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As the key to value creation, construction firms should treat quality as a strategic issue. However, strategic quality management (SQM) is still a relatively new concept for construction firms. This paper aims to examine the application of the strategic treatise, Sun Tzu's Art of War with SQM in the construction industry.

Two sets of 20 statements each from SQM principles and Sun Tzu's Art of War were identified. A pilot survey and a questionnaire survey of construction project managers in Singapore were conducted to establish the relative ratings as well as correlations in the rankings of these two sets of statements.

The findings suggested that Sun Tzu's Art of War appears relevant for SQM thinking and practices for construction where appropriate lessons may be drawn.

There are, however, limits to the analogy between war and construction. Warfare represents an extreme situation that demands exceptional responses, espionage and sacrifice of human lives, which could lead to unethical practices in construction.

Nevertheless, this study helps to prompt construction firms into thinking about SQM through drawing appropriate lessons from Sun Tzu's Art of War.

The value of this paper is to synthesize the strategic issues encapsulated in Sun Tzu's Art of War with SQM principles in the construction industry.

This paper aims to analyse how both Lin’s birthplace identity and his Christian identity contributed to his fruitful public career and to ascertain which identity became the most significant.

Archival research is the main method used in this paper. The most important archives drawn from are the Daniel Tse Collection in the Special Collection and Archives of the Hong Kong Baptist University Library. Oral history has also been used in this paper to uncover more material that has not yet been discussed in existing scholarly works.

This paper argues that although Lin’s birthplace identity and social networks helped him to start his business career in Nam Pak Hong and develop into a leader in the local Chaozhou communities, these factors were insufficient to his becoming a respectable member of the Chinese elite in post-war Hong Kong. He became well known not because of his leading position in local Chaozhou communities or any great achievement he had obtained in business but because of his contribution to the development of Christian education. These achievements earned him a reputation as a “Christian educator”. Thus Lin’s Christian identity became more important than his birthplace identity in contributing to his successful public career.

This paper has value in showing how Christian influences interacted with various cultural factors in early Hong Kong. It also offers insights into Lin’s life and motivations as well as the history of the institutions he contributed to/founded. It not only furthers our understanding of the Chinese Christian business elite in early Hong Kong but also provides us with insights when further studying this group of people in other British colonies in Asia.

It is known that people's expectation towards their living “green” is increasing. Green features are now regarded as one of the important considerations of buyers in purchasing a property. This research paper aims to investigate the significance of the green features of residential buildings to property buyers.

HK‐BEAM certification and HK‐GBC Award are used as the measurement of green residential buildings. The study used a hedonic price model to determine whether there is a relationship between green features and residential property price and the influence of green features on the residential property price if there is such relationship.

The empirical results show that green features have a significant and positive relationship with residential property price. People are willing to pay more for green buildings recognized by HK‐BEAM and HK‐GBC. They are willing to pay a sale price premium ranging from 3.4 percent to 6.4 percent. Furthermore, a relatively larger premium is found in Hong Kong Island compared to the New Territories.

The results imply that environmentally friendly green buildings both increase the value of a property and attract property buyers; and well‐recognized green building schemes add value to properties and hence increase the property price.

The study has contributed an indication of the amount a buyer would be willing to pay for quality green buildings as a reference for users, developers and investors. The study sheds light on the ability of the market to capitalize environmental considerations in investment decisions.

Hong Kong and Singapore are characterized by rapid economic development and a high population density of 6,250 and 6,055 per km² land respectively. Land revenue is their major source of income to finance their public infrastructure and social services. Their design and collection of taxes on land, their value‐capture instruments and their allocation of revenue for public works are examined. The article finds that there are some similarities between the two cities in capturing land value, such as the collection of annual rates and stamp duty on property. The differences include the adoption of property tax surcharge and the development charge. In fact, each mechanism has its pros and cons. The method and the extent of each mechanism depend on the goals of the government in respect of the social and economic conditions.

The longitudinal impact of media multitasking on the development of executive function has been understudied, as most of the existing studies are cross-sectional. This longitudinal study addresses this research gap and uses multiple measures, i.e. behavioral and self-reported, to explore the impact of media multitasking on the executive function of Chinese adolescents.

This study followed 99 Chinese adolescents (M_age = 14.41, SD = 1.10; 42 boys and 57 girls) for one year using both behavioral (2-back, Stroop Color and Number-letter tasks) and self-reported (questionnaire) measures. The adolescents were categorized as either heavy/high media multitaskers (HMMs; 19 boys and 29 girls) or light/low media multitaskers (LMMs; 23 boys and 28 girls). They were tested at baseline, 6 months later and 12 months later.

The results indicated that the accuracy scores for all cognitive tasks differed with age, but the switch-cost in the shifting task and the self-reported measures of executive function did not. And there were consistent differences between the HMMs and LMMs in the self-reported measures and 2-back accuracy. However, the interaction effect was found only in shifting ability, indicating a decline in the LMMs' self-reported problematic shifting behavior in daily life.

This study used behavioral and self-reported measures to confirm the longitudinal impact of media multitasking on executive function. The impact of media multitasking on executive function is more apparent in daily-life behavior than in cognitive task performance.

This research is concerned with youth activism in Singapore historically and the importance of legitimacy for understanding the further development of youth activism and Singapore’s democratization process. It takes into account issues pertaining to good governance, economic performance and democratic participation (legitimacy). The paper aims to discuss this issue.

The research adopts a historical approach, qualitative in nature with some quantitative analysis based on documentary research, press reports and content analysis.

Historically youth activism was vibrant and dynamic in the fight for independence and against inequality and injustice during the colonial era in Singapore. Under Lee Kuan Yew’s rule, the scope and boundary of democratic participation (legitimacy) were delimited and controlled by the state. State-contained or controlled participation has replaced contentious politics. In the Singapore General Election in 2011, the younger generation of Singapore electorate, who are better educated and well-travelled, however, proved themselves to be rational and pragmatic when they exercised their rights to reject polices detrimental to their socio-economic well-beings as well as to the inclusiveness of society. The People’s Action Party (PAP) had the lowest vote share (60 per cent) in history. Since then the PAP government had stepped up its efforts in improving welfare gains of the citizens as well as managing public discontents with more effective policies. The PAP victory in the Singapore election (GE 2015), however, showed that among other reasons, welfare gains and good governance helped in salvaging the electoral legitimacy vis-à-vis the political legitimacy of the PAP government. However, the PAP government’s continual harsh treatment of critics, young and old, means that to achieve democratic legitimacy, it has to break through the shackles of authoritarian leadership style and elite governance, which have led to the regime’s failure to face up to the reality of an emerging civic participatory culture in the Singapore contexts.

Legitimacy is an important concept. To date there is no systematic application of this concept to the study of Singapore electoral politics. This paper employs Bruce Gilley’s determinants of legitimacy – democratic legitimacy, welfare gains and good governance – to explicate the basis of the PAP’s regime legitimacy, the contradictions inherent in state-contained participation and political representation that delimited and undermined the nature, scope and boundary of democratic legitimacy.

As the global focus on sustainability continues to grow, it is crucial to assess the current state of research and identify knowledge gaps. This study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the existing literature on promoting and implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Using a three-stage systematic screening process, 416 articles were identified and analyzed using the proposed social-economic-environmental (SEE) Cube classification model.

The results revealed a potential imbalance in research priorities, with a greater focus on economic and environmental goals compared to social goals. Regional disparities were also observed, indicating a correlation between a country’s development status and its environmental priorities. Moreover, a majority of the papers lacked empirical grounding, emphasizing the need for increased promotion and implementation of the SDGs to achieve the 2030 Agenda.

This study contributes to the existing literature by proposing the SEE Cube model, which is a parsimonious model to classify and show the interactions of the existing studies on the sustainable development dimensions. Marketers who are concerned about their corporate images should give more details about their sustainability practices to avoid the impression of SDG washing. Policymakers and educators should proactively implement interventions related to the SDGs of lower awareness, and there should be a greater emphasis on conducting empirical research, particularly experimental studies.

These findings not only highlight practical challenges that impact the implementation of the SDGs but also inform new research avenues.

A hypersingular boundary integral method is proposed for the numerical solution of a quasi‐static antiplane problem involving an elastic bimaterial with an imperfect interface. The interface exhibits viscoelastic behaviors and is modeled as comprising linear springs and dashpots. The proposed method is applied to solve a specific test problem.