Examining the Usefulness of an Accounting Work‐readiness Program as Perceived by Employed Program Graduates

This study investigates the usefulness of an Australian accounting work‐readiness program as perceived by international accounting graduates. Using logistic regression, the study reports the results of a survey of 186 graduates who completed the program in the period 2010–2013 and are now employed in either accounting or non‐accounting roles. The results show that graduates who were employed in an accounting role perceived internships and critical thinking skills to be the most useful curriculum components of the work‐readiness program in obtaining their employment. The findings have implications for various stakeholders, in particular educators and professional bodies involved in the curriculum design of the work‐readiness program. The government also has an interest in the value of this program as they grant visas for international students to study in Australia and fill a skills shortage in the profession. The results also provide insights for other Western economies that attract large numbers of international graduates as skilled migrants.     

The relationship between multinationality and performance: Knowledge-intensive vs. capital-intensive service micro-multinational enterprises

This research explores the relationship between multinationality and firm performance (M-P) in the context of micro-multinational enterprises (mMNEs) within the service sector. We examine the moderating effects of industry characteristics using a data set of 1082 Spanish service mMNEs over an eight-year period. The empirical results provide statistical evidence that knowledge-intensive service mMNEs exhibit an inverted U-shaped M-P relationship, while capital-intensive service mMNEs present a U-shaped relationship. Our findings demonstrate that knowledge-intensive service mMNEs increase their performance in the initial stage of multinationality, encounter a threshold of internationalization at relatively low levels of multinationality and have a propensity to over-internationalize. By comparison, capital-intensive service mMNEs experience negative performance effects at low levels of multinationality and positive ones as they further internationalize. Given that their operations are scale-sensitive, they tend to expand internationally by concentrating their operations in few foreign markets as a means to overcome the liabilities of internationalization and smallness. We contribute to the literatures on multinationality research in the service sector and on SME internationalization by showing that the effects of multinationality on the performance of mMNEs depend on industry characteristics and that such contextual factors provide a better understanding of the M-P relationship.     

The effect of activity identity fusion on negative consumer behavior

Negative consumer behavior is an important research topic as it explores consumer behaviors that threaten a brand's image and financial stability. However, prior research offers conflicting findings on whether a strong consumer‐brand relationship hurts or protects a brand after a market disruption or a brand transgression. To provide clarity on this issue, this work argues that disrupting the consumer‐activity relationship motivates consumers to reaffirm and protect their identity, thereby leading to negative consumer behavior. The data reveal that, after a brand‐initiated market disruption, consumers with high activity identity fusion are more likely to spread negative word‐of‐mouth, boycott the brand, and avoid repurchasing the brand in the future. Moreover, the data suggest that high brand identity fusion protects the brand during market disruptions; therefore, prior conflicting results may be due to the fact that the consumer‐activity relationship was not accounted for. Theoretically, this work establishes that consumers' relationship with their consumption activities has significant impacts on consumer behavior. Brand managers and marketers are urged to develop strategies that focus on strengthening the consumer‐brand relationship and not the consumer‐activity relationship.     

The green globe programme: Developing a greener future for travel and tourism

This paper examines the concept of sustainable tourism planning in New Zealand and its relationship to the Resource Management Act. The paper considers the public sector planning responses towards tourism development issues within the context of New Zealand's Resource Management Act, and the ability of these organisations to respond to tourism issues. It argues that the absence of a national vision for tourism is a major constraint on achieving sustainable tourism options at the regional and local level because the Resource Management Act s principles of sustainable planning are not guided by any national policy or strategy. By using a postal questionnaire, the paper provides the first in-depth analysis of planners responses to tourism and their ability to integrate tourism into the planning process within New Zealand. The paper also expands the arguments initially developed by Dredge &; Moore (1992) on the lack of integration in relation to tourism and planning.     

Consumer value and self-image congruency at different stages of timeshare ownership

An understanding of customers’ perceptions of value is fundamental to the competitive nature of all industries. Using the timeshare resort sector as a context for our studies, we explore the ways in which consumers, grouped according to their timeshare ownership stage, perceive value. Data were collected from three samples: non-owners of timeshare, recent purchasers of timeshare, and longer-term timeshare owners. Value was shown to be multi-dimensional, with a stable pattern of eleven correlated value factors evident in all three samples. The groups differed in their assessments of the different dimensions of value. In all groups, however, value was positively correlated with attitudes and future intentions regarding timeshare. Self-image congruency explained additional criterion variance. The findings demonstrate that, even among consumers who have never used timeshare, value and self-image congruency are substantial and unique predictors of attitudes and intentions regarding this tourism product.     

A Protected Areas Ecotourism Competitive Cluster Approach to Catalyse Biodiversity Conservation and Economic Growth in Bulgaria

This paper focuses on how small ecotourism and related supply chain businesses in gateway communities can be linked to protected areas by organising them into competitive clusters focused on their comparative advantages and uniqueness. It examines pilot project work in Bulgaria in small communities near the Rila and Central Balkan National Park. It shows how Bulgaria might develop its ecotourism potential by replicating this approach. The Bulgarian experience holds potential for replication in other protected areas and gateway communities using collaborative tools based upon lessons learned from the model sites and from ecotourism cases around the world, including: (1) developing an inclusive stakeholder group; (2) fostering education within gateway communities near protected areas; (3) strengthening the legal and regulatory framework; (4) expanding small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurship opportunities; (5) expanding destination management capacity at the community level; (6) linking protected area sites to less visited areas; (7) implementing environmental management and certification programmes; (8) expanding financing for protected areas; (9) using the Internet for linking and branding the network; and (10) developing indicator or monitoring systems.     

Preventing drowning through design – the contribution of human factors

A number of routes can be followed towards the prevention of drowning, such as educating on water safety, installing barriers between non-intended users and water, mitigating the consequences of submersion incidents, and design. The human factor approach to safety is that design should always be the primary route. Human factors can be applied to the design of personal protective equipment such as buoyancy aids, barriers such as pool fencing, ancillary equipment such as swimming pool covers through to information and organisational factors such as safety signs and swimming campaigns. Design should consider all potential drowning scenarios and accommodate the characteristics of those at risk. A framework is presented with examples on how human factor principles can be applied to the design of potential drowning sites and products, with suggestions for methods and techniques that can be used in the key stages of predicting potential hazards and assessing risk.     

A family view of population questions

To relate family situations to the population problem, viewing family decisions as one of the ultimate determinants of how many people there are on the globe and how rapidly the total population will increase, is proposed as a way of viewing the population problem of the world. Population problems of the developed countries with a growth rate of 1% or less per annum are different from those of the countries with a high growth rate and which have about 45-50% of the population below age 15. This group of young people, plus older people who no longer contribute to productive activity, form the dependency burden on a country. Some sociological and economic variables that affect family size decisions are discussed, and the importance of really understanding these variables in order to formulate better population policies is stressed.