Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Queensland Police Service'

Police high-speed vehicular pursuits are contentious due to lives lost and property damage resulting from unintended crashes. To reduce pursuit-related trauma, and potential litigation, police jurisdictions have introduced restrictive policies that limit when officers may engage in a pursuit. However, opponents of restrictive pursuit policies believe this results in reduced deterrence, increased criminal offending and dangerous driving practices. This thesis tested these assumptions using a single case study of Queensland, Australia, where the Queensland Police Service (QPS) implemented two restrictive pursuit policy iterations in 2007 and 2011. Five studies sought to establish the policies’ specific aims; whether they were achieved; if there was resistance to the policy reforms; and, if so, what were the rationales for such resistance. The major theoretical contribution of this thesis was to support the notion that Dent and Goldberg’s (1999a; 1999b) Loss Resistance Theory can help explain why police might resist policy reform. Loss Resistance Theory argues that change per se is not the root cause for resistance to performance altering policies, but stakeholders’ perceived losses in terms of their autonomy, status, and independent discretion, resulting from the policy change. Lipsky’s (2010) Discretionary Independence Theory applied to police officers acting as ‘street-level bureaucrats’ (Lipsky, 2010), provided an additional theoretical platform to test policy limitations on officers’ decision-making. Several other theories were derived from the literature and used to assist data collection and provide focus to the analysis. These included Classical Deterrence Theory, as derived from Hobbes (1651), Beccaria (1764/1872) and Bentham (1780/1988), that was tested relative to alterations in offending behaviour. Moore’s Public Value Theory (1995), that explains public acceptance of authority and coercion is judged against citizens’ expectations for justice, fairness, efficiency, and effectiveness, provided an opportunity to explore external policy acceptance and/or resistance. Cohen and Felson’s (1979) Routine Activity Theory proposes that for a crime to be successfully committed, the three necessary elements are a motivated offender, the availability of a suitable target, and the absence of a capable guardian. The theory was tested by analysis of crime patterns and offending behaviours where police guardianship may have been affected by the policy restrictions. The research began with study 1, a documentary archival search and analysis spanning the pre-policy years from 1989 to 2006, that sought to confirm the intent of Queensland’s restrictive pursuit policies. Applying a One Group Pretest/Posttest Design method, using official QPS data from 2003 to 2015, study 2 then explored changes in pursuit frequencies, and associated trauma, before and after each policy iteration. Study 3 used the same method to test changes in frequency and rate of selected offence categories. Study 4 analysed operational reports to identify policy noncompliance that may infer resistance. And, finally, study 5 analysed interview responses from fifteen operational police officers. Findings from study 1 reveal the primary intent of the policies was to reduce the number of deaths associated with police pursuits. Study 2 found that both restrictive policies reduced pursuit-related trauma, as intended. Crime classes tested in study 3 all showed reductions to varying degrees, except evasion offences, which increased exponentially. Early policy resistance was evident from the results of study 4 but diminished over time. The results of studies 4 & 5 found early resistance to the restrictive policies was predicated on officers’ fears of potential loss to their autonomy, independent decision-making capacity, and operational feasibility. This research established that restrictive police pursuit policies did not contribute to increases in the general road death toll due to any lack of road policing enforcement, as predicted in the literature. And, except for evasion offences, they did not facilitate increased crime where the use of a vehicle is either mandatory or desirable for the successful completion of the offence. With the passing of time, and the negation of pre-empted outcomes, resistance is now largely eliminated. However, police officers reportedly continue to resist applying the evasion offence policy requirements, while in their view prosecutors and magistrates fail to adhere to the relevant legislation. Future researchers may wish to test the findings in an alternative jurisdiction to establish if the results can be equally observed and replicated. However, the findings imply that police administrators contemplating policy reform should focus greater attention and resources on ongoing training investment before and after policy implementation. Their goal should be to ensure officers are thoroughly versed in the organization’s aims, so that policies may be fully embraced by operational and prosecutorial staff, while assuaging any perceived losses from the outset, particularly to officers’ status and authority.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Crim & Crim Justice
Arts, Education and Law
Full Text

Most corruption research is into what causes corruption, rather than how it functions, on institutional causal factors rather than how it works. There are strong practical reasons for this, given the difficulty in gaining reliable data about actual corruption. The political economy model of corruption is the most influential, coherent and popular. It describes corruption in terms of “rent seeking" behaviour by “rational optimisers”, and has the advantage of access to political economy tools and concepts such as game theory and principal agent theory. This thesis contests the assumptions of the rational choice influences on the political economy approach, using evidence from an in—depth case study of corruption in the Queensland Police Force between 1960 and 1987. The results show that the corrupt network in the Queensland Police Force involved highly complex social behaviour that displayed many “non rational” characteristics. Far from being rational optimisers focused on material benefits, corrupt network members were found to be willing to accept small material or non material rewards, even though their behaviour involved significant personal risk. Corrupt network members were also found to highly value social interactions and belonging to the corrupt network as a group. This is not to say that individuals in the corrupt network did not seek corrupt payments, as a large amount of cash was actually involved. However, the evidence shows that a very small number of “inner sanctum” power holders received a hugely disproportionate amount of the money while bearing disproportionately less of the risk. Corruption has to be holistically understood as an outcome of continuously functioning networks rather than as an episode with a distinct beginning and end. Using the data from the Queensland Police Force corrupt network, this thesis examines the nature of interactions between all the corrupt network actors using some of the tools and methodology of social network analysis. The evidence suggests that corrupt police networks are self contained and highly adaptive to threatsand opportunities from their environment. The network has a shape and function that transcends individuals, even though in the case of the Queensland Police Force corrupt network certain individuals were clearly important to its successful operation. The network is highly flexible and resilient, able to maintain itself while reducing activity even during periods of sustained external threat, and also to efficiently increase activity and access to resources when the environment is more favourable. The corrupt network is able to achieve these outcomes, both through using directly corrupt interactions between actors in the corrupt network, and other interactions that bear little relation to traditional conceptions of corruption. In particular this thesis finds that considerable energy is expended by corrupt network members in conducting interactions that: protect the network from external attack using network resources; promote the network to grow in directions that give it greater control of relevant resources; are of a social nature; and, promote the development of influence relations, access to resources, the swapping of information and the trading of favours. In fact, referring to a corrupt network underestimates the complexity of its interaction with its environment. The corrupt network within the Queensland Police Force interacted with several self contained networks that had links with each other: the corrupt police network; the criminal milieu; and, the adjacent influence network. The inter—relationships between all three networks were crucial to the operation of the police corrupt network, which at its highest point was receiving over $56,000 a month in corrupt payments from criminals. The evidence shows that without links to the criminals the corrupt conduct could not occur, but that links to the adjacent influence network were also highly important to corrupt network operation. The adjacent influence network consisted of a socially connected group of actors from Queensland’s primary social institutions including: the political sphere (and in particular the ruling National Party); the judiciary; and, the media. Access to powerholders in these institutions allowed the corrupt network to receive information and resourCes, thus ensuring it could protect and sustain itself over a long period of time. Anti-corruption measures need to take into account these social and network characteristics of corruption to be successful.

Police work tasks are diverse and require the ability to take command, demonstrate leadership, make serious decisions and be self directed (Beck, 1999; Brunetto & Farr-Wharton, 2002; Howard, Donofrio & Boles, 2002). This work is usually performed in pairs or sometimes by an officer working alone. Operational police work is seldom performed under the watchful eyes of a supervisor and a great amount of reliance is placed on the high levels of motivation and professionalism of individual officers. Research has shown that highly motivated workers produce better outcomes (Whisenand & Rush, 1998; Herzberg, 2003). It is therefore important that Queensland police officers are highly motivated to provide a quality service to the Queensland community. This research aims to identify factors which motivate Queensland police to perform quality work. Researchers acknowledge that there is a lack of research and knowledge in regard to the factors which motivate police (Beck, 1999; Bragg, 1998; Howard, Donofrio & Boles, 2002; McHugh & Verner, 1998). The motivational factors were identified in regard to the demographic variables of; age, sex, rank, tenure and education. The model for this research is Herzberg’s two-factor theory of workplace motivation (1959). Herzberg found that there are two broad types of workplace motivational factors; those driven by a need to prevent loss or harm and those driven by a need to gain personal satisfaction or achievement. His study identified 16 basic sub-factors that operate in the workplace. The research utilised a questionnaire instrument based on the sub-factors identified by Herzberg (1959). The questionnaire format consists of an initial section which sought demographic information about the participant and is followed by 51 Likert scale questions. The instrument is an expanded version of an instrument previously used in doctoral studies to identify sources of police motivation (Holden, 1980; Chiou, 2004). The questionnaire was forwarded to approximately 960 police in the Brisbane, Metropolitan North Region. The data were analysed using Factor Analysis, MANOVAs, ANOVAs and multiple regression analysis to identify the key sources of police motivation and to determine the relationships between demographic variables such as: age, rank, educational level, tenure, generation cohort and motivational factors. A total of 484 officers responded to the questionnaire from the sample population of 960. Factor analysis revealed five broad Prime Motivational Factors that motivate police in their work. The Prime Motivational Factors are: Feeling Valued, Achievement, Workplace Relationships, the Work Itself and Pay and Conditions. The factor Feeling Valued highlighted the importance of positive supportive leaders in motivating officers. Many officers commented that supervisors who only provided negative feedback diminished their sense of feeling valued and were a key source of de-motivation. Officers also frequently commented that they were motivated by operational police work itself whilst demonstrating a strong sense of identity with their team and colleagues. The study showed a general need for acceptance by peers and an idealistic motivation to assist members of the community in need and protect victims of crime. Generational cohorts were not found to exert a significant influence on police motivation. The demographic variable with the single greatest influence on police motivation was tenure. Motivation levels were found to drop dramatically during the first two years of an officer’s service and generally not improve significantly until near retirement age. The findings of this research provide the foundation of a number of recommendations in regard to police retirement, training and work allocation that are aimed to improve police motivation levels. The five Prime Motivational Factor model developed in this study is recommended for use as a planning tool by police leaders to improve motivational and job-satisfaction components of police Service policies. The findings of this study also provide a better understanding of the current sources of police motivation. They are expected to have valuable application for Queensland police human resource management when considering policies and procedures in the areas of motivation, stress reduction and attracting suitable staff to specific areas of responsibility.

The reform measures recommended by the Commission of Inquiry into Possible Illegal Activities and Associated Police Misconduct (referred to as the "Fitzgerald Inquiry") radically transformed the face of policing in Queensland. The most significant of these recommendations was the establishment of an external oversight body, the Criminal Justice Commission (CJC), which has independence from executive government and holds the power to investigate not only police but any public servant or politician. Other recommendations included "Whistleblower" legislation, increasing sanctions for serious misconduct, lateral recruitment and promotion by merit rather than seniority. The first main research question tested in this thesis is whether these reform measures have produced improvements in the following areas: the efficiency and effectiveness of the processes for dealing with complaints against police; public confidence in those processes and the public standing of the Queensland Police Service (QPS) generally; standards of police behaviour; the incidence of corrupt conduct; and police attitudes towards reporting misconduct by their fellow officers. These Fitzgerald Inquiry reforms were strategies primarily derived from two schools of thought describing the nature and cause of police corruption: deterrence based theory (including "individual" or "rotten apple" theory) and cultural (also labeled "cultural" or "socialisation") based theory. To date most strategies used to combat police corruption have been underpinned by these theories. A third theory - situational based theory (sometimes titled "environmental" or "opportunity" theory) - which has had success in crime prevention, has been scarcely used in the area of police corruption. However, an extensive body of research has affirmed the effects of situational factors on police behaviour, suggesting the potential for the application of situational crime prevention initiatives in combatting police corruption. The second research question proposed in this thesis is whether situational based theory could also be beneficial in the prevention of police corruption. Data drawn upon to test the first research question were interviews and surveys with police officers, public attitude surveys and statistics from the processing of complaints against police. Although each source has limitations, collectively the data are sufficiently comprehensive - and robust - to defend conclusions about the general direction of the changes which have occurred. These data indicate that the Fitzgerald Inquiry reforms have, at least to some degree, had their intended impact on the QPS. These reforms have contributed to an apparent improvement in public confidence in the complaints system and the QPS generally. Moreover, the available evidence suggests that the Fitzgerald Inquiry reforms have resulted in a weakening of the police code of silence. As far as the specific issue of corruption in the QPS is concerned, it is difficult to draw firm conclusions from existing data sources. However, the weight of the available evidence is that such conduct is less pervasive and occurs at lower levels than was the case in the pre-Fitzgerald Inquiry QPS. It is very difficult to ascertain which reform components were the most effective and which were not helpful at all, as these reform measures were initiated simultaneously. For example, the negative elements of the police culture may have been eliminated or reduced but whether it was the cultural strategies or one of the deterrence based strategies influencing officer behaviour remains unknown. The second main research question the thesis poses is that the use of situational crime prevention techniques has potential for contributing to the prevention of police corruption. A situational analysis of complaints against police data, including the development of a typology for classifying types of police corruption and misconduct, was used as an example of how this may be accomplished in Queensland. The study provides some, albeit limited, support for the hypothesis that situational crime prevention methods are applicable to police corruption. Based upon three years of complaints data, enough homogenous cases were gathered to enable the analysis of four categories of police corruption - Opportunistic Thefts, Driving under the Influence, Assault (while off-duty), and Theft from Employer. Given that this study only used three years of complaints data held by the CJC and more than nine years of data exist, productive situational analyses of many other categories of corruption is probable. This study also illustrated that complaints against police data are being under utilised by the QPS and the CJC. For future research in the situational analysis of complaints data, I recommend improving the gathering of data from complaints files for storage in electronic form to enable situational prevention analysis to be conducted more readily. A geographical example was used to illustrate further how complaints against police data could be more extensively utilised as a prevention tool. This analysis was conducted at an organisation unit level determined primarily by geographical factors. The complaint patterns of units of similar "task environments", as measured by unit size and type of duties performed, were compared in an attempt to identify those units experiencing the presence or absence of "bad apples" or a "negative culture". This study led to the conclusion that a divisional analysis of complaints data can provide information valuable in combatting police corruption. When task environment was held constant, it was possible to identify units experiencing the effects of possible "bad apples" and/or "negative cultures". Once these particular units were identified, intervention strategies to address the units' particular problem could be constructed. Future research in this area would involve ongoing divisional data analysis followed-up by individual assessment of officers identified as "bad apples", or a "compare-and-contrast" procedure to distinguish features requiring correction in units identified as having a "negative culture". The research findings presented in this thesis are that progress has occurred in a number of areas in addressing the problems identified by the Fitzgerald Inquiry, but that there is undoubtedly scope for more to be achieved. Despite the very significant increase in the resources and powers available to investigators post-Fitzgerald, it is still difficult to prove that a police officer engaged in misconduct, or that other officers were aware of this fact and had failed to take action, because of the constraints imposed by evidentiary and legal requirements. Thus, while it is vital to maintain an effective and credible independent complaints investigation system and ensure that there is a proper internal discipline process in place, the scope for increasing the "deterrent power" of the present system is limited. Putting more resources into complaints investigations might make a difference at the margins, but is unlikely to lead to a significant increase in the probability of a complaint being substantiated and a sanction imposed. Investing more resources in investigations has an additional cost in that such resources are then lost to other efforts to combat corruption that may provide more fruitful results in the long term. The value of an occasional substantiation is placed above the ability to engage in a large amount of prevention work. Inevitably then, three clear messages are apparent. First, continued effort must be made to modify the organisational climate of the QPS in terms of commitment to integrity. Recommended strategies to accomplish this end are to continue the recruitment of more educated, female and older officers to reduce police-citizen conflict and the negative elements of the police culture, and also to develop a comprehensive, integrated approach to ethics education for QPS officers at all ranks and positions. Second, other forms of deterrence against misconduct are needed such as the use of covert strategies like integrity testing which could be conducted in conjunction with the CJC. Third, a greater emphasis needs to be placed on developing and implementing preventive strategies. This thesis has shown that valuable prevention strategies can be gained from situational and divisional analysis of complaints data, and a range of proactive management options based upon situational crime prevention theory are recommended. These strategies have application in any police service.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Arts, Education and Law
Full Text

Occupational stress is an increasingly significant economic and social burden in Australia, yet workers’ compensation systems do not adequately address the impact of occupational stress, leaving employers and individuals to find new ways of responding to this challenge. Management of workplace stress injury is therefore an ongoing concern to employers, requiring the integration at the workplace of more effective occupational rehabilitation systems to prevent and mitigate this condition. Research indicates that organisations, which are successful in developing wellintegrated occupational rehabilitation systems that incorporate work-based interventions, benefit measurably from this investment in human resources. However, there is limited research demonstrating how specific organisations can develop effective occupational rehabilitation strategies, especially in Australia and especially in response to workplace stress. In response to this situation the aim of this research was to develop and implement a process for identifying an effective occupational rehabilitation system conducive to the large organisational environment of the Queensland Police Service (QPS). The study utilised an Action Research design, incorporating a systems thinking framework to address the research aims. Data was collected in three phases, using interviews, focus groups and a survey, to gain an understanding of the organisational context of the QPS, issues pertaining to stress and injury, potential solutions to the identified issues from the perspectives of organisational stakeholders, and existing injury and illness prevention and rehabilitation processes.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Human Services and Social Work
Griffith Health
Full Text

At the time this study was conducted, Queensland police officers were offered a five year age range in which retirement was possible. These officers were permitted to retire from age 55 and were forced to retire at age 60. The Queensland Police Service had previously identified that only 13% of all police officers were staying in their employment until the mandatory retirement age of 60. Retirement of these officers at the earliest possible opportunity presented a considerable loss of human resource investment. This study was undertaken to investigate some possible triggers influencing the decision to retire. Three specific research questions associated with the retirement intentions of Queensland police officers of the baby-boomer generation were formulated and subsequently investigated. These questions were: * How do the demographic characteristics of individual police officers relate to their retirement intentions? * What are the triggers that are associated with the retirement age intentions of baby-boomer police officers in Queensland? and, * How are these triggers associated with officers' intentions to retire earlier or later? While considerable work had been previously done on retirement triggers, the issue of police retirement triggers is under-researched. The situation was further compounded by the fact that the major study of police retirement was American, with retirement in that system based on years of service, and not age as in Australia. A list of possible retirement triggers was compiled from the literature and then focus groups of Queensland police officers were used to discuss some aspects of these possible retirement triggers and generate others that were specific to the Queensland Police Service. The study obtained the views of 641 members of the cohort through a questionnaire and utilised a quantitative research methodology to achieve findings. Demographic aspects showed little overall influence on an officer's retirement age decision. The demographic items that did have a direct association with retirement intentions were gender, length of service, and the method of admission to the organisation. Female officers, officers with the greatest length of service and those admitted to the organisation as Cadets were more likely to seek earlier retirement, that is retirement at or soon after age fifty-five. Whilst not conclusive, the education level of the individual indicated a trend towards later retirement for those with higher levels of education. Importantly, operational status, shift worker status, rank, and qualification for promotion had no association with the retirement decision. A factor analysis of the questionnaire items used in the study identified five factors, of which four contributed significantly to a police officer's retirement timing decision at the later end of the retirement window spectrum. These factors were 'appropriateness', 'worth and belonging', 'influences and relationships' and 'financial' issues. A fifth factor 'flexibility' was also determined but found to have no statistical significance. Three recommendations were made from this study: the formation of a Queensland Police Service alumni; the adoption of a n employment re-engagement policy called 'procruiting'; and the introduction of an assisted retirement education package for exiting members.

At the time this study was conducted, Queensland police officers were offered a five year age range in which retirement was possible. These officers were permitted to retire from age 55 and were forced to retire at age 60. The Queensland Police Service had previously identified that only 13% of all police officers were staying in their employment until the mandatory retirement age of 60. Retirement of these officers at the earliest possible opportunity presented a considerable loss of human resource investment. This study was undertaken to investigate some possible triggers influencing the decision to retire. Three specific research questions associated with the retirement intentions of Queensland police officers of the baby-boomer generation were formulated and subsequently investigated. These questions were: * How do the demographic characteristics of individual police officers relate to their retirement intentions? * What are the triggers that are associated with the retirement age intentions of baby-boomer police officers in Queensland? and, * How are these triggers associated with officers' intentions to retire earlier or later? While considerable work had been previously done on retirement triggers, the issue of police retirement triggers is under-researched. The situation was further compounded by the fact that the major study of police retirement was American, with retirement in that system based on years of service, and not age as in Australia. A list of possible retirement triggers was compiled from the literature and then focus groups of Queensland police officers were used to discuss some aspects of these possible retirement triggers and generate others that were specific to the Queensland Police Service. The study obtained the views of 641 members of the cohort through a questionnaire and utilised a quantitative research methodology to achieve findings. Demographic aspects showed little overall influence on an officer's retirement age decision. The demographic items that did have a direct association with retirement intentions were gender, length of service, and the method of admission to the organisation. Female officers, officers with the greatest length of service and those admitted to the organisation as Cadets were more likely to seek earlier retirement, that is retirement at or soon after age fifty-five. Whilst not conclusive, the education level of the individual indicated a trend towards later retirement for those with higher levels of education. Importantly, operational status, shift worker status, rank, and qualification for promotion had no association with the retirement decision. A factor analysis of the questionnaire items used in the study identified five factors, of which four contributed significantly to a police officer's retirement timing decision at the later end of the retirement window spectrum. These factors were 'appropriateness', 'worth and belonging', 'influences and relationships' and 'financial' issues. A fifth factor 'flexibility' was also determined but found to have no statistical significance. Three recommendations were made from this study: the formation of a Queensland Police Service alumni; the adoption of a n employment re-engagement policy called 'procruiting'; and the introduction of an assisted retirement education package for exiting members.

The reform measures recommended by the Commission of Inquiry into Possible Illegal Activities and Associated Police Misconduct (referred to as the "Fitzgerald Inquiry") radically transformed the face of policing in Queensland. The most significant of these recommendations was the establishment of an external oversight body, the Criminal Justice Commission (CJC), which has independence from executive government and holds the power to investigate not only police but any public servant or politician. Other recommendations included "Whistleblower" legislation, increasing sanctions for serious misconduct, lateral recruitment and promotion by merit rather than seniority. The first main research question tested in this thesis is whether these reform measures have produced improvements in the following areas: the efficiency and effectiveness of the processes for dealing with complaints against police; public confidence in those processes and the public standing of the Queensland Police Service (QPS) generally; standards of police behaviour; the incidence of corrupt conduct; and police attitudes towards reporting misconduct by their fellow officers. These Fitzgerald Inquiry reforms were strategies primarily derived from two schools of thought describing the nature and cause of police corruption: deterrence based theory (including "individual" or "rotten apple" theory) and cultural (also labeled "cultural" or "socialisation") based theory. To date most strategies used to combat police corruption have been underpinned by these theories. A third theory - situational based theory (sometimes titled "environmental" or "opportunity" theory) - which has had success in crime prevention, has been scarcely used in the area of police corruption. However, an extensive body of research has affirmed the effects of situational factors on police behaviour, suggesting the potential for the application of situational crime prevention initiatives in combatting police corruption. The second research question proposed in this thesis is whether situational based theory could also be beneficial in the prevention of police corruption. Data drawn upon to test the first research question were interviews and surveys with police officers, public attitude surveys and statistics from the processing of complaints against police. Although each source has limitations, collectively the data are sufficiently comprehensive - and robust - to defend conclusions about the general direction of the changes which have occurred. These data indicate that the Fitzgerald Inquiry reforms have, at least to some degree, had their intended impact on the QPS. These reforms have contributed to an apparent improvement in public confidence in the complaints system and the QPS generally. Moreover, the available evidence suggests that the Fitzgerald Inquiry reforms have resulted in a weakening of the police code of silence. As far as the specific issue of corruption in the QPS is concerned, it is difficult to draw firm conclusions from existing data sources. However, the weight of the available evidence is that such conduct is less pervasive and occurs at lower levels than was the case in the pre-Fitzgerald Inquiry QPS. It is very difficult to ascertain which reform components were the most effective and which were not helpful at all, as these reform measures were initiated simultaneously. For example, the negative elements of the police culture may have been eliminated or reduced but whether it was the cultural strategies or one of the deterrence based strategies influencing officer behaviour remains unknown. The second main research question the thesis poses is that the use of situational crime prevention techniques has potential for contributing to the prevention of police corruption. A situational analysis of complaints against police data, including the development of a typology for classifying types of police corruption and misconduct, was used as an example of how this may be accomplished in Queensland. The study provides some, albeit limited, support for the hypothesis that situational crime prevention methods are applicable to police corruption. Based upon three years of complaints data, enough homogenous cases were gathered to enable the analysis of four categories of police corruption - Opportunistic Thefts, Driving under the Influence, Assault (while off-duty), and Theft from Employer. Given that this study only used three years of complaints data held by the CJC and more than nine years of data exist, productive situational analyses of many other categories of corruption is probable. This study also illustrated that complaints against police data are being under utilised by the QPS and the CJC. For future research in the situational analysis of complaints data, I recommend improving the gathering of data from complaints files for storage in electronic form to enable situational prevention analysis to be conducted more readily. A geographical example was used to illustrate further how complaints against police data could be more extensively utilised as a prevention tool. This analysis was conducted at an organisation unit level determined primarily by geographical factors. The complaint patterns of units of similar "task environments", as measured by unit size and type of duties performed, were compared in an attempt to identify those units experiencing the presence or absence of "bad apples" or a "negative culture". This study led to the conclusion that a divisional analysis of complaints data can provide information valuable in combatting police corruption. When task environment was held constant, it was possible to identify units experiencing the effects of possible "bad apples" and/or "negative cultures". Once these particular units were identified, intervention strategies to address the units' particular problem could be constructed. Future research in this area would involve ongoing divisional data analysis followed-up by individual assessment of officers identified as "bad apples", or a "compare-and-contrast" procedure to distinguish features requiring correction in units identified as having a "negative culture". The research findings presented in this thesis are that progress has occurred in a number of areas in addressing the problems identified by the Fitzgerald Inquiry, but that there is undoubtedly scope for more to be achieved. Despite the very significant increase in the resources and powers available to investigators post-Fitzgerald, it is still difficult to prove that a police officer engaged in misconduct, or that other officers were aware of this fact and had failed to take action, because of the constraints imposed by evidentiary and legal requirements. Thus, while it is vital to maintain an effective and credible independent complaints investigation system and ensure that there is a proper internal discipline process in place, the scope for increasing the "deterrent power" of the present system is limited. Putting more resources into complaints investigations might make a difference at the margins, but is unlikely to lead to a significant increase in the probability of a complaint being substantiated and a sanction imposed. Investing more resources in investigations has an additional cost in that such resources are then lost to other efforts to combat corruption that may provide more fruitful results in the long term. The value of an occasional substantiation is placed above the ability to engage in a large amount of prevention work. Inevitably then, three clear messages are apparent. First, continued effort must be made to modify the organisational climate of the QPS in terms of commitment to integrity. Recommended strategies to accomplish this end are to continue the recruitment of more educated, female and older officers to reduce police-citizen conflict and the negative elements of the police culture, and also to develop a comprehensive, integrated approach to ethics education for QPS officers at all ranks and positions. Second, other forms of deterrence against misconduct are needed such as the use of covert strategies like integrity testing which could be conducted in conjunction with the CJC. Third, a greater emphasis needs to be placed on developing and implementing preventive strategies. This thesis has shown that valuable prevention strategies can be gained from situational and divisional analysis of complaints data, and a range of proactive management options based upon situational crime prevention theory are recommended. These strategies have application in any police service.

This thesis employs a broad evaluative framework to examine the impact of the Youth Justice Service (YJS) on the post-intervention offending behaviour of young people on community-based court orders. The YJS is a Queensland government policy initiative that aims to monitor compliance with community-based court orders, and identify and address causes of criminal behaviour. The evaluative framework views policy, implementation and impact as distinct but related dimensions of intervention. Reflecting this framework, three primary research questions are addressed: (1) Does the YJS concept represent a goal-directed, theoretically-informed, executable and assessable juvenile crime prevention policy?, (2) Is the YJS concept realised through service delivery?, and (3) What is the effect of the YJS on future offending behaviour? Three studies, employing qualitative and quantitative methods, examined these questions. Study one examined the YJS concept, drawing on some key themes from literature on policy development and implementation, developmental and life-course criminology and developmental crime prevention. This study synthesised key policy and procedure documents around six themes, including (1) rationale, (2) goals, (3) theory, (4) service delivery model, (5) method of operation, and (6) key performance indicators. Findings indicated that the YJS concept represents only marginal adjustments from the traditional Area Office (AO) model of service delivery, and integrates few new preventative mechanisms that would foreseeably lead to change at the operational level. Moreover, it suffers from goal ambiguity, fails to incorporate some key components of best-practice crime prevention that have proven successful when working with at-risk young people, lacks sufficient process-level specificity to ensure treatment fidelity, and places heightened importance on measuring impacts that have political value rather than benefits for the clients. In the second study, an in-depth case study of the Logan Area Youth Justice Service (LAYJS) was conducted to explore how the YJS operated in reality, and as compared with the policy directive. Information was drawn from a variety of sources including interviews with staff and clients, policy and procedure documents, direct observation, case management files and staff-researcher interaction. Evidence suggested that the LAYJS was focused primarily on ensuring compliance with court orders. Several organisational factors, such as staff workloads, the statutory basis for monitoring compliance, and the capacities of staff, have meant that comparatively little attention has been directed at addressing offending behaviour. For the most part, the LAYJS employs an individualised case management process, as distinct from the collaborative, team-based model that is prescribed in the YJS concept. Caseworkers have little faith in their ability to bring about positive behavioural change in their clients, and subsequently transferred the responsibility for intervention outcomes to the client. While acknowledging the importance of families in preventing offending, caseworkers emphasised that a number of organisational tensions have prevented them from engaging families in the case management process. The final study examined the impact of the YJS on post-intervention offending, controlling for developmental risk factors and key features of the intervention process. A random sample (N=190) of clients from three YJS offices and three AOs was drawn from the population of clients who had active community-based court orders between June 1999 and December 2002. Information from Department of Communities' case management files and rearrest data from the Queensland Police Service were entered into a purpose-designed database, and analysed using bivariate and multivariate methods including logistic regression and survival analysis. High proportions of missing data on non-statutory variables suggested poor record management practices, or alternatively that operational staff do not understand the role of developmental risk and/or protective factors and social contexts in preventing offending behaviour. Results indicated that the YJS was no better than the AO at preventing recidivism, as measured at 18-months post-intervention, even after controlling for risk factors that were significantly related to recidivism. The analyses found that some unmeasured variation in service delivery, even within service types, did impact upon recidivism, supporting the hypotheses of the first study and the contention that variation in intervention practice can influence offending behaviour. The likelihood of recidivism was increased if the client was using drugs or was influenced by delinquent peers, and decreased if he stayed in school until years 11 or 12, or where caseworkers addressed familial problems. This provides some sense of programs that may be appropriate for young offenders in the context of a community-based program. It also highlights the critical importance of incorporating families into case management, not only for the purpose of providing information, but also as viable targets of intervention. Survival analyses indicated that the YJS might have had some temporary deterrent effect, although this effect had dissipated by 18-months post-intervention. This result may reflect the increased focus on ensuring compliance with court orders as found in the LAYJS case study. However, given the hypothesis that the lack of process direction will result in variable practices across offices, it cannot be assumed that all YJSs place equal importance on compliance. Overall, findings suggest that the promise that the YJS would provide an innovative model of service delivery and generate improved outcomes for young offenders has not been realised. This research has added further weight to the perspective that examines both the individual and combined impact of theory, policy and implementation for measuring client outcomes. Deficits in any of these components ultimately have a ripple effect, making it difficult to achieve the predetermined goals of the policy at the operational level.

This thesis employs a broad evaluative framework to examine the impact of the Youth Justice Service (YJS) on the post-intervention offending behaviour of young people on community-based court orders. The YJS is a Queensland government policy initiative that aims to monitor compliance with community-based court orders, and identify and address causes of criminal behaviour. The evaluative framework views policy, implementation and impact as distinct but related dimensions of intervention. Reflecting this framework, three primary research questions are addressed: (1) Does the YJS concept represent a goal-directed, theoretically-informed, executable and assessable juvenile crime prevention policy?, (2) Is the YJS concept realised through service delivery?, and (3) What is the effect of the YJS on future offending behaviour? Three studies, employing qualitative and quantitative methods, examined these questions. Study one examined the YJS concept, drawing on some key themes from literature on policy development and implementation, developmental and life-course criminology and developmental crime prevention. This study synthesised key policy and procedure documents around six themes, including (1) rationale, (2) goals, (3) theory, (4) service delivery model, (5) method of operation, and (6) key performance indicators. Findings indicated that the YJS concept represents only marginal adjustments from the traditional Area Office (AO) model of service delivery, and integrates few new preventative mechanisms that would foreseeably lead to change at the operational level. Moreover, it suffers from goal ambiguity, fails to incorporate some key components of best-practice crime prevention that have proven successful when working with at-risk young people, lacks sufficient process-level specificity to ensure treatment fidelity, and places heightened importance on measuring impacts that have political value rather than benefits for the clients. In the second study, an in-depth case study of the Logan Area Youth Justice Service (LAYJS) was conducted to explore how the YJS operated in reality, and as compared with the policy directive. Information was drawn from a variety of sources including interviews with staff and clients, policy and procedure documents, direct observation, case management files and staff-researcher interaction. Evidence suggested that the LAYJS was focused primarily on ensuring compliance with court orders. Several organisational factors, such as staff workloads, the statutory basis for monitoring compliance, and the capacities of staff, have meant that comparatively little attention has been directed at addressing offending behaviour. For the most part, the LAYJS employs an individualised case management process, as distinct from the collaborative, team-based model that is prescribed in the YJS concept. Caseworkers have little faith in their ability to bring about positive behavioural change in their clients, and subsequently transferred the responsibility for intervention outcomes to the client. While acknowledging the importance of families in preventing offending, caseworkers emphasised that a number of organisational tensions have prevented them from engaging families in the case management process. The final study examined the impact of the YJS on post-intervention offending, controlling for developmental risk factors and key features of the intervention process. A random sample (N=190) of clients from three YJS offices and three AOs was drawn from the population of clients who had active community-based court orders between June 1999 and December 2002. Information from Department of Communities' case management files and rearrest data from the Queensland Police Service were entered into a purpose-designed database, and analysed using bivariate and multivariate methods including logistic regression and survival analysis. High proportions of missing data on non-statutory variables suggested poor record management practices, or alternatively that operational staff do not understand the role of developmental risk and/or protective factors and social contexts in preventing offending behaviour. Results indicated that the YJS was no better than the AO at preventing recidivism, as measured at 18-months post-intervention, even after controlling for risk factors that were significantly related to recidivism. The analyses found that some unmeasured variation in service delivery, even within service types, did impact upon recidivism, supporting the hypotheses of the first study and the contention that variation in intervention practice can influence offending behaviour. The likelihood of recidivism was increased if the client was using drugs or was influenced by delinquent peers, and decreased if he stayed in school until years 11 or 12, or where caseworkers addressed familial problems. This provides some sense of programs that may be appropriate for young offenders in the context of a community-based program. It also highlights the critical importance of incorporating families into case management, not only for the purpose of providing information, but also as viable targets of intervention. Survival analyses indicated that the YJS might have had some temporary deterrent effect, although this effect had dissipated by 18-months post-intervention. This result may reflect the increased focus on ensuring compliance with court orders as found in the LAYJS case study. However, given the hypothesis that the lack of process direction will result in variable practices across offices, it cannot be assumed that all YJSs place equal importance on compliance. Overall, findings suggest that the promise that the YJS would provide an innovative model of service delivery and generate improved outcomes for young offenders has not been realised. This research has added further weight to the perspective that examines both the individual and combined impact of theory, policy and implementation for measuring client outcomes. Deficits in any of these components ultimately have a ripple effect, making it difficult to achieve the predetermined goals of the policy at the operational level.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Full Text

National Competition Policy as a cornerstone in the commercialisation and corporatisation of the public services signalled government moving away from an interventionist position by adopting private enterprise and market driven decision making as the preferred model. The impact of this movement on the interface between government and the traditionally subsidised perforrning art..s companies in Queensland is the subject of this research. When the public sector begins to imitate the private sector and government departments call to accountability their agencies, these non-profit service agencies then have a chameleon like image of public provider in private enterprise clothing. So arts organisations, statutory authorities, arts service networks take on a new role in response to the changing guise of the provider. Selected Queensland performing arts companies were surveyed to investigate key changes in company administration and policy over the last five years, and to create a snapshot of contemporary company structures of both subsidised and non-subsidised companies. Key Queensland arts industry figures were interviewed to further identify issues regarding subsidy and government interface in an environment of changing public administration attitudes and foci with particular reference to competition policy issues. A synthesis of the research results, literature review and analysis concludes in a table of comparative subsidy models. The object of this table is to understand how the structure of subsidy reflects, supports or contradicts the wider policies of current public administrations.

In 1998, the Queensland Labor Party replaced the sitting Coalition (Liberal/National) Government in a landslide victory. The newly appointed Labor-led Queensland Government also signalled a new beginning for environmental protection in this State through the amalgamation of all government departments involved in environmental protection into one core government agency – the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In the process, the Queensland Department of National Parks and Wildlife became a division of the EPA called the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS). The Queensland Government, in the EPA’s inaugural Corporate Plan, announced that they were going to revitalise the visitor education capacity of the QPWS. No reason was provided for this policy initiative, nor direction on how the revitalisation would occur or be measured to gauge when the revitalisation had been achieved. For the Queensland Government to publicly state as a policy intent that they were going to revitalise the visitor education capacity of the QPWS raised many questions about the visitor education policies in place and the ability of the QPWS to deliver on these policies at the time. Visitor education is the principal means by which protected area agencies around the world educate people about an area’s natural and cultural features, minimise recreational impacts, enhance visitor safety, and publicise the role of the agency in managing the natural and/or cultural resource. It is an effective tool on its own and in combination with other park management techniques such as site-hardening strategies to rationalise resource use and regulation. This thesis examines the period leading up to and during the life of the Queensland Government’s 1999–2001 Corporate Plan for the Environmental Protection Agency to determine the management framework and priority placed on visitor education to achieve particular nature conservation outcomes. It evaluates the organisational policies and structures underpinning the planning and delivery of visitor education services and activities, and the opinions of interpreters and park managers to determine the role, value, use and acceptance of visitor education as a park management tool during this period. Institutional problems such as a lack of resourcing, high work loads and a negative organisational culture are identified as the main reasons why visitor education was failing to be an integral part of protected area management in Queensland. However, poor communication among interpreters and between interpreters and park managers, and the failure of the existing departmental interpretation and education strategy to clearly link the intentions of government and the actions required at an operational level to achieve the Queensland Government’s nature conservation agenda are also identified as significant barriers. The identification of these institutional problems and barriers supports assumptions as to why the Queensland Government stated as policy that they wanted to revitalise the visitor education capacity of the QPWS. This thesis also identifies the actions and preferred strategies required to enhance the acceptance and use of visitor education as a park management tool in protected area agencies such as QPWS. These include better promotion of visitor education as a park management tool, improvement of internal communication, the development of achievable visitor education policy, and the securing of adequate funding and resources. The adoption of these actions and strategies by agencies such as the QPWS will ensure visitor education remains a critical aspect of park management worldwide and assist protected areas achieve the goal for which they are established: the conservation of biological diversity.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Education and Professional Studies
Arts, Education and Law
Full Text

The closure of large institutions for people with intellectual disability and the subsequent shift to community living has been a feature of social policies in most western democracies for more than two decades. While the move from congregated settings to homes in the community has been heralded as a positive and desirable strategy, deinstitutionalisation has continued to be a controversial policy and practice. This research critically analyses the implementation of a deinstitutionalisation policy called Institutional Reform in the state of Queensland from May 1994 until it was dismantled under a new government in the middle of 1996. A trajectory study of the policy from early conceptualisation through its development, implementation and final extinction was undertaken. Several methods were utilised in the research including the textual analyis of policy documents, discussion papers and newspaper articles, interviews with stakeholders and participant observation. The research draws on theories of discourse and focuses on how discourses of disability shape policy and practice. The thesis outlines a number of implications for policy implementation more generally as well as for disability services. In particular, the theoretical framework builds on Fulcher's (1989) disabling discourses - medical, charity, lay and rights - and identifies two additional discourses of economics and inclusion. The thesis argues that competing disability discourses operated in powerful ways to shape the implementation of the policy and illustrates how older discourses based on fear and prejudice were promoted to positions of dominance and power.

Management education for police officers has played a significant role in the desired transformation of police services around the world from vocational to professional status. This thesis reports research that employed qualitative and quantitative data collection methods to investigate the factors affecting participation and performance of Queensland Police Service officers who undertook the Management Development Program by distance education mode. Three phases of data collection were employed. The first phase involved interviews with facilitators of the program about their perceptions of factors that affected participation and performance of officers enrolled in the program. Data from this phase were used to develop a questionnaire with seven internally consistent scales. This questionnaire constituted the second phase of data collection and was completed by officers at the ranks of senior constable, sergeant and senior sergeant who had successfully completed at least one unit of the Management Development Program. Data gained from the questionnaire were used to investigate the relationship between an officer's characteristics and the factors that influenced participation and performance in the Management Development Program. An analysis of these data provided the basis for the development of a schedule for interviews that were conducted with the manager of the program and the head of the School of Management. Central to these two interviews were implications for the delivery of the Management Development Program as part of the Queensland Police Service's continuing education and professional development program. These interviews constituted the third phase of data collection for this study. This study found factors that influenced the participation and performance of officers undertaking the program were their attitude to in-service professional development, how they perceived professional development, issues about their success potential, the level of personal, professional and academic support they received, the impact of aspects related to program delivery, and discourse with facilitators of the program. A model that provides a comprehensive representation of the relationships among the variables was developed. Key recommendations derived from this study have implications for the clinical delivery of the Management Development Program. Recommendations focus on the need to market the benefits of the program to individual officers, to provide enhanced student support services, to ensure the appropriateness of the learning materials, and to establish orientation programs and assignment-writing workshops for officers. Recommendations for the Queensland Police Service include the need to market the program’s importance to continuing education and professional development for officers as well as the program’s contribution to ensuring officers possessed sound management skills. Recommendations focussing on human resources include ensuring that numbers of facilitators are adequate to meet the learning needs of officers and that all facilitators possess appropriate postgraduate qualifications. It is also recommended that the postgraduate level of the Management Development Program be reviewed to determine if it is the most appropriate for the needs of officers and the service.

Management education for police officers has played a significant role in the desired transformation of police services around the world from vocational to professional status. This thesis reports research that employed qualitative and quantitative data collection methods to investigate the factors affecting participation and performance of Queensland Police Service officers who undertook the Management Development Program by distance education mode.

Within Australia, Vocational Education and Training (VET) encompasses the Technical and Further Education (TAFE) sector, private providers, community education and training, and work-based training. Additionally, some VET activities are embedded within the secondary school and university sectors. As the major provider of Government-funded vocational education and training, TAFE has undergone significant change since its establishment in the 1970's. Historically, TAFE has provided broader education and social opportunities for individuals beyond a narrower focus on the achievement of training outcomes for economic benefits. However, shifts in policy direction in 1980's and 1990's have seen the delineation between broader education and economic outcomes becoming less distinct. While this is perhaps true of all education sectors, it has potentially impacted more on TAFE than any other sector. This thesis investigated these impacts within the context of TAFE's social service and economic utility roles. This was undertaken by analysing seven seminal Commonwealth and Queensland documents and by analysing the findings of interviews with six senior executives within Queensland's Department of Employment and Training and TAFE. The key findings of this thesis indicate that TAFE Queensland continues to perform a number of functions or activities that can be associated with a social service role. However, the findings also indicate that, for TAFE Queensland, there has been a shift towards an economic utility role. Since the Kangan Report (1974), TAFE's role has become more focussed on meeting Queensland's economic and industry needs within a broad view that Australia needs a flexible workforce, qualified to industry standards of competence and able to compete in a globalised world.

Within Australia, Vocational Education and Training (VET) encompasses the Technical and Further Education (TAFE) sector, private providers, community education and training, and work-based training. Additionally, some VET activities are embedded within the secondary school and university sectors. As the major provider of Government-funded vocational education and training, TAFE has undergone significant change since its establishment in the 1970's. Historically, TAFE has provided broader education and social opportunities for individuals beyond a narrower focus on the achievement of training outcomes for economic benefits. However, shifts in policy direction in 1980's and 1990's have seen the delineation between broader education and economic outcomes becoming less distinct. While this is perhaps true of all education sectors, it has potentially impacted more on TAFE than any other sector. This thesis investigated these impacts within the context of TAFE's social service and economic utility roles. This was undertaken by analysing seven seminal Commonwealth and Queensland documents and by analysing the findings of interviews with six senior executives within Queensland's Department of Employment and Training and TAFE. The key findings of this thesis indicate that TAFE Queensland continues to perform a number of functions or activities that can be associated with a social service role. However, the findings also indicate that, for TAFE Queensland, there has been a shift towards an economic utility role. Since the Kangan Report (1974), TAFE's role has become more focussed on meeting Queensland's economic and industry needs within a broad view that Australia needs a flexible workforce, qualified to industry standards of competence and able to compete in a globalised world.

This thesis is an exploration of the fate which has befallen the regional commercial television industry in North Queensland in the wake of the aggregation policy introduced by the Federal Labor Government in 1990. More specifically, it examines the effectiveness of policy outcomes which stem from the Australian Broadcasting Authority's 2001 inquiry into the adequacy of regional and rural commercial television news and information services. The research is primarily concerned with the quality of local content provided by regional commercial broadcasters in response to the implementation of the Australian Communications and Media Authority's points system for broadcast of matters of local significance. The policy outcomes are balanced against an historical context, which traces the regional commercial television industry in North Queensland back to its very beginning. Regulatory reform has resulted in a basic level of news content being maintained. However the significance of elements of this news content to local viewers is minimal. The reduction in local information content, despite being identified in the earliest stages of the ABA investigation, has not been adequately addressed by the reform process.

This thesis is an exploration of the fate which has befallen the regional commercial television industry in North Queensland in the wake of the aggregation policy introduced by the Federal Labor Government in 1990. More specifically, it examines the effectiveness of policy outcomes which stem from the Australian Broadcasting Authority's 2001 inquiry into the adequacy of regional and rural commercial television news and information services. The research is primarily concerned with the quality of local content provided by regional commercial broadcasters in response to the implementation of the Australian Communications and Media Authority's points system for broadcast of matters of local significance. The policy outcomes are balanced against an historical context, which traces the regional commercial television industry in North Queensland back to its very beginning. Regulatory reform has resulted in a basic level of news content being maintained. However the significance of elements of this news content to local viewers is minimal. The reduction in local information content, despite being identified in the earliest stages of the ABA investigation, has not been adequately addressed by the reform process.

This research is a qualitative study which explores the workplace experiences of LGBTQ+ paramedics through narrative based interviews and thematic analysis. This research also compares the workplace policies, procedures and strategies related to inclusion in the workplace against three existing benchmarking tools. The model of cultural safety is applied as a post analytical lens and recommendations for improving the workplace inclusion of LGBTQ+ paramedics are discussed.

Thesis (PhD) -- Australian Catholic University, 2005.
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Bibliography: p. 226-253. Also available in an electronic format via the internet.

In light of the increasing significance of public engagement via social media platforms the Queensland Police Service (QPS) needs to examine the way it operates and deals with all media incidents and attendant risks with respect to public opinion and organisational reputation.

The purpose of the study was to identify the gap between policy and the implementation of community policing in the Queensland Police Service in the decades since the Fitzgerald Report (1989), which recommended community policing as the primary policing strategy. Reviews of the Fitzgerald Inquiry recommendations in the first decade after the inquiry (1993, 1994, 1996, 1997 and 2001) revealed that community policing was resisted by police culture because the approach was inconsistent with traditional policing methods, yet the community policing philosophy continued to be the stated primary policing strategy in Queensland and was reflected in organisational policy and organisational structure. Using a mixed methods approach, the research analysed the status of community policing in Queensland in 2007 to reveal the gap between policy and implementation, and how crime prevention officers oriented to their role.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the attitude, intention and behaviour of Queensland nurses towards computerisation in their workplace using quantitative and qualitative survey methods. It also identifies possible mediators and moderators of this relationship using the Theory of Reasoned Action in a path model. Other moderating variables such as age group, previous computing experience, computing ability, computer usage, educational levels and gender were used in this study.

The Theory of Reasoned Action is used by Fishbein and Ajzen to predict volitional behaviour and to assist in understanding psychological determinants. One thousand questionnaires were distributed to registered nurses in Queensland and 330 (33%) valid responses were received. A qualitative telephone survey (n = 40) was also employed to validate the quantitative survey. The results of this study found that positive attitudes were found to influence the intention of nurses to use computers in the workplace.

Although normative beliefs and motivation to comply were found to have a direct influence on subjective norm, subjective norm was not found to be significantly associated with one's intention to perform the behaviour. However, a positive outcome evaluation and behavioural beliefs were found to be directly associated with one's behaviour which were mediated through positive attitudes. It was also demonstrated that all positive intentions produced positive behaviour (action of using computers at work).

The study demonstrated the positive effect of prior computing experiences before starting nursing and the effect of high computer usage frequency on one's intention. An inverse effect was demonstrated between nurses who had good experiences with computer and their intention to use computer. In addition, the study found that older, less educated female nurses demonstrated a higher intention to use computers in the workplace. The qualitative study also supported the quantitative study. The qualitative study provided the researcher with reasoning as to why nurses behave a certain way towards computerisation in the workplace. It was used as a reasoning tool to confirm some of the respondents' actions.

This research has its own limitations. It was conducted in late 1999 and computerisation has since then penetrated Australian hospitals to a greater extent than ever before. In addition, the survey tool could also be tested for its construct and criterion related validity. This would improve the sensitivity of the survey tool. Notwithstanding that, the results from this study would significantly benefit management in the identification of groups of nurses who are likely to resist the computerisation process in the workplace.