ABSTRACT Much is known about the process of sponsorship selection with respect to the key personnel involved in the buying decision and also about the strategic objectives for sponsorship. However, few investigations have focused on how sponsors assess the relative value of different sponsorship activities. This research project examined sponsorship decision-making with reference to the way managers discuss, think, and act when evaluating a sponsorship property for the first time. It focuses in particular on understanding how sponsors make decisions when selecting a new activity; how perceptions of risk influence their choice behaviours; the relative value they attribute to different sponsorship features; and how individual factors influence their choice of sponsorship domain. This research program considered these issues from three dimensions (1) linguistically (i.e. how firms publicly describe and explain their sponsorship selection procedures to others); (2) cognitively (i.e. how sponsorship experts describe and rationalise the decision process); and (3) conatively (i.e. how sponsorship managers report they behave when making sponsorship selection decisions). First, Study 1 explored the linguistic dimension of sponsorship selection through a content analysis of the sponsorship policies and guidelines of 298 global, national and local firms. The content analysis of these documents was conducted using Leximancer text analysis software. The analysis revealed six attributes were particularly important. These were the cost of sponsorship rights fees; the capacity of the sponsorship to achieve brand marketing objectives; the opportunities for brand exposure; the sharing of values between partners; the type/domain of the sponsorship activity; and its geographic reach. Firms avoided activities likely to damage their corporate or brand image by alienating sections of the community or by violating social norms. Next, Study 2 explored the cognitive dimension of sponsorship through a series of in-depth interviews with 16 sponsors and 20 properties. Interviews revealed that while practitioners supported the importance of attributes similar to those identified in Study 1, they placed more emphasis on the duration of the sponsorship agreement, the partner’s reputation and sponsorship management ability, and on the level of involvement, and less emphasis on shared values and geographic reach. Risk assessment was implicit in their due diligence practices. Risk mitigation strategies included risk avoidance, risk reduction, risk retention, and risk transfer. Study 3 examined the conative dimension of the sponsorship selection process using a full-profile choice-based conjoint (CBC) experiment completed by 196 sponsorship managers. The respondents evaluated 17 sets of fully-randomised fictitious sponsorship proposals constructed using the attributes identified in the previous two studies. Hierarchical Bayes (HB) analysis showed that the degree of fit with brand objectives, the duration of the sponsorship, and the perceived quality of the partner relationship exerted the strongest influence on sponsor preferences. Specifically, sponsors placed the highest value on sponsorships that offered a very high fit with their brand objectives, a one-year agreement, a good partner relationship, were cause-related, had a State-wide reach, involved a title sponsorship, a combination of cash and in-kind payment, and offered print media exposure. Finally, to examine the influence of individual factors (i.e. gender, the level of decision-making authority, and experience in decision-making) on the choice of sponsorship domain (i.e. sport sponsorship, arts sponsorship, cause-related sponsorship, and celebrity endorsement), three sponsorship simulations were conducted as part of Study 3 using Share of Preference modelling. The results showed that cause-related sponsorship was the most strongly preferred domain in each of the three models, whereas celebrity endorsement was the least preferred. While female managers were indifferent to arts or sport sponsorship, male managers showed a strong preference for sport sponsorship over arts sponsorship. Managers were less interested in sport sponsorship than more senior executives. The preferences of managers with the least experience were consistent with those of highly-experienced sponsors. However, managers with 11-15 years experience showed much less interest in sport sponsorship than others. Conceptually, this program of research allowed for the development of a decision-making model that provides the basis for future investigations of sponsorship value. For the practitioner, the results of this research support previous findings about the significance of sponsorship activities having a good fit with the sponsor’s brand objectives. As well, properties with a good reputation for building high-quality sponsorship relationships will find favour with new sponsors.

With the development of technology, the communication between people has changed rapidly. Social media is a type of digital network designed to share content with other internet users based on their preferences and associations. The purpose of this research was to understand how industry press and the professional market place frame social media today. Moreover, this research showed the explored current social media pedagogy in business and communication programs to see if it matches the need of industry expectations. This study was a content analysis of the text-based study that uses a qualitative software-Leximancer to analyze data. The result suggested both industry press and the job market expect professionals to understand the skills of how to master the social media platforms, especially Facebook. Finally, universities offer few courses about social media, with primary objective of marketing and communication programs focusing on teaching students to be professional in business and organizations.

Workplace incidents result in significant human and financial costs. Despite these costs, it is estimated that less than 1% of organisational research focuses on issues concerning occupational health and safety (Barling & Zacharatos, 2000; Reason, 1990). Safety research has begun however to focus increasing attention on understanding the role that the wider organisational context, and in particular the role that safety climate, plays in influencing safety (Barling, Kelloway, & Iverson, 2003; Clarke, 2006a; Cox & Cheyne, 2000; Parker, Axtell, & Turner, 2001; Zohar, 2000). Safety climate refers to safety related policies, procedures and practices that signal the concern for safety (Griffin & Neal, 2000). The aim of the current program of research was to further understanding of the structure, antecedents and cross-level effects of safety climate. Specifically, this research aimed to better understand how organisational factors, and more specifically culture, influence safety climate and safety incidents. This knowledge is important as it assists organisations to purposively engineer stronger climates for safety and in doing so assists them to reduce the number of workplace incidents and accidents. The current program of research consists of three field-based studies. An overview of each study is provided below: Overview Study 1 Study 1 aimed to identify the safety climate schema for a sample of individuals working within the rail industry and explore whether safety climate schemas differ across individuals with and without leadership responsibilities. A proportional number of upper managers (n = 6), supervisors (n = 7) and workers (n = 12) were purposively sampled and interviewed. Interview data was analysed using Leximancer – an advanced computer assisted data mining tool. Results identified 10 emergent themes underlying a safety climate schema – many of these themes aligned closely with common safety climate factors in the academic literature. Results also showed differences between the safety factors that were dominant in the safety climate schemas of upper managers, supervisors and workers: upper managers were more closely associated with themes relating to ‘culture,’ and ‘people’; supervisors were more closely associated with themes relating to ‘corporate values,’ ‘management practices,’ and ‘safety communication’; whereas workers were more closely associated with themes relating to ‘procedures,’ and ‘safety training’. Results are discussed in relation to safety climate theory and in relation to how managers can use this knowledge to better communicate to the specific safety needs of different sub-groups. Overview Study 2 Study 2 aimed to better understand how perceived cultural profiles are related to safety. The Competing Values Framework adopted in this study proposes that four cultural types exist in unison in any organisation. Depending on the demands that are placed on the organisation, each type will be more or less dominant and each organisation will have a specific ‘cultural profile’ reflecting the strengths of each type. A cross-section of individuals (N = 368) working in high risk industries were sampled to identify the relationship between perceived cultural profiles and (1) psychological safety climate and (2) individual safety incidents. Modal Profile Analysis (MPA) identified four commonly perceived cultural profiles across the sample. A one-way MANOVA indicated that individuals who perceived their organisation had a strong human relations profile, or a dual focused human relations-rational goal profile, reported higher safety climate perceptions and fewer safety incidents. Comparably, individuals who perceived their organisation had a strong internal process profile, or a dual focused internal process-rational goal profile, reported lower safety climate perceptions and more safety incidents. These findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical contribution to the safety climate literature, and in relation to the practical importance that culture plays in influencing safety. Overview Study 3 Study 3 aimed to better understand how the culture of an organisation influences safety, and to explore the levels of analysis that are involved in this relationship. Specifically, this study examined the role that an internal process culture played in influencing safety climate; and in turn the mediating role that two sources of safety climate – business-unit safety climate and perceived supervisory safety climate – played in explaining the relationship between culture and individual-level outcomes (incidents, satisfaction and turnover intentions). Results showed that business-unit culture was related to business-unit safety climate; and that business-unit safety climate and perceived supervisory safety climate mediated the relationship between business-unit culture and incidents, satisfaction and turnover intentions. This research adds to the safety climate literature by providing evidence for the multi-level nature of the relationship between culture, safety climate and outcomes.

The expectation that employees of large organisations will work extended working hours (EWH) is a phenomenon of discourse at the societal and organisational levels. This occurs in spite of the detrimental effects that working long hours can have on employees’ mental and physical health and the well-being of their families. This thesis investigates why employees comply with this expectation by focussing on managers and professionals because they are the categories of Australian employees who work the longest hours. Texts derived from a focus group and extended interviews of 30 managers and professionals are analysed and interpreted using a computer-assisted text analysis program, linguistic analysis, and discourse linguistic interpretation. Of particular emphasis is the deontic modality that research participants use to express their obligation to expectation and their attitudes about other organisational imperatives. Also crucial to this research is the agency of the participants in terms of their capacity to make and follow their own decisions. This investigation is informed by critical post-structuralist theory of Foucaultian origin involving a pragmatic distinction between analysis for meaning potential at the text level and context for meaning at the discourse level. This empirical research found that participants commonly feel cognitive dissonance from the contradiction that EWH and work-life balance (WLB) co-exist in their same organisational discourse. This paradox complicates their responses to expectation whether the participants comply or resist. Participants’ agency is therefore judged on their level of reflexivity to these organisational challenges. The professional cohort was found to be more reflexive and thus agentically stronger because their work paths are clearer. They know what work is required and, even though their working hours may be long, they see them purely as the means to achieving prescribed ends. Public sector managers’ work is also extensive but they do not have clear boundaries and thus find the boundaries between work and nonwork non-existent or blurred. Financial service managers are more agentic than public sector managers but less than the professionals. The women in this research relate to work time and life balance differently and less easily than men, particularly those who break for motherhood and / or work part-time. The theory built in this thesis can inform organisations of the ubiquitous presence of the expectation of EWH and the dangers it provides for employees and organisations. It also provides practice guidance to organisations as to how EWH may be common but do not necessarily benefit organisations or their employees. This thesis finds that it is more sensible to support employees’ agency by acknowledging their diversity and giving them choice in determining for how long they should work. This would allow employees to identify and experience obligation to their organisation and their part in negotiated knowledge production.

The expectation that employees of large organisations will work extended working hours (EWH) is a phenomenon of discourse at the societal and organisational levels. This occurs in spite of the detrimental effects that working long hours can have on employees’ mental and physical health and the well-being of their families. This thesis investigates why employees comply with this expectation by focussing on managers and professionals because they are the categories of Australian employees who work the longest hours. Texts derived from a focus group and extended interviews of 30 managers and professionals are analysed and interpreted using a computer-assisted text analysis program, linguistic analysis, and discourse linguistic interpretation. Of particular emphasis is the deontic modality that research participants use to express their obligation to expectation and their attitudes about other organisational imperatives. Also crucial to this research is the agency of the participants in terms of their capacity to make and follow their own decisions. This investigation is informed by critical post-structuralist theory of Foucaultian origin involving a pragmatic distinction between analysis for meaning potential at the text level and context for meaning at the discourse level. This empirical research found that participants commonly feel cognitive dissonance from the contradiction that EWH and work-life balance (WLB) co-exist in their same organisational discourse. This paradox complicates their responses to expectation whether the participants comply or resist. Participants’ agency is therefore judged on their level of reflexivity to these organisational challenges. The professional cohort was found to be more reflexive and thus agentically stronger because their work paths are clearer. They know what work is required and, even though their working hours may be long, they see them purely as the means to achieving prescribed ends. Public sector managers’ work is also extensive but they do not have clear boundaries and thus find the boundaries between work and nonwork non-existent or blurred. Financial service managers are more agentic than public sector managers but less than the professionals. The women in this research relate to work time and life balance differently and less easily than men, particularly those who break for motherhood and / or work part-time. The theory built in this thesis can inform organisations of the ubiquitous presence of the expectation of EWH and the dangers it provides for employees and organisations. It also provides practice guidance to organisations as to how EWH may be common but do not necessarily benefit organisations or their employees. This thesis finds that it is more sensible to support employees’ agency by acknowledging their diversity and giving them choice in determining for how long they should work. This would allow employees to identify and experience obligation to their organisation and their part in negotiated knowledge production.

Brand meaning, which is often used in narrative advertising, is an important value that companies try to build around their loyal consumers. This exploratory research aims to explore brand meanings from consumers’ narratives. This study analyzed 2,382 consumer submitted narratives for a real brand in the food service marketplace. Brand narratives were analyzed using a mixed method content analysis approach by applying Leximancer software to generate key themes and their related concepts. The results indicate brand meaning with some thematic similarities as well as differences when comparing narratives submitted by females and males. This exploratory study introduces analyzing narrative as a way to learn brand meaning and generate future narratives that could be applied to creative message strategy.

This thesis examines policy documents relating to the knowledge society of six Asia-Pacific countries (India, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Fiji and New Zealand). I employ Norman Fairclough’s version of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to explore the discursive construction of knowledge-related policies within a comparative case study methodology. Leximancer – a computer software for text analysis is used to assist in operationalising parts of the CDA. The general conclusions drawn from the study indicate that the evolving knowledge policy discourse in the Asia-Pacific is not based on any robust theoretical framework but on international and country-specific paradigms of the knowledge society. In the policy discourses, the knowledge society is posited as a desired outcome in light of external (global) imperatives - economic globalisation, technological knowledge and innovation flows, and ICT revolution – which are married to context-specific developmental imperatives arising from geography, culture, history and polity. This hybridisation process gives shape to unique knowledge society paradigms of each country. My CDA analysis shows that the ideology of neoliberalism is a key discursive influence on the knowledge society paradigms and is mutated by differences in contexts across different countries. In the discourses, neoliberalism operates via an emphasis on policy restructuring (privatisation, deregulation and liberalisation), and streamlining of governance mechanisms relating to key knowledge and information policy sectors. The resulting knowledge society constructions are context and time-dependent frameworks and exhibit two core arguments of convergence in all the case studies: (1) ICT and Science & Technology as vehicles for knowledge-based development need to grow in an enabling policy environment and; (2) the twin imperatives of globalisation and technological revolution mean that knowledge policy should have a competitive and innovation orientation, and should be continuously readjusted in tune with global economic changes. In addition to convergence, there are two major issues of divergence, namely: (1) emphasis on affirmative action in knowledge-related policies of India, Malaysia, and Fiji; (2) the promotion of cultural production and creative industries in Singapore, New Zealand, and more recently in Korea. The original contribution of this thesis is that it provides a reassessment of the role of neoliberalism in knowledge society. The study is novel both in the selection of the problem and the methodology. Comparative case studies using CDA have not been attempted at the regional scale and not with this level of documentary data. The use of Leximancer improves the management of textual data and increases the validity of the interpretations. A study of this magnitude has not been attempted for the Asia-Pacific region previously. Finally, the conclusions drawn from applying the CDA are both persuasive and creative in terms of analysing policy discourses of the knowledge society.

This thesis examines policy documents relating to the knowledge society of six Asia-Pacific countries (India, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Fiji and New Zealand). I employ Norman Fairclough’s version of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to explore the discursive construction of knowledge-related policies within a comparative case study methodology. Leximancer – a computer software for text analysis is used to assist in operationalising parts of the CDA. The general conclusions drawn from the study indicate that the evolving knowledge policy discourse in the Asia-Pacific is not based on any robust theoretical framework but on international and country-specific paradigms of the knowledge society. In the policy discourses, the knowledge society is posited as a desired outcome in light of external (global) imperatives - economic globalisation, technological knowledge and innovation flows, and ICT revolution – which are married to context-specific developmental imperatives arising from geography, culture, history and polity. This hybridisation process gives shape to unique knowledge society paradigms of each country. My CDA analysis shows that the ideology of neoliberalism is a key discursive influence on the knowledge society paradigms and is mutated by differences in contexts across different countries. In the discourses, neoliberalism operates via an emphasis on policy restructuring (privatisation, deregulation and liberalisation), and streamlining of governance mechanisms relating to key knowledge and information policy sectors. The resulting knowledge society constructions are context and time-dependent frameworks and exhibit two core arguments of convergence in all the case studies: (1) ICT and Science & Technology as vehicles for knowledge-based development need to grow in an enabling policy environment and; (2) the twin imperatives of globalisation and technological revolution mean that knowledge policy should have a competitive and innovation orientation, and should be continuously readjusted in tune with global economic changes. In addition to convergence, there are two major issues of divergence, namely: (1) emphasis on affirmative action in knowledge-related policies of India, Malaysia, and Fiji; (2) the promotion of cultural production and creative industries in Singapore, New Zealand, and more recently in Korea. The original contribution of this thesis is that it provides a reassessment of the role of neoliberalism in knowledge society. The study is novel both in the selection of the problem and the methodology. Comparative case studies using CDA have not been attempted at the regional scale and not with this level of documentary data. The use of Leximancer improves the management of textual data and increases the validity of the interpretations. A study of this magnitude has not been attempted for the Asia-Pacific region previously. Finally, the conclusions drawn from applying the CDA are both persuasive and creative in terms of analysing policy discourses of the knowledge society.