Research topics and projects

I am seeking research students (either MPhil or PhD) wanting to undertake research into the innovation systems that support society wide technological innovations and subsequent industrial development. For example, Australia, like many countries, is attempting to develop new industries in clean energy. For each of these, the pathway from innovation to a viable, self-sustaining industry is difficult. I am interested in exploring the barriers that prevent successful development of the innovation system in which each technology operates.Battery industries, with industry …

Centre/School

School of Management

Study levels

PhD

Master of Philosophy

The research project is two-fold. First, it incorporates quantitative and qualitative data to measure the performance of airlines (mainstream and budget carriers) using a supply-chain performance evaluation model such as Network Data Envelopment Analysis. Second, the project aims to quantify sources of inefficiencies and provide recommendations to policy makers and operations in ways to raise their efficiency levels.

Centre/School

School of Economics and Finance

The purpose of this research is to explore the roles played by uncertainty and investor sentiment in explaining financial market anomalies documented in the existing literature. The financial market anomalies of interest include, but are not limited to, the size effect, the value effect, the momentum effect, asset-related anomalies, investment-related anomalies, etc. 

Centre/School

School of Economics and Finance

Study levels

PhD

Master of Philosophy

Honours

Faithful Representation and Relevance are two fundamental qualities which are proposed to make financial information useful in the Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting and its proposed revision. Faithful representation is further described as information which is complete, neutral and free from error. This research seeks to determine how faithful representation of financial information might be measured/determined drawing on representation theory concepts from the Information systems discipline.

Centre/School

School of Accountancy

Study levels

PhD

Master of Philosophy

Cooperatives are unusual organizational structures, as they are highly democratic in nature (one member + one vote) and their successful operation involves delivery of environmental, business and social outcomes. Internationally, cooperatives are the 'normal' form of social enterprise, however in the Australian context they are considerably under researched legal form. In order to operate successful, cooperatives need to take into consideration the needs of multiple stakeholders, not the least their members and communities which they function to benefit. This thesis …

Centre/School

School of Accountancy

Study levels

PhD

Master of Philosophy

Female representation on boards has grown worldwide. There is a stream of study that investigates the relationship between board composition and financial reporting quality. However, there is little evidence on whether corporate board gender diversity is associated with one of the most important financial reporting quality metrics-accounting conservatism.The objective of this proposed study is to investigate the relation between corporate board gender diversity and accounting conservatism in the Australian context.If you are interested in researching this topic as part of …

Centre/School

School of Accountancy

In the startup world there is much talk of culture as a unifying driver of performance. Culture research has a long history, and there are measures (albeit disputed) of organisational culture. There are also a range of studies that have investigated relationships between culture and performance. For this project, the focus is on understanding what founders and other key personnel in startups mean when they talk of culture and how they 'measure' culture.The student is expected to produce an extended …

Centre/School

School of Management

Economic activity produces good and bad outputs. Whilst good output enhances quality of life, bad outputs generate negative externalities. Negative externalities can arise from, for example, pollution, noise and environmental degradation. Such production systems are inefficient, but continue to endure despite the costs.Economists (and social scientists) have begun to develop socio-economic models and use valuation techniques to understand the socio-economic issues related to negative externalities. However, such work remains scattered and the existing literature reveals that modelling techniques can be …

Centre/School

School of Economics and Finance

This project will analyse data already collected from male non-donors to identify the key marketing communication appeals that can be developed for different male archetypes. Specifically the aim is to identify marketing communication strategies that will effectively generate bookings to donate from current male non-donors.The student is expected to produce a draft journal article on the topic that will be co-authored with the research team. Skills employed are:Literature searchanalysis of qualitative dataacademic writing. …

Centre/School

School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations

By connecting a student to real world industry professionals, this project aims to simultaneously build student networks and explore an applied research problem around how public relations professionals make decisions about optimal strategies and tactics in campaigns.The student and research team will meet to co-design the research and undertake the following activities:Review award-winning public relations campaigns using a semantic and relational network analysis tool to identify trends and patterns in strategies and tacticsinterview the public relations professionals behind these campaigns …

Centre/School

School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations

Blockchain technology is anticipated to further disrupt the digital economy of today. Blockchain is a distributed database technology and is the underlying technical platform for digital cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Blockchain has the potential to profoundly impact accounting and the underlying financial transactions it represents, yet there is very little research exploring the implications for accounting and the profession. This research seeks to investigate how blockchain technology may impact a particular aspect of accounting such as financial accounting or audit …

Centre/School

School of Accountancy

Recent commentary from the ACCC, consumer groups, State Health Departments in the media report:very significant increases in private health insurance premiumsreductions in the scope of coversale of products unsuited to the insureds in question (for example, sale of maternity/pregnancy products to retirees while excluding medical conditions like to manifest in the particular age groups targeted).Given the importance of private health insurance in Australia there is considerable scope to:analyse the changes to the scope of health insurance coverprocure data relative to …

Centre/School

School of Accountancy