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Examines the extent to which social policy adopted by the colonial government in Hong Kong (prior to its hand‐over China in 1997) has set the agenda for the government of the newly formed Special Administrative Region (SAR). Chronicles the historical development of social policy in Hong Kong since the inception of the colonial government in 1842; identifies that, with the exception of a short‐lived period of expansionism (stimulated by social unrest in the mid‐1960’s) social welfare provision appears to have been low on the government’s agenda and incremental in nature ‐ the emphasis being on economic growth, rather than public spending on welfare programmes. Examines the strengths and weaknesses of this incremental approach; outlines the commitment of the SAR government to the market economy and its proposals for a modest increase in welfare provision, essentially building on the legacy left behind by the colonial government.

International financial markets are rapidly becoming a single global market. For these markets, most large institutional users are not satisfied with the existing levels of disclosures by multinational firms. One purpose of this research study was to investigate existing footnote disclosure practices for H‐Shares in Hong Kong. Another purpose was to determine if the existing financial statement disclosures for H‐Share companies are comparable to the other companies traded on the HKSE. This study classified, summarised and analysed financial statement disclosures for H‐Share Hong Kong companies. In a recent US study, Barth and Murphy (1994) developed a framework to analyse the required footnotes for companies in the United States. This study uses a similar approach to examine the situation in Hong Kong. However, there are some significant differences. The Barth and Murphy study is extended to include the review of actual disclosures in Hong Kong financial statements. In this way, this project attempts to determine if existing disclosures for Hong Kong H‐Share companies can be classified according to the purposes identified in the US study and by a review of Hong Kong standards. Descriptive statistics are provided for all disclosures. The results indicate that similar purposes have been met for both H‐Shares and other Hong Kong companies traded on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

This paper investigates the private housing in Hong Kong in terms of flexibility. Since the last few decades Hong Kong Government is steadily endeavoring to achieve a sustained and healthy development of private housing property market. With Hong Kong's economy on the rise, and its fertility rate being one of the lowest in the world, more people are looking for increased space standards even for higher price. Currently, around two-third of the population of Hong Kong lives in private flats. However, it is observed that these flats, especially the highrise housing estates do not come as open shell like the public housing estates do. This paper at first identifies the major prototypes of contemporary private housings built in the past few decades. Then it compares the flexibility of different prototypes in four sequential levels of construction i.e structure, envelop, building services and infill. Flexibility is measured by means of potential layout options that the users practice inside these prototypes. It finds that some prototypes offer more flexibility than the others. It concludes that flexibility in recent private flats is gradually reducing. But on a positive note, they are offering more varieties in size and layout design in order to meet the increasing demand in spatial standards.

This paper presents a comparative study of the financial reporting practices of three Chinese companies listed simultaneously in Mainland China (A‐shares) and Hong Kong (H‐shares). Their financial statements, prepared based on the accounting and disclosure regulations in China and Hong Kong (or International Accounting Standards, IASs) over the period of 1995‐1998 were studied, including an examination of their corporate structures, and vertical and horizontal comparisons of their primary accounting numbers and key financial ratios. This study demonstrates that significant discrepancies exist for financial information disclosed in terms of Chinese GAAP, Hong Kong GAAP or IASs. In addition, there are notable deviations in financial disclosures among the three companies. The study findings confirm the existence of a substantial gap between the Chinese practices of corporate accounting and financial reporting and the internationally accepted norms. It is suggested that there is an urgent need to promote internationalization of Chinese accounting and improve the understandability and comparability of financial statements released by Chinese listed companies in order to enhance their relevance and usefulness for decision‐making by domestic and overseas investors.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the population of Chinese state‐owned enterprises (SOEs) listing A‐ (Chinese Mainland) and H‐ (Hong Kong) shares with a view to explaining differential pricing across the two stock types.

Despite the fact that both A‐ and H‐shares carry ostensibly the same shareholder benefits, when issued by a given SOE, major pricing differences are apparent. The behaviour of such prices for 20 quarters spanning January 2001 to December 2005 was examined. During this period, a marked contraction in the mean A‐ to H‐price relative occurred, whereby A‐prices generally softened and H‐prices soared.

It was noted that that the principal factors relevant to the contraction in the A‐ to H‐share price relative relate to two issues: first, an enveloping risk premium centring on state‐share disposal fears, and second, the firming of expectations surrounding the likely deployment of a qualified domestic institutional investor (QDII) scheme.

Modelling of changing expectations, especially in relation to uncertain policy deployment, is an invidious task. Measurement of such expectations is obviously strewn with difficulties.

As pertinent factors largely hinge on the deliberations of the PRC state, the analysis herein provides useful input into how policy can either wittingly or unwittingly shape general share price movements. Such insights are especially important given the evolving nature of the Chinese economy.

In recent years, students have found careers in the tourism and hospitality (T&H) industry less attractive. Attracting and retaining young talents has become more challenging for the T&H industry in the post-pandemic era. To help solve the talent shortage problem, it is vital to understand how students perceive careers and what influences their career planning. The career construction theory indicates an integration between personal needs and career-related expectations. It provides a theoretical framework for the present study to understand what motivates students to begin their careers in the T&H industry. This study aims to empirically examine the relationship between students’ career adaptability and optimism and their effect on future career intentions.

An online survey was conducted in mainland China to investigate the interrelationships between career adaptability, career optimism and future career intention. A total of 492 valid responses were collected from students studying T&H.

The findings revealed that career optimism positively influences career adaptability and future career intention, respectively. Conversely, career adaptability is found to have a negative impact on future career intention. Moreover, career optimism has a mediating effect on the relationship between career adaptability and future career intention. The results would benefit educators in career counselling for students and industry practitioners to develop effective career management strategies for young talents in their respective organisations.

The application of career construction theory drawn from vocational psychology is suitable to provide knowledge and insights into the development of T&H career research. This study contributes to fill the knowledge gap concerning career adaptation, career optimism and future career intention.

近年来, 旅游和酒店行业领域的工作对于学生的吸引力下降。对于旅游和酒店行业, 吸引和留住人才变得更具有挑战性。为了解决人才短缺问题, 了解学生如何看待职业以及影响他们职业规划的因素至关重要。职业建构理论指出个人需求与职业相关期望相结合。它为本研究提供了一个理论框架, 以了解是什么促使学生在旅游和酒店业开始工作。本研究实证检验了大学生职业适应力与职业乐观度的关系及其对未来职业意向的影响。

本研究采用在线问卷调查的方式, 探讨职业适应力、职业乐观度与未来职业意向之间的相互关系。问卷对象为目前在中国学习旅游和酒店管理专业的本科学生。一共收集了492份有效回复。

研究发现, 职业乐观度对职业适应力和未来职业意向有正向影响。相反, 职业适应力对未来职业意向有负向影响。此外, 职业乐观度对职业适应力与未来职业意向之间的关系具有中介作用。研究结果将有助于教育机构和相关企业设计有效的职业策略, 帮助学生为未来的职业生涯做好准备, 并加强生涯辅导。

运用职业心理学的职业建构理论, 为旅游与酒店职业研究的发展提供了知识和见解。此外, 本研究填补了职业适应力、职业乐观度与未来职业意向之间关系的知识空白。

Se realizó una encuesta online en China continental para estudiar las interrelaciones entre la adaptabilidad laboral, optimismo laboral y la intención vocacional futura. Se recogieron 492 respuestas válidas de estudiantes de turismo y hostelería.

En los últimos años, las carreras de turismo y hostelería han resultado menos atractivas para los estudiantes. Atraer y retener a los jóvenes talentos es cada vez más difícil para la industria del turismo y la hostelería en la era postpandemia. Con el fin de contribuir a resolver el problema de la escasez de talentos, es crucial comprender cómo perciben los estudiantes las carreras profesionales y qué influye en su planificación profesional. La Teoría de la Construcción de la Carrera indica una integración entre las necesidades personales y las expectativas relacionadas con la carrera. Proporciona un marco teórico para el presente estudio con el fin de comprender qué motiva a los estudiantes a iniciar su carrera profesional en el sector del turismo y la hostelería. Se examina empíricamente la relación entre la adaptabilidad profesional y el optimismo de los estudiantes y su efecto en la intención vocacional futura.

Los resultados revelan que el optimismo profesional influye positivamente en la adaptabilidad profesional y en la intención profesional futura, respectivamente. Por el contrario, la adaptabilidad profesional influye negativamente en la intención vocacional futura. Además, el optimismo profesional tiene un efecto mediador en la relación entre la adaptabilidad profesional y la intención vocacional futura. Los resultados podrían beneficiar a los educadores en la orientación profesional de los estudiantes y a los profesionales de la industria en el desarrollo de estrategias eficaces de gestión de la carrera profesional de los jóvenes talentos en sus respectivas organizaciones.

La aplicación de la Teoría de la Construcción de la Carrera extraída de la psicología vocacional es adecuada para aportar conocimientos y perspectivas al desarrollo de la investigación sobre carreras profesionales en turismo y hostelería. Este estudio contribuye a llenar el vacío de conocimientos sobre la adaptación de la carrera profesional, el optimismo profesional y la intención de carrera futura.

Motivated by the significant role of uncertainty in affecting investment decisions and China's economic leadership in Asia, this paper investigates the predictive role of exposure to Chinese economic policy uncertainty at the individual stock level in large Asian markets.

We estimate the monthly uncertainty exposure (beta) for each stock and then employ the portfolio-level sorting analysis to investigate the relationship between the China’s uncertainty exposure and the future returns of major Asian markets over multiple trading horizons. The raw returns of the high-minus-low portfolios are then adjusted using conventional asset pricing models to investigate whether the relationship is explained by common risk factors. Finally, we check the robustness of the portfolio-level results through firm-level Fama and MacBeth (1973) regressions.

Applying portfolio-level sorting analysis, we reveal that exposure to Chinese uncertainty is negatively related to the future returns of large stocks over multiple trading horizons in Japan, Hong Kong and India. We discover this is unexplained by common risk factors, including market, size, value, profitability, investment and momentum, and is robust to the specification of stock-level Fama and MacBeth (1973) regressions.

Our analysis demonstrates the spillover effects of Chinese economic policy uncertainty across the region, provides evidence of China's emerging economic leadership, and offers trading strategies for managing uncertainty risks.

The findings of the study significantly improve our understanding of stock return predictability in Asian markets. Unlike previous studies, our results challenge the leading role of the US by providing a new intra-regional return predictor, namely, China’s uncertainty exposure. These results also evidence the continuing integration of the Asian economy and financial markets. However, contrary findings for some Asian markets point toward certain market-specific features. Compared with market-level research, our analysis provides deeper insights into the performance of individual stocks and is of particular importance to investors and other market participants.

This research conducts bibliometric analyses and network mapping on smart libraries worldwide. It examines publication profiles, identifies the most cited publications and preferred sources and considers the cooperation of the authors, organizations and countries worldwide. The research also highlights keyword trends and clusters and finds new developments and emerging trends from the co-cited references network.

A total of 264 records with 1,200 citations were extracted from the Web of Science database from 2003 to 2021. The trends in the smart library were analyzed and visualized using BibExcel, VOSviewer, Biblioshiny and CiteSpace.

The People’s Republic of China had the most publications (119), the most citations (374), the highest H-index (12) and the highest total link strength (TLS = 25). Wuhan University had the highest H-index (6). Chiu, Dickson K. W. (H-index = 4, TLS = 22) and Lo, Patrick (H-index = 4, TLS = 21) from the University of Hong Kong had the highest H-indices and were the most cooperative authors. Library Hi Tech was the most preferred journal. “Mobile library” was the most frequently used keyword. “Mobile context” was the largest cluster on the research front.

This study helps librarians, scientists and funders understand smart library trends.

There are several studies and solid background research on smart libraries. However, to the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first to conduct bibliometric analyses and network mapping on smart libraries around the globe.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an updated and critical assessment of the share reforms relevant to Chinese A‐share issuers listed in the two mainland markets of Shanghai and Shenzhen. The reform programme first began in 2005 and has now spread widely across issuers in the two markets. It is therefore timely to assess how effective the reforms have been as well as gauging the ongoing effects of the transformation (of non‐tradable scrip into tradable form) on A‐share prices.

The “Split Share Structure” reform programme represents a major policy initiative in China and potentially opens‐the‐door to large‐scale state‐share disposals. The evidence to date however suggests that the Chinese authorities are primarily concerned with the reconfiguration of the array of share types that presently exist into a more comprehendible, streamlined form. The various checks and balances imposed on controlling shareholders engaged in the transformation of their shares from non‐tradable to tradable form suggest that eventual re‐designation of the holdings into an unfettered tradable type will not necessarily translate to the state's acquiescence in the disposal of such shares. On the contrary, state holdings in the most strategic of assets are likely to be retained more or less intact. Insights are developed by focusing on examples involving major A‐share issuers. In particular, a case study of the Sinopec reform proposal of August/September 2006 is set out to help illuminate the principal features of the reform package. Critical examination of the empirical literature relating to the A‐share price effects of the share reform programme also features.

There is little evidence to date of significant stock disposals amongst the largest and most strategic of China's issuers. However, for a number of A‐listed issuers, parts of the lock‐up moratoria have already expired or are set to do so in the very near future. Given the precipitous fall in A‐share prices (in Shanghai and Shenzhen) since late 2007, largely wrought by the enveloping global credit‐crunch, the Chinese authorities have an even more compelling case than hitherto to assiduously dampen fears of large‐scale state‐share disposals. Notwithstanding this, at least a small part of the drop in A‐share values during 2008 derives from the building risk‐premium on this issue.

As the trading moratoria on re‐designated shares still applies in most cases, at least in respect of the majority of domestic stock holdings, a clearer picture will not emerge until 2009‐2011 when all such moratoria would have lapsed.

The discussions in this paper help to bring into focus a highly topical issue within the context of the Chinese equity market.

The purpose of this paper was to determine to what extent Hong Kong’s experience proves (or disproves) theories from corporate governance in the areas of family ownership, concentration, self-dealing in Hong, executive compensation and other issues. This paper – written in the comparative corporate governance tradition – uses data from Hong Kong to discuss wider trends and issues in the corporate governance literature.

The authors use the comparative corporate governance approach – exposing a range of corporate governance theories to the light of Hong Kong data. The authors purposely avoid over-theorising – leaving the data to speak for themselves for other researchers interested in such theorising.

The authors find that Hong Kong presents corporate challenges that are unique among upper-income jurisdictions – in terms of potentially harmful (shareholder value diminishing) family relationships, shareholder concentration and self-dealing by insiders. The authors also show that excessive executive compensation, accounting and audit weaknesses do not pose the same kinds of problems they do in other countries. The authors provide numerous comments on theoretical papers throughout the presentation in this paper.

The authors chose a relatively unused research approach that eschews theory building – instead, the authors use data from a range of sectors to build an overall picture of corporate governance in Hong Kong. The authors subsequently affirm or critique the theories of others in this paper.

The original analysis conducted by the authors provided 22 recommendations for revising listing rules for Hong Kong’s stock exchange. Others – particularly Asian officials – should consider Hong Kong’s experience when revising their own corporate governance listing rules and regulations.

This paper offers new and original insights in four directions. First, the authors use the empiricist’s method – presenting data from a wide range of corporate governance areas to comment on and critique existing studies. Second, the authors provide a system-wide view of corporate governance – showing how different parts of corporate governance rules work together using concrete data. Third, the authors provide a new study in the comparative corporate governance tradition – another brick in the wall that is “normal scientific progress”. Fourth, the authors pose tentative resolutions to highly debated questions in corporate governance for the specific time and place of Hong Kong in the early 2010s.