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Many scholars would agree that the international status of Hong Kong is one of the crucial factors that contribute to the continued success of Hong Kong. However, few of them explain the origin of Hong Kong’s international status. The purpose of this paper is to fill this literature gap through the case study of Hong Kong’s admission to an international organization – the Asian Development Bank (ADB) – in the late 1960s.

Based on declassified archives, a historical approach has been adopted to trace the origin of Hong Kong’s international status.

The findings suggest that Cold War geopolitics, both local and regional level, explain why Hong Kong, even though remained as a dependent territory of Britain, became a member of an international organization independent from the British influence. While geopolitics at local level incentivized the colonial government to “go out” for external support, geopolitics at the regional level provided an opportunity for Hong Kong to acquire membership of the ADB.

This paper is among the first academic study on the origin of Hong Kong’s international status.

Smart card-based E-payment systems are receiving increasing attention as the number of implementations is witnessed on the rise globally. Understanding of user adoption behavior of E-payment systems that employ smart card technology becomes a research area that is of particular value and interest to both IS researchers and professionals. However, research interest focuses mostly on why a smart card-based E-payment system results in a failure or how the system could have grown into a success. This signals the fact that researchers have not had much opportunity to critically review a smart card-based E-payment system that has gained wide support and overcome the hurdle of critical mass adoption. The Octopus in Hong Kong has provided a rare opportunity for investigating smart card-based E-payment system because of its unprecedented success. This research seeks to thoroughly analyze the Octopus from technology adoption behavior perspectives.

Cultural impacts on adoption behavior are one of the key areas that this research posits to investigate. Since the present research is conducted in Hong Kong where a majority of population is Chinese ethnicity and yet is westernized in a number of aspects, assuming that users in Hong Kong are characterized by eastern or western culture is less useful. Explicit cultural characteristics at individual level are tapped into here instead of applying generalization of cultural beliefs to users to more accurately reflect cultural bias. In this vein, the technology acceptance model (TAM) is adapted, extended, and tested for its applicability cross-culturally in Hong Kong on the Octopus. Four cultural dimensions developed by Hofstede are included in this study, namely uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, individualism, and Confucian Dynamism (long-term orientation), to explore their influence on usage behavior through the mediation of perceived usefulness.

TAM is also integrated with the innovation diffusion theory (IDT) to borrow two constructs in relation to innovative characteristics, namely relative advantage and compatibility, in order to enhance the explanatory power of the proposed research model. Besides, the normative accountability of the research model is strengthened by embracing two social influences, namely subjective norm and image. As the last antecedent to perceived usefulness, prior experience serves to bring in the time variation factor to allow level of prior experience to exert both direct and moderating effects on perceived usefulness.

The resulting research model is analyzed by partial least squares (PLS)-based Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach. The research findings reveal that all cultural dimensions demonstrate direct effect on perceived usefulness though the influence of uncertainty avoidance is found marginally significant. Other constructs on innovative characteristics and social influences are validated to be significant as hypothesized. Prior experience does indeed significantly moderate the two influences that perceived usefulness receives from relative advantage and compatibility, respectively. The research model has demonstrated convincing explanatory power and so may be employed for further studies in other contexts. In particular, cultural effects play a key role in contributing to the uniqueness of the model, enabling it to be an effective tool to help critically understand increasingly internationalized IS system development and implementation efforts. This research also suggests several practical implications in view of the findings that could better inform managerial decisions for designing, implementing, or promoting smart card-based E-payment system.

To fill the gap in the existing literature on the 20th anniversary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), the purpose of this paper is to critically reflect upon the continuities and changes of the city’s relations with the world.

The paper has adopted a generic approach to shed light on the factors behind the evolution of the international status of Hong Kong from a by-product of geopolitics to a global city in its own right, to understand how the city has been perceived by traditional western partners after 1997 and to investigate how China has made use Hong Kong’s international status.

It has shown that Beijing’s strategy toward Hong Kong has been marred by the inherent tensions between “becoming Chinese” and “remaining global.” The official discourse of functionalism, according to which economic and professional ties are both the most acceptable and therefore the least resisted pathways available for the development of Hong Kong’s external relations, has the opposite effect of expanding Beijing’s control over the city.

In contrast to the HKSAR Government’s belief that Hong Kong will certainly benefit from the emergence of China, the city has found itself on a shorter leash than ever. It has therefore pinpointed the pitfalls of the logic of functionalism which has dominated the existing literature as much as the policy-making process.

The purpose of this paper is to present an analytical framework to examine the impact of international factors on “One Country, Two Systems” in general and Hong Kong’s democratization in particular.

The paper has adopted a behavioral approach to identify the agents, mechanisms and observable facets of external–internal interactions.

The need for international recognition on the performance of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) under Chinese sovereignty has provided external actors with the necessary leverage. Though the impact of the international community has been indirect and limited, the authors have identified two mechanisms – lesson drawing and socialization – whereby the impact of international actors and their actions towards Hong Kong may be subtly felt. Moreover, there are at least three observable facets of external actions which are pertinent to the democracy issue. At the end of day, the external impacts will be determined not by the international actors per se but the balance of power between the domestic actors in Hong Kong.

There is a scholarly consensus that international factors matter to Hong Kong. But there has been a lack of serious investigation as to why and how they matter. The observable facets of external–internal interactions and the mechanisms identified in this work have not only enriched our understanding of the relevance of external factors in Hong Kong affairs, but also provided a sound foundation for future research.

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) Strategy is an important component of the “Belt and Road Initiative” of China. The purpose of this Project is to develop the GBA into the most open, market-oriented and innovative pole of economic growth in China. The GBA Project provides Hong Kong with a rare opportunity to diversify its industrial structure and to move into a new and higher stage of economic development.

Being an integral part of the GBA, Hong Kong is expected and supported by the Central Government to develop into a hub of the Area, and, leveraging on Hong Kong’s status as an international metropolis, to connect the Area as a whole with the world.

China’s Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Project is a major national development strategy and is a major part of the Belt and Road Initiative. Hong Kong is going to play an important role in the Project and will benefit from it enormously in the future in terms of economic growth and the upgrading of its industrial structure. However, in order to take full advantage of participation in the Project, the way Hong Kong is governed, particularly the government's role in economic development, has to be modified significantly.

In order to take advantage of the Project, the Hong Kong SAR Government has to play a bigger and more proactive role in Hong Kong’s socioeconomic development and to strengthen its capacity to mobilize societal participation in the Project.

Using data from the 2000 Program for International Student Assessment, we examined determinants of children’s participation in highbrow cultural activities and its relationship with academic achievement in Hong Kong. We found that family socioeconomic status (SES) and home possessions related to high-status culture were important determinants of children’s participation in highbrow cultural activities. Yet, we found no significant relationship between children’s participation in highbrow cultural activities and academic achievement when controlling for other variables. We highlighted several characteristics of Hong Kong society and its educational system, including the British colonial experience, extreme focus on test preparation, and extensive shadow education, all of which may combine to explain the role of cultural resources in this East Asian society.

At the stroke of midnight on 30th June, 1997 Hong Kong was returned to the People's Republic of China. China takes justifiable pride in what has to date been a smooth transition, but the government in Beijing is now confronted by a demanding reality, the need to make detailed arrangements regulating the legal ties between the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) and the sovereign power. Not the least of the problems concern the degree and means by which mutual legal assistance in criminal matters will be made available. The puzzle for the People's Republic is that Hong Kong's dependent status begs a high degree of mutual cooperation with China, but the procedural safeguards that exist to govern Hong Kong's cooperation with third jurisdictions may not easily be used as a model: the safeguards built into the current legislation would operate to exclude the sovereign power! On the other hand, if future cooperation between Hong Kong and China is to take place without safeguards local and international confidence may suffer.

This paper examines the internationalization response of entrepreneurs in Hong Kong to the institutional upheaval of the Umbrella Revolution (UR), analyzed through the lens of post-colonial theory.

Inductive methods are applied to interview data on dimensions of ethnic background (local Chinese, regional Chinese and British expatriates) and geographical scope of business (Hong Kong only or global). The analysis consists of first-order concepts, second-order themes and aggregate dimensions which link the results to post-colonial theory and international entrepreneurial orientation (IEO).

Amongst informants with a high international entrepreneurial orientation (IEO), strategy response to upheaval is highly influenced by ethnic background and geographical flexibility in a post-colonial context. Applying Bhabhaian post-colonial theory, the Hong Kong UR is found to be a liminal space, where internationalization strategy in response to upheaval belies subconscious, ethics-laden constructions of post-colonial identity, manifesting in counterintuitive ways.

This paper addresses the paucity of studies on liminality and entrepreneurship and on how IEO responds to acute uncertainty in the business environment. Further, IEO is found to be an individual rather than a firm-level construct. Finally, a post-colonial theory is considered in a larger context of liminality and how the transitional self of entrepreneurs comes to terms with institutional upheaval.

By overviewing the role of Hong Kong to the European Union (EU), the world’s largest economic bloc and a key global actor, the purpose of this paper is to understand any change in international prominence and status of Hong Kong after two decades of its sovereignty return.

It is based on analysis of statistics, government discourses and official documents.

Main findings are that although the function of Hong Kong as an entrepot of China–EU trade and the ranking of the city as the EU’s trade partners have both diminished, the city sustains its roles as a platform to enter Mainland China, a regional hub in Asia, a major international capital market, a diplomatic counterpart and a partner in socio-cultural aspects to the EU. This paper agrees with the EU’s view that continuous well-functioning of Hong Kong under “One Country, Two System” serves stake of the Union which is keen on helping the SAR to ensure its high autonomy. Yet, the determinants remain Hong Kong and Beijing Governments, which have been and should continue to make use of Hong Kong’s closer tie with the mainland to promote international importance of both the city and China.

Research on relations between Hong Kong and the EU has been few, especially so in the past decades. This paper serves as a stock-take of the most recent developments in Hong Kong–EU relation.

The purpose of this paper is to map out the connection between paradiplomacy, policy instruments and soft power and propose a theoretical framework for consideration.

This research adopted a qualitative research approach involving in-depth interviews with government officials from the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices and two Hong Kong film directors.

The research has discovered that the government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) lacks a holistic strategy and policy to boost Hong Kong’s visibility in the global context. The HKSAR Government exhibits an incomplete understanding of the concept of soft power and ignores the values cherished in the civil society.

This investigation provides a background against which Hong Kong’s policymakers could devise a paradiplomatic strategy. This study suggests that political and social actors in Hong Kong must help to strengthen the city’s global position through strategic investments and the deployment of its soft power at home and aboard. The paradiplomacy of Hong Kong can serve as one of the effective tools to improve the legitimacy of “One Country, Two Systems.”

There is no study on the application of soft power under the framework of paradiplomacy. This paper represents a new direction of research in the area of Hong Kong, international status and its external affairs.