Business expectations and preferences regarding the introduction of daylight saving in Queensland

This paper examines the role of organisational, industry and regional characteristics in determining business support for the introduction of daylight saving in Queensland, Australia. The data employed is drawn from a survey of seven hundred and eight businesspersons in 2002 that assayed support for the statewide introduction of daylight saving in Queensland and an alternative policy where daylight saving would be restricted to the more urbanised southeast regions of Brisbane and/or the Gold Coast. Organisational characteristics examined include assessment of current and future business conditions, expectations of the impact of daylight saving on profits, sales, administration costs and staffing and the number of employees. Industry and region identifiers were also specified. Binary logit models are used to identify the source and magnitude of factors associated with business support for the introduction of daylight saving. The evidence provided suggests that support for the introduction of daylight saving is a function of positive expectations regarding staffing, sales and administration costs and is primarily associated with businesses providing electricity, gas, water and communications, finance and insurance and cultural and recreational services. There also appears to be strong rural and regional resistance to the introduction of daylight saving in Queensland, even among the business community.