Melissa Johnson Morgan

An Empirical Evaluation of Information Sharing Between Australia-Singapore Beef Organisations in Light of Trust and ICT Diffusion

This study investigates cross-border collaboration between beef organisations in Australia and Singapore. It aims to identify factors impacting trust and technology diffusion by gauging gaps between expected importance and perceived performance rating of the factors. The research presents results of a survey comprising 69 beef organisations from Australia and Singapore. The research identifies critical gaps using two methods of analysis; validity analysis and performance gap analysis. Each method comprises two types of tests. The WarpPLS software is used to perform the validity analysis. Results indicate gaps in level of responsiveness. The research concludes that the success of cross-border collaboration between organisations in both Australia and Singapore can be better achieved through the establishment of information exchange relationships, rather than through the use of technology alone, and by ensuring compatibility between business partners.

The changing status of higher education in the ‘moronic inferno’

ABSTRACT Getting a good and relevant education is difficult enough to achieve within a context where social and economic needs are constantly unsettled by political policy. The public funding of the education sector has become a contested arena irrespective of a government’s ideology. Recent graduates from various disciplines from Town Planning to Philosophy report in university destination surveys that they have only found employment in areas unrelated to their academic training – for instance, in supermarkets, restaurants and other low-level service industries. How has it happened that the universalisation of mass higher education has contributed to a disconnect between the individual’s social aspirations and their economic status? What happened to the tacit promise that an extended period of intellectual development would prepare the individual for a life of valuable social contribution and financial security? Part of the answer lies in the success of higher education itself. Its popularity has changed its transformative capacity and allowed operational efficiencies to overrule academic quality. The university, ideally seen as a repository of intellectual intuition, has been remade into yet another modern corporation concerned with the bottom line and financial security. Why has it been necessary to remake the university in the image of the department store, supermarket or bank, and how has it been achieved without more critique?