchers about why ML articles on fraud do not make it to top accounting journals and which computational techniques are the best algorithms for predicting and detecting FSF.Design/methodology/approachThis paper chronicles the cluster of narratives surrounding the inadequacy of current accounting and auditing practices in preventing and detecting Financial Statement Fraud. The primary objective of this study is to objectively synthesize the volume of accounting literature on financial statement fraud. More specifically, this study will conduct a systematic literature review (SLR) to examine the evolution of financial statement fraud research and the emergence of new computational techniques to detect fraud in the accounting and finance literature.FindingsThe storyline of this study illustrates how the literature has evolved from conventional fraud detection mechanisms to computational techniques such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). The findings also concluded that A* peer-reviewed journals accepted articles that showed a complete picture of performance measures of computational techniques in their results. Therefore, this paper contributes to the literature by providing insights to researchers about why ML articles on fraud do not make it to top accounting journals and which computational techniques are the best algorithms for predicting and detecting FSF.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the literature by providing insights to researchers about why the evolution of accounting fraud literature from traditional statistical methods to machine learning algorithms in fraud detection and prediction.

The dynamic capabilities approach and regional business resilience: an Australian case study

ABSTRACT The frequency and severity of major disruptions (e.g., disasters, epidemics/pandemics) are increasing, significantly impacting business survival in regional areas. Using the dynamic capabilities approach, this paper reports on the recovery pathways and resilience of Australian regional businesses during the recent COVID-19 pandemic. A case study approach is adopted to explore the capabilities through which regional businesses can plan for, recover from, and develop strategies for building resilience. Using the data from 18 semi-structured interviews with business owners operating in different industry sectors and a web-based forum with 10 key stakeholders in regional South Australia, a dynamic capabilities resilience framework is developed. Results suggest that the dynamic capabilities approach during crises can become integral to the long-term business recovery of regional Australian businesses. By revealing both the determinants of business survival and the constraints regional businesses face during major crises, the study contributes information that businesses, government and non-government agencies that support them can use to develop effective recovery pathways, which is central to the future sustainability of regional Australia.

Bibliometric analysis on positive work–family interface

PurposeResearch on work–family interface (WFI) is almost two decades old. It is widely believed that the archetype of work and family after COVID has changed. Post-COVID emphases and outcomes would be different. Accordingly, a bibliometric analysis of the research would help to understand the state of the research and positive WFI patterns that guide further investigations. The present study used measures such as journals, citations, etc. to determine the bibliometric patterns from 2003 to August 2023 using VOSviewer software.Design/methodology/approachData were obtained from Scopus. 1,601 works were found in the first search. This figure was narrowed down to 525 based on a few conditions. The most commonly referenced journals, sources, authors, etc. were used for the analysis.FindingsResearch on positive WFI has increased in recent years. The total number of articles in positive WFI was 525 between 2003 and August 2023. Greenhaus, Powell and Carlson were the most cited authors in this field. Carlson had produced the highest number of documents in WFI. Most WFI authors focused on antecedents, treating positive WFI as the outcome variable.Research limitations/implicationsThis is the first bibliometric analysis conducted on a positive WFI, although there have been a few on work–family conflict. However, other sources such as the Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) and Web of Science may throw different results on journals, citations, etc. Hence, future researchers might emphasize if the same results originate from data in other databases. Other analytical tools may be used in the place of VOSviewer.Originality/valueThis is the first article on bibliometric analysis of positive WFI. This paper’s primary objective is to understand the patterns of literature available on positive WFI and its significance comprehensively.

Research on extended external reporting assurance: An update on recent developments

AbstractWe review the recent literature on the assurance of Extended External Reporting published since the review published in 2021 in the Journal of International Financial Management & Accounting. Our review includes 50 articles published between 2020 and August 2023 across 30 journals ranked A*, A, or B on the Australian Business Deans Council 2022 Journal Quality List. We find that the literature continues to be dominated by positivist studies investigating the determinants and consequences of assurance. Studies on determinants examine carbon assurance, ownership, governance, and institutional themes. The consequences studies included in our review examine reporting‐related outcomes and investors' decisions. Other (qualitative) studies we reviewed examine issues such as assurance providers seeking meaning in their work and their attempts to promote assurance beyond merely a verification tool. We highlight several avenues for future research that could inform the work of standard setters and regulators.

Dancing with the devil: the use and perceptions of academic journal ranking lists in the management field

Purpose This study explores the use and perceptions of scholarly journal ranking lists in the management field based on stakeholders’ lived experience.Design/methodology/approach The results are based on a survey of 463 active knowledge management and intellectual capital researchers.Findings Journal ranking lists have become an integral part of contemporary management academia: 33% and 37% of institutions and individual scholars employ journal ranking lists, respectively. The Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) Journal Quality List and the UK Academic Journal Guide (AJG) by the Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS) are the most frequently used national lists, and their influence has spread far beyond the national borders. Some institutions and individuals create their own journal rankings.Practical implications Management researchers employ journal ranking lists under two conditions: mandatory and voluntary. The forced mode of use is necessary to comply with institutional pressure that restrains the choice of target outlets. At the same time, researchers willingly consult ranking lists to advance their personal career, maximize their research exposure, learn about the relative standing of unfamiliar journals, and direct their students. Scholars, academic administrators, and policymakers should realize that journal ranking lists may serve as a useful tool when used appropriately, in particular when individuals themselves decide how and for what purpose to employ them to inform their research practices.Originality/value The findings reveal a journal ranking lists paradox: management researchers are aware of the limitations of ranking lists and their deleterious impact on scientific progress; however, they generally find journal ranking lists to be useful and employ them.

The influence of organisational learning capability on the organisational use of SMA practices: The mediating role of employee creativity and empowerment

AbstractThis study extends the strategic management accounting (SMA) and organisational learning literature by examining the role of organisational learning capability in facilitating the organisational use of SMA practices. Further, we consider the role of two employee behavioural factors – employee empowerment of SMA practices and employee creativity – in mediating this relationship. Data was collected from 332 accountants in Australian business organisations using an online survey questionnaire, with structural equation modelling applied to analyse the data. The findings highlight the direct and indirect (through employee empowerment of SMA practices and employee creativity) influence that organisational learning capability has on the organisational use of SMA practices.