Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Covid-19 Crisis And Intergenerational Relations : The Case Of Hong Kong Families With Older Parents Ageing In The Greater Bay Area In Mainland China, Bowen Zhou

Lingnan Theses and Dissertations (MPhil & PhD)

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has been developed by the Chinese central government since 2016. Driven by the development of the Greater Bay Area, the well-developed transportation has further provided chances for Hong Kong older people to reside in the mainland GBA cities. The relevant Hong Kong government departments have made a comparison showing that the number of Hong Kong older people (aged 65 and above) who are ageing in the Greater Bay Area of mainland China has increased to around 90,200 in 2019, a 33% increase from 2013. Given the most updated situation, these Hong Kong families with …

Comparison Of Transportation Accessibility Policy Among Elderly In Hong Kong And Singapore, Hui Zheng

SOC 605 Comparative Social Policy Research Project - Student Works

With the coming of the aged society, the right of the elderly to participate in social life has been paid more and more attention, and the aging population urgently needs to promote the construction of traffic accessible environment with the travel needs of the elderly as the core. Through the document analysis method of qualitative research, this study chose to make a comparative analysis of the transport accessibility policies of the elderly in Singapore and Hong Kong, aiming to provide policy recommendations for government departments to accelerate the construction of a convenient transport environment for the elderly and support their …

Cross-Watershed Horizontal Ecological Compensation System : Comparative Examples From China And Germany, Yanyao Yang

SOC 605 Comparative Social Policy Research Project - Student Works

In recent years, horizontal ecological compensation in the Yangtze River basin is a new policy for protecting the ecology. But it still has shortcomings in policy implementation. In contrast, Germany, which reached an ecological compensation agreement with the Czech Republic on the Elbe River as early as the 1990s, is a worthy reference object for China. Therefore, this study systematically reviews the literature on horizontal ecological compensation in China and abroad. It finds that the relevant literature on ecological compensation policies lacks composite research using research methods that combine qualitative and quantitative analysis. So, this study uses social network analysis …

Challenges And Responses : The Impact Of Classification Methods Of Policies On First-Generation College Students In China And The Us, Ken Cheng

SOC 605 Comparative Social Policy Research Project - Student Works

In China and the United States, with the expansion of higher education, more and more people have become the first-generation of college students in their families. However, while gaining opportunities for social upward mobility, they also face many challenges, and the formation of these challenges is related to their multiple identities. In China, these challenges are more related to regional development differences, while in the United States, they are more impacted by identities such as immigrants and ethnic minorities. At the same time, the governments, universities, and society of both countries have introduced various policies to support first-generation college students, …

Comparative Study Of Barrier-Free City Construction In Shenzhen And Hong Kong, Fengyi Li

SOC 605 Comparative Social Policy Research Project - Student Works

The purpose of this research is to compare the barrier-free construction situation in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, and to compare them in terms of hardware facilities, publicity concepts, financial investment, etc. Qualitative analysis was used, interviews were conducted with people with disabilities, and the data results were analyzed to draw the direction of the future development of barrier-free facilities in the two places.

Does Non-Financial Information Disclosure Promote Firm's Exports? Evidence From China's Mandatory Csr Reporting Regulation, Xin Chen

Lingnan Theses and Dissertations (MPhil & PhD)

Although prior literature provides evidence on information technology's role in international trade, whether and how a firm's non-financial information disclosure affects export is underexplored. Using China's mandatory Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) disclosure as a quasi-natural experiment, we find that firms binding to the requirement significantly boost exports compared to their nonreporting peers. To understand the economic mechanisms, we propose that the positive impacts could be exposited through two channels: (1) information transparency and (2) financial constraint. The economic mechanism tests provide suggestive evidence that the effects are more substantial when firms are inferior in information transparency and financial constraint before …

A Socio-Ecological Barrier To Regular Migration, Regularization And Healthcare Access For Myanmar Irregular Migrant Workers In Thailand, Tual Sawn Khai

Lingnan Theses and Dissertations (MPhil & PhD)

The Myanmar people have been migrating to Thailand since the 1980s through regular or irregular channels for better livelihood opportunities. Over the past decade, they have significantly contributed to the economic development of both sending and receiving states. Thailand and Myanmar signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to facilitate labour migration in 2003. The agreement aims to ensure that migrant workers have access to regular employment channels in Thailand and improve their employment rights. Under a bilateral agreement, migrant workers employed under the MOU can stay in Thailand for four years. However, they must apply for visa renewals every two …

Perceived Similarity And Relationship Satisfaction : The Role Of Attributional Confidence, Ting Hin Lee

Lingnan Theses and Dissertations (MPhil & PhD)

Although perceived similarity has been found to foster relationship satisfaction, scarce studies have focused on how perceived similarity by oneself and by the partner are linked to relationship satisfaction. The purpose of Study 1 was to investigate the effect of perceived similarity on relationship satisfaction and the mediating role of attributional confidence in this association. Study 2 aimed to examine the effects of one’s own and the partner’s perceived similarity on relationship satisfaction, in addition to the mediating roles of one’s own and the partner’s attributional confidence in these associations. In Study 1, a total of 395 individuals (51.4% female) …

An Investigation Of Africans And Hongkongers Relationship : A Social Psychological Approach, Raymond Agyenim-Boateng

Lingnan Theses and Dissertations (MPhil & PhD)

When members of different social groups come into contact, interactions and intergroup attitudes are not always reciprocal between the groups. Within social psychology, intergroup relations research has long been a topic of interest. Yet, such research has mostly been conducted in Western cultural settings. There is scant research from an East Asian cultural context, where intercultural encounters have been on the rise. Existing psychological literature has put much attention on the experiences of migrants and minorities, while the views of the host majority members would often be neglected. This thesis addresses this lacuna by using social psychological theories and research …

Dissertation On Applied Micro-Economics, Wei Liu

Lingnan Theses and Dissertations (MPhil & PhD)

My PhD thesis is composed of two chapters. The first chapter evaluates the effectiveness of China’s anti-corruption campaign in 2012 by conducting a difference-in-difference analysis of product-city-level cigarette consumption data from 2007 to 2014. The analysis found that following the campaign, there was an increase in sales of middle-end cigarettes and a decrease in sales of luxury cigarettes, which contrasts with the trend for lower-end cigarettes. This substitution pattern may be attributed to a decrease in public spending on luxury goods, and the patter is also influenced by officials’ wages. Additionally, our findings suggest that provinces with more intense anti-corruption …

Beyond Economics And Politics : A Sociological Review Of Local Long-Term Care Service Provision In China, Zhen Tian

Lingnan Theses and Dissertations (MPhil & PhD)

The socio-demographic transition presents a significant challenge that impacts the renewal of welfare arrangements and the reallocation of welfare responsibilities across sectors. Long-term care (LTC) services have emerged as a widely accepted strategy to promote the active daily living and human dignity of senior citizens. This study aims to assess the effective policy strategies employed in various Chinese contexts to address significant LTC policy concerns and synthesise lessons that can guide future policy decisions. The study addresses three questions to explore local variations in China's LTC service provision: (1) What differences exist in the long-term care services provision? (2) How …

Experiences Of First-Generation Students In A Large Public University In Ghana : A Phenomenological Study, Jacob Oppong Nkansah

Lingnan Theses and Dissertations (Doctoral degree)

In this study, first-generation students (FGS) experiences in the higher education system of Ghana were explored. Only a few studies in Africa, notably Ghana, have focused on the concept of FGS. FGS are conceptualized as learners whose parents didn’t complete or attend university and are the first in their nuclear families to seek for higher education. This research looked into FGS experiences at the University of Education Winneba, which is a large public university viewed as a haven for FGS in Ghana because of its mandate to train teachers for immediate employment. The study explored FGS motivations for pursuing higher …

From Academic Burden Reduction To Quality Education : A Case Study Of Students' And Parents' Perceptions And Experiences Under The Double-Reduction Policy In China, Tao Xu

Lingnan Theses and Dissertations (Doctoral degree)

Research confirms the debilitating effect of academic stress on Chinese students. Excessive academic stress not only causes physical and mental problems for students but also affects the overall development of their abilities and literacy. This form of stress also exacerbates social problems, such as increased educational involution and deteriorating parent–child relationships. Therefore, the Chinese government has introduced the Double-Reduction Policy in 2021 to reduce the academic burden and out-of-school trainings for students in compulsory education. This study aims to explore high school students’ perceptions and experiences related to this policy and provide implications for its improvement. To this end, this …

Two Essays On Pollution, Trade And Industries In China, Jie Bai

Lingnan Theses and Dissertations (MPhil & PhD)

The relationship between environment and human economic activities is intricately intertwined. This thesis delves into the investigation of the causal effect of pollution on exports and, in turn, examines the impacts of industrial intelligence on the environment. It is organized into two chapters. The first chapter of the thesis studies whether and how air pollution affects firms’ exports based on Chinese data (2000-2007). The literature on the correlation between trade and environment is vast, but studies almost exclusively focus on the causal effects of trade on environment. This study examines the reverse effects. In the analysis, we use PM2.5 concentrations …

Examining The Roles Of Family And School Social Capital On Academic Achievements Of Sixth-Grade Students Between Migrant Private Schools And Public Schools In Bao'an District, Shenzhen City, Sudan Wu

Lingnan Theses and Dissertations (Doctoral degree)

Background: During the rapid development in Shenzhen, it has drawn millions of workers from all over the country accompanied with their family. And Bao’an District as the biggest district in Shenzhen, it has 4.49 million of population, including 0.89 million local hukou residents. Due to the hukou system, 177,682 students enrolled in public schools while 189,287 in migrant private schools. School facilities and teacher quality varied from public schools and migrant private schools lead to widening gaps of the academic achievements between students in migrant private schools and public schools. The equity for migrant children becomes a topical issue in …

A Qualitative Study Of Approaches To Implementing Basic Education Internationalization In Shenzhen, Xue Cao

Lingnan Theses and Dissertations (Doctoral degree)

The Chinese government’s Education Modernization 2035 plan puts forward goals for China to achieve education modernization and become an education powerhouse by 2035. As a cornerstone of education development, basic education internationalization is an essential part of the country’s educational reforms. In 2019, the Outline for the Development of the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area explicitly called for building an internationalization education demonstration zone. However, in one of the cities in the Greater Bay Area, Shenzhen, the implementation of basic education internationalization has not been completely successful. The problem facing Shenzhen is that the traditional approach to internationalization, which is …

Exploring Happiness : The Life Course Study Of Older Shanghainese Women In Shanghai And Hong Kong, Archibald Malcolm Wang

Lingnan Theses and Dissertations (Doctoral degree)

The main concern of this study is to investigate the effect of life course experience on the level of happiness among older women. To assess various independent variables of happiness. The paper analyzed the heterogeneous effect of older people's happiness through the SIT and SET theories from the Life Course Model. The importance of life course narration also concerns their backgrounds and personal experiences. Regarding the applied method, this research elected comparative studies and narrative analysis for fieldwork. The author collected primary data to assess the effects of happiness by two surveys, including 1000 women, to test the tandem studies …

A Comparative Analysis Of Double Reduction Policy In China, Hai Yan Wang

SOC 605 Comparative Social Policy Research Project - Student Works

The "double reduction" policy in China is designed to reduce the workload of students and prohibit out-of-school training. However, the results are not as expected. This study aims to identify potential factors that could contribute to the success of China's "double reduction" policy. The data were analysed using a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods (questionnaires for students and semi-structured interviews with teachers and parents). In total, 156 valid questionnaires were collected, and 3 teachers and 3 parents were interviewed. In addition, Finland and South Korea's experiences have been used for comparison for better improvement. The results indicate that inconsistent …

A Comparison Of Public Housing Policies For The Elderly In Hong Kong And Singapore, Sijing Bai

SOC 605 Comparative Social Policy Research Project - Student Works

With the society’s development and progress, people are seeking a long and healthy life with improved life quality and a better living environment. Like many other economies worldwide, Singapore and Hong Kong are experiencing rapid population aging. The social welfare policy in Singapore is based on the individual and family as the foundation, the community as the middle-level organization, and the government taking a residual complementary role. In contrast, the elderly care model in Hong Kong can be divided into three types: aging in place, residential care, and aging out of Hong Kong. According to current statistics, Hong Kong has …

Sandurot Festival As Mugna : Exploring Modernity And Belonging Through The Civic Festival, Lady Flor Niñal Partosa

Lingnan Theses and Dissertations (MPhil & PhD)

Focusing on the Sandurot Festival organized by the City of Dumaguete in the Philippines, my study explores the process of embodying local identity as site to actualize modernity. To highlight this collaborative, creative, and often contentious process, I put forward the concept of mugna (a Cebuano word which means to create) to examine how social actors (such as festival organizers, cultural workers, and artists) configure nodes of belonging to the time and space of the city by engaging with notions of tradition, authenticity, progress, and development. As Cultural Studies stresses the significance of radical contextuality, I examine in this project …

Comparing The Impact Of Housing Purchase Restrictions On House Prices In Guangzhou And Shenzhen, Chunxia Tan

SOC 605 Comparative Social Policy Research Project - Student Works

This paper will quantify the housing restriction policies in Guangzhou Shenzhen using the principal component analysis of previous researchers. The correlation coefficient between the quantified results of the policies from 2012-2021 and the house prices from 2012-2021 will be calculated and the conclusion shows that as the housing restriction policies increase (become stricter) it does not cause house prices to fall, it only eases the rate of house price increase. This is consistent with the results of the questionnaire research. A quantitative study was also conducted to assess the effect of individual policies, using the example of Shenzhen's "Reference Price …

Comparative Study Of The Effectiveness Of Talent Housing Policy In Shenzhen And Guangzhou, Xiaobin Zhang

SOC 605 Comparative Social Policy Research Project - Student Works

Housing provision in China has greatly improved, housing affordability gradually becomes another tough problem. Local government in China launches talent housing to attract and retain talents owing to that dreaded housing prices causing threaten to brain drain, with an aim to upgrade economic growth as well.

This research comparatively analyzes two typical cities with talent housing policy, showing similarities and differences of their talent housing policies, and evaluating the effectiveness from four dimensions: housing affordability, housing accessibility, housing availability and housing quality. And it inspects the overall result of policy goal of attracting talents. This research finds that the factors …

Comparison Of The Mainland And Hong Kong’S Epidemic Prevention Policies From The Perspective Of Collaborative Governance, Junxing Zheng

SOC 605 Comparative Social Policy Research Project - Student Works

The evolution of the virus has further improved Omicron's ability to spread, and the "dynamic clearing" policy of Hong Kong and the mainland will be severely challenged in 2022. To explore the implementation of anti-epidemic policies in Hong Kong and mainland China and their respective problems, this study starts from the perspective of collaborative governance, understands the work and performance of the government and other social organizations in the epidemic, and draws conclusions after analysis. This study found that both Hong Kong and the mainland have formed relatively complete epidemic prevention systems through literature research and qualitative interviews.

In contrast, …

Social Capital And Educational Well-Being: A Systematic Review (2010-2022), Pui Yiu Ho

SOC 605 Comparative Social Policy Research Project - Student Works

Social capital is evidenced as beneficial to educational achievements and it’s believed as important for students. Recent research of social capital and education moves beyond illustrating the effects of social capital on education achievements to a more comprehensive interrelationship between social capital and different aspects in development of students. To delineate the association between social capital and education in different aspects, this paper aims to systematically review quantitative studies examining the association between social capital and educational well-being. Three questions are of concern here. Question 1: Is there association relationship between social capital and educational well-being? Question 2: …

Multidimensional Case Study Of Age-Friendly Cities And Communities In Hong Kong, Tokyo And Singapore, Wai Yi Cheng

SOC 605 Comparative Social Policy Research Project - Student Works

This multidimensional case study aims to capture the urban characteristics of age-friendly cities and communities in three international cities, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Singapore. As the aging population has become global phenomena, various aging ideologies were proposed to address the issues caused by the significant demographic shift. The four common aging ideologies: healthy aging, productive aging, successful aging, and active aging that is widely adopted in age-friendly development; apart from the above aging ideologies, positive aging, a distinctive branch found in geropsychology study suggested that individual’s preparedness is as important as societal readiness emphasized in the four environment-related wellbeing regarding …

Platform Work, Social Risks And Social Welfare : A Qualitative Study On Workers’ Experiences And Views In Hong Kong, Cham Kit Ming

Lingnan Theses and Dissertations (MPhil & PhD)

Drawing on the social risk thesis, this research studies the risk and welfare experiences of Hong Kong workers working on food delivery platforms and courier platforms. A total of 23 platform workers involved in food delivery work and courier work on the crowdsourcing gig work platform were invited to in-depth interviews, leading to the discovery of workers’ perceptions of the six platform work-related risks, welfare experiences, and work freedom. The researcher argues that platform workers’ experiences result from power asymmetry on the individual, organisational, and institutional levels. The algorithmic control by the platform firms and the dependence of workers on …

Married Working Women And Work-Family Interface In Urban Ghana : A Holistic Approach, Kwaku Abrefa Busia

Lingnan Theses and Dissertations (MPhil & PhD)

The intersection of work and family has gained traction across various disciplines in an attempt to study how work and family life affect individuals, families, organisations and societies. Nonetheless, most studies on work-family interface (WFI) remain dominated by theories, concepts and experiences rooted in white, middle class and homogenous individuals in Western societies. Owing to these concerns, there have been widespread calls for more cross-cultural studies that capture the plurality of work-family realities and conceptualisation, especially from the Global South. Emphasis has also been made on the need to expand workfamily research beyond the often-studied professional workers and their families …

Democratization By Foreign Intervention : How Different Causes Of Intervention Affect The Outcome Of Democratization?, Pat Shu Roy Ho

Lingnan Theses and Dissertations (MPhil & PhD)

In examining the external intervention in order to promote democratization after the Cold War, there have been five kinds of conflicts (transition to independence, the civil war, the ethnic conflict, removing the dictatorship, and the ‘war on terror’) necessitating international interventions. While the foreign interveners attempt to solve the conflict by promoting democracy in the target society, the nature of these contexts complicates the mission and the ‘transitional phases’. Specifically, this thesis suggested that the elite composition of different contexts will affect the formation of elite consensus. Meanwhile, their difficulty in forming elite consensus can be arranged in ascending order: …

Corporate Social Responsibility And Operating Performance In Life And Health Insurance Market : Evidence From China, Ji Zhang

Lingnan Theses and Dissertations (MPhil & PhD)

Extant literature is equivocal on whether and how corporate social responsivity (CSR) activities affect corporates’ performance. To the best of our knowledge, a very limited number of research investigates CSR-performance relationship in insurance and even no research examines this relationship in China’s life and health (LH) insurance market. China LH insurance market has been the world’s second biggest LH insurance market albeit receiving limited attention in academia. We innovatively use two measurements of philanthropic activities as proxy for positive CSR performance. Alternatively, we use administrative penalties received from the provincial regulators as a proxy for the negative shock on the …

Essays On The Effects Of Mergers On Competition, Yiran Cao

Lingnan Theses and Dissertations (MPhil & PhD)

Mergers enable firms to internalize pricing externalities among competitors, hence raising market power and reducing social welfare. Mergers, on the other hand, can create merger-specific efficiencies and hence promote welfare. This thesis investigates the competitive effects of both horizontal and vertical mergers, motivated by this trade-off. It consists of two chapters. Chapter 2 sheds light on the competitive effects of killer acquisitions by extending the theoretical model of Cunningham et al. (2021). It examines how an acquiring firm's post-acquisition divestiture incentive is affected by the nature of competition, how the divestiture strategy impacts the likelihood of killer acquisitions, and what …