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This qualitative study explores how Chinese senior outbound tourists perceive support from their adult children and what kinds of support they desire.

Qualitative data were collected from semi-structured interviews with 26 participants. Transcribed interviews were analysed via thematic analysis.

This study captured the contradictory feelings of different types of Chinese senior outbound tourists (i.e. independent, neutral, and dependent) according to the degree of desire for support from their adult children. The results further identified the real desires among Chinese senior outbound tourists for children's attitudinal support, caring support, appropriate financial support, companionship, and timing support.

Since this qualitative research is based on small samples with typical social and cultural characteristics, our research results only describe an existence. Our findings provide insight into the existence of the phenomenon, rather than allowing the results to be generalized to the wider population (Gram et al., 2019).

The tourism industry could develop products to alleviate such feelings. Integrating the concept of filial piety into adult children's support for their parents' overseas travel can not only meet parents' expectations but also relieve parents' ambivalence. Destination operators and travel agencies could thus design mixed products targeting Chinese elderly parents and their adult children by providing activities for both generations. Purchasing behaviour represents a type of emotional and instrumental support for the elderly. Destination operators and travel agencies can also launch products suitable for in-depth outbound travel that cater to adult children's leisure travel while meeting the elderly's travel needs.

This study also extends both intergenerational support theory and intergenerational ambivalence theory regarding Chinese senior outbound tourists.

As the Chinese outbound travel market has become a paramount target for world tourism with significant growth potential, the purpose of this paper is to discuss the impact that the Chinese outbound travel market has on the European tourism industry.

The paper reviews both academic and trade literature to provide an overview of the opportunities and challenges that the China outbound travel market might bring to the European tourism industry.

The paper presents the major topics relating to China outbound tourism research and the current research gaps. Chinese outbound tourists are not a homogenous group of tourists. The paper addresses opportunities and challenges from two key segments of China outbound travel (Chinese international students and Chinese senior tourists).

The paper calls for alternative and innovative research methods and research behaviour in tracking the impact of Chinese outbound tourists. Closer collaboration between academics and industry practitioners might provide a better understanding of this market.

The paper offers recent insights on the Chinese outbound tourism market based on an analysis of relevant literature by both academics and industry practitioners. This allows the relevant stakeholders to adopt proactive strategies to minimise potential negative impacts and maximise opportunities.

The purpose of this study is to identify the health information needs of senior online communities (SOCs) users, which could provide a basis for improving senior health information services.

A total of 14,933 health-related posts in the two most popular senior online communities (Yinling and Keai) in China are crawled as a corpus. Based on the results of word frequency analysis, text classification is performed based on two aspects: medical systems (Western medicine and traditional Chinese medicine) and topics. The health information needs of SOCs users are revealed from the composition, growth trends and popularity of health information. Finally, some key points of senior health information services are discussed.

The health information needs of senior users can be divided into four types: coping with aging, dietary nutrition, physical exercise and mental health. These needs are comprehensive and involve a variety of health issues. Users are mainly concerned with physical health issues. In terms of medical systems, the number of Western medicine posts is relatively larger, whereas traditional Chinese medicine appears more in posts on coping with aging and physical exercise. The health information needs of SOCs users are in a stable status. Both the medical systems and topics could have an impact on the popularity of health information, but the number of posts is inconsistent with the level of popularity.

This study combines multiple perspectives to identify the health information needs of seniors in China with a comprehensive overview.

Extensive research has demonstrated the influence of job resources on mitigating the impact of high job demands on individual well-being. Still, little is known about how individuals use job resources to cope. This study advances job demands-resources (JD-R) theory by investigating the process of job resource utilization from a coping perspective.

This study is based on in-depth interviews with 32 Chinese senior executives using a Critical Incident Technique (CIT) for data collection and thematic analysis for data analysis.

Data analysis reveals a 2x2 matrix model of resource utilization, highlighting the relevance of internal and external job resources in coping and resource creation.

The findings suggest that work stress intervention should look beyond the organizational domain and assist senior executives in exploring and developing external resources for coping. Additionally, organizations should equip senior executives with sufficient support to create new job resources that effectively manage complicated job demands.

The results of this study extend the understanding of job resources by distinguishing internal and external job resources. It also provides a dynamic view of resource utilization, emphasizing the role of job crafting in creating adaptable job resources to meet job demands.

Social isolation and loneliness are global issues experienced by many seniors, especially immigrant and refugee seniors. Guided by the five-stage methodological framework proposed by Arksey and O’Malley and more recently Levac, Colquhoun and O’Brien, the purpose of this paper is to explore the existing literature on social isolation and loneliness among immigrant and refugee seniors in Canada.

The authors conducted a literature search of several databases including: PubMed; MEDLINE; CINAHL; Web of Science; HealthStar Ovid; PschyInfo Ovid; Social Services Abstracts; AgeLine; Public Health Database, Google Scholar and Cochrane Library. In total, 17 articles met the inclusion criteria.

Based on the current literature five themes related to social isolation and loneliness emerged: loss; living arrangements; dependency; barriers and challenges; and family conflict.

Given the increasing demographic of aging immigrants in Canada, it is useful to highlight existing knowledge on social isolation and loneliness to facilitate research, policy and programs to support this growing population.

The population is aging around the world and it is also becoming increasingly diverse particularly in the high-income country context. Understanding and addressing social isolation is important for immigrant and refugee seniors, given the sociocultural and other differences.

Social isolation is a waste of human resource and value created by seniors in the communities.

The paper makes a unique contribution by focusing on immigrant and refugee seniors.

This paper aims to identify problems caused by cultural differences between Japan and China that face supply chain managers by applying Japanese-style supply management practices within supply networks in China and present solutions to this problem.

A single, longitudinal case study conducting two waves of data collection (i.e. interviews and observation) plus the collection of much archival data was performed. It goes beyond the dyad by examining supply management of a Japanese company’s supply chain up to three tiers in China.

The four supply cultural differences between Japan and China, which caused the cultural clashes between JVCo and some of its suppliers were revealed and a model of adaptation of Japanese supply management to the Chinese business system was developed. Adaptation involves creating new supply management practices out of selective adaptation, innovation and change of existing Japanese and Chinese supply management practices rooted in different Japanese, Chinese and Western cultures. A list of organisational factors affecting the adaptation has also been provided.

Due to the adoption of a single case study method, caution should be given to generalising the findings to all Japanese firms.

The Japanese, Chinese and Western managers were provided with insights on how to mitigate the problems caused by cultural differences within supply relationships in China and some innovative ideas on how managers from all three cultures could blend the elements of the three cultures to form a hybrid culture and reduce cultural clashes.

This is one of the few attempts to study the transfer of Japanese supply management practice to China. Organizational theory (i.e. transfer of organizational practice and hybridization) is applied and provides a robust framework to explain the supply management practice. This study also answers the call for a global supplier relationship management paradigm.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the process of Chinese expatriates’ adjustment in Pakistan through integrating the U-curve model and social identity theory. It has also highlighted the importance of engaging in strong social ties and their contribution in expatriates’ adjustment.

Data were collected through semi-structured interviews from 30 Chinese expatriates working as directors, deputy directors, senior managers, managers and assistant managers in Chinese organizations in Pakistan. After verbatim transcription of all the interviews, data were analyzed using the NVivo software.

The findings of this paper indicate that expatriates’ identities somewhat changed in terms of their behaviors and work habits, while fewer changes were observed in their belief and value system. These changes were related to expatriates’ perceptions of host country groups, attraction to these groups and similarity in beliefs, which resulted in the development of interdependent beliefs and depersonalization. However, a few Chinese expatriates predominantly interacted among themselves at work, and their reduced socialization with Pakistanis lessened their chances of change.

The results of the study suggest that expatriates’ adjustment is a multi-stage process and social identity change is one of the powerful mechanisms through which they adjust in the host country’s environment; hence host organizations should facilitate expatriates in strengthening their bond with local people.

This paper has proposed a model that explains the mechanism of Chinese expatriates’ adjustment in Pakistan through improved interactions between expatriates’ and host country nationals, resulting in minor social identity changes, leading to further positive relationship building, and then major social identity changes.

Many Sino‐foreign joint ventures are set up by acquiring existing state enterprises. Under this arrangement, the foreign partner normally has to restructure the original state enterprise by transferring its routines to China. More often than not, resistance to change is experienced during the transition period. This paper explores the factors affecting such resistance. A grounded theory approach using five cases is adopted. The major factors identified are: Chinese partner's perceived need for change, number of active foreign partners, deployment of experts by the foreign partner, age of the former state enterprise, and joint venture performance. Propositions are derived from the case evidence and relevant literature. A preliminary model linking up the propositions is developed.

This paper aims to explore the micro-political complexities of operating over institutional distance in a modern international enterprise. The focal sector of the study is the pharmaceutical industry, which, in its latest phase of global development, has engaged in “internal sourcing” of research and development (R&D) talent from China. This paper contributes to emergent “socio-political” theorization in international business through revealing complex forms of workplace segmentation and conflictual forms of practice at micro-organizational level.

The author of this paper and a UK-based research associate visited the Shanghai-based R&D facility of a major Western owned pharmaceutical concern to carry out interviews with key managers, expatriates and scientists to “hear their stories”. Access was gained to the research site through insider contacts.

It was discovered that, in the context of an enterprise intent on innovation, motivational logics themselves emanate from the embedded positions of diverse organizational actors, in turn bringing to the fore issues of power, resistance, ethnicity and language.

Generalizations from a single case study may have limited significance. However, the unique case setting provides the scope for a novel contribution to the field of international business by examining contradictory and asymmetrical factors in the social construction of a Global Value Chain extending from West to East to source emergent local talent.

The case offers the possibility for managerial learning in the areas of working across cultures, managing expatriation, dealing with linguistic and etymological differences and formulating international business strategy (integration or differentiation in the MNC). The study highlights the significance of critical realist perspectives in fostering reflexive behaviours of actors in multilayered and complex micro-environments.

The work has significance concerning the devolution of both managerial and medical responsibilities to local agents in China. This is a vital social factor in the emerging economy context. The work also casts light on social and personal issues confronting international managerial and scientific migrants.

To date, the phenomena of Global Value Chains have been approached in a relatively transactional and economistic fashion. The paper shed light on GVCs as humanistic and political phenomena. A relatively new departure of the study is to demonstrate that workplace actors in modern and modularized industrial enterprises located in the emerging economy setting respond to environmental volatility through engaging in variant and conflictual forms of institutional entrepreneurship.

The awareness of Eastern Europe within China is mostly tied to the shared notion of Communist control. During the last half century, educational and cultural links were established which often resonated in the minds and desired experiences of many Chinese tourists. This chapter explores the meaning of these Asian-European links for Croatia by using economic data and archival evidence. The analysis is framed within the context of China’s policy toward Central and Eastern Europe. The work seeks to offer a better understanding of the politico-economic decisions that shape contemporary tourism flows and interests, not only in relation to Croatia, but also to similarly placed countries.