Search results

The purpose of this paper is to examine the alternative accounts produced by Green Earth Volunteers (GEV), a Chinese environmental non-governmental organisation, over a 10-year period in the context of their campaign to create visibilities about hydroelectric dam projects along the Chang Jiang.

Drawing on conceptions of the human–nature relationship, including those evident in ancient Chinese philosophy and mythology, and the Chinese way of viewing and resolving conflict, this paper offers an interpretive analysis of the alternative accounts of GEV in terms of their form and content.

In terms of their content, the alternative accounts reflect elements of interrelated thinking, being underpinned by a recognition of the relationship between humans and nature, which is evident in Confucianism, Taoism and ancient Chinese mythology. The strategies adopted by GEV are a non-confrontational but feasible way to promote their ecological beliefs in the Chinese context.

The study suggests that social and environmental accounting (SEA) in developing countries is steeped in local cultural and philosophical traditions that need to be considered and incorporated into the design of alternative accounts.

The study contributes to the very limited literature that offers qualitative analyses of SEA in developing countries.

The research in this paper aims to investigate the development of Library and Information Science in Chinese universities. Specifically, it focuses on understanding the spatial and temporal aspects of subject knowledge output and providing a more comprehensive explanation of the imbalance in subject research.

This study applies the bibliometric method to analyze 131,112 papers published by 51 universities in mainland China from 1977 to 2021, as recorded in the Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index (CSSCI). The study classifies the evolution trends of the discipline and quantifies the published article data of the universities using the index of published articles. Additionally, it examines the development status, structural situation, influencing factors and prospects of universities in different categories and regions.

The field of Library and Information Science is gaining momentum in Chinese universities, but there are significant differences in its development. While the relative gap among universities in a regional context is diminishing, the absolute gap in the category perspective is increasing. The development of Library and Information Science is influenced by various factors, including the academic environment, geographical position, scientific research projects and academic traditions. The uneven development of the discipline is maintained in the short term.

This paper proposes a new quantitative index of discipline development, the university publication index. This index allows for an examination of the temporal and spatial trends of discipline development using domestic universities as the subject of research. The paper presents an overview of discipline development through four aspects: academic participation practice, discipline governance mechanisms, education and teaching systems and discourse construction within the discipline. The theoretical support provided by this study can help facilitate innovative development in the discipline.

Prior research examining cultural effects on customer service expectations has primarily used more generic Western cultural theory on an aggregate scale or with only a single variable to draw conclusions on a customer’s underlying reasoning for buying a service. This study aims to focus on culturally distinct clusters within non-Western nations, specifically exploring within-cluster differences in service expectations within the Confucian Asia cluster.

This study developed a measurement model of Chinese cultural values and service expectations, consisting of a three and five-factor structure, respectively. Data from a sample of 351 diners were analysed using SmartPLS software. The data was compared with similar studies within the Confucian Asia cluster to understand the culture effect on service expectations and within-cluster variations.

The findings underscore the varying importance of cultural values in shaping customer service expectations, emphasizing their relative, rather than equal, significance. The study provides insights into potential within-group differences in customer service expectations within the same cultural cluster – without losing sight of the fundamental cultural heterogeneity of the Confucian culture.

Managers should leverage the distinct cultural values of their operating country to gain insights into diverse customer groups, predict their behaviours and meet their needs and expectations.

This study offers valuable insights to both service management scholars and practitioners by focusing on culturally distinct clusters of non-Western nations and exploring their effects on variation in service expectations within these clusters.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent to which interdisciplinary (HASS, i.e. non-STEM) factors—in particular, accounting, stakeholder management and accountability—enable, influence and motivate large human exploration ventures, principally in maritime and space fields, utilizing Columbus’s and Chinese explorations of the 1400s as the primary setting.

The study analyzes archival data from narrative and interpretational history, including both academic and non-academic sources, that relate to two global historical events, the Columbus and Ming Chinese exploration eras (c. 1400–1500), as a parallel to the modern “Space Race”. Existing studies on pertinent HASS (Humanities and Social Sciences) and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) enablers, influencers and motivators are utilized in the analysis. The authors draw upon the concepts of stakeholder theory and the construct of accountability in their analysis.

Findings suggest that non-STEM considerations—politics, finance, accountability, culture, theology and others—played crucial roles in enabling Western Europe (Columbus) to reach the Americas before China or other global powers, demonstrating the pivotal importance of HASS factors in human advancements and exploration.

In seeking to answer those questions, this study identifies only those factors (HASS or STEM) that may support the success or failure in execution of the exploration and development of a region such as the New World or Space. Moreover, the study has the following limitation. Relative successes, failures, drivers and enablers of exploratory ventures are drawn almost exclusively from the documented historical records of the nations, entities and individuals (China and Europe) who conducted those ventures. A paucity of objective sources in some fields, and the need to set appropriate boundaries for the study, also necessitate such limitation.

It is observable that many of those HASS factors also appear to have been influencers in modern era Space projects. For Apollo and Soyuz, success factors such as the relative economics of USA and USSR, their political ideologies, accountabilities and organizational priorities have clear echoes. What the successful voyages of Columbus and Apollo also have in common is an appetite to take risks for an uncertain return, whether as sponsor or voyager; an understanding of financial management and benefits measurement, and a leadership (Isabella I, John F. Kennedy) possessing a vision, ideology and governmental apparatus to further the venture’s goals.

Whilst various historical studies have examined influences behind the oceangoing explorations of the 1400s and the colonization of the “New World”, this article takes an original approach of analyzing those motivations and other factors collectively, in interdisciplinary terms (HASS and STEM). This approach also has the potential to provide a novel method of examining accountability and performance in modern exploratory ventures, such as crewed space missions.

This paper examines the ways in which Chinese university middle managers evaluate subordinate performance in response to the Chinese Double First-Class University Plan, a national project that ranks the performance of universities. In exploring compromise arrangements, the hybridised valuing activity of middle managers is found to be shaped by emergent and extant macro-foundations.

The qualitative data from 49 semi-structured interviews at five Chinese public universities were conducted. Drawing on macro-foundational studies and the sociology of worth (SW) theory, the analysis helps to identify socially shared patterns of actions and outcomes.

The findings elucidate the interplay between diverse economic, social, political and institutional values and the compromise-making by middle managers. The authors find that contextual factors restrict Chinese academic middle managers' autonomy, preventing workable compromise. Through the selective adoption of international and local management practices, compromise has evolved into a private differential treaty at the operational level.

A nuanced explanation reveals how the macro-foundations of Chinese society influence middle managers who engage with accounting when facilitating compromise. This study helps outsiders better understand the complex convergence and divergence of performance evaluative practices in Chinese universities against the backdrop of global market-based forces and the moral dimensions of organisational life. The findings have wider implications for the Chinese government in navigating institutional steps and developing supportive policies to enable middle managers to advance productive but also sustainable compromise.

This study aimed to examine beliefs in repressed memory and dissociative amnesia from a cross-cultural perspective.

Chinese (n = 123) and Belgian student participants (n = 270) received several statements tapping into various dimensions of repressed memory and dissociative amnesia. Participants provided belief ratings for each of these statements. Because the field of psychoanalysis is less well developed in China, it was expected that Chinese participants would believe less in repressed memory and dissociative amnesia than their Belgian counterparts.

Overall, beliefs in repressed memory and dissociative amnesia were high among all participants. Although confirmatory analyses revealed that most belief ratings concerning statements did not statistically significantly differ between the two samples, Chinese participants did statistically believe less that therapy can recover lost traumatic memories than Belgian participants. Also, exploratory analyses showed that Chinese participants were more critical towards the idea that traumatic memories can be unconsciously repressed and that these memories can be accurately retrieved in therapy than Belgian participants. Many participants also confused repressed memory with plausible memory mechanisms such as ordinary forgetting.

The current study extends previous surveys on repressed memory and dissociative amnesia by comparing their beliefs in different cultures.

This study examines whether Confucian culture can promote enterprise total factor productivity (TFP), and it also studies how transmission mechanism works on enterprise TFP.

Based on the data of A-share listed companies on Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets from 2008 to 2019, this study measures the influence of Confucian culture on enterprise TFP by the number of Confucian academies and Confucian temples within three radius ranges of a company's registered address.

The empirical results show that Confucian culture has a positive effect on the enterprise TFP. The transmission mechanism test shows that Confucian culture can promote the TFP of Chinese enterprises through reducing agency cost, improving agency efficiency and enhancing innovation.

The findings in this study provide implications for policymakers, scholars and enterprises. The results show that Confucian culture can enhance the TFP of Chinese enterprises. Especially in emerging markets including China, the Confucian culture, as an informal institution, can effectively complement formal institutions, promoting enterprise TFP.

This study expands the literature on Confucian culture in two aspects: the influence of Confucian culture on TFP and its transmission mechanism. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to identify a link between Confucian culture and enterprise TFP.

Between 1840s and 1940s, 27 occidental concessions have been created in several cities in China which represented difficult signs and memories for Chinese. Nowadays, these territories are experiencing a joint phenomenon of heritagization and tourismification which makes them experimental theaters for modern urban life and identity. Taking the former concessions of Tianjin as place study, the purpose of this study is to analyze the role of the heritage and tourism in the former concessions in city branding and more specifically the actors, approaches and products of this phenomenon.

This research draws on the comparison and analysis of two place studies in China. The authors base their analysis on semi-structured interviews in Chinese with previously identified stakeholders. In all, 20 individuals, including developers, public authority representatives, business owners, academics and conservation association members, were interviewed. This research was completed, updated and triangulated by content analysis of Web-based materials; official documents such as urban plans, guidelines and urban and tourism strategies collected during the fieldwork, as well as non-intrusive spatial observations of the concession and its various developments.

The results of this study show that the heritage in the former concessions has become an attractive tool for the city branding through tourism development, often led by the public actors with the participation of private entrepreneurs.

This study looks at the hybrid dimensions of the former concessions in China. It provides a better understanding of the co-action of heritage and tourism in the processes of territorial rehabilitation, which contributes to both the practitioners and researchers in this domain.

The author’s interest in vernacular architecture, over the years, has attracted the author’s attention to three distinctive and similar forms of architecture in faraway regions of the globe. These are; Asir region of Saudi Arabia, The Caucasus including the republic of Georgia, Chechenia, and North Ossetia, and Sichuan region in China. Stone towers dominate the landscape of these remote regions. The similarity of these towers in these far away regions is quite remarkable.

This paper will introduce these towers in their geographic, social and natural context. Although several studies have been done on these regions, it is the aim of this paper to introduce their architecture in a comparative approach to explore how these remotes corners of the globe with different historical, ethnic and cultural backgrounds developed similar architectural forms in total isolation from each other.

Architecture is a physical production of different and diverse factors. Geographically, isolated regions with similar natural and social factors, mountainous landscape, tribally-based, agrarian societies, produces similar architectural forms.

This paper is a clear testimony to the human nature and how people think, react and build, under similar conditions. Architecture becomes a manifestation of human oneness, unity, believes and behaviour.

In China, having a home before getting married is viewed as being a crucial indicator of the sincerity of romance. Despite recent increases in housing costs, men who have their homes ready for marriage stand out in the marriage market. This study aims to explore the association between readiness to marry, marriage age and the home that men purchase prior to marriage using the China Labor-force Dynamics Survey, the first countrywide follow-up survey with the theme of labor force.

The authors suggest new standards for determining the marital residence. In addition, contrary to the existing literature, which focuses on “Sheng Nu” (women who do not marry by the traditional marriage age in China), the authors focus on “Sheng Nan” (men who do not marry by the traditional marriage age in China).

The results show that men who own a house before marriage are reluctant to get married. The authors document robust evidence that the preexistence of the marital house decreases the willingness to marry and postpones the marriage date, regardless of location and time.

The authors document robust evidence that the preexistence of the marital house decreases the willingness to marry and postpones the marriage date, regardless of location and time.