Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Levers For Change -- Philanthropy In Select South East Asian Countries, Prapti Upadhyay Anand, Crystal Hayling

Lien Centre for Social Innovation: Research

Explosive economic growth in South East Asia has resulted in unparalleled wealth creation. Forbes magazine reports there are 386 billionaires in the Asia Pacific region. While the region’s emerging economies report hopeful signs of a broadening middle class, income inequality is rising faster than living standards for the majority. There is widespread agreement that the stark income disparity must be addressed or it risks threatening political and social stability. For those interested in the social economy, key questions remain unanswered: first, will philanthropic giving match the fast pace of wealth accumulation, and second, will that philanthropy be strategic and targeted …

From Charity To Change: Social Investment In Selected Southeast Asian Countries, Sonu Chhina, Watanan Petersik, Jacqueline Loh, David Evans

Lien Centre for Social Innovation: Research

From Charity to Change looks at how social investing is evolving in Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. It examines the emerging ecosystem for social investment in each of these countries, with a view to identifying gaps and obstacles to the advancement of the field. A section containing reports on current social investing developments Cambodia and Vietnam is also included in this publication.

Revisiting The Determinants Of Students' Performance In An Undergraduate Accountancy Degree Programme In Singapore, Poh Sun Seow, Gary Pan, Joanne Siok Wan Tay

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

The current study investigates the association of prior academic achievement, admission interview, critical thinking, mathematical aptitude and gender with successful academic performance in an undergraduate accountancy degree programme at a Singapore university. The purpose of revisiting the determinants of academic performance in the Singapore context is twofold. First, university accounting education in Singapore has changed greatly since Koh and Koh’s earlier study (1999); the current study examines if determinants previously identified as significant continue to be so in the new setting. Second, the study tests the usefulness of admission interview in identifying applicants who achieve subsequent academic success. Data on …

Media Coverage And Firm Valuation: Evidence From China, Jiwei Wang, Kangtao Ye

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Drawing on both a managerial discipline perspective and an information intermediary perspective, we explore how media coverage of a firm’s controlling shareholder influences firm valuation in corporate China. Using 366 listed family firms in China from 2003 to 2006, we find that firms in which controlling shareholders receive more neutral media reports enjoy higher valuation, whereas negative media reports on controlling shareholders impose adverse effects on firm valuation. Interestingly, favorable media coverage of the controlling shareholders does not enhance firm value. Further analyses reveal that ownership structure and audit quality moderate the relationship between media coverage and firm valuation. Our …

Civil Service Reforms And The Development Of Korea, Soo-Young Lee, Seulki Lee

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Human resources in government have been recognized crucial elements for national development in that civil servants make policy decisions and implement them. Especially in the case of economic development, high levels of expertise and experience are required for civil servants. Korea’s economic development provides good example of the importance of public human resources. The Korean government recruited new civil servants through the civil service exam, a very difficult and competitive test. Most civil servants who pass this exam have a high degree of knowledge of economics, public policy, and public administration. During period of industrialization in Korea, civil servants used …

The China Dream And The American Dream, William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Since Xi Jinping invoked “The China Dream” as a key concept in November 2012, this phrase has come to dominate discussions of China’s future. This paper will examine the China dream phenomenon first by placing it in the context of debates that have been raging in Chinese civil society over the past few years. It will analyze the works of 20 prominent “China dreamers” in terms of debates over the proper relationship between (1) politics and economics, (2) equality and hierarchy, (3) civilization and civility, and (4) nationalism and statism. The other main context for the China dream concept is …

Towards Proactive And Flexible Agent-Based Generation Of Policy Packages For Active Transportation, Araz Taeihagh, Rene Bañares-Alcántara

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

One of the approaches gaining ground in policy design is the implementation of combinations of policy measures as policy packages with the aim of increasing efficiency and effectiveness of the designed policies. In this paper, we describe the recent advancements in the developments of a virtual environment for the exploration and analysis of policy packages. The virtual environment uses an agent-based modelling approach for the generation of different configurations of policy measures in the policy packages. The benefit of using the approach is the proactive and flexible generation of policy packages as the agents can react to the changes that …

Social Innovation In Development: A Call To Break Down Silos, John A. Donaldson, Victoria Gerrard, Sanushka Mudaliar

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

What distinguishes “social innovation” from other efforts to address social problems? And why should the answer matter to anyone genuinely interested in social change? The authors offer an in-depth discussion of the possibilities and pitfalls of pursuing social innovation in the context of international development.

The Public Roles Of The Private Sector In Asia: The Emerging Research Agenda, Ann Florini

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

It is no longer possible to understand public policy without focusing intensively on the public roles of the business sector. The world is awash in experimental private governance, from corporate codes of conduct, to demands for disclosure of private sector environmental and social impacts, to ‘social enterprises’ that aim to save the world the profitable way. Such experiments are emerging within Asia, changing the terms of the social licence to operate as society becomes more adept at making demands for good corporate citizenship and as the natural resource crisis begins to hit home. And as Asian corporations go global, they …

Intrasexual Competition And Other Theories Of Eating Restriction, Norman P. Li, April R. Smith, Jose C. Yong, Tiffany A. Brown

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Various forms of disordered eating and unhealthy eating practices, including excessive dieting, vomiting, binging and purging, and diet-motivated drug use, negatively affect and are potentially fatal to millions of individuals. We describe the etiology of disordered eating as well as various hypotheses on this phenomenon, both from traditional, non-evolutionary perspectives and from evolutionary perspectives. In particular, we explore in detail the intrasexual competition hypothesis, which draws on a broad evolutionary theory: intrasexual selection. From this perspective, women are thought to have evolved to compete intrasexually on thinness, which would have indicated youth and nubility in the ancestral past (Abed, 1998). …

European Cosmopolitanism In Question [Book Review], Hiro Saito

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

European Cosmopolitanism in Question offers a critical and timely intervention in the emerging research on cosmopolitanism. Specifically, contributors to the volume collectively explore solutions to two major problems in the sociology of cosmopolitanism proposed by Ulrich Beck, arguably the most influential scholar in the field. Book review of European Cosmopolitanism in Question, edited by Roland Robertson and Anne Sophie Krossa. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. 204pp. $28.00 paper. ISBN: 9780230302631.

Utility Of Potential Misdiagnoses In Predicting Foodborne Outbreaks, Lucia Lucia, Artur Dubrawski, Lujie Chen

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

To investigate utility of using inpatient and emergency room diagnoses to detect outbreaks of Salmonellosis in humans. To quantify the impact of including in the analysis cases diagnosed with conditions that may have physiological appearance similar to Salmonellosis.

Parliamentary Websites, Transparency, And The Quality Of Democracy: Where Does The Uk Stand?, Devin K. Joshi, Erica Rosenfield

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Parliamentary websites can help people engage with elected representatives and the democratic process. Devin Joshi and Erica Rosenfield have been comparing the websites of legislatures across the world. Here, they share their findings on how the UK Parliament compares to its international counterparts, finding it an excellent model worthy of being emulated elsewhere, with some room for further improvement.

When Three Is Not A Crowd: New Trends In Governance, Ann Florini

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The critical challenges in today’s world call for nothing short of a collective effort across business, government and civil society. The author delves into the complexities beneath tri-sector collaborations and explains why rigorous leadership training for cross-sector work is needed.

Working It Out: Migrants’ Perspectives Of Social Inclusion In The Workplace, George Major, Agnes Terraschke, Emily Major, Charlotte Setijadi

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This paper explores the concept of social inclusion from the perspective of recent migrants, from language backgrounds other than English, at work in Australia. We adopt an understanding of social inclusion that acknowledges the importance of economic independence, while also considering migrants’ feelings of connectedness at work and their sense of belonging. Based on qualitative interviews with migrants collected two years apart, we explore the ways language and language practices can lead to feelings of inclusion or exclusion at work. The data suggests that migrants who felt included at work often had colleagues and/or bosses who actively supported and encouraged …

The Labor Theory Of Justice, Chandran Kukathas

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Justice is the first virtue of social institutions as truth is of systems ofthought. So John Rawls famously proclaimed in the beginning of hismasterwork, A Theory of Justice. A theory however elegant and economical must be rejected or revised if untrue. Laws and institutions no matterhow efficient and well arranged must be reformed or abolished if unjust.Justice, perhaps unlike some other values, was not something we mightreadily trade a little of in exchange for other benefits.1In his critique ofRawls, Rescuing Justice and Equality, G. A. Cohen proposes to take justicemore seriously while at the same time conceding that justice might …

An Institutional Alchemy: India’S Two Parliaments In Comparative Perspective, Shubhankar Dam

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

India has a parliamentary system. But articled in India’s Constitution is a provision that authorizes the President to occasionally enact legislation without involving Parliament. Such presidential legislation are called ordinances, not Acts; and rather than enact, the President promulgates them. Textually, ordinances are bounded by several ‘controls’. They are limited to circumstances when at least one House of Parliament is not in session, and the President is satisfied that the circumstances are such that immediate action is necessary. And without such formal parliamentary approval after a specified duration, they cease to exist. But after sixty years of constitutional practice these …

Measuring The Transplantation Of English Commercial Law In A Small Jurisdiction: An Empirical Study Of Singapore’S Insurance Judgments Between 1965 And 2012, Christopher Chen

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article seeks to measure the development of law after transplanting common law and statutes from another country by conducting an empirical study of the citation of precedents and demography of disputes of insurance cases in Singapore. This article recognizes that there are justifications for Singapore to transplant English insurance law. However, this research shows that the transplantation of English commercial law into a small jurisdiction, even within the common law family, may cause the law to be in a static state if courts do not have enough cases to maintain the development of law or to consider new development …

Redefining Relevancy And Exclusionary Discretion In Sir James Fitzjames Stephen’S Indian Evidence Act Of 1872: The Singapore Experiment And Lessons For Other Indian Evidence Act Jurisdictions, Siyuan Chen

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In many jurisdictions, the rules of evidence can often be instrumental in determining the outcome of a dispute. But to what extent can evidence law be controlled by codification, or is it better to leave its regulation and development to the judges via common law? In an attempt to bridge the gap between the rules of an antiquated evidence statute and the modern realities of practice, Singapore’s Evidence Act was amended in 2012. Certain relevancy provisions were amended to allow greater admissibility of evidence, while new provisions were introduced to act as a check against abuse. However, it will be …

A Wrong Turn In History: Re-Understanding The Exclusionary Rule Against Prior Negotiations In Contractual Interpretation, Yihan Goh

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

A reason justifying the exclusionary rule against prior negotiations in the interpretation of contracts is its longevity. Yet, the authorities commonly cited in support of the exclusionary rule are mostly traceable to Lord Wilberforce’s speech in the relatively recent case of Prenn v Simmonds. This article suggests that the law took a wrong turn in that case and caused later courts to support the exclusionary rule by recourse to policy-oriented justifications, instead of principle-based ones. The emphasis on policy-oriented justifications, and the recantation of Prenn v Simmonds as reason enough for the exclusionary rule, support an independent rule against prior …

Law Firm Internships And The Making Of Future Lawyers: An Empirical Study In Singapore, Seow Hon Tan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article examines the findings of an empirical study of law students from the Singapore Management University on their internship experiences at private law firms. As internships are frequently undertaken by law students, it is necessary for stakeholders to understand their impact on the values and ideals of law students in relation to the law and legal practice. This article seeks to increase the consciousness of law school educators, lawyers, and the professional bar about how law firm internships are contributing to the making of future lawyers, so as to facilitate the reflection by these parties as to their roles …

Ground-Breaking Of New Building For Smu School Of Law, Singapore Management University

SMU Press Releases and News

Singapore Management University held the groundbreaking ceremony of its School of Law building today. The event, which was graced by The Honourable Attorney-General Mr Steven Chong, S.C., was attended by 250 distinguished guests, faculty, students, donors, and SMU’s partners in the legal fraternity. The new School of Law building will be a distinctive landmark that will contain state-of-theart facilities used both to enrich the learning experience of SMU law students as well as to involve others within the legal fraternity who are important stakeholders. A key feature integrated into the 22,000 sqm School of Law building is the Kwa Geok …

Bank Valuation In Malaysia: An Empirical Comparison Of Conventional And Interest-Free (Islamic) Banking Models, Charlie Charoenwong, Ramin Cooper Maysami, David K. Ding

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Islamic banking, according to institute for Islamic Banking and Insurance "refers to a system of banking or banking activity that is consistent with the principles of the Shari'ah (Islamic rulings) and its practical application through the development of Islamic economics. Shari'ah prohibits the payment or acceptance of interest charges (riba) for the lending and accepting of money, as well as carrying out trade and other activities that provide goods or services considered contrary to its principles." The thrust of the current article is to examine the underlying factors and variables that guide the valuation of a sample of five Malaysian …

Perspective-Taking And Willingness To Engage In Intergroup Contact, Cynthia S. Wang, Kenneth Tai, Gillian Ku, Adam D. Galinsky

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The current research explored whether perspective-taking increases willingness to engage in contact with stereotyped outgroup members. Across three studies, we find that perspective-taking increases willingness to engage in contact with negatively-stereotyped targets. In Study 1, perspective-takers sat closer to, whereas stereotype suppressors sat further from, a hooligan compared to control participants. In Study 2, individual differences in perspective-taking tendencies predicted individuals’ willingness to engage in contact with a hooligan, having effects above and beyond those of empathic concern. Finally, Study 3 demonstrated that perspective-taking’s effects on intergroup contact extend to the target’s group (i.e., another homeless man), but not to …

Sign Up Or Sign Off: Asia’S Reluctant Engagement With The International Criminal Court, Mark Findlay

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The International Criminal Court argues that there is a need to achieve universal ratification so that the majority of mankind will no longer remain outside the protection of the ICC. In the Asia/Pacific region there is a relatively low accession rate of nation states to the Rome Statute. This paper proposes a taxonomy of resistance to ratification in the region, recognising that in speculating on the reasons for resistance to the ratification of international criminal justice, local to the global across Asia and the Pacific, there is a risk in both over emphasising cultural and political difference while at the …

Anticipated Regret In Time-Based Work-Family Conflict, Jessica Bagger, Jochen Reb, Andrew Li

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The primary purpose of this research was to investigate the role of anticipated regret in time-based work-family conflict decisions.

A total of 90 working parents responded to a decision making problem describing a time-based conflict between a work event and a family event. Participants' preference for which event to attend constituted the dependent variable. Independent variables were participants' work and family centralities. Anticipated regret for choosing the work option and anticipated regret for choosing the family option were measured as hypothesized mediators.

Structural equation modeling revealed that anticipated regret for choosing the family option mediated the relationship between work centrality …

Refocusing The Lens: Singapore's Private Enterprises In China, Caroline Yeoh, Wilfred Pow Ngee How, Ye Zhang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In recent years, financial and political instabilities have cooled economic growth in many regions. Even in this context, however, areas of strong growth remain; none, arguably, more prominent than ever-developing and increasingly affluent China, which is today a vastly different environment than even several years ago. More than ever, a wealth of opportunity subsists in this ancient land – and businesses must be able to adapt and seize these opportunities. Thus we turn towards Singapore private enterprise in China, to study once more the efficacy of the city-state's internationalization strategies in the context of the private enterprises which must eventually …

Governing A Digital Business Ecosystem: Lessons From One.Motoring Portal, Gary Pan, See Liang Foo, Shongye Tan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

While the IT innovation topic has gathered significant research interests, the existing discourse on IT innovation is centered on internal organizational processes such as IT capability development and organizational learning rather than IT innovation networks as the primary means for achieving superior enterprise performance. This is an important topic because a networked perspective of IT-enabled innovation is a critical dimension for the dynamics of collaborative innovation in today’s networked economy. In particular, the development and implementation of a digital business ecosystem (DBE); a specific type of business ecosystem defined as an IT-enabled business network of entities with differing interests bound …

Strategies For Surviving In China's Intellectual Property Minefield, David Llewelyn, Peter J. Williamson

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Despite a slowdown in China’s GDP growth from the double-digit heights of the last decade, it is still expanding at over 7% per annum – a growth rate that looks more sustainable. Growth in the other major emerging economies including India, Brazil and Russia, by contrast, has all but collapsed, at least for the present. Growth in the developed economies, meanwhile, remains fragile in the wake of their post-2008 financial crisis recessions. It is not surprising, therefore, that the Boards of many foreign companies are counting on winning share in the China market to support their top-line growth in coming …

Milestones For Animal Welfare: Public Prosecutor V. Ling Chung Yee Roy, Alvin W. L. See

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Animal law is a little-known subject in Singapore. However, the increase in public awareness and concern about animal welfare issues demand that more attention is directed at the legal aspects of such issues. An opportunity to examine this area of the law arose in the case of Ling Chung Yee Roy. The District Court, presided by District Judge Ng Peng Hong, had to decide whether the accused was guilty of an animal cruelty offence under s. 42(1)(e) of the Animals and Birds Act. The majority of animal cruelty complaints were against pet owners, of which a significant number concerned the …