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The construction industries of many countries rely heavily on subcontracting. As a result, the quality of subcontractors is important as it has a direct bearing on the performance of the main contractor on projects. A large proportion of construction work in Singapore is subcontracted. Despite the well‐known and widely regretted deficiencies in the traditional subcontracting system, only recently have attempts been made to reform it. The most significant of these efforts is the Singapore List of Trade Subcontractors (SLOTS). This study sought to investigate whether or not the performance of subcontractors has been improved following the introduction of the SLOTS scheme. The research was based on a survey of project managers of main contractors. A major finding was that the SLOTS‐registered contractors were perceived to perform better than nonregistered ones. Suggestions for improving the SLOTS scheme are offered in this paper.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how the Chaozhou-speaking communities in northeast Guangdong Province dealt with new barriers of border control during the 1950s, and how they circumvented these institutional obstacles to leave China for Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. The emigration process was reshaped by new social and political forces in Maoist China. How did the Chaoshan people apply for the travel permit to leave China? How did they enter the hosting countries? How did the emigration experience influence the identity formation of Chaoshan Chinese in the 1950s?

This paper draws on archival sources, memoirs and interviews to demonstrate the ways in which Chaoshan people pursued new strategies of emigration during the 1950s.

In Maoist China, the application for an entry-exit permit was a rather complicated bureaucratic process for ordinary people. One needs to consider the class status, geographical origins and overseas connections of the applicants as well as the changing official policies toward overseas Chinese.

This paper emphasizes on the impacts of emigration experience on the identity formation of Chaoshan people and the incremental transformation of these emigrant communities in Guangdong Province.

This scholarly finding throws light on the transformation of Chaoshan from a fluid, mobile maritime environment to an increasingly state-centric agrarian society during the 1950s.

This paper is an original scholarly study of the history of Chaoshan communities in South China and their emigration to Southeast Asia.

This research is concerned with youth activism in Singapore historically and the importance of legitimacy for understanding the further development of youth activism and Singapore’s democratization process. It takes into account issues pertaining to good governance, economic performance and democratic participation (legitimacy). The paper aims to discuss this issue.

The research adopts a historical approach, qualitative in nature with some quantitative analysis based on documentary research, press reports and content analysis.

Historically youth activism was vibrant and dynamic in the fight for independence and against inequality and injustice during the colonial era in Singapore. Under Lee Kuan Yew’s rule, the scope and boundary of democratic participation (legitimacy) were delimited and controlled by the state. State-contained or controlled participation has replaced contentious politics. In the Singapore General Election in 2011, the younger generation of Singapore electorate, who are better educated and well-travelled, however, proved themselves to be rational and pragmatic when they exercised their rights to reject polices detrimental to their socio-economic well-beings as well as to the inclusiveness of society. The People’s Action Party (PAP) had the lowest vote share (60 per cent) in history. Since then the PAP government had stepped up its efforts in improving welfare gains of the citizens as well as managing public discontents with more effective policies. The PAP victory in the Singapore election (GE 2015), however, showed that among other reasons, welfare gains and good governance helped in salvaging the electoral legitimacy vis-à-vis the political legitimacy of the PAP government. However, the PAP government’s continual harsh treatment of critics, young and old, means that to achieve democratic legitimacy, it has to break through the shackles of authoritarian leadership style and elite governance, which have led to the regime’s failure to face up to the reality of an emerging civic participatory culture in the Singapore contexts.

Legitimacy is an important concept. To date there is no systematic application of this concept to the study of Singapore electoral politics. This paper employs Bruce Gilley’s determinants of legitimacy – democratic legitimacy, welfare gains and good governance – to explicate the basis of the PAP’s regime legitimacy, the contradictions inherent in state-contained participation and political representation that delimited and undermined the nature, scope and boundary of democratic legitimacy.

COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of home-based teleworking globally. Coupled with this, there are rising concerns about workplace cyberbullying. However, less studies have explored workplace cyberbullying in non-western countries. The purpose of the current study is to examine whether workplace cyberbullying affects employees' intention to stay and to find out the mechanisms underlying the relationship.

Data were collected among Indian home-based teleworkers. Data were analysed using SmartPLS and SPSS-PROCESS macro.

Results show that workplace cyberbullying negatively impacts intention to stay and affective commitment acts as a mediator between this link. The results also reveal that workplace social capital moderates the negative effects of workplace cyberbullying on affective commitment. The results further confirm that workplace social capital moderated the indirect impact of workplace cyberbullying on intention to stay via affective commitment.

This study highlights the potential of leveraging workplace social capital in order to reduce the negative effects of workplace cyberbullying.

These findings can complement the previous studies on the impact of negative work events on affective commitment and intention to stay as well as extend researchers' understanding of the underlying mechanism between workplace cyberbullying and intention to stay. Furthermore, this research explains how employees can utilise social resources from workplace social capital to mitigate the negative outcomes of workplace cyberbullying.

Vertical greenery systems (VGS) have been a widely accepted design strategy that contributes to creating sustainable built environments. However, green building technologies (e.g. VGS) have grown in complexity which poses maintainability challenges. Designing with maintainability in mind is crucial in delivering efficient and sustainable buildings. This paper aims to assist designers and allied professionals in terms of integrating maintainability and sustainable design in developing high-rise VGS directly from its design inception.

The study is grounded on the “Green Maintainability” concept which link maintainability, sustainability and facility management right at the outset. The Green Maintainability factors are translated into critical design criteria which are used to analyze the selected instrumental case studies to evaluate the high-rise VGS performance and maintainability potential. A qualitative approach via the triangulation of data collected from relevant literatures, field surveys and walkthrough interviews is undertaken.

Findings have shown that the major VGS defects which are mostly occurring in the case studies are issues concerning fallen leaves and dirt accumulation; safety issues during cleaning and repairs; insufficient maintenance access; algae/ mould growth; withering plants; water stagnation/ ponding; poor/faulty irrigation and water dripping and unavailability of natural elements. Best practices and lessons learned revealed few design oversight and technical issues concerning high-rise VGS façade implementation. While maintenance cost, biodiversity and lack of coordination among involved professionals are the additional issues which emerged during the stakeholders’ walkthrough interviews.

Current researches conducted on the maintainability of green building technologies (e.g. high-rise VGS) are still few. This research study is the first comprehensive assessment to determine the green maintainability potential and performance of high-rise VGS in tropical conditions.

The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyse the development and content of the Vulnerable Adults Act 2018 (hereafter “the Act”) in Singapore. It reports the parliamentary processes and deliberations.

A synthesis of publicly available research, policy documents, parliamentary debate, media reports and commentary.

The paper sets the Act’s development and aims in Singapore’s social and legal contexts. It notes the interface with other legislation and the focus of the Act on community and family abuse and neglect.

The paper suggests some areas for research including how the Act is used and its impact and also points to areas where the Act does not apply.

The paper outlines new professional powers and responsibilities and the role of government and community-based organisations.

This paper provides an early account of the genesis and aims of the new legislation, its powers and administration. Also, international comparisons are drawn.

This study aims to lay the groundwork for the potential application of value management (VM) in construction projects. This paper presents a critical review on the status of VM in a developing country and highlights the role of perceptions on critical success factors (CSFs) for the phases of VM studies, as the participants in a VM study should consider CSFs tailored to the local context.

A series of interviews and a questionnaire were conducted to understand the drivers, perceptions, barriers, and CSFs of VM in the Jordanian construction industry. Although descriptive statistics were used to analyze the status of VM, a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach was adopted to highlight the interrelationships between perceptions and the CSFs of the three phases of VM (i.e. pre-workshop, workshop, and implementation).

The descriptive analysis revealed conflicting viewpoints for perceptions and drivers. Most practitioners acknowledged little awareness of VM phases, and the SEM results indicated that perceptions of VM, in terms of its capacity in improving the scope and objectives of the project, and reducing overall costs, most strongly influenced the CSFs of the implementation phase in terms of support and clear plan for implementation, and had the least influence on the pre-workshop phase. Further, the perceptions had a moderate effect on the CSFs of the workshop phase and it tended to be positive, highlighting the importance of function analysis in this phase.

This is the first study to reveal the status of VM in Jordan in terms of adoption, drivers, perceptions, barriers and CSFs; no prior studies have investigated how perceptions can affect the CSFs of each phase of VM and the endorsement of VM by the construction industry. The contributions of this study include linking the perceptions of construction professionals with the CSFs of VM.