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The introduction of New Public Management (NPM)‐inspired reforms in the public sector in the 1990s saw a big leap in public–private outsourcing partnerships in public service delivery; however, many of these have failed, resulting in backsourcing. Although effective governance of the ongoing relationship between outsourcing partners is arguably key to a successful partnership, the findings as to the optimal type of relationship between two main governance mechanisms – contractual and relational – remain inconclusive. Adopting Huber et al.'s dynamic perspective of governance mechanism interplay as a research framework, this paper empirically investigates the interplay in two problematic outsourcing public–private partnerships, that is the delivery of services has been backsourced or considered to be backsourced. Our data confirm the existence of a dynamic interplay between contractual and relational governance. The findings, however, do not represent a perfect fit with Huber et al.'s conceptualizations, signalling the significance of our research as to a more diverse and complicated group of interactions. Our analysis also reveals the potential interference of additional contextual factors in the interplay. Further research that explores and tests these contextual factors is warranted. The optimal relationship between the two main governance mechanisms: contractual and relational, remains inconclusive. This research, adopting Huber et al.'s (2001) dynamic perspective of governance mechanism interplay, examines the pattern and nature of the interplay between contractual and relational governance in Australia healthcare public‐private partnerships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Isolating the impact of policy, demographic shifts, and market volatility on changes in income inequality is of great interest to policymakers. However, such estimation can be difficult due to the complex interactions and evolutions in the social and economic environment. Through an extended decomposition framework, this paper estimates the effect of four main components (policy, demography, market income and other factors) on the year‐over‐year changes in income inequality in Australia between 2002 and 2016. This was a period marked by substantial policy, population, and economic shifts due to factors such as the mining boom, the global financial crisis and increasing immigration. The framework also incorporates a flexible non‐parametric market income model which captures demand‐side shock better than a standard parametric model. Our results suggest that market income was the primary driver of income inequality for all segments of the income distribution in Australia over the past 15 years. Policy factors, moreover, have had the largest net impact on reducing inequality overall, especially for lower income earners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a range of archival and published sources including field notes, photographs and drawings, this paper investigates the social relationships formed between Ngaanyatjarra families and a small group of scientists in the presence of cameras during a 3-week ethnographic research expedition to the Warburton Range in 1935. The impression left by the ethno-historical record is that, despite disparate norms around looking behaviours, a degree of familiarity was quickly established that enabled intimate acts of filming and photography. And yet the inter-subjectivity that facilitated such photography was deliberately obscured when the images produced were subsequently disseminated to outside audiences, in effect reinstating social distance and turning Aboriginal familiars back into strangers. Recent reconsiderations of the figure of 'the stranger' (Simmel 1999; Marotta 2012) and an extensive literature on the relationship between anthropological knowledge and photography (Edwards 1992, 2001) help to unpack what this sociality reveals about belonging, identity and the representative reach of photographic mediums. A series of crayon drawings by the expedition's young Aboriginal guide points to the limits of the social categories assumed for Ngaanyatjarra people by these scientists. In their place is found complex contemporary Aboriginal identities that were simultaneously modern and traditional, embedded in evolving intergenerational social frameworks that have endured until today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an attempt to develop the notion of the 'intercultural' suggested in Caging the Rainbow (Merlan 1998), a book which dealt with the situation of Aboriginal people in a north Australian town. I explore possible implications for this notion of work done in the name of structural history; of some of the ideas of Pierre Bourdieu; and of V.N. Voloshinov (and/or M.M. Bakhtin). All these approaches were developed against the background of structuralism, and all struggle with problems of conceptualizing process and the dynamics of interaction. I suggest that especially Voloshinovian notions of the fundamentally dialogical aspects of interaction offer some interesting perspectives for our treatment of central issues of difference, boundedness and change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that recruitment and promotion within the Australian Public Service (APS) have historically exemplified the practice of 'social closure'. Three periods of AP'S staff selection that correspond to what Halligan and Power identify as the bureaucratist/technicist, administrationist and political management models of executive branch regime are identified. Social closure in each instance was based on educational credentials or lack thereof. These practices have been justified in terms of various 'ideologies of promotion'. Such ideologies tend to reflect the ideal or material interests of social groups rather than the skill requirements of administrative work. The current form of social closure based on economics degrees illustrates this phenomenon. Accordingly, greater recognition of the value of non-economics degrees is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The session on tax system governance at the October 2011 Tax Forum represented an opportunity to build on the strong foundations, laid down by the Henry Review, for a citizen-centric approach to the management of the interactions between individuals and firms and the agencies charged with responsibility for the administration of the tax and transfer system. This article suggests that despite the goodwill brought to the discussions by all concerned, little consensus emerged at the Forum on the key issues of how best to manage the complexity of modern tax and transfer systems or on what form of external scrutiny might be most appropriate for the tax administration in the Australian context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduces the August 2005 issue of the "International Journal of Psychology" which deals with the topic "Social psychology around the world: Origins and subsequent development". Research on indigenous psychologies; Examination of the origins of the development of social psychology in three developed world countries of Australia, Canada, and Europe.

The newcomers' situation necessarily involves change and a variety of adjustment processes, in this situation the self may come into question and become an object of conscious reflection and definition. This paper focuses on the processes of change and continuity in the newcomer's self concept during the first year after moving to a new locale. Data are drawn from a broader longitudinal study of 30 newcomer families in an Australian city and are interpreted from a symbolic interactionist perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Background: Multiple common challenges exist for medical students transitioning to regional clinical placements, including a relative paucity of well‐being skills required for the promotion of work–life integration. Beginning Education at Central Coast Hospitals (BEACCHES) is an immersive orientation programme aimed at negotiating this transition and promoting student well‐being through improved social connectedness. The programme was evaluated with the objectives of understanding the most highly valued and effective components. Method: BEACCHES is offered to medical students commencing regional clinical placement at the Central Coast Medical School, Australia. The programme emphasises teamwork and self care, and promotes multidirectional interaction among peers, staff and the local community. A specific well‐being forum is an essential component of the programme. An evaluation of the inaugural programme was performed using semi‐structured surveys with a mixed‐method analysis of quantitative data (pre‐ and post‐programme knowledge and confidence scores) and qualitative data (emergent themes). Results: Knowledge acquisition significantly improved across all domains. Importantly, this included items that could positively impact on well‐being, including: knowledge of psychological first aid (p = 0.01), student support services (p < 0.01), connectedness with fellow students and staff (p < 0.01), and self‐management of health and workload (p = 0.01). Qualitative analysis also revealed substantial support for the importance of interaction with peers and staff outside of the formal education setting. According to the Australian Medical Association, medical schools' responsibilities include incorporating curricula designed to improve stress management Conclusion: Our survey results indicated that BEACCHES has the potential to foster student well‐being through targeted orientation and engagement to enhance connectedness. We highlight the value of embedding an interactive experiential programme for students beginning a new regional clinical placement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysing the dynamic evolution of a scholarly field requires an understanding of the social interactions within its community as well as the impact of the written word. Influence might diffuse through mentoring, graduate supervision, seminar discussion, and management roles. To date, our knowledge of the growth of economic history in Australia after 1945 draws heavily upon the impact of a number of key publications. We interview a broad selection of academics who worked in the field of Australian economic history, approximately 1950-90, to provide a fuller understanding of the evolution of this interdisciplinary field. Our results confirm, complement and, in some cases, challenge conventional views. © 2016 Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which aims to examine the opinions of aged care residents with mild cognitive decline and their families about interdisciplinary student placements in the residential aged care facilities (RACF) in Tasmania. The study used a mixed methods design and participants have completed a questionnaire on the quality of life of residents. Results showed that different benefits of students provided care in RACFs had experienced by residents and their families.

This study addresses calls for closer examination of board dynamics by offering an inside view of director interactions. Video observations of three board meetings at each of two Australian corporations matched with director interviews and secondary data reveal distinct patterns of director interactions, their sources of variation and their impact on perceived board effectiveness. The data reveal that director interactions are multidimensional and dynamic: while group interactions across agenda items are similar, with a few directors leading the discussion, the contributing directors change across items. Moreover, directors' inclusiveness and evenness of participation are associated with higher perceptions of board effectiveness. Lastly, the study found that director interactions change with the nature of the items, board climate and board meeting arrangements. The study contributes to the literature by moving beyond the individual-level analysis of directors' skills or independence, and offering a detailed view of how the joint group and individual dimensions of board dynamics affect board functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The word 'envy' directs attention to feelings and cognitions that are especially important sources of information in our complicated sociality. As it is delimited by philosophers, economists, psychologists and others, envy is conceptually nested within a family that includes evil eye beliefs, inequity aversion, strong reciprocity and social comparison. Although the accumulation of work in these areas is substantial, anthropological treatments of envy are rare. Given repeated assertions of envy's universality and its potential importance for understanding widespread aspects of the human condition, a comparative eye seems essential. I present an account of 'jealous' in Aboriginal Australia via a framework that casts emotions as emerging from the interaction of psychobiological and sociocultural processes. According to this perspective, 'envy' should not be regarded as an invariant human condition but rather as a Western version of what, in a more generic human form, may both defend the individual and the larger sociality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the basis of their cognitive abilities, children with Asperger syndrome are attractive candidates for inclusive education and, in Australia, most are in integrated settings. However, social interaction between children with Asperger syndrome and their peers remains problematic, with the children with Asperger syndrome often being left alone despite being among or near classmates. For classroom teachers, effective interventions in terms of class management are critical to facilitate positive social interaction between these two groups of children, and case studies can tell us a great deal about what works. In practice, a combination of intervention techniques may be best, in case a single one is ineffective, and in order to take advantage of potential synergies. In this article, Serene Choi, of the School of Education at the University of Newcastle (Australia) and Timo Nieminen, of the Centre for Biophotonics and Laser Science in the Department of Physics at the University of Queensland, report a naturalistic multiple-component intervention used to develop the social skills of a boy with Asperger syndrome in a mainstream school in Australia. This combined intervention, making use of social stories, simple peer modelling and individual lessons, appears to be a practical teaching method for inclusive education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A social identity framework was employed to understand why people support the exclusionary treatment of refugee claimants (‘asylum seekers’) in Australia. Over and above individual difference effects of social dominance orientation and individuals' instrumental threat perceptions, insecure intergroup relations between citizens and asylum seekers were proposed to motivate exclusionary attitudes and behaviour. In addition, perceived procedural and distributive fairness were proposed to mediate the effects of social identity predictors on intergroup competitiveness, serving to legitimise citizens' exclusionary behaviours. Support for these propositions was obtained in a longitudinal study of Australians' social attitudes and behaviour. Small and inconsistent individual-level effects were noted. In contrast, after controlling for these variables, hostile Australian norms, perceived legitimacy of citizen status, and threatening socio-structural relations were strongly and consistently linked to intentions to support the harsh treatment of asylum seekers, and exclusionary attitudes and action at Time 2. Moreover, perceived procedural and distributive justice significantly mediated these relationships. The roles of fairness and intergroup socio-structural perceptions in social attitudes and actions are discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of intercultural relations, the boundaries between dominant and subordinated communities are constructed in a variety of ways. Language frames, or discourses, understood from a sociological rather than a linguistic perspective can be considered to constitute one of the main processes for determining the character of intercultural boundaries. Using this theoretical perspective, this article examines a number of discourses that have contributed to the construction of social relations between Australian Aborigines and the dominant nonindigenous cultural groups in Australia. Examples from the colonial period show the way in which indigenous people were oppressed along racial boundaries, even as they resisted, while more recent instances chart the process of indigenous people in renegotiating social relations and in asserting the process of self-determination and cultural celebration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cohesion among nurses: a comparison of bedside vs. charge nurses’ perceptions in Australian hospitals Aim. This study examines the extent to which hospital nurses view their working environment in a positive sense, working as a cohesive group. Background. Despite the fact that nursing in Australia is now considered a profession, it has been claimed that nurses are an oppressed group who use horizontal violence, bullying and aggression in their interactions with one and other. Methods. After ethical approval, a random sample of 666 nurses working directly with patients and all 333 critical care nurses employed in three large tertiary Australian hospitals were invited to participate in the study in the late 1990s. A mailed survey examined the perceptions of interaction nurses had with each other. The hypothesis, that level of employment (either Level I bedside nurses or Level II/III clinical leaders) and area of work (either critical care or noncritical care) would influence perceptions of cohesion, as measured by the cohesion amongst nurses scale (CANS) was tested. Results. In total 555 (56%) surveys were returned. Of these, 413 were returned by Level I and 142 by Level II/III nurses. Of this sample, 189 were critical care and 355 noncritical care nurses. There was no difference between Level I and II/III nurses in mean CANS scores. It is interesting to note that the item rated most positively was ‘nurses on the units worked well together’, however, the item rated least positive was ‘staff can be really bitchy towards each other’ for both Level I and II/III nurses. There was no difference in CANS scores between critical care and noncritical care nurses. Conclusions. Nurses working in Australian hospitals perceived themselves to be moderately cohesive but, as would be expected in other work settings, some negative perceptions existed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]