The Otago Business School celebrates excellence at every level. The School takes great pleasure in announcing the following PhD candidates have presented a thesis of exceptional quality.
A thesis is of exceptional quality when all three examiners of a candidate's thesis agree that the thesis is among the top 10% of theses examined, and is of an exceptional standard in the following areas:
- Research content
- Originality
- Quality of expression
- Accuracy of presentation
2026 Exceptional Theses
Daniel Francis Norris (Doctor of Business Administration Programme)
“Conscience and coherence: A phronetic-systematising reasoning framework for ethical leadership under complexity”
(Primary Supervisor: Associate Professor Jeff Foote).
For more information on Daniel’s work, please contact the DBA Programme at otagodba@otago.ac.nz.
2025 Exceptional Theses
Hau Van Pham (Department of Marketing)
“Reducing single-use plastics (SUPs): A social marketing study”
(Primary Supervisor: Professor Maree Thyne)
For more information on Hau’s work, please contact the Department of Marketing at marketing@otago.ac.nz.
Fathimath Shiraani (Department of Tourism)
“Stories that matter: Disabled children and young people's holiday experiences”
(Primary Supervisor: Professor Neil Carr)
For more information on Shiraani's work, please contact the Department of Tourism at tourism@otago.ac.nz.
Linda Yvonne Taylor (Department of Management)
“Examining the role of the overhead ratio in New Zealand non-profit organisations”
(Primary Supervisor: Emeritus Professor Ralph Adler)
For more information on Linda’s work, please contact the Department of Marketing at marketing@otago.ac.nz.
Paul Alan George Tully (Department of Tourism)
“Duck tales and beyond: exploring the power relations in multispecies entanglements of historical and contemporary leisure practices”
(Primary Supervisor: Professor Neil Carr)
For more information on Paul’s work, please contact the Department of Tourism at tourism@otago.ac.nz.
2024 Exceptional Theses
Max Yap (Department of Accountancy and Finance)
“Accounting for economic reality”
(Primary Supervisor: Dr Frederico Botafogo)
For more information on Max's work, please contact the Department of Accountancy and Finance at accountancyfinance@otago.ac.nz.
2023 Exceptional Theses
Khoa Anh Trịnh (Department of Economics)
“Essays on credit utilization, time preferences, entrepreneurial orientation and poverty among farmers in Mekong Delta, Vietnam”
(Primary Supervisor: Professor Nathan Berg).
For more information on Khoa's work, please contact the Department of Economics at economics@otago.ac.nz.
Wei Lin (Department of Accountancy and Finance)
“Essays in quantitative finance”
(Primary Supervisor: Professor Jin Zhang).
For more information on Wei's work, please contact the Department of Accountancy and Finance at accountancyfinance@otago.ac.nz.
2022 Exceptional Theses
Pakorn Aschakulporn (Department of Accountancy and Finance)
"Bakshi, Kapadia, and Madan (2003) risk-neutral moment estimators"
(Primary Supervisor: Professor Jin Zhang)
For more information on Pakorn's work, please contact the Department of Accountancy and Finance at accountancyfinance@otago.ac.nz.
Jithin Cheriyan (Department of Information Science)
“Detecting and reducing politeness norm violations in online software engineering communities”
(Primary Supervisor: Associate Professor Tony Savarimuthu)
For more information on Jithin's work, please contact the Department of Information Science at infoscience@otago.ac.nz.
Siqiao Luan (Department of Marketing)
"Knowledge transfer within multinational enterprises via international assignees: A multi-level microfoundational empirical investigation in the food and beverage industry between China and New Zealand"
(Primary Supervisor: Associate Professor Sergio Biggemann)
For more information on Siqiao's work, please contact the Department of Marketing at marketing@otago.ac.nz.
Jonathan Caleb Sutton (Department of Information Science)
"Computational glasses: Repurposing augmented reality glasses for vision assistance"
(Primary Supervisor: Associate Professor Tobias Langlotz)
For more information on Jonathan's work, please contact the Department of Information Science at infoscience@otago.ac.nz.
Trung Van Vu (Department of Economics)
“Essays on the fundamental determinants of climate change responses and health inequality”
(Primary Supervisor: Professor Dorian Owen)
For more information on Trung's work, please contact the Department of Economics at economics@otago.ac.nz.
2021 Exceptional Theses
Abbas Alizadeh (Department of Tourism)
“Exploring the relationship between sustainable tourism behaviour and psychological well-being in tourism experiences”
(Primary Supervisor: Professor James Higham)
For more information on Abbas' work, please contact the Department of Tourism at tourism@otago.ac.nz.
Caitlin Owen (Department of Information Science)
“Error decomposition of evolutionary machine learning”
(Primary Supervisor: Associate Professor Grant Dick)
For more information on Caitlin's work, please contact the Department of Information Science at infoscience@otago.ac.nz.
Aneesha Varghese (Accountancy and Finance)
“The future of red meat farming in New Zealand: An independent sector analysis focussing on the future prospects of the industry given low profitability and high capital input costs”
(Primary Supervisor: Dr Rob Hamlin)
For more information on Aneesha's work, please contact the Department of Accountancy and Finance at accountancyfinance@otago.ac.nz.
2020 Exceptional Theses
Nuradhi Jayasiri, Department of Accountancy and Finance
“Integrated reporting in Sri Lanka: An exploratory study”
(Primary Supervisor: Dr Sriyalatha Kumarasinghe)
For more information on Nuradhi's work, please contact the Department of Accountancy and Finance at accountancyfinance@otago.ac.nz.
Chiara Massacesi, Department of Tourism
“Food heritagisation and tourism: Following the cheese in the Italian Dolomites”
(Primary Supervisor: Professor Brent Lovelock)
For more information on Chiara's work, please contact the Department of Tourism at tourism@otago.ac.nz.
Jacob Young, Department of Information Science
“Removing spatial boundaries in immersive mobile communications”
(Primary Supervisor: Associate Professor Tobias Langlotz)
For more information on Jacob's work, please contact the Department of Information Science at infoscience@otago.ac.nz.
2019 Exceptional Theses
Gebeyaw Degarege, Department of Tourism
“Tourism, livelihood diversification and food security in Ethiopia”
(Primary Supervisor: Professor Brent Lovelock)
For more information on Gebeyaw's work, please contact the Department of Tourism at tourism@otago.ac.nz.
Katy Zafari, Department of Marketing
"Building resilience in turbulent environments: The role of relationship marketing”
(Primary Supervisor: Dr Sergio Biggemann)
For more information on Katy's work, please contact the Department of Marketing at marketing@otago.ac.nz.
2018 Exceptional Theses
Wiebke Finkler, Department of Tourism
“The science communication of whale watching: A people-focused science communication approach”
(Primary Supervisor: Professor James Higham).
For more information on Wiebke's work, please contact the Department of Tourism at tourism@otago.ac.nz.
Shijiao Chen, Department of Marketing
“An institutional perspective of consumer behaviour in industry-wide crises”
(Primary Supervisor: Dr Damien Mather)
For more information on Shijiao's work, please contact the Department of Marketing at marketing@otago.ac.nz.
2017 Exceptional Theses
Xinfeng Ruan, Department of Accountancy and Finance
“Equilibrium asset prices and variance risk premia”
(Primary Supervisor: Professor Jin Zhang)
For more information on Xinfeng's work, please contact the Department of Accountancy and Finance at accountancyfinance@otago.ac.nz.
Haileslasie Tadele Gebremariam, Department of Accountancy & Finance
“Microfinance institutions' transparency, governance and risk in sub-Saharan Africa”
(Primary Supervisor: Dr Helen Roberts)
For more information on Haileslasie's work, please contact the Department of Accountancy and Finance at accountancyfinance@otago.ac.nz.
Mohammed Alghamdi, Department of Information Science
“Enabling parental stress resilience training with virtual reality”
(Primary Supervisor: Professor Holger Regenbrecht)
For more information on Mohammed's work, please contact the Department of Information Science at infoscience@otago.ac.nz.
Kevin Bingham, Department of Tourism
"Unpacking heterotopic social space: An ethnography of urban exploration"
(Primary Supervisor: Professor Neil Carr)
For more information on Kevin's work, please contact the Department of Tourism at tourism@otago.ac.nz.
2015 Exceptional Theses
Christopher Frantz, Department of Information Science
“Agent-based institutional modelling: Novel techniques for deriving structure from behaviour”
(Primary Supervisor: Professor Martin Purvis)
For more information on Christopher's work, please contact the Department of Information Science at infoscience@otago.ac.nz.
2014 Exceptional Theses
Kelvin Seah, Department of Economics
“Three essays on the non-labour market impacts of immigration”
(Primary Supervisor: Professor Steven Stillman)
For more information on Kelvin's work, please contact the Department of Economics at economics@otago.ac.nz.
2012 Exceptional Theses
Francisco Tigre Moura, Department of Marketing
“Extending the understanding of the effects of cultural localisation of websites: The case of tourism destination sites”
(Primary Supervisor: Professor Juergen Gnoth)
For more information on Francisco's work, please contact the Department of Marketing at marketing@otago.ac.nz.
2011 Exceptional Theses
Carleigh Randall, Department of Tourism
“The wine islands: An exploration of wine tourism network relationships"
(Primary Supervisor: Dr Richard Mitchell)
For more information on Carleigh's work, please contact the Department of Tourism at tourism@otago.ac.nz.
Bastin Savarimuthu, Department of Information Science
“Mechanisms for norm emergence and norm identification in multi-agent societies”
(Primary Supervisor: Dr Maryam Purvis)
For more information on Bastin's work, please contact the Department of Information Science at infoscience@otago.ac.nz.
2007 Exceptional Theses
Daniela Rosenstreich, Department of Marketing
“A consumer-oriented view of quality: an exploratory study of quality in the context of marketing's scholarly articles”
(Supervisors: Professor Rob Lawson & Dr Ben Wooliscroft)
For more information on Daniela's work, please contact the Department of Marketing at marketing@otago.ac.nz.
Helen Tregidga, Department of Accountancy and Finance
“Power and politics of organisational sustainable development: An analysis of organisational reporting discourse"
(Supervisors: Professor Markus Milne, Professor Richard Morgan & Professor Kate Kearins)
For more information on Helen's work, please contact the Department of Accountancy and Finance at accountancyfinance@otago.ac.nz.