Social and Behavioral Sciences | Open Access Articles

How Smu Became An Agent Of Change For Universities, Arnoud De Meyer, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Its partnership with Wharton has helped enrich the landscape of higher education in Singapore, two SMU leaders write in response to Han Fook Kwang's column last Sunday.

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Street-Level Bureaucrats And Irrigation Policy Reform In Southeast Asia, Jacob I. Ricks

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Policy reforms are difficult for developing states, especially when they are meant to improve cooperation and collaboration between private citizens and state officials, such as in the case of education, health care provision, business-state relations, and policing. A large part of this challenge is that the policy reforms required for coproduction of services necessitate development of state capacity in new directions. Using the substantive issue of irrigation reforms, especially those aimed at improving service provision and farmer participation, I identify three lessons for reformers regarding the implementation of policy for the coproduction of services. Drawing on extensive fieldwork in Thailand …

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Late-Life Widowhood In Developing Southeast Asia: Comparative Perspectives From Myanmar, Thailand, And Vietnam, Bussarawan Puk Teerawichitchainan, John Knodel

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

We analyze recent aging surveys to examine the prevalence and correlates of widowhood among elderly in Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam and investigate how widowhood is associated with intergenerational support and old-age wellbeing. Widowhood is often associated with depressive symptoms, elevated mortality risk, and social-relationship changes. How one fares after spousal loss is nevertheless contingent on individual-level attributes, dyadic characteristics, and macro-social conditions. Thus, consequences likely vary across contexts. Most studies are conducted in western developed countries. Few existing Asia-focused research is primarily based on developed East Asia or China. Little is empirically known about the situation in non-western developing countries. …

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The Elements Of Effective Program Design: A Two-Level Analysis, Michael Howlett, Ishani Mukherjee, Jeremy Rayner

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Policy and program design is a major theme of contemporary policy research, aimed at improving the understanding of how the processes, methods and tools of policy-making are employed to better formulate effective policies and programs, and to understand the reasons why such designs are not forthcoming. However while many efforts have been made to evaluate policy design, less work has focused on program designs. This article sets out to fill this gap in knowledge of design practices in policy-making. It outlines the nature of the study of policy design with a particular focus on the nature of programs and the …

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International Organizations As Mobilizing Structures: World Csr Associations And Their Disparate Impacts On Members’ Csr Practices, 2000-2016, Shawn Pope, Alwyn Lim

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

International organizations are key players in globalization, but not all international organizations influence global processes in the same ways. In this paper, we argue that differences in international organizations’ mobilizing structures can shape the extent to which these organizations can positively impact the practices of their members. We present the first comparative and quantitative assessment of world corporate social responsibility (CSR) associations that comprise business participants that act collectively to address pressing social and environmental concerns. We conduct time-series panel regression analyses of a unique dataset of business participation in three core world CSR associations and test their effects on …

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World War Ii, Race, And The Southeast Asian Origins Of The Domino Theory, Wen-Qing (Wei Wenqing) Ngoei

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This essay examines how the history of World War II in Southeast Asia, and US and British attitudes toward the Asian races, underpinned the emergence of the domino theory.

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Dreaming As A Critical Discourse Of National Belonging: China Dream, American Dream And World Dream, William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article explores the normative politics of national belonging through an analysis of the ‘China Dream’ and the ‘American Dream’. It traces how politicians and public intellectuals employ such slogans to highlight how national dreams emerge in times of crisis and involve a combination of aspirations and anxieties. It compares parallel rhetorical strategies – ‘patriotic worrying’ in China and the American Jeremiad in the US – to examine how belonging to these two nations involves a nostalgic longing for the past as a model for the future. Debates about the meaning of these national dreams highlight the tension between freedom …

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Our Future Together Industry Perspectives: Future Of Professional Learning And Entrepreneurship, Poh Sun Seow, Pan, Gary, Clarence Goh, Kwong Sin Leong

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This report 2017 marks the second collaboration between ISCA and ICAEW after the successful launch of “Our Future Together” report in 2016 to inspire professional accountants to critically think about what the future holds for Singapore and the accountancy profession. How should accountants embrace transformation in the digital age? How should learning be redefined for the accountancy profession? How can organisational culture encourage innovation and an enterprising spirit in accountants? This report aims to shape the discussion on how education, training and professional learning should be redefined to develop professional accountants who are future-ready, so that they can continue to …

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Do Politically Connected Directors Affect Accounting Quality? Evidence From China's Anti-Corruption Campaign (Rule 18), Ole-Kristian Hope, Heng Yue, Qinlin Zhong

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We examine the impact of politically connected directors on accounting quality using a quasi experiment in China. In October 2013, “Rule 18” was issued to prohibit government and party officials, who were concurrently holding public offices or had recently retired from such positions within the last three years, from serving as directors for publicly listed firms. The regulation is part of China’s anti-corruption campaign, and it has led to a large number of politically connected directors resigning from their roles as directors involuntarily. As such, Rule 18 has effectively weakened, if not fully discontinued, the political connections of the firms …

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Does Wage-Inflation Targeting Complement Foreign Exchange Intervention? An Evaluation Of A Multi-Target, Two-Instrument Monetary Policy Framework, Taojun Xie, Jingting Liu, Joseph D. Alba, Wai-Mun Chia

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We assess the inclusion of wage inflation as an intermediate target of an emerging central bank using a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with sticky wages and prices calibrated for the South Korean economy. The model includes wage inflation as an additional target jointly with domestic price inflation and the output gap in a Taylor- type interest rate rule operating with a sterilized foreign exchange (FX) intervention rule. Our results show a complementary relationship between wage inflation targeting and price inflation targeting. That is, by supplementing price inflation targeting with wage inflation targeting, welfare improves for cases with and without …

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Employee Perceptions Of Organisational Legitimacy As Impersonal Bases Of Organisational Trustworthiness And Trust, Kai Lamertz, Devasheesh P. Bhave

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Prior research has amply demonstrated that employees’ personal relationship with the organisation influences their trust in it. In this two-study investigation, we examine how employees’ beliefs about the organisation’s legitimacy relate to their organisational trust because legitimacy signals organisational trustworthiness in the impersonal system of the institutional environment. Results from Study 1, which drew on data from one organisation, reveal that employees’ legitimacy beliefs are related to their organisational trust. Furthermore, results from Study 2, which are based on data from five organisations, reveal that employees’ judgment of the organisation’s trustworthiness mediates the relationship between legitimacy beliefs and organisational trust. …

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Ethnic Social Network In Public Housing Market In Singapore, Sumit Agarwal, Hyunsoo Choi, Jia He, Tien Foo Sing

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper investigates the ethnic social network in Singapore's resale public housing market using a unique dataset containing the Cash-Over-Valuation (COV) information for a sample of 73,107 resale public housing transactions from 2007 to 2012. We find that the COV per square meter (psm), which represents a premium above the "objective" housing value, significantly increases with the concentration of buyers' own ethnic group at a housing block level. The results imply that buyers value housing blocks with higher concentration of the same ethnicity group of households. However, the convexity in COV premium suggests that the premium is too large to …

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Ethnic Social Network In Public Housing Market In Singapore, Sumit Agarwal, Hyunsoo Choi, Jia He, Tien Foo Sing

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper investigates the ethnic social network in Singapore's resale public housing market using a unique dataset containing the Cash-Over-Valuation (COV) information for a sample of 73,107 resale public housing transactions from 2007 to 2012. We find that the COV per square meter (psm), which represents a premium above the "objective" housing value, significantly increases with the concentration of buyers' own ethnic group at a housing block level. The results imply that buyers value housing blocks with higher concentration of the same ethnicity group of households. However, the convexity in COV premium suggests that the premium is too large to …

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Time To Hold Last Rites For Martial-Rape Immunity, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

When Minister for Social and Family Development Tan Chuan-Jin said earlier this month in Parliament that the Government was “actively reviewing” a husband’s limited immunity from marital rape, he asserted that a married woman should have equal protection against sexual violence as an unmarried woman.

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Rent Appropriation Of Knowledge-Based Assets And Firm Performance When Institutions Are Weak: A Study Of Chinese Publicly Listed Firms, Cuili Qian, Heli Wang, Xuesong Geng, Yangxin Yu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

A firm's strategic investments in knowledge-based assets through research and development (R&D) can generate economic rents for the firm, and thus are expected to affect positively a firm's financial performance. However, weak protection of minority shareholders, weak property rights, and ineffective law enforcement can allow those rents to be appropriated disproportionately by a firm's powerful insiders such as large owners and top managers. Recent data on Chinese publicly listed firms during 2007-2012 were used to demonstrate that the expected positive relationship between knowledge assets and performance is weaker in transition economies when a firm's ownership is highly concentrated and its …

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Long-Term Care Needs In The Context Of Poverty And Population Aging: The Case Of Older Persons In Myanmar, Bussarawan Puk Teerawichitchainan, John Knodel

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Myanmar is one of the poorest and least healthy Asian countries. Policy makers have only begun to discuss the implications of population aging for health system. There is no policy in place to provide long-term care (LTC). Family has been the mainstay of support for elderly with LTC needs. Myanmar’s demographic transitions will soon challenge the current form of family-caregiving for frail elderly. We analyze Myanmar’s first national aging survey to understand LTC needs and the roles that families play in LTC. We examine prevalence in older-aged disability. Subsequently, we assess the likelihood of receiving care and the composition of …

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Can Wto Law Keep Up With The Internet?, Henry Gao

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The regulation of Internet activities presents special challenges to the World Trade Organization (WTO), as its rules were mostly formulated in the pre-Internet era. The first difficulty lies in determining whether Internet activities should be classified as goods or services, as they are subject to different regulatory frameworks. Traditionally, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) only applies to goods. It was not until the establishment of the WTO in 1995 that services trade was finally brought within the scope of the multilateral trading system. While some activities, such as the online delivery of books and audiovisual products could …

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The Role Of Facial Appearance On Ceo Selection After Firm Misconduct, David M. Gomulya, Elaine M. Wong, Margaret E. Ormiston, Warren Boeker

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We investigate a particular aspect of CEO successor trustworthiness that may be critically important after a firm has engaged in financial misconduct. Specifically, drawing on prior research that suggests that facial appearance is one critical way in which trustworthiness is signaled, we argue that leaders who convey integrity, a component of trustworthiness, will be more likely to be selected as successors after financial restatement. We predict that such appointments garner more positive reactions by external observers such as investment analysts and the media because these CEOs are perceived as having greater integrity. In an archival study of firms that have …

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Signaler Credibility, Signal Susceptibility, And Relative Reliance On Signals: How Stakeholders Change Their Evaluative Processes After Violation Of Expectations And Rehabilitative Efforts, David Gomulya, Yuri Mishina

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Prior studies have shown that a firm’s violation of expectations might lead to less favorable evaluations of that firm by stakeholders. However, the literature has been silent on whether and how the process by which stakeholders evaluate a firm could change subsequent to the violation. Drawing from signaling and screening theory, we examine how evaluative processes might change in the context of financial restatements. We find that investors appear to shift their relative reliance on particular signals in determining a firm’s stock price following an earnings restatement. These changes are at least partly reversed following the replacement of an incumbent …

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Granger Causality And Structural Causality In Cross-Section And Panel Data, Xun Lu, Liangjun Su, Halbert White

Research Collection School Of Economics

Granger noncausality in distribution is fundamentally a probabilistic conditional independence notion that can be applied not only to time series data but also to cross-section and panel data. In this paper, we provide a natural definition of structural causality in cross-section and panel data and forge a direct link between Granger (G-) causality and structural causality under a key conditional exogeneity assumption. To put it simply, when structural effects are well defined and identifiable, G-non-causality follows from structural noncausality, and with suitable conditions (e.g., separability or monotonicity), structural causality also implies G-causality. This justifies using tests of G-non-causality to test …

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Firm Boundaries And Financing With Opportunistic Stakeholder Behaviour, Madhav S. Aney, Elie Appelbaum, Sanjay Banerji

Research Collection School Of Economics

We explore the impact of strategic behaviour between three major stakeholders, namelyequity holders, debt holders, and a supplier of a critical input, on the choice of a firm’s capitalstructure and its organisational design, determining in-house production versus outsourcing theprocurement of the critical input. We show that an opportunistic coalition of the supplierand debt holders can trigger strategic bankruptcy even when the firm is solvent. Equity holdersrespond to this by either eliminating the supplier by producing the input in-house, or by reducingthe exposure to debt by funding the firm’s capital requirement through equity. Both responsescreate inefficiency since production of the input …

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Asymptotic Theory For Estimating Drift Parameters In The Fractional Vasicek Model, Weilin Xiao, Jun Yu

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper develops the asymptotic theory for estimators of two parameters in the drift function in the fractional Vasicek model when a continuous record of observations is available. The fractional Vasicek model is assumed to be driven by the fractional Brownian motion with a known Hurst parameter greater than or equal to one half. It is shown that the asymptotic theory for the persistent parameter depends critically on its sign, corresponding asymptotically to the stationary case, the explosive case, and the null recurrent case. In all three cases, the least squares method is considered. When the persistent parameter is positive, …

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Short Selling And Economic Policy Uncertainty, Xiaping Cao, Yuchen Wang, Sili Zhou

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We study the trading behavior of short sellers in the presence of economic policy uncertainty (EPU). Daily short selling activity at either the aggregate level or the individual stock level is increasing in the EPU index (Baker, Bloom and Davis, 2016). EPU has great explanatory power for short trading. Cross-sectional tests show that the increase in short interest under high political uncertainty is from shorting stocks characterized by higher mispricing, greater policy sensitivity, higher illiquidity, greater volatility or analyst dispersion. Short sellers earn abnormal profits by trading on public information related to EPU.

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Corporate Donations And Shareholder Value, Hao Liang, Luc Renneboog

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Do corporate donations enhance shareholder wealth or reflect agency problems? We address this question for a global sample of firms whereby we distinguish between charitable and political donations, as well as between donations in cash and in kind. We find that charitable donations are positively related to financial performance and firm value, which is consistent with the value-enhancement hypothesis. This positive effect on firm value is stronger for cash than in-kind donations. In contrast, political donations do not appear to enhance shareholder value, but rather tend to reflect agency problems, as they are higher for firms with poor internal corporate …

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A Syrian In Trump’S America, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

How a Syrian family dealt with war, travel bans, and reuniting in turbulent times

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A Tale Of Two Cities: Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2016, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

In recent years, Hong Kong and Shenzhen have experienced an explosive growth in the start-up support ecosystem.

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What, Why, Who, When, Where?, Gulcin Cribb

Research Collection Library

No abstract provided.

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Rethinking Institutional Repositories, Chee Hsien Aaron (Zheng Zhixian) Tay

Research Collection Library

The article discusses the reason behind the reluctance of some researchers to deposit their work in institutional repositories (IR). These include ignorance on the existence of IR and the right of researchers to self-archive, lack of permanent institutional affiliation, and the tendency of IR to offer poor user experience. Also mentioned is the need aggregate each IR and the advantage of IR over centralized silos.

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Towards An Understanding Of Societal Leadership In Southeast Asia: Position Paper, Institute For Societal Leadership

Institute of Societal Leadership Research Collection

In this position paper, we delineate the reasons for examining leadership in the social impact sector and for tackling social issues and wicked problems that we face in Southeast Asia region. We begin by discussing the roles of societal leaders and societal leadership, drawing upon notable examples of efforts and strategies that are employed by leaders to create social impact in the region. The paper concludes with a proposed research agenda for studying societal leadership.

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Perspectives On Societal Leaders And Leadership: Who Are They And What Is It?, Institute For Societal Leadership

Institute of Societal Leadership Research Collection

In this research paper, we examine 183 undergraduates’ perspectives of societal leaders and societal leadership. Participants were asked to respond to the following prompts: name an individual whom you think is a societal leader and explain why do you think he/she is worthy of the title of a societal leader. Responses to these prompts allowed us to compile the attributes that these applicants perceived societal leaders to possess. The six categories of key leader attributes that have been introduced by Bass and Stogdill were used to inform the coding categories. Besides these six categories, one other category, namely moral values, …

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

How Smu Became An Agent Of Change For Universities, Arnoud De Meyer, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Street-Level Bureaucrats And Irrigation Policy Reform In Southeast Asia, Jacob I. Ricks

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Late-Life Widowhood In Developing Southeast Asia: Comparative Perspectives From Myanmar, Thailand, And Vietnam, Bussarawan Puk Teerawichitchainan, John Knodel

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The Elements Of Effective Program Design: A Two-Level Analysis, Michael Howlett, Ishani Mukherjee, Jeremy Rayner

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

International Organizations As Mobilizing Structures: World Csr Associations And Their Disparate Impacts On Members’ Csr Practices, 2000-2016, Shawn Pope, Alwyn Lim

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

World War Ii, Race, And The Southeast Asian Origins Of The Domino Theory, Wen-Qing (Wei Wenqing) Ngoei

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Dreaming As A Critical Discourse Of National Belonging: China Dream, American Dream And World Dream, William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Our Future Together Industry Perspectives: Future Of Professional Learning And Entrepreneurship, Poh Sun Seow, Pan, Gary, Clarence Goh, Kwong Sin Leong

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Do Politically Connected Directors Affect Accounting Quality? Evidence From China's Anti-Corruption Campaign (Rule 18), Ole-Kristian Hope, Heng Yue, Qinlin Zhong

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Does Wage-Inflation Targeting Complement Foreign Exchange Intervention? An Evaluation Of A Multi-Target, Two-Instrument Monetary Policy Framework, Taojun Xie, Jingting Liu, Joseph D. Alba, Wai-Mun Chia

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Employee Perceptions Of Organisational Legitimacy As Impersonal Bases Of Organisational Trustworthiness And Trust, Kai Lamertz, Devasheesh P. Bhave

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Ethnic Social Network In Public Housing Market In Singapore, Sumit Agarwal, Hyunsoo Choi, Jia He, Tien Foo Sing

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Ethnic Social Network In Public Housing Market In Singapore, Sumit Agarwal, Hyunsoo Choi, Jia He, Tien Foo Sing

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Time To Hold Last Rites For Martial-Rape Immunity, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Rent Appropriation Of Knowledge-Based Assets And Firm Performance When Institutions Are Weak: A Study Of Chinese Publicly Listed Firms, Cuili Qian, Heli Wang, Xuesong Geng, Yangxin Yu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Long-Term Care Needs In The Context Of Poverty And Population Aging: The Case Of Older Persons In Myanmar, Bussarawan Puk Teerawichitchainan, John Knodel

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Can Wto Law Keep Up With The Internet?, Henry Gao

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The Role Of Facial Appearance On Ceo Selection After Firm Misconduct, David M. Gomulya, Elaine M. Wong, Margaret E. Ormiston, Warren Boeker

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Signaler Credibility, Signal Susceptibility, And Relative Reliance On Signals: How Stakeholders Change Their Evaluative Processes After Violation Of Expectations And Rehabilitative Efforts, David Gomulya, Yuri Mishina

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Granger Causality And Structural Causality In Cross-Section And Panel Data, Xun Lu, Liangjun Su, Halbert White

Research Collection School Of Economics

Firm Boundaries And Financing With Opportunistic Stakeholder Behaviour, Madhav S. Aney, Elie Appelbaum, Sanjay Banerji

Research Collection School Of Economics

Asymptotic Theory For Estimating Drift Parameters In The Fractional Vasicek Model, Weilin Xiao, Jun Yu

Research Collection School Of Economics

Short Selling And Economic Policy Uncertainty, Xiaping Cao, Yuchen Wang, Sili Zhou

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Corporate Donations And Shareholder Value, Hao Liang, Luc Renneboog

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

A Syrian In Trump’S America, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

A Tale Of Two Cities: Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2016, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

What, Why, Who, When, Where?, Gulcin Cribb

Research Collection Library

Rethinking Institutional Repositories, Chee Hsien Aaron (Zheng Zhixian) Tay

Research Collection Library

Towards An Understanding Of Societal Leadership In Southeast Asia: Position Paper, Institute For Societal Leadership

Institute of Societal Leadership Research Collection

Perspectives On Societal Leaders And Leadership: Who Are They And What Is It?, Institute For Societal Leadership

Institute of Societal Leadership Research Collection