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If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services. AbstractPurpose -Work-life balance (WLB) is an issue of focus for organisations and individuals because individuals benefit from having better health and wellbeing when they have WLB and this, in turn, impacts on organisational productivity and performance. The purpose of this paper is to explore relevant WLB factors contributing to employee health and wellbeing, and to understand the interactive effects of individual WLB strategies and organisational WLB policies/programmes on improving employee health and wellbeing. Design/methodology/approach -Using the data collected from 700 employees located in Queensland, Australia, multiple regression analysis was conducted to examine the variables related to individual WLB strategies and organisational WLB programmes. Several multiple regression models were used to evaluate interrelated relationships among these variables and their combined effects on employee health and wellbeing. Findings -The authors found that employees exercising their own WLB strategies showed better health conditions and wellbeing that those who do not; they were also more capable of achieving WLB. Both availability and usage of organisational WLB programmes were found to help employees reduce their stress levels, but interestingly to have no direct association with WLB and employee health. Several control variables such as age, working hours, education level and household incomes were found to have moderate effects on employee health and wellbeing. Originality/value -Employee health and wellbeing are determined by multiple factors. In distinguishing from prior research in this field, this study discovers an important interface between individual WLB strategies and organisational provision of WLB policies/programmes supplemented by several exogenous factors in addressing overall employee health and wellbeing. The results have implications for organisational delivery of WLB policies and other human resource management practices to support employees.

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Efforts to promote ethical behaviour in business and academic contexts have raised awareness of the need for an ethical orientation in business students. This study examines the similarities and differences between the personal values of Iranian and Australian business students and their attitudes to cheating behaviour in universities and unethical practices in business settings. Exploratory factory analysis provided support for three distinct ethics factors-serious academic ethical misconduct, minor academic ethical misconduct, and business ethical misconduct. Results reveal statistically significant differences between the two cultural groups for ethical (altruism/universalism) values, and for attitudes to serious academic misconduct. No differences were found between the two groups for attitudes to minor academic unethical practices or unethical business practices. Gender influenced responses where females were found to indicate higher levels of unacceptability of unethical practices in academic and business settings than males. This pilot study highlights the need for higher education institutions to develop and enforce policies and practices to publicise, encourage and reinforce higher awareness of the need for adhering to ethical behaviour in university studies as a necessary component of training business professionals.

This study investigates the association between the level of compliance of Australian listed companies with Australian corporate governance principles, in aggregate, and the level of discretionary accruals using the modified Jones model. It is hypothesised that higher levels of compliance would be associated with lower levels of discretionary accruals. Data from a random sample of 214 Australian listed companies for the years 2009 and 2010 were used to test the hypothesis. The results demonstrate a significant negative relationship indicating that companies with higher levels of compliance engage in lower levels of earnings management via discretionary accruals. AbstractThis study investigates the association between the level of compliance of Australian listed companies with Australian corporate governance principles, in aggregate, and the level of discretionary accruals using the modified Jones model. It is hypothesised that higher levels of compliance would be associated with lower levels of discretionary accruals. Data from a random sample of 214 Australian listed companies for the years 2009 and 2010 were used to test the hypothesis. The results demonstrate a significant negative relationship indicating that companies with higher levels of compliance engage in lower levels of earnings management via discretionary accruals. JEL Classification: M40