International and Area Studies Commons^™

Humanities And Social Sciences: Everything, Everywhere, All At Once, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In a commentary, SMU President Professor Lily Kong discussed the importance of the social sciences and humanities, and explained how they significantly impact our daily routines and life choices. She emphasised the need for scholars of social sciences and humanities to expand channels of communication and engagement with diverse audiences. They should share insights and findings, collaborate across disciplines and sectors, and harness the synergies and complementarities of different perspectives and approaches. Prof Kong opined that for Singapore, the disciplines constitute a collective strategic asset that will enable the country to move forward into a more equitable, sustainable, and compassionate …

Enhancing Student Engagement In Introductory Economics With Interactive Videos And Synthesized Readings In Flipped Learning, Bei Hong, Duan Ning, Magdeleine Lew

Research Collection School Of Economics

A major challenge faced by university economics instructors is to find more time to incorporate active learning into the classroom, which encourages student participation. As a result, more instructors choose to flip their classrooms, in which students are encouraged to perform preparatory reading or watch videos to participate more meaningfully and learn more effectively. This study aims to examine how pre-lecture materials enhance student participation by examining the effectiveness of two types of materials: interactive videos and synthesized readings. The synthesized readings contain essential information extracted from the textbook and is presented in a structured manner with highlighted key points. …

Public Data Resources And Total Factor Productivity Of Enterprises: A Quasi-Natural Experiment Based On Local Government Data Opening, Wuping Wu, Qiheng Li, Liuyi Zhang, Yue Zhao

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

The opening of public data is the government’s major strategic move to release the value of data factor. However, whether these data resources are used by the public to release their value needs to be empirically tested. Therefore, based on the perspective of high-quality development of firms, this paper examines the relation between open public data and firms’ total factor productivity so as to reflect the value of public data resources in driving force of promoting firms’ high-quality development. Taking A-share listed firms from 2010 to 2019 as samples, using a natural experiment based on the launch of the local …

Lessons From The Demise Of The Brent Crude Oil Futures Contract On The Singapore Exchange, Kuan Yong David Ding, Wui Boon Lim

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper highlights the lessons drawn from the demise of the Brent Crude Oil futures contract that was traded on the Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX). We analyze the market microstructure of the contract prior to its failure—specifically, the number of trades, trading volume, open interest, bid–ask spread, and volatility. We find a steady decline in the mean volume, open interest, and number of trades as the contracts near their demise. The bid–ask spread of the contract also widens. Investigations of the mutual offset feature of the Brent Crude Oil futures contract between SGX and the International Commodity Exchange (ICE) provides …

Silver Screen Reversals Of The Domino Theory: American Cold War Movies And The Re-Imagination Of British Experiences In Southeast Asia, Wen-Qing (Wei Wenqing) Ngoei

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This essay examines how Hollywood was affected by the successful anticommunism of Britain and its local allies in Malaya and Singapore, victories that unfolded alongside Vietnam’s mounting crisis in the early 1960s. It shows that American movies of this era which portrayed the intertwining of US and British experiences in 1950s Malaya and 1940s Singapore conveyed an uneasy yet clear optimism about U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia.

Sustainability And The Sunlight Of Disclosure: Esg Disclosure In Three Asian Financial Centres, Rachel Phang, Yaru Chia

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The prevailing paradigm of sustainable finance places great importance on environmental, social and governance (ESG) information and, therefore, on the mechanism of reporting and disclosure. This article presents, analyses and compares the approaches to ESG disclosure in three Asian financial centres: Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai. The article uncovers commonalities and divergences in the drivers, dynamics, content and trends of ESG disclosure in the selected jurisdictions. In doing so, it looks forwards, seeking to anticipate and shape the development of ESG disclosure in Asia. At the same time, it looks beyond ESG disclosure, remaining mindful that the mechanism itself is …

Childlessness, Social Network Profiles In Midlife And Late Adulthood, And Their Implications For Subjective Well-Being, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan, Dahye Kim, Christine Ho

Research Collection School Of Economics

Objectives: Despite the rising prevalence of individuals reaching advanced age without children, little is known about the diversity of support networks within childless populations. We examine the network profiles of childless adults aged 50+ in Singapore, which observes high childlessness rates despite societal emphasis on familism. Methods: We employ latent class analysis to derive network typology based on a 2022 nationwide survey in Singapore. Additionally, we use logistic regression analyses to investigate the sociodemographic correlates of childless individuals' network types and the associations between these network types and subjective well-being. Results: Childless Singaporeans form a heterogeneous group characterized by different …

Weight Misperceptions And Health Management Via Information Nudges, Lanjie Wang, Xuan Zhang, Seonghoon Kim, Kanghyock Koh

Research Collection School Of Economics

Being overweight or obese is a serious public health problem. Misperception of one's own weight status and inertia are major obstacles to weight control. To overcome these two problems, we conduct a randomized controlled trial in which participants are presented with the correct weight category based on their body mass index to remove any weight misperception, and then given six biweekly reminders about healthy diet and physical activity via SMS/email. We find that our intervention reduces individuals’ weight misperception and encourages healthier dietary choices. However, it has little impact on their physical activity. We further show that people who were …

Conventionalization Of Alternative Agriculture And The Intervention Of External Investors: Case Sharing Community-Supported Agriculture Farm, China, Meiling Wu

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The trend of alternative farmers adopting conventional farming methods, known as conventionalization, has become increasingly prevalent. External investment can be a catalyst for the conventionalization of alternative agriculture. The study seeks to examine the dynamics through which external investment and investors facilitate the conventionalization of alternative agriculture. A study was conducted on a Sharing Community Supported-Agriculture (CSA) Farm, with data being gathered through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using thematic methods. The findings indicated that (1) the low economic sustainability of Sharing CSA Farm leads to an influx of external investment; (2) external investors compel the farm manager to relax adherence …

The Irreducible Otherness Of Desi And Desire In Singapore’S Gurdwaras: Moral Boundary-Making In The Shadows Of A Multicultural Society, Orlando Woods, Lily Kong

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This article considers the emergence of new multiculturalisms taking root in Asia by exploring how value-based frameworks and moral judgements are deployed to create new lines of difference within co-ethnic communities. These frameworks and judgements cause multiculturalism to become a more subjective, and thus splintered construct that is increasingly decoupled from state discourse. Further, it considers how religious spaces are typically associated with the performance of morally “right” attitudes and behaviours, and therefore provide fertile yet underexplored sites through which multicultural subjectivities are formed and enacted. It illustrates these theoretical ideas through an empirical examination of how moral boundary-making within …

The Arts As A Value-Creating Ecology In Singapore, Su Fern Hoe

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This chapter aims to provide a deeper understanding of the evolving state of politics and practices of the arts ecology in Singapore from 2012 to 2023. This period was selected primarily because Singapore’s most recent cultural policy – the Arts and Culture Strategic Review – was officially released in 2012, and has since introduced changes and shifts that have yet to be adequately documented and analysed. However, this chapter is not intended to be comprehensive in nature.This chapter has two key objectives. First, it will critically interrogate the nature, extent and implications of the Singapore government’s efforts in utilising the …

Assessing Impact Of Urban Densification On Outdoor Microclimate And Thermal Comfort Using Envi-Met Simulations For Combined Spatial-Climatic Design (Cscd) Approach, Shreya Banerjee, Rachel X.Y. Pek, Sin Kang Yik, Graces N. Ching, Xiang Tian Ho, Dzyuban Yuliya, Peter J. Crank, Juan A. Acero, Winston T. L. Chow

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Future urban planning requires context-specific integration of spatial design and microclimate especially for tropical cities with extreme weather conditions. Thus, we propose a Combined Spatial-Climatic Design approach to assess impact of urban densification on annual outdoor thermal comfort performance employing ENVI-met simulations for Singapore. We first consider building bylaws and residential site guidelines to develop eight urban-density site options for a target population range. We further classify annual weather data into seven weather-types and use them as boundary conditions for the simulations. Comparing such fifty-six combined spatial-climatic simulation outputs by analyzing Outdoor Thermal Comfort Autonomy, we report the influence of …

Q&A With Professor Lily Kong, Royal Geographical Society

Oral History Collection

SMU President Professor Lily Kong has been conferred the Royal Geographical Society (with the institute of British Geographers) Victoria Medal 2024 for conspicuous merit in social and cultural geography and in urban research. The Medal recognises Prof Kong’s exceptional intellectual leadership, demonstrated through her scholarship and contributions to the internationalisation of geography. She is also the first Asian woman, in over 120 years, to be accorded this honour. In an interview, Prof Kong shared about her role and work as the first Singaporean woman to be appointed President of any university in Singapore, as well as the highlights of her …

Allocating Vehicle Registration Permits, Massimiliano Landi, Domenico Menicucci

Research Collection School Of Economics

We compare social welfare, consumer surplus and profits in two different institutional settings in which an item whose quantity is fixed and controlled (vehicle registration permit) is allocated to the buyers of a complementary good (car). In the first setting, which resembles the way in which vehicle registration permits are allocated in Singapore, the central planner runs a uniform price auction for permits in which the consumers who bid the highest receive the permits and pay the highest losing bid. Then each winning consumer purchases a car from a seller. In the alternative setting, the central planner first allocates the …

The Balance Of Concessions In Trade Agreements, Mostafa Beshkar, Pao-Li Chang, Shenxi Song

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper introduces a quantitative framework to analyze the WTO’s reciprocity principle. Utilizing two polar bargaining environments, we measure terms-of-trade concessions among WTO members and examine how shifts in applied tariffs and economic fundamentals affect bilateral and multilateral balance of concessions. We find significant disparities in concessions, largely driven by the rise in trade imbalances since the early 1990s. Notably, although US-China bilateral tariffs suggest considerable terms-of-trade benefits for China, under a hypothetical balanced trade scenario, their relationship evolves towards near reciprocity following China’s accession to the WTO. Furthermore, in contrast to the significant gains in its relationship with the …

Ceo Polychronicity And Firm Resilience, Qianliang Xia

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

In my dissertation, I examined the effect of CEO polychronicity on firm resilience. Building on the upper echelons theory, I argue that polychronic CEOs could divide their attention to multitask, which might prevent firms with extreme risk with more information acquired and backup plans reserved; in addition, polychronic CEOs should be more capable of handling the threats and disruptions. Thus, polychronic CEOs help build firm resilience. In addition, I propose the six moderators that could influence the effect of CEO polychronicity on firm resilience including market competition, market complexity, innovation capability, financial slack, TMT size and CEO duality. I collected …

The Impact Of Psychological Resilience On Job Performance In A Cross-Cultural Context: Evidence From Chinese Multinational Corporations, Chunlin Wu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

As globalisation accelerates and multinational companies expand, more employees are being assigned to work in other countries. This phenomenon of international assignments brings business opportunities and numerous challenges, the most prominent being cross-cultural adjustment. Expatriates must face different cultural backgrounds, values, and lifestyles. Such cultural differences can lead to communication barriers, psychological stress, and lifestyle difficulties, subsequently affecting job performance. This study explores the mechanism between psychological resilience and job performance from the perspective of expatriates' cross-cultural adjustment. It conducts empirical research through two rounds of three surveys, collecting 229 valid questionnaires in Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

First, this study …

Diversification, Policy Shock, And Firm Performance: An Empirical Study Of The Game Industry In China, Weiwei Li

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Based on the reform of the game licence approval system in 2018, this thesis studied how diversification strategies influence the ability of game enterprises to withstand risk shocks. Specifically, using financial data from A-share enterprises and third-party game product data, this thesis applied econometric methods to examine and obtain a comprehensive picture of the policy effect on the performance of game enterprises, and explored how different diversification strategies affect risk.

Taking other application software enterprises as the control group, this thesis explored the effect of the policy shock on business performance using a difference-in-differences method. The profitability of game enterprises …

Assessing The Impacts Of The Us-China Trade War On Asian Economies, Ruoqing Chen

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The ongoing trade tensions between the United States and China have reverberated globally, sparking concerns about economic stability and growth. What are the most affected industries and economies among Asia? What will happen if the US and China further raise their tariffs? Are there any useful trade policy adjustments for the Asian economies to improve their lots under the not-so-optimistic world trade climate? This paper employs a multi-country, multi-industry, general equilibrium model to analyze the impacts of the US-China trade war and potential further tariff war on 13 Asian regions across 20 industries in the year 2017. The results indicate …

Application Of Singapore's New Rules On Service Out Of Jurisdiction: Three Arrows Capital And Nw Corp, Adeline Chong

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

No abstract provided.

Smu Opens Representative Office In Vietnam To Boost Knowledge Exchange With Businesses, Academia And Upskill Talent Pipeline Locally, Singapore Management University

SMU Press Releases and News

Singapore Management University (SMU) announced the establishment of its representative office in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, known as the SMU Overseas Centre Ho Chi Minh City (OCHCMC), taking a significant step in its mission to foster knowledge-sharing and regional collaboration as a gateway university in Asia. This strategic move, which follows the successful launch of SMU's two overseas centres in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2022 and Bangkok, Thailand in 2023 is part of SMU’s Vision 2025 which aims to boost Asian growth by offering a deep understanding of Asia’s economy, polity and society. By utilising the university's resources and offerings, …

Public Cleanliness Satisfaction Survey 2023, Paulin Straughan, Mathews Mathew

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The Singapore Management University undertook the sixth wave of the Public Cleanliness Satisfaction Survey (PCSS) with 2,010 Singapore residents providing responses to the survey from November 2023 to January 2024.

Similar to the findings from the 2022 wave of PCSS, the 2023 wave of the PCSS continued to reflect an overall satisfaction with public cleanliness in Singapore. Majority of survey respondents (94%) were satisfied with the cleanliness of public spaces that they had recently visited, which was an increase of 2% from 2022. Satisfaction with the cleanliness of food outlets saw the largest increase (by 3%) among all location types, …

Topological Spaces Of Embodied Becoming: Queens, Queerness And (Infra)Structural Subterfuge In Singapore, Orlando Woods

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This paper considers the political potential that emerges when theorizations of the body-as-infrastructure are brought into conversation with theorizations of topological space. It argues that the infrastructural body provides an interface through which structural norms can be destabilized, and the interrelationships between the state, society, and self can be reimagined. These ideas are illustrated through an empirical exploration of drag queens in Singapore. Singapore is a socially conservative Asian city-state in which heteronormative values are passed down by the state, reproduced through the family, and then used to structure societal under- standings of gender and sexuality. By interpreting Singapore’s hegemonic …

Does The Use Of Media And Other Information Sources Cause The Perceived Experience Of Climate Change Or Is It The Other Way Around?, Sonny Rosenthal, Pengya Ai

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

The perceived experience of climate change can be an important motivator of individual climate action. Recent scholarship argued that the use of media and other information sources is a basis of perceived experience. The current study analyzed a cross-lagged panel model to know if the use of information causes perceived experience or vice versa. Analysis of longitudinal data from a sample of Singapore residents (N = 466) showed that the use of traditional media, but not social media or interpersonal sources, explained change in perceived experience. In contrast, perceived experience explained change in the use of traditional media and interpersonal …

Why Citizens Engage In Co-Production: A Theoretical Framework And Experimental Evidence, Seulki Lee, Chongmin Na

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Co-production has been embraced as a robust strategy to improve service quality and create public value. Despite growing interest in citizens’ motivations to engage in co-production, there remain some major gaps in the literature. This study proposes a theoretical framework of factors that influence co-production and offers experimental evidence as to the effects of those factors from an online survey experiment with a sample of 1,297 Koreans. The findings show that public service motivation, driven by normative motivations, is associated with greater willingness to co-produce. We find little effect of monetary or non-monetary rewards, input legitimacy, or individual characteristics such …

Eyris: From The Lab To The Market, Steven Miller, David Gomulya, Mahima Rao-Kachroo

Asian Management Insights

Singapore’s trailblazer AI algorithm for detecting diabetes-related eye diseases. Can you imagine getting the results of your eye disease screening within minutes rather than days? This capability is what EyRIS, a Singapore-based start-up that uses the AI (Artificial Intelligence)-driven Singapore Eye LEsion Analyzer (SELENA+) algorithm to screen for diabetes-related eye diseases, set out to productise and commercialise.

Maximizing The Ai Revolution In Southeast Asia, Shoeb Kagda

Asian Management Insights

For that, the region must narrow the digital divide.

Loose Ends In Singapore Equal Protection Doctrine, Wei Yao, Kenny Chng

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

A trilogy of landmark Singapore Court of Appeal decisions has defined the landscape of constitutional equal protection doctrine in Singapore: Lim Meng Suang, Syed Suhail and Tan Seng Kee. While this trio of cases has laid the doctrinal foundation for the constitutional right to equality in Singapore, three loose ends remain for clarification. First, what is the relationship between the legal tests articulated in Syed Suhail and Lim Meng Suang? Second, what is the relationship between both steps in the Syed Suhail test? Third, what is the distinction between the Syed Suhail test and the common law judicial review ground …

Developing Singapore As A Smart Nation, Josephine Teo

Asian Management Insights

Mrs Josephine Teo, Singapore’s Minister for Communications and Information, and Minister-in-charge of Smart Nation and Cybersecurity, speaks about leading the country’s Smart Nation drive.

Research On The Innovation And Development Of China’S Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle Industry, Xinhua Yu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

China's commitment to achieving "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality" has made the transition from conventional energy sources such as coal, oil, and natural gas to renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and hydrogen an unavoidable trend. In this regard, the integration of new energy technologies into the automobile and transportation sectors has significantly impacted consumers' lifestyles and has emerged as a key focus for major investment institutions. Lithium-ion batteries, known for their advanced technology, cost-effectiveness, and safety, are the leading choice for use in passenger vehicles, gradually replacing conventional fossil fuel sources. This shift is also contributing to the …