Melbourne Business School

About: Melbourne Business School is a based out in . It is known for research contribution in the topics: Bayesian probability & Copula (probability theory). The organization has 155 authors who have published 764 publications receiving 37402 citations.

The Land that Richard Jefferies Inherited

Abstract: This article comprises the annual Birthday Lecture of the Richard Jefferies Society as it was delivered in October, 2004. The text sketches the economic, social and environmental history of Jefferies' period (the 1860s, 1870s and 1880s), drawing inter alia on his works and referring especially to his home district in north-east Wiltshire. It alludes, firstly, to the fortunes and environmental effects of both intensive and ‘tumbledown’ arable farming. Second, it describes the creation of sporting estates and the letting of sporting rights as swift responses by some landowners to falling cereal prices. Third, the text points to under-investment in education and non-agricultural activities as hampering adjustment to the depression, and shows that Jefferies was a free trader who grasped that rapid and extensive food importation and labour emigration would have been a proper response. A related paper, Eric L. Jones, ‘Richard Jefferies’ Writing Criticised and Defended', is to appear in the Richard Jefferies Society Journal in April, 2005.

Inertia and Discounting in the Selection of Socially Responsible Investments: An Experimental Investigation

Abstract: Socially responsible investment funds (SRIs) have grown dramatically as an investment alternative in most of the developed world This is an important development from a managerial perspective since the criteria used to qualify for inclusion in these funds could influence the decisions and behaviors of managers with regards to their CSR practices However, little is known about how investors select SRI funds and how they allocate their investments in these funds This study uses a structured experimental approach to determine if the decision-making process of investors to invest in SRIs is consistent with the decision-making used for conventional investments Our theoretical framework draws on two widely studied concepts in the decision-making and investment literature, namely, inertia and discounting For our 704 respondents we find that inertia plays a significant role in the selection of SRI funds and that they systemically discount the value of SRIs Furthermore, the level of discounting of SRIs was positively related to the risk level of the investments Our results suggest that SRIs need to be designed to cater to the risk/return profiles of investors and that these investors need to be better informed about the performance of SRIs versus conventional investments in order to reduce their systematic discounting

Conflicting Social Motives in Negotiating Groups

Abstract: Negotiating groups composed of 4 members with different social motives were examined to determine the impact of social motive composition on negotiation behavior. Theories of negotiation, experimental games, and group altruism were used to develop hypotheses regarding how social motive composition influences negotiation strategies and how negotiation strategies change over time. 36 groups in 5 composition conditions (all cooperatives; 3 cooperatives/1 individualist; 2 cooperators/2 individualists; 1 cooperator/3 individualists; all individualists) were coded for negotiation behavior. Results showed that social motive composition influenced use of negotiation strategies. Supporting expectations derived from the experimental games literature, groups that included one or more individualistic members used relatively more distributive strategies than did groups composed of all cooperative members. Supporting negotiation theory, the more cooperative members in the group, the more integrative information was exchanged. Use of negotiation strategies also changed over time. Distributive strategies peaked at the beginning of the negotiation and gradually decreased. Integrative strategies increased significantly at the midpoint of the group meeting. Groups composed of equal numbers of cooperatives and individualists appeared to be the least likely to experience this transition.

Choosing Your Words Carefully: Managing 'Face' During On-Line Dispute Resolution

Abstract: We use politeness theory to predict how language may affect dispute resolution between sellers and buyers of goods purchased on-line. We expect that negative face threats will have a stronger impact than positive face threats on subjects in individualistic cultures, but that the reverse would be true for subjects in collectivist cultures. We report results of our first study, an experiment conducted through eLab focused on Americans. As predicted, negative face attacks by the seller have a stronger impact than positive face attacks on buyer's willingness to do business again with that seller. Data will also be collected from a collectivistic culture shortly.