Lyn Courtney

Riding a hydra: women ICT professionals' perceptions of working in the Australian ICT industry

Purpose – This paper seeks to identify aspects of work environment, culture or expectations that contributed to womens comfort or discomfort within the information and communication technology (ICT) industry.Design/methodology/approach – The study is empirical in nature and addresses the perspectives of 178 professional women currently working within the Australian ICT industry who responded to the “Women in ICT” survey conducted through James Cook University. Likert‐scale responses were subjected to principal component analysis and then K‐mean cluster analysis, distinguishing four groups of respondents. Explanations for group membership were then sought from responses to open‐ended survey questions.Findings – There was common agreement among respondents that, when making their career decisions, they had expected to enjoy good community image, and that their work would be socially useful, satisfying and flexible. Respondents also agreed that careers in ICT are rewarding, and provide opportunities, and di...

Knowledge transfer between Australia and China

Purpose – This paper aims to address the mechanisms of, and barriers to, knowledge transfer between Australia and China in the tertiary sector. Design/methodology/approach – Individual focused interviews are conducted with one Chinese and ten Australian senior academics engaged in supervisory roles at all levels of knowledge transfer. Content and sociolinguistics analysis is conducted on the questions: How is knowledge transferred between key academic/research staff? What is the potential for commercialization of research findings between Australia and China? What role does information and communication technology (ICT) play in knowledge transfer? Findings – Knowledge transfer between Chinese and Australian universities consists of research partnerships, collective publications, and joint degree programs. One-way transfer of knowledge from Australia to China, rather than the desired reciprocal transfer of knowledge, appears to be most common. Barriers to bi-directional knowledge sharing include misunderstandings surround intellectual property and cultural differences, which undermine trust between China and Australia. The participants overwhelmingly hold optimistic views about the potential of commercialization of research findings between China and Australia and report that ICT enhances communications assisted in successful knowledge transfer. However, ICT is reported to be under-utilized because of unequal access to hardware and broadband in China as well as blocking and censorship of communication by China. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the discourse on international, intercultural and bi-directional knowledge transfer in the tertiary sector and has implications for enhanced academic and research excellence between China and Australia. Moreover, insight into the mechanisms of successful knowledge transfer may be applicable to improve knowledge transfer between Australia and other countries.