Migrants and their overseas travels: A psychographic segmentation of Australia's Vietnamese community

This study profiled the travel patterns of Australia's Vietnamese community, with particular reference to travel back to Vietnam. Using a variety of analytical techniques including analysis of variance, factor analysis and regression analysis, the study identified four discrete psychographic groups. These were the ‘home‐sick,’ the ‘suspicious,’ the ‘culture seekers’ and the ‘price sensitive.’ Major contrasts were evident between the various segments. The ‘home‐sick’ appeared to be experiencing difficulties in adapting to their adopted country. In the case of the segment referred to as the ‘suspicious’ we cannot assume that they were experiencing more actual difficulties, but they expressed greater reluctance to consider return trips to their former homeland. The ‘culture seekers’ and ‘price sensitives’ exhibited more of the characteristics of regular leisure travellers and their travel attitudes were less obviously distinguishable as migrant attitudes. The study concluded that psychographic analyzes can lead to a better understanding of the travel behavior and attitudes of migrants and may assist destinations such as Vietnam to target the visiting friends and relatives market more effectively.     

Adoption of Biometric Authentication Systems: Implications for Research and Practice in the Deployment of End-User Security Systems

Recent security lapses have demonstrated the importance of augmenting authentication protocols in sensitive areas of the economy, such as financial services and banking. In addition, new legislative requirements for secondary authentication mechanisms have highlighted the use of biometric technology as a reliable, but not required, means of authentication. The focus of this study examines the factors that influence the adoption of biometric authentication in organizations. The research model measures the relative contribution that variables in three categories (External Pressure, Readiness, and Perceived Benefits) have in the intent to adopt biometric authentication in financial services institutions. Managers of these institutions were surveyed, and the resulting model indicates that, as expected, the intent to adopt is driven by competitive factors, an organization's financial resources, and the perceived benefits associated with the technology. An important unanticipated finding from this research is that managerial support was not shown to be significantly related to adoption intent, which may be attributed to the context of biometric systems adoption. This research advances our understanding of the adoption literature by demonstrating how structural factors can influence the decisions made by organizational actors and by applying theories of adoption to a new technology—biometrics.     

Editorial: ‘. . . the most lightly regulated labour market . . .’ The UK’s third statutory recognition procedure 1

This editorial, which is followed by a second contribution from a perceptive North American observer, discusses the problems of workability and perceived fairness of the new procedure, the alternatives to it, and some of its wider implications for the relationship between the trade unions and the Labour Party.     

Novelty in Theme Park Physical Surroundings: An Application of the Stimulus–Organism–Response Paradigm

Many theme parks and other “facility-driven” leisure services seek to market and differentiate themselves through the creation and recreation of their physical surroundings. This study examines the extent to which the physical surroundings are perceived as novel influences the shopping values and revisitation behaviours of theme park visitors. This empirical investigation explored two types of theme park. The findings indicate that the more theme park visitors perceive physical surroundings as novel, the higher the level of shopping values (utilitarian and hedonic value) and the stronger their intention to revisit. The researchers propose a number of theoretical and managerial implications.     

Determining Meaningful Sales Relational (Mix) Variances

Further separation of the volume variance component of a multi-product firm's revenue variance into mix and quantity variances is regularly advocated by management accounting educators. Techniques used to achieve this separation are generally an extension of the analytical techniques used in the traditional flexible budget step-down? approach to variance determination. The analysis in this paper suggests that such an extension in most multi-product situations is inappropriate and generates useless and misleading results. Specific situations in which relational (in lieu of mix) variances may be appropriate do exist and applicable techniques are developed.     

The Interpretation And Resolution Of Resource Allocation Issues In Professional Organizations: A Critical Examination Of The Professional-Manager Dichotomy*

Professional organizations have long been depicted as rife with conflict between professionals, who are assumed to represent the interests of their profession, and managers, who are assumed to represent the potentially competing interests of the organization. This study examines the validity of this assumption. Based on past research on both professional organizations and knowledge structure development, we predict that to the extent that professionals and managers conflict, they may do so because they interpret 'identical' issues differently. The results of a study of resource allocation decision preferences with 350 chief financial officers, chief medical officers, and physicians revealed strong support for our issue interpretation predictions, and virtually no support for the simple professional–manager dichotomy. Specifically, using structural equation modeling, we found that: (1) single resource allocation issues could be interpreted in multiple ways; (2) issue interpretations were strong predictors of decision preferences; (3) professionals and managers tended to interpret issues differently, although many of the differences were not consistent with past theorizing about professionals; (4) the interpretations and decision preferences of professionals who occupied management positions were like those of other professionals but different from those of managers; and (5) decision maker status (i.e., professional and/or manager) was only modestly related to decision preference. Our findings suggest that the sources and manifestations of a professional–manager dichotomy are more complex than previously reported.     

Pension-Plan Real Estate Investment in an Asset–Liability Framework

This study explores the role of pension-plan real estate investment in an asset–liability framework. By assuming that the pension-plan manager wishes to have assets of at least equal value to the liabilities at all points in time, an asset selection process is derived which depends on both the asset's covariance with other assets and its covariance with the liability stream. We generally find real estate not to be highly correlated with pension-plan liabilities. This finding is of general interest, since it helps to explain why pension-plan real estate investment is extremely limited and much smaller than one would expect if pension-plan investors cared only about the mean and variance of the real return to their invested wealth.