Peter Fieger

Two dimensional efficiency measurements in vocational education: Evidence from Australia

Purpose In Australia, the vocational education and training (VET) sector accounts for approximately A

‘Pull’ motivation: an activity-based typology of international visitors to New Zealand

8 billion of public spending, of which around A

Whistle-blowing in the Australian public service: the role of employee ethnicity and occupational affiliation

6.6 billion is spent on government providers that include Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutes. The TAFE institutes in Australia are large, public VET providers, generally funded and managed by state government. Measuring the efficiency and effectiveness of TAFE institutes is of great interest to policy makers, regulators, consumers and to the institutions themselves. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach In this study the authors use data relating to student cohort demographics, institutional characteristics and educational outcome data, while employing stochastic frontier analysis, to develop two distinct efficiency measures and models. The first model examines institutional efficiency in the transformation of financial resources into teaching loads. The second model evaluates efficiency in the transformation of institutional resources into post-study employment outcomes. K-means cluster analysis is used to establish groupings of similar institutes and subsequent canonical discriminant analysis is employed to develop a typology of these clusters. Findings In both models the authors find significant inefficiencies in the Australian TAFE system. The relationship between both efficiency measures is then assessed. While there is no direct linear relationship, a distinct pattern could be detected. Finally the authors develop a typology of efficient institutions. Originality/value This study contributes to the existing research by defining efficiency in vocational education in two distinct ways and by the utilisation of the derived efficiencies in the development of a typology of efficient institutes. In doing so, this research makes an original contribution to the understanding of the drivers of efficiency in vocational education.

Tourism expenditure in post-earthquake Christchurch, New Zealand

Using the push and pull framework, this study examines the relationship between tourist activities in New Zealand and behaviours such as tourist spending, travel style (group vs. independent travel) and length of stay. Data from the International Visitor Survey were analysed for a 19-year period (1997–2015). The findings, based on 62,288 respondents, identified 9 typologies of international visitors over this period. For example, type one visitors are primarily pulled by the nature-based activities offered in New Zealand while type two is pulled by adventure activities. Some of the typologies have activities that overlap reflecting the needs of international visitors. Significant relationships were found between the nine typologies, tourist spending, travel style and length of stay. Implications for destination marketing purposes are highlighted.

Loyal employees in difficult settings: The compounding effects of inter-professional dysfunction and employee loyalty on job tension

Whistle-blowing has the important role of reducing the prevalence and impact of wrongdoing in organisations. The purpose of this paper is to utilise a very large survey of Australian Public Service (APS) workers to replicate the findings of previous studies in relation to whistle-blowing likelihood and to extend the quantitative findings in relation to whistle-blowing antecedents to include ethnicity or cultural marginalisation and occupational and professional role and affiliation.,The authors utilise the 2014 APS Census, a large data set containing 100,000 observations relating to employee engagement, leadership, health, satisfaction and general impressions of the public service. Logistic regression is employed to obtain estimates and marginal effects in respect to predictors for whistle-blowing. The authors determine the Bayesian information criterion to assess the impact of ethnicity on the probability of whistle-blowing.,The findings support the notion that organisational “outsiders” tend to report perceived wrongdoing less than those who feel assured of their cultural or organisational status. The authors further find support for the notion that membership of small organisational groupings, primarily measured by organisational size, also tends to reduce the whistle-blowing likelihood. Opportunities for further research and potential policy and practical issues are discussed briefly in conclusion.,While confirming the predictors seen in many previous studies, the authors identify groups who report more or less than expected that have not been reported in previous research. These include employees from a non-English speaking background and various occupational and professional groups “at risk” of low reporting.

The impact of employees’ values on role engagement: Assessing the moderating effects of distributive justice

ABSTRACT This paper investigates whether tourism expenditure and exchange rates influence local GDP for the city of Christchurch (New Zealand), following the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes. Domestic and international expenditures are analysed separately using vector auto-regression (VAR) models. We perform Granger causality tests to determine the directionality of the relationships uncovered. Our results show that increased domestic and international visitor spending is followed by a measurable and significant increase in local GDP. Exchange rates have a small but non-significant impact on international tourist spending. Stimulating tourism demand will be an essential element to achieve substantial economic growth in Christchurch. The findings have implications for policy making in terms of promoting economic growth in disaster prone areas.

Efficiency of Australian technical and further education providers

Purpose Employee loyalty is generally a very positive trait. However, when loyal employees are confronted with dysfunctionality in the workplace the impact on their well-being can be significant. The purpose of this paper is to assess the interaction of employee loyalty and employee experience of inter-professional dysfunction in a hospital setting to predict employee job tension. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on the analysis of a cross-sectional attitudinal survey of employees within a hospital setting in Australia. The authors use OLS regression and an SPSS macro (by Hayes, 2013) to assess the regions of significance of the interaction effects. Findings The authors find, as anticipated, significant direct effects for employee loyalty and inter-professional dysfunction on employee job stress. The authors further find significant interaction effects that suggest that highly loyal employees who experience inter-professional dysfunction also experience disproportionately high levels of job tension. Research limitations/implications The main research implication of this research relates to the confirmation of the presence of an interaction effect between loyalty and inter-professional dysfunction in predicting employee job stress. Further, the zone of significance analysis (following Johnson and Neyman) suggests that this effect is evident at even low levels of inter-professional dysfunction. Practical implications Organisations should appreciate employee loyalty but should also be aware that loyal employees are more vulnerable to the negative consequences of organisational dysfunction than are employees with limited organisational loyalty. Social implications The paper confirms the importance of managing organisational cooperation between groups in organisations as a precursor to positive employee outcomes. Originality/value This is the first paper to investigate this interaction and to apply Johnson-Neyman analysis to confirm the regions of significance for the interaction effects noted.

Job Tension Composite Measure

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the manner in which employees’ experience of distributive justice (DJ) moderates the impact of intrinsic and extrinsic values on role engagement (RE). RE is especially important in the healthcare setting (examined here) due to the sector’s complexity, changeability and emotionally challenging nature. Design/methodology/approach Using data collected from a survey of employees from a large government health district in Southeast Queensland (Australia), this study examined the determinants of RE among a group of employees working across three hospital locations. Findings The focus of the study was on the impact, both directly and in combination, of espoused extrinsic and intrinsic values and perceived DJ on RE. The authors identify strong direct effects from DJ on RE, and complex third-order effects for the combinations of intrinsic (IM) and extrinsic motivation and DJ in predicting RE. Research limitations/implications As a cross-sectional and attitudinal survey, care must be taken in relation to common-method variance. Post hoc controls were performed in relation to this. Practical implications DJ is important for all, and is a powerful motivator for engagement of employees reporting highly on IM. There is evidence that the most engaged employees are not those most motivated by extrinsic rewards alone, although employees who are motivated primarily by extrinsic rewards alone can be highly engaged when they experience high levels of DJ. Social implications For managers seeking to engage their employees, an understanding of the different motivators for intrinsically vs extrinsically inclined employees is important. Taken together, these results suggest that employee RE is driven by a complex set of factors that differ between employees. Managing this complexity is an important consideration for managers. Originality/value This is the first empirical study to show these interaction effects using these measures. The healthcare context, generally under researched, also features in this study.

Domestic and international visitor expenditure and growth in the Christchurch economy

Budgetary constraints on the public purse have led Australian Federal and State governments to focus increasingly on the efficiency of public institutions, including Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutes. In this study, we define efficiency as the relationship between financial and administrative inputs and educational outputs. We employ stochastic frontier analysis in determining the efficiency of Australian TAFE institutes using data sourced from institutional annual reports, the Student Outcomes Survey and administrative databases. We found significant economies of scale effects and conclude that increasing institutional size for very small institutions may result in increased efficiencies.