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1 – 10 of 15Wai H. Cheuk, Kwok S. Wong and Sidney Rosen
Aims primarily to examine how stressful kindergarten principals as leaders and managers of their schools found their work to be, and if such job stress was related to negative…
Abstract
Aims primarily to examine how stressful kindergarten principals as leaders and managers of their schools found their work to be, and if such job stress was related to negative emotions and job satisfaction. The secondary aim was to explore if social support from a close friend could reduce and buffer job stress. Seventy‐seven kindergarten principals in Hong Kong responded to a questionnaire containing the variables of interest. The results showed that the principals found their work to be moderately stressful. However, emotional and informational support from a close friend had beneficial impacts on stress.
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Kwok Sai Wong and Wai Hing Cheuk
One objective of the present study was to explore how stressful kindergarten principals, as leaders and managers of their schools, found their work to be, and if such job‐related…
Abstract
Purpose
One objective of the present study was to explore how stressful kindergarten principals, as leaders and managers of their schools, found their work to be, and if such job‐related stress was associated with negative emotions and job (dis)satisfaction. Another objective was to assess whether or not social support from one's supervisor could reduce the adverse effects of job‐related stress. A related objective was to examine possible negative impacts associated with receipt of support from one's supervisor.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 44 kindergarten principals in Macau filled out a questionnaire that contained the variables of interest.
Findings
The results indicated that the principals found their work to be moderately stressful; only emotional support was shown to be effective in buffering the impacts of job‐related stress; and there were only weak adverse effects related to the receipt of support.
Originality/value
This paper is useful in understanding the relationship of stress to work in the school environment.
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Jiafeng Zhou, Ernest Lam, Cheuk Hang Au, Patrick Lo and Dickson K.W. Chiu
As current university students may access information for their study anytime, anywhere with ubiquitous mobile technologies, this research re-examines the roles of study space in…
Abstract
Purpose
As current university students may access information for their study anytime, anywhere with ubiquitous mobile technologies, this research re-examines the roles of study space in students' learning and campus life.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was conducted to collect students' opinions and habits regarding the usage of different study spaces. Results in three different academic majors (science and engineering, arts and business) of a comprehensive international university were compared.
Findings
The authors’ findings showed a more diversified space usage among students, with the library café increasingly important in students' learning and life while learning commons remain important. However, there were only minor differences among these three study majors towards the learning and entertaining spaces, as these students generally apply inquiry-based learning.
Originality/value
While some researches have investigated students' usage of university and library learning spaces, few studies have focused on the study space issue in Hong Kong or other metropolises in the East under the current mobile learning environment. This study's insights could help libraries and universities improve the management of their physical spaces to meet student needs.
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This paper describes an in‐depth case study of auditors, and presents a non‐linear model of an information seeking and using process in the workplace. It argues for a model that…
Abstract
This paper describes an in‐depth case study of auditors, and presents a non‐linear model of an information seeking and using process in the workplace. It argues for a model that focuses on information users’ perceived situations at a particular time and place. The model comprises a set of critically different situations that auditors perceived in dynamic information seeking and using processes in their workplaces: task initiation situation, focus formulating situation, ideas assuming situation, ideas confirming situation, ideas rejecting situation, ideas finalising situation and passing on ideas situation. Distinctive information behaviours associated with each situation are identified. The model has important implications: first, it highlights the impracticability of modelling a “right” information seeking and using path for all auditors; second, it explains phenomena considered as exceptions in traditional information seeking models; third, it points out the changing meaning of information for auditors in different situations. The alternative model provides a framework for transcending current practices in information literacy education, information systems design and information management.
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Chui Ling Yeung, Chi Fai Cheung, Wai Ming Wang, Eric Tsui and Wing Bun Lee
Narratives are useful to educate novices to learn from the past in a safe environment. For some high-risk industries, narratives for lessons learnt are costly and limited, as they…
Abstract
Purpose
Narratives are useful to educate novices to learn from the past in a safe environment. For some high-risk industries, narratives for lessons learnt are costly and limited, as they are constructed from the occurrence of accidents. This paper aims to propose a new approach to facilitate narrative generation from existing narrative sources to support training and learning.
Design/methodology/approach
A computational narrative semi-fiction generation (CNSG) approach is proposed, and a case study was conducted in a statutory body in the construction industry in Hong Kong. Apart from measuring the learning outcomes gained by participants through the new narratives, domain experts were invited to evaluate the performance of the CNSG approach.
Findings
The performance of the CNSG approach is found to be effective in facilitating new narrative generation from existing narrative sources and to generate synthetic semi-fiction narratives to support and educate individuals to learn from past lessons. The new narratives generated by the CNSG approach help students learn and remember important things and learning points from the narratives. Domain experts agree that the validated narratives are useful for training and learning purposes.
Originality/value
This study presents a new narrative generation process for a high-risk industry, e.g. the construction industry. The CNSG approach incorporates the technologies of natural language processing and artificial intelligence to computationally identify narrative gaps in existing narrative sources and proposes narrative fragments to generate new semi-fiction narratives. Encouraging results were gained through the case study.
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Examines the tenth published year of the ITCRR. Runs the whole gamut of textile innovation, research and testing, some of which investigates hitherto untouched aspects. Subjects…
Abstract
Examines the tenth published year of the ITCRR. Runs the whole gamut of textile innovation, research and testing, some of which investigates hitherto untouched aspects. Subjects discussed include cotton fabric processing, asbestos substitutes, textile adjuncts to cardiovascular surgery, wet textile processes, hand evaluation, nanotechnology, thermoplastic composites, robotic ironing, protective clothing (agricultural and industrial), ecological aspects of fibre properties – to name but a few! There would appear to be no limit to the future potential for textile applications.
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Since the launch of the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) in 2003, Hong Kong cinema is believed to have confronted drastic changes. Hong Kong…
Abstract
Purpose
Since the launch of the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) in 2003, Hong Kong cinema is believed to have confronted drastic changes. Hong Kong cinema is described to be dying, lacking creative space and losing local distinctiveness. A decade later, the rise of Hong Kong – China coproduction cinema under CEPA has been normalized and changed the once pessimism in the industry. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how Hong Kong cinema adjusted its production and creation in the first 10 years of CEPA.
Design/methodology/approach
Beginning with a review of the overall development, three paradigmatic cases are examined for reflecting upon what the major industrial and commercial concerns on the Hong Kong – China coproduction model are, and how such a coproduction model is not developed as smooth as what the Hong Kong filmmakers expected.
Findings
Collectively, this paper singles out the difficulties in operation and the limit of transnationality that occur in the Chinese context for the development of Hong Kong cinema under the Hong Kong – China coproduction model.
Originality/value
This is the author’s research in his five-year study of Hong Kong cinema and it contributes a lot to the field of cinema studies with relevant industrial and policy concern.
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The purpose of this paper is to assess the intra-party conflicts in Hong Kong’s Democratic Party (DP) and their implications for broader democratic processes in the territory. It…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the intra-party conflicts in Hong Kong’s Democratic Party (DP) and their implications for broader democratic processes in the territory. It also examines some other thematic issues including: the party’s policy decision-making process, candidate selection, party membership and mergers, and their overall relevance for democratisation in Hong Kong.
Design/methodology/approach
The study gives a historical review of intra-party conflicts. The concept of factionalism is applied to better understand the DP in Hong Kong’s political space.
Findings
Hong Kong is unique and popular models of party conflicts are hardly applicable to the country. Intra-party conflict is an obvious, expected conflict because of differences in formation, leadership, manifestoes and ideologies. The present author tries to examine the case with a view to making a novel contribution.
Originality/value
The study of political factionalism is not uncommon in Hong Kong but this paper intends to study intra-party elite conflicts and self-democratisation of the Hong Kong DP as a case study which is seldom addressed. Consolidation is a possible scenario and its presence is evident when political elites increasingly demonstrate commitment towards creating a democratic regime and when they hold strong beliefs in democratic procedures and institutions as crucial to governing public life.
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The goal of this article is to examine the current trends of political cinema in postcolonial Hong Kong. Many leaders of the Hong Kong mainstream cinema have accepted the Chinese…
Abstract
Purpose
The goal of this article is to examine the current trends of political cinema in postcolonial Hong Kong. Many leaders of the Hong Kong mainstream cinema have accepted the Chinese authoritarian rule as a precondition for expanding into the ever-expanding Mainland film market, but a handful of conscientious filmmakers choose to make political cinema under the shadow of a wealthy and descendant industry, expressing their desire for democracy and justice and critiquing the unequal power relations between Hong Kong and China.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper consults relevant documentary materials and cinematic texts to contextualize the latest development of political cinema in Hong Kong. It presents an in-depth analysis of the works of two local independent filmmakers Herman Yau and Vincent Chui.
Findings
This study reveals a glimpse of hope in the current films of Herman Yau and Vincent Chui, which suggests that a reconfiguration of local identity and communal relationship may turn around the collective despair caused by the oppressive measures of the Chinese authoritarian state and the end of the Umbrella Movement in late 2014.
Research limitations/implications
Despite the small sample size, this paper highlights the rise of cinematic localism through a closer look at the works of Hong Kong independent filmmakers.
Practical implications
This study reveals an ambivalent mentality in the Hong Kong film industry where critical filmmakers strive to assert their creativity and agency against the externally imposed Chinese hegemonic power.
Originality/value
This investigation is an original scholarly study of film and politics in postcolonial Hong Kong.
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Cimei Dai and Dickson K.W. Chiu
This research explored how COVID-19 affects Shenzhen high school students' reading behavior and preference and their parents' attitudes toward reading during the lockdown.
Abstract
Purpose
This research explored how COVID-19 affects Shenzhen high school students' reading behavior and preference and their parents' attitudes toward reading during the lockdown.
Design/methodology/approach
This research adopted a qualitative approach to conduct one-on-one semi-structured interviews with parents of a boarding high school in Shenzhen, China. Thirteen parents were recruited through a purposeful sampling method, and NVivo12 software was used to analyze the results with a theme-based approach guided by the 5E instructional model.
Findings
The results revealed the effectiveness and problems of high school students' use of electronic resources and discovered changes in the reading behavior of high school students and their parents' attitudes during COVID-19.
Originality/value
There are few studies specifically on the reading behavior of boarding students from a parental view, especially in Asia. This research can fill the gaps in related research during COVID-19.
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