Ziqiang Han, Ivan Y. Sun and Rong Hu
The purpose of this paper is to assess the influences of social trust and neighborhood cohesion on public trust in the police in China.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the influences of social trust and neighborhood cohesion on public trust in the police in China.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used survey data collected from roughly 5,600 respondents by the 2012 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS). Multivariate regression was employed to analyze the effects of two forms of social trust, generalized trust and particularized trust, and three types of neighborhood cohesion, neighbor solidary, support and interaction, on public trust in the Chinese police, controlling for personal background characteristics.
Findings
Both generalized trust and particularized trust exerted a significant positive effect on trust in the Chinese police. Greater neighborhood cohesion also enhanced public trust in the police. Elderly, women, less educated and people with rural hukou and higher perceived social class were more likely to trust the police.
Research limitations/implications
The CGSS data contained only a single item that could be used to measure public trust in the police. Future studies should consider using multiple survey items to reflect Chinese people’s trust from different conceptual dimensions, such as procedural- and outcome-based trust and police legitimacy. The CGSS data also did not contain information on some relevant predictors, such as victimization and fear of crime, personal and vicarious contact experiences with the police, and news and social media usage and exposure. Future studies, if possible, should incorporate these theoretically relevant and empirically proven variables into the analysis.
Practical implications
Improving neighborhood cohesion is a clear path to cultivate stronger public trust in the police. Policy-makers and officials must bring the neighborhood-centered approach back to local governance by working closely with police leaders and other private and parochial social institutions to launch programs that can effectively stabilize and strengthen local communities and actively promoting positive interactions and social bonds among residents. Policies and programs aimed at enhancing public trust in the police should target at younger, better educated and urban Chinese who are more likely to be critical of the police.
Originality/value
Despite their high relevance, social trust and neighborhood cohesion have received only limited attention in past research on Chinese attitudes toward the police. This study represents one of the first attempts to examine different forms of social trust and neighborhood cohesion on public trust in the police in China.
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Yunan Chen, Ivan Sun, Yuning Wu and Ziqiang Han
The purpose of this paper is to assesses whether supervisor justice is linked to COVID-19 negative and positive impacts directly and indirectly through the mechanisms of stress…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assesses whether supervisor justice is linked to COVID-19 negative and positive impacts directly and indirectly through the mechanisms of stress and resiliency among auxiliary police in China.
Design/methodology/approach
This study utilized survey data from more than 300 auxiliary police in a large Chinese provincial capital city in 2020. Structural equation modeling was conducted to analyze the direct and indirect relationships between supervisor justice and COIVD-19 impacts.
Findings
Results indicate that supervisor justice connects to COVID-19 negative impacts indirectly through stress. Supervisor justice is also indirectly related to positive impact through resiliency.
Research limitations/implications
The findings' generalizability is limited due to using a nonrandom sample of officers. Officers' emotional states in the forms of stress and resiliency are important in mediating the association between supervisory justice and COVID-19 impacts.
Originality/value
The present study represents one of the first attempts to empirically investigate the occupational experiences of a vital group of frontline workers in Chinese policing. This study also generates evidence to support the importance of officers' emotional conditions in reducing negative COVID-19 impacts in an authoritarian country.
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Ziqiang Han, Lei Wang and Jianwen Wei
This study examines the recovery of households after disasters from the sustainable livelihood approach (SLA) perspective.
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the recovery of households after disasters from the sustainable livelihood approach (SLA) perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
This study analyzes the perception of recovery by using a longitudinal household survey data set collected from a Chinese county devastated by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. The analysis compares the changes of livelihood capitals (financial, natural, physical, social, human) between 2012 and 2009 and recovery perception.
Findings
The results demonstrate that both the current status of financial, natural, and social capital and the changes of the capitals between 2009 and 2012 are positively correlated with the perceived level of recovery. The associations between the current status and the change of physical capital and recovery perception are insignificant. In contrast, with a greater change of human capital between 2009 and 2012, participants have a lower perception of recovery.
Originality/value
By investigating a longitudinal data, this study indicates that (1) household recovery should be considered as multidimensional, (2) the SLA could be a feasible framework to measure recovery, and (3) individual's recovery perception is dependent on the various dimensions of recovery measures.
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Rui Sun and Ziqiang Han
This study aims to investigate the relationship between COVID-19 impacts and auxiliary police officers’ mental health as well as the moderating role of supervisor procedural…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the relationship between COVID-19 impacts and auxiliary police officers’ mental health as well as the moderating role of supervisor procedural justice.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the role theory and a police officer survey from China, this quantitative study investigates the relationship between COVID-19 impacts and mental health status among auxiliary police, a rarely examined police type. We also examine the moderating role of supervisor procedural justice.
Findings
Auxiliary police officers reported both negative and positive impacts from COVID-19, while the negative impacts were mainly in the work domain, but the positive impacts were primarily in the life area. OLS regression results indicate that negative impacts, especially work-related negative impacts, are significantly related to depression and anxiety, and supervisor procedural justice moderates the relationship between positive impacts and depression and anxiety.
Originality/value
Firstly, we adopted the role theory to examine how public health emergencies affect police officers in their work and life domains. Secondly, we advance the organizational justice literature by assessing whether supervisor procedural justice can moderate the relationship between COVID-19 impacts and their mental health. Thirdly, this research extends the literature on depression and anxiety of auxiliary police officers in China, who attracted less attention in current literature and policies.
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Ziqiang Han and William L. Waugh
This chapter provides the foundation for the book. The objective of this chapter is to outline the theme of the book and to provide the context for the chapters that follow…
Abstract
This chapter provides the foundation for the book. The objective of this chapter is to outline the theme of the book and to provide the context for the chapters that follow. Disaster recovery is a challenge for governments and for affected communities, families, and individuals. It is a challenge, because recovery from catastrophic disasters can be much more complicated and elusive than what can be addressed by national and international aid organizations given the time and other resources. The short literature review provides the research context, and the overview of the book describes each of the chapters briefly.
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Disasters shape the development of communities and societies not only physically but also socially. This chapter provides some quantitative evidence to this effect by examining…
Abstract
Disasters shape the development of communities and societies not only physically but also socially. This chapter provides some quantitative evidence to this effect by examining changes in social capital in communities affected by the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake in China.
A two-wave, longitudinal household questionnaire survey data set was used for analysis. The baseline data were obtained in January, 2009, around 8 months after the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake, adopting a stratified sampling method within a county severely disrupted by the earthquake. A follow-up survey with the same households was conducted in the summer of 2012. Finally, 415 household questionnaire surveys from nine communities within the county were collected for analysis.
Overall, it can be concluded that social capital was strengthened in the post-disaster recovery process in the survey area. Social capital was measured according to three dimensions: (1) affiliation with organizations, (2) the degree of available social support, and (3) the degree of social cohesion within communities. It was found that the average degree of social capital increased during the recovery process, with a decrease of social capital inequalities between different families. More specifically, although informal personal networks were found to be the most prominent sources of social support, the support provided by formal organizations played a relatively more important role immediately after the catastrophe, given that most of the personal networks were also affected. Community cohesion was also found to have increased, with a decrease of standard deviation in the recovery process. This chapter suggests that disasters could generate positive effects rather than negative ones alone. Stronger and more tightly knit communities could be built in the disaster recovery process, if appropriate policies and methods are implemented.
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This comparative study qualitatively explores how linguistic minority immigrants and refugees experienced the 2010–2011 Canterbury and Tohoku disasters, including their coping…
Abstract
This comparative study qualitatively explores how linguistic minority immigrants and refugees experienced the 2010–2011 Canterbury and Tohoku disasters, including their coping mechanisms and their perceived vulnerabilities and resilience. The data used for this qualitative analysis was primarily drawn from 28 in-depth interviews with linguistic minority immigrants and refugees and their supporting organization staff conducted in 2015–2016. Additional material was drawn from two publicly available data sets. Immigrants and refugees are typically thought of as being more vulnerable in disasters. However, findings drawn from this research demonstrate the nonlinearity, complexity, and contextuality of social vulnerabilities in disasters, suggesting that they are not necessarily powerless help-seekers in some cases. Using Bourdieu’s capital theory, this study demonstrates how immigrants and refugees were active social agents in these disasters. Consequently, we need to reconceptualize the social vulnerability approach. Some study participants had experiences of going through wars and everyday disasters, which made them more resilient. This is conceptualized here as earned strength, which can be a significant resource in disasters for the socially vulnerable. This chapter hopes to answer some critical questions regarding the social vulnerability approach: how do we incorporate the structure–agency concept, how do we theoretically deal with the contextuality/nonlinearity of social vulnerability in disasters, and how do we conceptualize a research study that can seek more practical and generalizable findings, instead of event-driven and disaster-specific findings?
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Huan Zhang, Na Gao, Yean Wang and Yixuan Han
The purpose of this paper is to model how risk governance (RG) influences risk prevention behaviors toward food safety issues, considering the perception of related risks in the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to model how risk governance (RG) influences risk prevention behaviors toward food safety issues, considering the perception of related risks in the Taiwanese context.
Design/methodology/approach
The national representative data on risk society modules from the Taiwan Social Change Survey data were used (sample size = 2,005). The procedure for the analysis consisted of investigation of the model fit indices of structural equation modeling, incorporating the mediation effect. Multiple-group analysis was used to examine the moderation effects.
Findings
Results show that the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and the advanced TRA can accurately explain personal risk perception (RP) (R2=0.40) and risk prevention (R2=0.42). Results also suggest that RG institutions can affect personal RP and risk prevention through subjective norms. In addition, moderation effects of media and gender were found.
Originality/value
This study is one of the first attempts to examine the RG effects on RP and risk prevention behavior of food safety issues in Taiwan. The results and findings may be helpful for RG institutions.