In two decades, Australian university students have accumulated over $25 billion in debt, a figure that is expected to increase dramatically over the next few years. The literature has rarely considered students' attitudes about ancillary services and amenities, despite their importance to the character of university life and substantial contribution to rising student debt. This case study examines the attitudes and concerns of students regarding the compulsory fees for non-teaching services and amenities levied at an Australian university. Using a concept analysis and mapping technique, this case study highlights significant concerns among students regarding the benefits of services and amenities, and low involvement in the co-creation of value. Drawing on service co-creation topologies, the study identifies market opportunity and further reforms that could facilitate a more sustainable, responsive and dynamic service provision environment, in the context of the Australian and international higher education.

This paper explores a model-centred approach to augment the development and refinement of the theory of emergence. Its focus is on the relational process of leadership as an emergent event in complex human organisations. Emergence in complex organisations is a growing field of inquiry with many remaining research opportunities, yet a number of its central themes continue to be loosely connected to practical application and reliant on equivocal translations from root meaning. This paper offers a novel model of semantic conceptualisation of theory and phenomena with simulations to strengthen the theory–model–phenomenon link, building on the work of previous authors. Strengthening this link yields numerous applications, including making sense of complex organisational dynamics and supporting a wide range of theory-building research methods in applied social science and interdisciplinary research. The paper begins with a reflection on the main ideas of the theory of emergence, followed by discussion on prevalent model-centred approaches. A programme of semantic conceptualisation to expand real-world application of the theory of emergence is proposed.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to highlight the dilemma of exponential growth in economic policy and its implications on sustainable development. Design/methodology/approach -The future of the world economy is premised in part on the assumption of an implicit law of increasing returns that has remained unchanged for centuries. Drawing on current data in per capita gross domestic product and population data, this paper explores the relationship between growth in populations and the distribution of wealth. Implications on economic and social policy reform are discussed, with an exemplar focus on economic incentives employed in several nations that are premised on an assumed relationship between population growth and economic return. Findings -This paper demonstrates that much of current economic and social policy is grounded in centuries-old assumptions that may be inadequate for today's highly interrelated global and economic society, and that changing these policies would require a fundamental shift of mindset to recognise domestic human values within a global context. Originality/value -Previous literature has paid less attention to the underlying assumptions of perpetual growth inherent to social and economic policy and the practicalities of its reconceptualization on global society.

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