The Role of Enterprise Social Media during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Insights from Leaders' Experience

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted workplaces, with public health orders requiring people to shift their workplaces into their homes. Consequently, many organisations pivoted to online operation and utilised technology such as Enterprise Social Media (ESM) to help manage this transition. In this study we explore leaders' diverse use of ESM during the pandemic, including whether it was used for performance management and how it shaped leaders’ social behaviour. We conducted fifteen semi-structured interviews with leaders in a large Australian University using the ESM technology. Our results explore the nuances of ESM use during this time including how it was used as a social tool, a communication tool, and as an informal means to collect performance data. Interviews also revealed concerns with ESM use such as privacy and information redundancy. Our work advances the Task-Technology Fit (TTF) literature by conceptualising cognitive and affective mechanisms to understand how utilisation moderates TTF outcomes. These mechanisms are contingent on how leaders use ESM and the level of their interactions and engagements. We identify practical implications of ESM use at a time of crisis including leader training, clear guidelines for internal communication, efficient information sharing practices, and informed consent for ESM-related data collection practices

Why women have lower retirement savings : the Australian case

This study provides empirical evidence of the gender gap in retirement savings trajectories using a large longitudinal Australian database. The persistent trend of retirement income policy over recent decades has been to place responsibility for retirement savings accumulation with the individual employee. These plans are fundamentally linked to employment conditions and individual choices, which shape retirement savings trajectories and outcomes. Australia has a mature compulsory system and thus provides insight for countries embarking on similar paths. This study shows that the gender gap in retirement savings is observable from early on in an individual’s paid working life and persists over time, providing evidence that women are disadvantaged early in their careers, with few signs of improvement. Men, in contrast, are overrepresented in the upper quartile of growth in retirement savings. This study provides important empirical evidence for policymakers concerned with gender differences in retirement outcomes

Environmental management accounting and innovation: an exploratory analysis

Purpose – Increased awareness regarding environmental issues has encouraged organisations to use environmental management accounting (EMA), which has been said to deliver many benefits to users, including an increase in innovation. There is, however, little evidence to consubstantiate this claim and thus this paper aims to investigate the issue. It also seeks to examine the role of strategy with EMA use and innovation. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a survey designed and administered to management accountants and financial controllers in large Australian businesses. Findings – The analysis suggests that EMA use has a positive association with process innovation, but not with product innovation. It also finds that the effect of strategy on innovation was driven by the level of commitment to research and development. However, no statistically significant relationship between strategy and EMA use was found. The key driver of EMA use was industry. Research limitations/implications – The small sample size is the most important limitation of this study and affected the statistical power of the analysis conducted. The results need to be interpreted with caution. Practical implications – The study suggests that EMA use is associated with process innovation, implying that economic benefits may be realised by using this technique, while simultaneously enhancing environmental performance. Originality/value – This is the first study to provide cross-sectional evidence of the relationship between strategy, EMA use and innovation. It is also the first to propose a research instrument to measure EMA use as a multi-item construct.Australia, Corportate strategy, Environmental management, Innovation, Management accounting