Natalie W.M. Wong, Ka Ki Lawrence Ho, Mao Wang and Chih-Wei Hsieh
A debate emerged among members of public administration academia soon after COVID-19 appeared on the roles and measures that governments ought to deploy to prevent infection. One…
Abstract
Purpose
A debate emerged among members of public administration academia soon after COVID-19 appeared on the roles and measures that governments ought to deploy to prevent infection. One prevalent discourse is the strength of “strong government” in the fight against the virus—the administrative capacity to launch prompt, appropriate and effective actions that entail collaboration with citizens. A notable development in governance is that new public management (NPM) principles, such as the value of money and the pluralisation of service delivery, are gradually put aside when governments urgently need to curb the spread of infection. The roles of bureaucracy and centralised action are re-emphasised in the policymaking and implementation of anti-epidemic measures. Such a trend allows us to examine if the COVID-19 public health crisis has fundamentally reversed the trend of government retreat in public service within neoliberal regimes since the 1980s.
Design/methodology/approach
For this research, the authors selected two “strong governments” in Asia—Hong Kong and Taiwan—by showing how administrators outline their anti-pandemic strategies, examining the role of government in coordinating responses and how bureaucracy interacts with the other two key domains of the governance mechanism: civil society and the market. These two offshore Chinese capitalist economies and pluralistic societies are perceived to have “strong government capacity” in the fight against COVID-19, presumably as a key attribute to their success confining the spread of infection during the early stages of the first outbreak. Both societies reported low infection rates and low mortality rates until September 2020. The authors browsed databases developed by scholars (Cheng et al., 2020; Hale et al., 2020) and referred to two “rubrics” to assess and compare government actions in both places in response to COVID-19. The authors itemised, categorised and counted the policy actions in both places according to the rubrics, noticed that the policy footprint appeared in over two-thirds of indicators of proactive government interventions and identified double-digit counts in nearly half of the categories.
Findings
The authors found that both governments attempted to establish strong stewardship and quick measures to contain the infection. The pattern of “strong government” is, however, not the same as that superficially exhibited. Taiwan took limited steps to regulate business activities but proactively intervened and coordinated the supply of hygienic utilities. Hong Kong launched aggressive attempts to reduce human mobility but remained non-active despite the “face mask run” in society. The “strong government” aspect also received divergent reactions from society. There was extensive cross-sectoral collaboration under the centralised “National Team” advocacy in Taiwan, and there has been no record of local infection for over 10 months. The Hong Kong government was repeatedly doubted for its undesirable stewardship in anti-epidemic measures, the effectiveness of policy interventions and the impartiality of law enforcement. Spontaneous actions during the health crisis from civil societies and private markets were noted, but they seemed uncoordinated with official attempts.
Originality/value
The initial findings enable us to rethink correlations between state capacity and legitimacy in the fight against the virus and its development post-COVID-19. Apparently, Taiwan and Hong Kong demonstrated a “re-expansion” of their public sector during the public health crisis, but not in the same format. This can be understood based on their varying regime values and administrative systems. The pandemic has been a catalyst, pushing both regimes back to their original track of public administration establishments. The concept of “path dependence” might explain the initial development and project the longer-term transformation of the public sector in both places.
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Ka Ki Lawrence Ho and Ying-Tung Chan
This study aims to examine Hong Kong’s responses to COVID-19, arguing that Hong Kong’s relatively low infection rate is due to self-discipline of citizens together with the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine Hong Kong’s responses to COVID-19, arguing that Hong Kong’s relatively low infection rate is due to self-discipline of citizens together with the enforcement measures introduced by the government.
Design/methodology/approach
This study reviewed the government policy announcements and the prevailing scholarly analyses on Hong Kong society during COVID-19.
Findings
It starts by examining the partial lockdown and control measures since mid-January, and the roles of different government units in enforcement were examined and assessed. Suppression of viral outbreak in Hong Kong should primarily be attributed to the appropriate lockdown and quarantine actions of the government.
Originality/value
However, outperformance of the frontline professionals and the highly aware, self-disciplined and mutually aided citizens in the community are also the key to the “interim success” by June 2020 in the highly accessible and densely populated city.
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Helen Yin-Kwan Lee, Lawrence Ka-ki Ho and Fredie Pak-Cheung Hung
This study aims to explore the community strengths/ weaknesses and the opportunities/ threats of the Nepalese communities in Hong Kong that have faced during the COVID-19…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the community strengths/ weaknesses and the opportunities/ threats of the Nepalese communities in Hong Kong that have faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. The infection of COVID-19 among the ethnic minorities (EM) population in western democracies was reported higher, and it was wondered whether it was due to structural discrimination of the underprivileged.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is situated in Hong Kong during the peak of pandemic in 2020–2021. The authors followed the work of an EM service agency and interacted with their Nepalese clients to explore their reactions in coping with the sudden physical and economic adversities and examined their capacity amid the pandemic.
Findings
The authors noticed their effective self-mobilization that was strategically facilitated by veteran social workers and thus have strong resilience compared to other EM clusters in the territories.
Originality/value
The ways of their interactions offer useful insights for the authors to examine the prevailing strategy for achieving the mission of social inclusion in Hong Kong with 8% of the EM population.
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Lijun (Gillian) Lei, Yutao Li and Yan Luo
The emergence of social media as a corporate disclosure channel has caused significant changes in the production and dissemination of corporate information. This review identifies…
Abstract
The emergence of social media as a corporate disclosure channel has caused significant changes in the production and dissemination of corporate information. This review identifies important themes in recent research on the impact of social media on the corporate information environment and provides suggestions for further explorations of this new but fast-growing area of research. Specifically, we first review the evolution of Internet-based corporate disclosure and related regulations, and then focus on three recent streams of research: 1) companies’ use of social media; 2) information produced by non-corporate users and its impact on capital markets; and 3) the credibility of corporate information on social media platforms.
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Paul Herbig and Lawrence Jacobs
Explores the influence of Japan’s culture on its innovative strengths and weaknesses. Indicates that Japan is good at evolutionary and process innovation but not so hot on…
Abstract
Explores the influence of Japan’s culture on its innovative strengths and weaknesses. Indicates that Japan is good at evolutionary and process innovation but not so hot on inventing. Links this to Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, comparing Japanese with US results. Attempts to link Japanese cultural attributes to rice and its consequent agricultural system and associated human relations. Devotes a section each to Japanese collectivism, power, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity/femininity, and Confucianism. Finds that Japanese culture does not promote individuality or risk‐taking (unlike the US), but does excel at process technology.
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The aim of this study is to understand the factors influencing the perceptions of Hong Kong horse racing fans toward local horse racing media.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study is to understand the factors influencing the perceptions of Hong Kong horse racing fans toward local horse racing media.
Design/methodology/approach
In 2023, we conducted street-intercept survey interviews (n = 620) in the public area near the Shatin racecourse on July 1, 3, 9 and 16 and near the Happy Valley racecourse on June 28, July 5 and 12. This study examines the extent to which internet experiences, niche breadth and the competitive superiority of internet media mediates the relationship between age and the substitution of internet media for print media.
Findings
Regression analyses show that the respondents’ perceived niche breadth and competitive superiority of internet media are positively related to their substitution of internet racing media for print racing media outlets. However, for most elderly and middle-aged respondents, print racing media outlets are still attractive because they perceive the information is accurate and easy to understand, the print copies are easily accessible and the content of columns is attractive.
Originality/value
This study reveals that the shift of patterns regarding receiving Hong Kong horse racing information is significantly caused by many factors. On the contrary, the impact of COVID-19 pandemic is not significant on changing the perceptions of Hong Kong horse racing fans toward local horse racing media.
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This study aims to understand the bi-directional relationship between residents’ perceived community-oriented factors and residents’ emotional solidarity with tourists. It…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to understand the bi-directional relationship between residents’ perceived community-oriented factors and residents’ emotional solidarity with tourists. It compares the mutual influences between the human–place relationship and the resident–tourist relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
A research model with two arrows was constructed, presenting two sets of research hypotheses. Hypothesis A formalizes the effect of community-oriented factors on emotional solidarity, while Hypothesis B formalizes the effect of emotional solidarity on community-oriented factors. Using systematic sampling, this study received 462 valid questionnaires in Macau. These samples were used in confirmation factor analysis and stepwise multiple regression analysis.
Findings
In the one-way influence of community-oriented factors on emotional solidarity, residents’ community attachment, commitment and involvement have the greatest effect, respectively, on their welcoming nature, sympathetic understanding and emotional closeness to tourists. In the one-way influence of emotional solidarity on community-oriented factors, residents’ welcoming nature to tourists has the greatest impact on community attachment and commitment while residents’ emotional closeness has the greatest impact on community involvement. Besides, the impact of community-oriented factors on emotional solidarity has stronger explanatory power than the impact of emotional solidarity on community-oriented factors.
Originality/value
Contrary to most tourism studies on residents’ perspectives that only focus on one-way influence, this study suggested a dual-way approach that helps researchers further build complex models to better explain the complex relationships between places, residents and tourists. Furthermore, this study provides a contribution to tourism research on emotional solidarity by clarifying the flexible roles of community-oriented factors on residents’ emotional solidarity.
目的
本研究旨在了解居民感知的社区导向因素与居民对游客情感团结之间的双向关系。它比较了人-地关系和居民-游客关系之间的相互影响。
设计/方法/途径
本研究构建了一个有两套研究假设的双箭头模型。假设A确定了社区导向因素对情感团结的影响, 而假设B确定了情感团结对社区导向因素的影响。本研究通过系统抽样在澳门收到462份有效问卷。这些样本被用于确认因子分析和逐步多元回归分析。
研究结果
在社区导向因素对情感团结的单向影响中, 居民的社区依恋、承诺和参与分别对他们对游客的欢迎本质、同情理解和情感亲密有最大影响。在情感团结对社区导向因素的单向影响中, 居民对游客的欢迎本质对社区依恋和承诺的影响最大, 而居民的情感亲密对社区参与的影响最大。此外, 社区导向因素对情感团结的影响比情感团结对社区导向因素的影响具有更强的解释力。
原文/价值
不同于大多数关于居民视角的旅游研究只关注单向影响, 本研究提出了一种双向的方法, 有助于研究者进一步建立复杂的模型, 以更好地解释地方、居民和游客之间的复杂关系。此外, 本研究通过阐明社区导向因素对居民情感团结的灵活作用, 为旅游业的情感团结研究提供了贡献。
Propósito
Este estudio pretende comprender la relación bidireccional entre los factores orientados a la comunidad percibidos por los residentes y la solidaridad emocional de éstos con los turistas. Compara las influencias mutuas entre la relación persona-lugar y la relación residente-turista.
Diseño/metodología/enfoque
Se construyó un modelo de investigación con dos flechas, que presenta dos conjuntos de hipótesis de investigación. La hipótesis A formaliza el efecto de los factores orientados a la comunidad sobre la solidaridad emocional, mientras que la hipótesis B formaliza el efecto de la solidaridad emocional sobre los factores orientados a la comunidad. Mediante un muestreo sistemático, este estudio recibió 462 cuestionarios válidos en Macao. Estas muestras se utilizaron en el análisis factorial de confirmación y en el análisis de regresión múltiple por pasos.
Conclusiones
en la influencia unidireccional de los factores orientados a la comunidad sobre la solidaridad emocional, el apego a la comunidad, el compromiso y la implicación de los residentes tienen el mayor efecto, respectivamente, sobre su carácter acogedor, su comprensión y su cercanía emocional a los turistas. En la influencia unidireccional de la solidaridad emocional sobre los factores orientados a la comunidad, el carácter acogedor de los residentes hacia los turistas tiene el mayor impacto sobre el apego y el compromiso comunitarios, mientras que la cercanía emocional de los residentes tiene el mayor impacto sobre la implicación comunitaria. Además, el impacto de los factores orientados a la comunidad en la solidaridad emocional tiene mayor poder explicativo que el impacto de la solidaridad emocional en los factores orientados a la comunidad.
Originalidad/valor
A diferencia de la mayoría de los estudios turísticos sobre las perspectivas de los residentes que sólo se centran en la influencia unidireccional, este estudio sugiere un enfoque bidireccional que ayuda a los investigadores a seguir construyendo modelos complejos para explicar mejor las complejas relaciones entre lugares, residentes y turistas. Además, este estudio contribuye a la investigación turística sobre la solidaridad emocional aclarando el papel flexible de los factores orientados a la comunidad en la solidaridad emocional de los residentes.
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Itinpreet Kaur, Geeta Mishra and Rahela Farooqi
Although existing literature abounds with actual diversity research, there is scant work on perceived diversity. This research aims to investigate the impact of employees'…
Abstract
Purpose
Although existing literature abounds with actual diversity research, there is scant work on perceived diversity. This research aims to investigate the impact of employees' perception of workplace diversity on job satisfaction and turnover intentions. Further, the research analyses the gender-moderating effect between the hypothesized connection.
Design/methodology/approach
Current research work uses a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach to analyze the hypothesized connection with 222 full-time employees working in the Indian service sector.
Findings
Study results showed that employees' perception of workplace diversity has a significant negative impact on job satisfaction, while having a significant positive effect on employees' turnover intentions. Moreover, employees' perception of workplace diversity does not vary across gender.
Originality/value
Though research work on perceived diversity is scant and growing at a slow pace, the current study adds to the diversity studies by assessing diversity through employees' perceptions instead of gleaning the actual diversity index.