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Start date: 2022Subject: search.filters.subject.Effect of technological innovations on

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    Corporate labour practices and fintech development : evidence from China : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Finance at Massey University, Manawatu campus, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2025) Chen, Junshi
    This thesis studies corporate labour practices and financial technology (Fintech) development in China and contains six chapters. Chapter one introduces my PhD thesis. It discusses the motivation and contribution for each chapter. Chapter two contains a comprehensive literature review, which systematically reviews the current state of knowledge related to the theory, impact and determinants of employee treatment in the firms, based on a review of 150 research papers. We observe a growing trend of firms enhancing employee treatment, suggesting that employee treatment functions as an important mechanism that enhances firm value. Chapter three investigates the impact of employee medical welfare on firm productivity. We find that such welfare significantly enhances firm performance by improving employees’ psychological security, which increases work efficiency. This effect is more pronounced in non-state-owned firms, firms with a higher proportion of low-skilled employees and lower R&D intensity. Additionally, firms offering better medical welfare demonstrate stronger resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic. These results underscore the role of organizational caregiving (Vijayasingham et al., 2018) and stakeholder theory (Titman, 1984) in shaping firm outcomes. Chapter four investigates the relationship between new financial technology, digital finance (DF), and corporate employee treatment. We find that DF enhances employee conditions through corporate digital transformation and increased demand for skilled labour. This effect is stronger in regions with lower marketization and severe pollution, where disadvantaged firms leverage DF to attract talent. Moreover, government support, corporate governance, and financial flexibility amplify DF’s positive impact. DF also contributes to workforce expansion and long-term firm performance, reinforcing its role in shaping corporate labour strategies in line with human capital theory (Sweetland, 1996). Chapter five presents the last essay focusing on how DF affects people’s fertility behaviour. We find that DF negatively influences birth rates by increasing investment opportunities, promoting consumption-driven individualism, and raising women’s economic independence and opportunity cost of fertility. Notably, only DF coverage significantly reduces birth rates, whereas its depth and digitalization have weaker effects. More importantly, government’s support in education, healthcare, and religious policies can mitigate DF’s adverse impact on fertility. Chapter six concludes by outlining the main findings, the implications of each essay, the limitations of the thesis, and potential avenues for future research.
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    Organisational decision-making processes behind incorporating autonomous task-performing technology and its impact on the future of work : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Management at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2022) Mrowinski, Benjamin Sirius
    In recent years there have been mounting discussions among scholars, business people, governments, and scientists to understand the impact of emerging technologies such as automation and AI and their subsequent impact on the future of work. The concern for the future of work has primarily circulated around predictions estimating that up to half of the workforce, if not more, could be impacted by these technologies by the year 2030. Despite these predictions, there remains a need to understand the impact of emerging technologies on the future of work from the perspective of organisations, which has largely been omitted from previous research into this phenomenon. One of the prominent limitations throughout the literature circulates around the assumption that organisations will adopt these technologies. In light of this, there remains unanswered questions pertaining to the extent in which organisations will use emerging technology and whether adopting this technology inherently leads to job loss. It is vital to develop insights into what drives organisational decision-making processes to adopt these technologies to understand better the relationship between organisations, employees, and emerging technologies. When it comes to understanding the future of work, there remains a distinct difference between the impact on a job task versus an entire job. To address this, Autonomous Task Performing Technology (ATPT) has been adopted throughout this paper to reflect on how emerging technologies can impact employees to different extents. The present study was designed to understand the organisational decision-making process behind adopting ATPT and the subsequent impact on the future of work. Two primary participant groups were identified using purposive sampling with the snowball approach to address this research, which includes a total of 34 top managers and 10 union representatives. The 34 top manager participants are made up of 17 top managers from the public sector and 17 top managers from the private sector representing twenty-two different industries/ line of work across telecommunications, agriculture, finance, healthcare, business, education, transportation, technology, architecture, energy, technical services, engineering, retail, produce, manufacturing, finance, social services, marketing, research, legal, environment, and emergency services. The data with top managers were collected using in-depth semi-structured interviews with an average interview time of just over 1 hour which translated to over 34 hours in total of interview recordings. The 10 union representatives consisted of four participants from the public sector and six from the private sector covering six different industries spanning across finance, education, business, retail, transportation, and healthcare. Data collected with union representatives utilised the critical incident technique to understand the impact of ATPT on employees from incidents where organisations adopted ATPT with an average interview time of over 25 minutes. Although the design of this research was to understand the organisational decision-making processes behind adopting ATPT, it remained critical to understand this phenomenon from both perspectives of top managers and unions. Triangulation was used to compare and analyse the data using thematic analysis with the Framework method between top managers and union representatives. This approach provided valuable insight into how organisations adopt ATPT and how the impact is experienced by employees. The findings from this research place distinct emphasise on how ATPT does not inherently predetermine job loss. Rather, the findings capture the highly variable nature of organisational adoption of ATPT and the subsequent impact on the future of work through the development of the ATPT impact Framework. The ATPT impact Framework was conceptualised through the underpinning of three core themes in this research: organisational drivers behind ATPT adoption, scenarios of ATPT adoption, and the outcome of organisational adoption of ATPT on employees/ and the future of work. Ultimately, the future of work is not determined by the capabilities of ATPT, but rather by the ATPT impact Framework and the ethical responsibility of organisations to use ATPT responsibly. The impact of ATPT on the future of work does not fall on the shoulders of organisations alone, but rather requires an ongoing collaboration and open dialogue between organisations, government, policy makers, scholars, employees and unions to establish a form of good practice and ethical responsibility behind adopting ATPT as society continues to navigate through the challenges of how to effectively use ATPT.
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    From gimmick to game-changer : a study on the use smartphones to expand access to higher education in sub-Saharan Africa : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Information Technology at Massey University, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2022) Okore, Roxanne Hawi
    Today, blended university courses are designed with an unspoken assumption that students will use desktop PCs and laptops for online learning. Recent studies regarding smartphone usage in educational settings explore ways to adapt desktop PC and laptop content for viewing on smartphones; however, the impact of these studies is limited. Smartphones are still subservient to conventional platforms. While this is not an issue in developed countries, it is problematic for developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Only 20% of the population in sub-Saharan Africa own desktop PCs and laptops compared to 80% smartphone ownership. The dearth of these conventional platforms means many learners in sub-Saharan Africa are excluded from the benefits of blended learning. This research took the first steps to explore whether a student who owns a smartphone and does not have access to a desktop PC or laptop can successfully participate in a blended university course. Shaped by the pragmatist philosophical perspective, the research utilised a mixed-methods case study design. The case examined was Tom Mboya University College (TMUC), a Kenyan public university that exclusively offers on-campus courses. The research progressed in four phases: a feasibility study; survey with students (n = 114); interviews with lecturers (n = 17); and beta-testing of a smartphone-supported blended course with students. Results indicate that smartphones could provide a viable learning platform. Key findings identify that TMUC students and lecturers value smartphone-supported learning due to its ability to enhance collaborative learning activities. Furthermore, the results led to the development of a novel framework entitled ‘Smartphone Only Learning Environment’ (SOLE), that provides guidelines on how teachers can deliver blended university courses solely to smartphones.The research implication is three-fold: First, it facilitates introduction of blended learning in extraordinarily resource-constrained public universities of sub-Saharan Africa. Second, it provides the foundations for critical discussions on smartphone-supported online learning policies; notably, discussions about supporting teachers by providing an institution LMS are necessary. Finally, underpinned by the collectivist culture of sub-Saharan Africa, this research showcases opportunities for educators around the world to uncover learning theories that focus on more collaborative forms of blended learning.