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    Essays on corporate social responsibility : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Finance, School of Accountancy, Economics and Finance, Massey University
    (Massey University, 2025-09-18) Zhang, Xiaochi
    This thesis comprises three essays advancing the literature on workplace safety, an important component of corporate social responsibility. The first essay examines how generalist CEOs with transferable managerial skills enhance workplace safety. These executives improve safety by optimizing labor investments, reducing employee workloads, and ensuring higher information quality. The relation is more pronounced among firms facing financing constraints or intense market competition. The study also shows that workplace injuries and illnesses reduce innovation, productivity, and firm value. The second essay explores the impact of shareholder distraction on workplace safety. Distracted shareholders are linked to higher rates of work-related injuries, especially in firms with weak governance and high competition risks. Our findings suggest that reduced monitoring by distracted shareholders leads to lower safety investments, increased workloads, and greater earnings management, resulting in a poorer safety environment. The third essay investigates how the inclusion of general counsel in top management improves employee safety. Firms with general counsel in senior leadership are associated with lower injury and illness rates. The relation is more pronounced for firms with better information quality, more efficient labor investment, leadership by lawyer CEOs, weaker governance structures, and heightened agency problems. Overall, these essays provide new insights into how corporate leadership and governance influence workplace safety. The thesis offers contributions to the literature on workplace safety by addressing critical gaps in existing research. This work extends theoretical frameworks such as upper echelon theory by applying it to the domain of workplace safety. It also underscores the practical implications of aligning leadership capabilities and governance mechanisms to safeguard human capital, ultimately driving sustainable firm performance.
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    Adopting augmented reality to avoid underground utilities strikes during excavation : a thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, School of Built Environment, College of Science, Massey University, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2025) Khorrami Shad, Hesam
    The construction industry constantly pursues innovative methods to improve safety, enhance productivity, and reduce costs and project durations. Augmented Reality (AR) is a promising technology, potentially bringing about transformative changes in construction. AR is a promising technology for visualizing data in construction sites and preventing clashes and accidents. One of its promising applications is in the excavation sector, where accidental strikes on underground utilities pose serious safety risks, delays, and costly damages. However, while AR has gained increasing attention in recent years, its integration into construction practice remains limited. To address this limitation, this research investigates the potential of AR to facilitate identifying underground utility locations through a systematic review, industry engagement, and user-centred experimentation. Initially, a systematic literature review was conducted to explore the current applications of AR in construction safety. This review identified the safety purposes of AR across three project phases: pre-event (e.g., training, safety inspections, hazard alerting, enhanced visualization), during-event (e.g., pinpointing hazards), and post-event (e.g., safety estimation). However, the review also revealed a notable lack of studies focused on AR applications in excavation activities, particularly for underground utility strike prevention. In response, a study was undertaken to understand the needs, expectations, and challenges associated with adopting AR in the excavation sector. 31 professionals from the excavation industry participated in the within-subject experiment, interacting with two AR prototypes, delivered via Optical See-Through (OST) and Video See-Through (VST) devices. The findings indicated a clear preference for AR over traditional methods such as paper-based drawings. Participants showed a preference for VST rather than OST, given their familiarity with VST devices such as tablets. Further, accessibility emerged as the primary barrier to adopting AR within the excavation industry. Building on the literature and industry insights, an experimental study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of different AR visualization methods in underground utility detection. A within-subject experiment involving 60 participants was conducted to compare four of the most cited visualization techniques for underground utilities: X-Ray, Shadow, Cross-Sectional, and a newly developed Combination method. Drawing on the Theory of Affordances and Task Load analysis, the study found that the Combination and X-Ray visualization methods perform superior to the Shadow. These results provide empirical support for the user-centered design of AR visualization techniques in excavation practice. This research contributes to the fields of human-computer interaction, construction safety, and digital technology adoption by advancing the use of AR for underground utility strike prevention. The study shifts the focus of AR from general safety training to real-time, spatial visualization for excavation, offering both theoretical insights and practical applications. Methodologically, it follows a structured mixed-methods approach, combining literature review, industry engagement, and experimental testing. Practically, it identifies user preferences, visualization methods, and key adoption factors such as usability and accessibility. Overall, this thesis fills the gap between emerging AR technologies and their integration into safer excavation practices.
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    The interface between ethical leadership and food safety culture in Aotearoa New Zealand food businesses : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, School of Management, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2025-05-20) Newport-Smith, Wendy
    Measuring, evaluating and improving food safety culture is a priority for Aotearoa New Zealand food businesses. This is driven by the desire to produce food of the highest quality that safeguards consumers, protects the reputation of New Zealand Inc., and meets the requirements of international standards and regulations. This is the first in-depth qualitative investigation into food safety culture and ethical leadership in Aotearoa New Zealand food businesses, including some of this country’s largest food exporters. Using a mixed methods approach this research has provided unique, contemporary understanding and insights, while simultaneously providing a novel contribution to the body of knowledge. Two research workstreams were used; the first a quantitative workstream involving a voluntary survey of manufacturing and distribution employees in New Zealand’s largest food business; a dataset of responses to food safety and ethical leadership questions from 1181 individuals. Using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) applied to Lickert-scale variables, combined with multivariable modelling, this research found a positive relationship between food safety culture and ethical leadership and evidence for differences in responses according to several respondee characteristics. These included associations between PCA coordinates that captured variation in individual responses to food safety and ethical leadership questions, and the supplementary variables: role (e.g. staff or supervisor), site and gender. Ethical leadership has been shown to improve effectiveness, performance and safety at an organisational and individual level. Therefore strategies to improve ethicality across Aotearoa New Zealand food businesses in order to improve food safety culture and ensure safer food outcomes are suggested: consultatively developing organisational values which are well communicated and lived; ensuring ethical considerations when hiring staff; ethical considerations when setting expectations, and in training and mentoring staff and managing performance processes including the use of consequences; and modelling good behaviour, making fair decisions, ensuring open, clear communication and giving employees a voice. While largely positive, the quantitative strand did reveal a level of dissatisfaction with both ethical leadership and food safety culture, suggesting room for improvement. Further research is needed to better understand management’s, supervisors’ and workers’ perspectives on both aspects. The second workstream involved one-on-one semi-structured interviews with 32 founders, owners and senior food safety and quality personnel from 31 Aotearoa New Zealand food companies with thematic data analysis resulting in five key themes: Values; Responsible Stewardship of Natural Resources; Māori Worldview; Ecosystem Pressures and Leadership. The issues identified to be important to Aotearoa New Zealand food businesses include: individual, managerial and organisational values; leadership and management commitment in influencing organisational, food safety and ethical climate and culture; inter-generational value-creation, sustainable practice and acting as kaitiakitanga meaning guardianship or protection. This research has also provided insight into the drivers for and primary challenges related to food safety for Aotearoa New Zealand food businesses. This research has contributed to an up-to-date understanding of the characteristics of ethical leaders in Aotearoa New Zealand, who, according to this study, are humble, honest, respect indigenous Māori values, and are not corrupt. They have a degree of relatedness, care about our natural environment, have a strong sense of identity or place, are collaborative, are fair, and are accountable. Our size, Indigenous Māori worldview, and our geographical isolation contribute to the unique interpretation and application of these leadership characteristics in Aotearoa New Zealand. Several limitations are acknowledged, not the least of which was the context for this research which began at the outset of the global pandemic, with both positive and negative consequences. The use of one, albeit large food business in the quantitative workstream is noted, as is the focus of the participants in the qualitative workstream. Broadening this research to all hierarchical levels in several food businesses would be of benefit, and this is one of a number of research recommendations for the future. The positive correlation between ethical leadership and food safety culture found in this research suggests that maintaining and improving the ethicality of leaders within Aotearoa New Zealand food businesses may positively influence food safety culture and therefore, the production of safer food.
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    Digital vs paper-based checklists in high performance single pilot aircraft : a mixed methods investigation : a 190.895 (60 credit) research report presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Aviation at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2022) Barron, Peter
    The aircraft checklist has been described as the most critical man-machine interface in aviation. Checklists can significantly enhance flight safety when designed well and used properly. The ‘look’ and content of a checklist affects how well pilots interact with it. Emergency checklists in particular, are only accessed during emergency situations, a time of heightened stress and cognitive degradation for the pilot. It is crucial therefore, that emergency checklists are developed with precision and skill to facilitate ease of use during times of stress. A poorly designed checklist can hinder rectification of an emergency situation and can adversely affect flight safety. The aim of this study was to determine whether flying performance is improved, and pilot workload is lower, when using a digital checklist application created specifically for the T-6C Texan II compared with the existing paper-based Quick Reference Handbook (QRH). For this study, twenty pilots from the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) underwent two emergency scenarios in a flight simulator using either the QRH or the digital checklist application. The independent variable was checklist type (paper or digital). Dependent variables were: i) time to find the checklist; ii) time to complete the checklist; iii) flight path accuracy; and iv) workload. Additionally, a qualitative investigation into error occurrences during checklist execution was undertaken. The results suggested that workload is lower when using the digital checklist application compared to the QRH, but there were mixed results regarding the improvement in flying performance with the digital checklist application. The time to find the checklist was quicker with the digital application, but checklist completion times and flight path accuracy were similar across both checklist types. The qualitative investigation noted that the digital checklist reduced errors and was easier to manipulate. The collection of qualitative data enabled the generation of a hypothesis that frequency and type of error occurrences are affected by checklist type. Despite the interface improvements of the digital checklist over the QRH, this research suggests that an enhanced checklist interface is secondary to checklist location or checklist content, and that the greatest gains in safety will likely be achieved by addressing these two factors over checklist interface. This research provides support for an iPad mount in front of the pilot in the T-6C. Additionally, this research provides further evidence that the T-6C checklist content is poorly written and can negatively impact flight safety and may assist in arguing for a content re-write. From a wider perspective, most RNZAF pilots fly with a kneeboard and this research may be relevant for other aircraft types operated by the RNZAF, noting also that other aircraft types are flown by two pilots which may negate some of the findings in this research. Further research should standardise the placement of the checklist to fully determine the relationship between flying performance and checklist type. Additionally, future research could also make use of eye tracking equipment to measure attention switching and could investigate the hypothesis generated from the qualitative data.
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    Slot n' Slide : a concept design for a life jacket for flood events in India : an exegesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Design at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2022) Shaik, Areef
    India endures numerous flood events every year due to its tropical monsoon climate. River delta regions affected by these disaster events are often heavily populated and experience considerable damage and loss of life through drowning. The life jacket currently in use by first responders in India negatively impacts performance with unsatisfactory levels of protection, comfort, and stowage. In addition, these products present fit and usability challenges and lack cultural sensitivity to end-users. This research project addresses the suitability of this life jacket to respond efficiently in an emergency by using a practice-led prototyping investigation to develop a specific flood rescue product that is reflective of the context of use and responsive to the cultural context of India. The outcome of this creative practice research is a ‘slot n slide’ panel life jacket inspired by the traditional Indian sari. This conceptual design accommodates a diverse range of body anthropometry in a one-size-fits-all solution, achieved by an innovative inter-panel strapping system with integrated side adjustments. This concept provides new and perceivable benefits, including improvements in utility for first responders, single product deployment, efficient stowage and provisioning with easier donning and doffing, broad size accommodation, and a single adjustment strap, improving usability for end-users.
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    An exploratory analysis of the factors impacting on Chinese consumer trust in lactic acid bacteria preserved beef and its mediation impact on purchase intention : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirement of the degree Masters in Agricommerce, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) Chen, Jinya
    Every year, worldwide, millions of people die and many are hospitalized due to food-borne diseases and illnesses caused by the consumption of contaminated food. Food safety has continued to be a concern for consumers, the food industry, and regulatory agencies. In China, there is almost a constant stream of reports about various food safety issues. Chinese consumers are concerned about the need for healthier and safer food. The development of science has provided more opportunities and possibilities to change the way we live. However, consumers’ overall confidence in Chinese food is not high and they are increasingly skeptical about new food. This research focuses on a new and not yet launched biological food, Lactic Acid Bacteria preserved vacuum-sealed chilled beef (LAB beef), as an example to examine what factors would have a significant correlation with consumers’ trust in this product and to examine if trust is the key factor impacting on consumers’ purchase intention. In order to complete the study objectives, a self-completed social survey was conducted in Shanghai City and Chengdu City, totaling 514 respondents. The analysis methods used included a measure of correlation, Gamma, principal component analysis and structural equation modeling. SPSS, Excel and Amos software were used. One outcome of this research was the finding that a number of socio-demographic factors were not strongly correlated with consumer trust in LAB beef, unlike some previous research that found such relationships with trust in new food technologies. Personal beef consumption habits, consumers’ past purchase experience with current used beef, products, product knowledge and food safety concerns based on their awareness, experience and media exposure were found to be important in establishing trust in LAB beef. The second outcome of this research is the confirmation of the importance of trust in determining consumers’ willingness to buy LAB beef, as well as the confirmation of the mediation effect of trust in explaining the underlying causal relationship between a number of independent variables and the dependent variable, willingness to buy.
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    Achieving effective traceability systems for the domestic fresh produce industry in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Food Technology at Massey University, Albany Campus, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) Gao, Jiaojiao
    A reliable and effective traceability system is important to the food industry especially when a foodborne illness outbreak occurs. In particular, fresh fruit and vegetables are highly perishable, fragile, seasonal, diverse products with relatively short shelf life, thereby making their value chain complex and fast-paced. Hence, the traceability system in the fresh produce industry becomes critical in the event of a food crisis where products need to be tracked and traced in a timely manner. The objective of this study was to investigate current traceability systems in the fresh produce industry in New Zealand and also to explore potential improvement in the traceability system along the domestic supply chains. There were four different methods applied in this study: observation of traceability information available on fresh produce products, interviews with industry participants using a questionnaire, survey strategy by means of a questionnaire that was sent to growers, and a pilot study using GS1 technology to examine a modelled traceability system in two supply chains of strawberries. There were 336 fresh produce samples observed for traceability information analysis throughout the supply chain. Four growers, three wholesalers and one retailer from the fresh produce industry participated the face to face interviews. The questionnaire developed in the survey was sent to 578 growers with 40 of them responded and answered. Two pallets of strawberries were selected and GS1 (Global Standards One) barcodes and systems were used in the pilot study to track and trace each strawberry punnet throughout the supply chains. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from produce traceability data samples, interviewed industry stakeholders, surveyed growers, and the pilot study to generate empirical information on traceability systems along fresh produce supply chains in New Zealand. Subsequently, data were analysed using quantitative tools such as frequency distributions, Chi-Square test (X2) and Fisher’s Exact test, and qualitative descriptions in this study. The findings show that fragmentation of product traceability information, lack of standardisation in data format and information asymmetry exist in the domestic fresh produce industry. As only a ‘one-up, one-down’ traceability system for food businesses is required by regulators in New Zealand, industry players intend to solely focus on their own or internal needs without recognising the importance of an industry-wide traceability system in the fresh produce supply chain. The findings pose a question mark as to whether or not the ‘one-up, one-down’ traceability requirement is sufficient for the fresh produce industry. The findings also indicate that an effective and efficient external traceability system throughout the fresh produce value chain in New Zealand is feasible to implement by industry-wide cooperation from growers, packers, transporters and receivers/buyers. This study fills the gap found in the literature where few academic papers focused attention on traceability systems in the fresh produce industry in New Zealand.
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    Microbiological and chemical risk assessments of the addition of selected cereal grains as non-dairy ingredients to dairy products : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Food Technology at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) Fatima, Fitry
    Food poisoning cases involving non-dairy ingredients such as cereal grains have been reported. The addition of cereal grains to dairy products in the dairy industry has increased in recent years. This has the potential to contaminate final products with pathogenic, spoilage and toxic chemical contaminants. In this study, the microbial and chemical risks involved in the addition of cereal grains to dairy products were assessed using semi- quantitative risk assessment method. The results showed that the most critical microbiological hazard in the selected cereal grains is Bacillus cereus due to its ability to form spores and persist in cereal grains. The addition of cereal grains to dairy products with high water activity/moisture content such as liquid breakfast products were found to pose the highest risk. Cyanogenic glycosides (hydrocyanic acid) were found to be the most critical chemical hazard among natural plant toxins in selected cereal grains due to their adverse health effects and abundance in most cereal grains. The addition of cereal grains to dairy products with high solid content was found to pose a very low risk. The results have identified some knowledge gaps in conducting risk assessments and have also provided background information about the microbial and chemical risks involved in the addition of cereal grains to dairy products. The results highlight the importance of effective implementation of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP), Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and Good Hygienic Practices (GHP) in the dairy industry.
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    Modelling earthquake hazard preparedness during recovery in Nepal : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Emergency Management at Massey University, School of Psychology, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2018) Adhikari, Mina
    Preparedness is a vital component of disaster risk reduction (DRR), but more often communities fail to prepare for disasters adequately. Theory-based approaches have found prominence for helping to identify the factors that drive preparedness behaviour of the population. However, there has been a limited empirical validation of these theories of preparedness in post-disaster recovery contexts. Further, their application has been mostly limited to culturally individualistic and developed countries, and there is a great need for their application in the setting of developing countries where disaster impacts are often most severe. This study, therefore, aimed to investigate the preparedness of a population in a post-disaster recovery scenario in a developing country. A mixed method research design with a household questionnaire survey (n=306) followed by a follow-up qualitative study driven by semi-structured interviews (n=11) was adopted to conduct this study. The outcomes of the study include 1) development of a conceptual model predicting earthquake hazard preparedness after reviewing the existing theories and models applied in the setting of natural hazards; 2) empirical validation of the proposed conceptual model predictions by analysing quantitative data collected through household survey conducted in two villages in Dhading district, of central Nepal; 3) identification of factors and processes underlying people’s decisions related to recovery efforts and preparedness to future events in a post-disaster context derived by developing a hierarchical value map from the qualitative interview data. The quantitative findings from the survey data justify the capability of the proposed model to assess the interaction of individual, community and institutional factors to predict household’s intentions to prepare in a post-disaster recovery scenario. Furthermore, the qualitative findings support the quantitative findings and provide evidence for the influence of socio-cultural values of Nepalese society on household preparedness decision-making during post-disaster recovery. The qualitative findings also provide evidence of additional predictors those need to be considered in future modelling of preparedness. Further, the qualitative findings show that people’s preparedness decisions and recovery efforts are influenced by personal beliefs, community efforts, and community and institutional collaborations during the post-disaster recovery period. Understanding of population preparedness in a post-disaster recovery is limited in both developed and developing countries. Thus this research makes a significant contribution to the body of knowledge on population preparedness in the post-disaster context in a developing country. The findings further contribute to any future study on developing theoretical foundations for the preparedness of populations in both developed and developing countries. The application of the outcomes of this study is evident as it is already cited for its theoretical, and methodological rigour.
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    Solvent neurotoxicity in vehicle collision repair workers : a thesis by publications presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Public Health, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2018) Keer, Samuel John
    Previous studies have shown that vehicle collision repair workers may be at risk of solvent-induced symptoms of neurotoxicity. Changes in industry practices have likely resulted in reduced exposure, but little research has been conducted to assess whether this has reduced the risk of neurotoxicity. This thesis describes a series of studies, which aimed to assess: i) contemporary airborne solvent exposures in collision repair workers; ii) the determinants of airborne solvent exposures; iii) the prevalence of self-reported symptoms of neurotoxicity and objectively measured neuropsychological performance, compared to an unexposed reference group; iv) dose-response associations; and v) the effect of personal protective equipment (PPE) and good workplace hygiene on symptom prevalence. In total, 370 vehicle collision repair and 211 construction workers (reference group) were recruited. Personal airborne solvent exposure was assessed in 85 collision repair workers, and information on demographics, work practices and symptoms was collected by questionnaire. A sub-group of 47 collision repair and 51 reference workers also completed a battery of neuropsychological tests. Full-shift, airborne exposures were well below New Zealand and international occupational exposure limits (range, 0.04 – 16.5 ppm). Job title was the strongest predictor of exposure, and non-spraying tasks (e.g. mixing paint and cleaning equipment) were associated with higher exposures than spray painting itself. Collision repair workers reported significantly more symptoms of neurotoxicity than the reference group, with odds ratios (ORs) of 2.0, 95% CI 1.3-3.3; 2.4, 1.2-4.8; and 6.4, 1.8-23.0, for reporting ≥5, ≥10 and ≥15 symptoms, respectively. They also performed more poorly on neuropsychological tests, particularly those that measure attention/concentration and motor speed/dexterity (e.g. reference vs. collision repair group score on the RBANS total attention scale, -9.5, 95% CI, -15.9, -2.8). Consistent use of PPE (particularly gloves) and good workplace hygiene practices were strongly protective against symptoms, with reductions in risk of up to 90% for those who most consistently wore PPE. In conclusion, despite relatively low airborne exposure levels, collision repair workers continue to be at risk of solvent-induced neurotoxicity. These findings provide a strong evidence-base for the development and implementation of intervention programmes to reduce solvent exposures and associated morbidity in this population.