Research topics and projects

OpportunityFour Summer VRES positions specifically for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander QUT Business School students working on an immersive research project. This research will allow students to better understand the role of research and its role as an effective approach to developing solutions to complex problems.Key details$2,000.00 honorariumflexible-delivery under academic supervision (set your own days)independent or group-based delivery experience80-100 hoursno prior research experience requiredKey Benefitswork closely with academics and the QUT Business School Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Groupprofessional …

Centre/School

QUT Business School

Creating shared value is the new buzzword in management literature, and is positioned as the new corporate social responsibility. This project seeks to explore how engagement is used to create and shape an understanding of organisational shared value.Please note: This topic illustrates the type of projects these supervisors are interested in. Given the background of the supervisors, this topic takes a public relations perspective that is based on communication and relationships. It is not attached to a funded project.Required skills …

Centre/School

School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations

Study levels

PhD

Master of Philosophy

Over the past five years, it has been noted by industry and academics that the cultural environment of an organisation plays a large part in promoting or minimising incidents of fraud, bribery and corruption. The importance of this topic is that there is little empirical evidence to support this view, yet substantial anecdotal evidence in cases such as Enron, HIH Insurance, ING and the Queensland Health (Barlow) fraud.This research topic would assist in addressing this gap. …

Centre/School

School of Accountancy

Infrastructure is vital to improving Australia's living standards and productivity, and accounting plays a key role in how we plan and pay for these projects. The Australian Infrastructure Audit has outlined a new, strategic approach to assessing our nation's infrastructure needs and has highlighted that improvements are needed in infrastructure project appraisal, selection and reporting of cost/benefit analysis. This topic brings together theory and practices from accounting, finance and economics to examine these events in more detail and answer the …

Centre/School

School of Accountancy

The Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) Exposure Draft: ED270 - Reporting Service Performance Information placed mandatory annual performance reporting for nonprofit organisations on the national agenda. The exposure draft specifically noted the need for nonprofit organisations to achieve service performance objectives and impact, and provide this information in a way that's useful for accountability and decision-making purposes.While reporting outputs and outcomes is relatively unproblematic, reporting impact is both very important and difficult. Impact evaluation narratives require stakeholder engagement, qualitative analysis …

Centre/School

School of Accountancy

Activity trackers such as Fitbit have become popular with millions of people worldwide. According to recent news, manufacturers of wearable health technology have targeted corporate wellness programs. For example, Fitbit added 1,000 new enterprise customers to its corporate wellness platform in Q4 of 2015. Unit orders from enterprise customers can range from 500 for small and medium companies up to the U.S. retailer Target buying devices for all of its 330,000 employees. The focus of this research is to investigate …

Centre/School

School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations

One of the arguments of creating shared value is that organisations can look to grow their business by looking at the dynamics of their cluster, instead of just their industry. For example, while a hotel operator is in direct competition with other hotels in the same region, all of the hotels are influenced by what is happening in the region on a larger scale, such as the quality of the local airport, restaurants, attractions and crime.While working with competitors and …

Centre/School

School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations

Study levels

PhD

Master of Philosophy

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is widely considered standard business practice, with many understanding CSR to be a stakeholder-driven construct (i.e. CSR is influenced by organisational stakeholders). This would suggest that organisations need to engage with stakeholders to determine what is or is not a socially responsible behaviour.This thesis would test the Devin & Lane (2014) conceptual model of engagement to determine how CSR engagement occurs in practice.Please note: This topic illustrates the type of projects these supervisors are interested in. …

Centre/School

School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations

Study levels

PhD

Master of Philosophy

Engagement is considered a necessary part of organisational practice. While stakeholder demands for authentic engagement may address stakeholder-held views of perceived organisation-stakeholder power deficits, understanding how power dynamics impact the process and outcomes of engagement is not well understood. This research responds to this gap in knowledge.Please note: This topic illustrates the type of projects these supervisors are interested in. Given the background of the supervisors, this topic takes a public relations perspective that is based on communication and relationships. …

Centre/School

School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations

Study levels

PhD

Master of Philosophy

A core component of the digital or ‘gig’ economy, digital platforms connect individual workers with end-users (companies or consumers) seeking specific services, via a website or an app. A wide range of platform business models operate in diverse industries offering tasks that can be completed online (eg: graphic design or coding), or ‘in person’ services (eg: driving or cleaning). Examples include Uber, Deliveroo, Freelancer and Airtasker. Platform work is also rapidly expanding into new sectors including care work, creative industries, …

Centre/School

School of Management

Study levels

PhD

Master of Philosophy

The trend to a more socially inclusive and responsive form of organisational decision-making reflects an increasing belief that engaging a community for specific programs can lead to better organisational and social outcomes.While community engagement has strongly featured in government public relations and communication practice, a recent trend noted in marketing communication practice is to incorporate the broader concept of social or community engagement as a key communication strategy. There is little evidence in the literature to provide clarity to this …

Centre/School

School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations

Study levels

PhD

Master of Philosophy

Engagement is a key concept in contemporary public relations theory and practice. Much of the current literature focuses on the operationalisation of engagement in a specific organisation or group of organisations within a single practice context. However, there are multiple practice contexts, and little research has been carried out to identify similarities and differences between the operationalisation of engagement across these areas.This study will compare and contrast the conduct of engagement across practice contexts, and analyse the significance of any …

Centre/School

School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations

Study levels

PhD

Master of Philosophy