Kevin Kwok-yin Cheng

Psychological Collectivism as a Moderator of the Impact of Supervisor–Subordinate Personality Similarity on Employees’ Service Quality

Des chercheurs ont demontre que le collectivisme psychologique joue un role moderateur dans la relation entre certains construits. Les caracteristiques situationnelles peuvent avoir differents impacts sur les individualistes et les collectivistes dont les attitudes et valeurs divergent face aux relations interpersonnelles. Les collectivistes accordent beaucoup d’importance aux relations harmonieuses avec autrui, et seraient demoralises quand ces relations sont menacees ou qu’elles ne se developpent pas. Les individualistes voient l’individu comme la base de la survie et sont moins affectes par un manque d’harmonie. Nous avions prevu que l’effet de la similitude de personnalite entre superviseur–subordonne sur la qualite des services qu’un employe offre serait plus grand pour les collectivistes que pour les individualistes. Cette hypothese a ete testee aupres de 605 representants a la clientele et 113 superviseurs pour qui la similitude de personnalite a ete mesuree par le nombre d’items pour lesquels les deux parties ont donne la meme reponse. Bien que le collectivisme psychologique n’a pas d’effet direct sur la qualite du service, une analyse de regression indique que cette variable entre en interaction avec la similitude de personnalite. Ce resultat donne plus de soutien au modele du role moderateur du collectivisme psychologique. Researchers have found psychological collectivism (PC) to play a moderating role in relationships among certain constructs. Situational characteristics may have different impacts on individualists and collectivists, who have discrepant attitudes and values regarding interpersonal relationships. The collectivists strongly value harmonious relationships with others, and would be demoralised when such relationships are threatened or do not materialise at all. The individualists view the self as the basic unit of survival, and are less affected even if harmony is not guaranteed. On the basis of this PC-as-moderator perspective, we expected that the effect of supervisor–subordinate personality similarity on the quality of service an employee delivers would be stronger among collectivists than among individualists. This hypothesis was tested with 605 front-line customer service staff and 113 supervisors, whose personality similarity was indexed by the number of personality items to which both parties gave the same answers. Although psychological collectivism does not have direct effect on service quality, regression analysis shows that it interacts with personality similarity, lending further support to the PC-as-moderator model.

Self-perceived Role and Function of Christian Prison Chaplains and Buddhist Volunteers in Hong Kong Prisons

Although there have been a handful of studies examining the work of chaplains and prison volunteers in a Western setting, few have endeavored to conduct research into the experiences of religious workers in Asian penitentiaries. To fill this gap, this article reports on exploratory research examining the work of a selected group of religious workers in Hong Kong prisons. A total of 17 religious workers were interviewed: 10 prison chaplains and 7 Buddhist volunteers who paid regular prison visits. Qualitative findings generated from in-depth interviews present three themes: the range of religious activities performed, the importance of religion for the rehabilitation of inmates, and the hope of continued religious support to prisoners after discharge. The significance of this research is that it sheds light on the understudied work of prison chaplains and volunteers in Hong Kong and portrays the difference between the works of the Christian ministry and Buddhist volunteers.

Gender, Fear of Crime, and Attitudes Toward Prisoners Among Social Work Majors in a Hong Kong University:

Fear of crime has been a dominant area of criminological inquiry, yet it is has been examined only recently in a Chinese context, and it is virtually unexplored in Hong Kong. Using a sample of 170 Hong Kong college students majoring in social work, the current study aimed to investigate the effects of gender on fear of crime and their relationships to attitudes toward prisoners. In general, women reported a significantly greater fear of crime than men for all offenses except for being cheated. Fear of rape/sexual assault was found to be a significant predictor of fear of serious crimes for women but a less significant predictor of their fear of minor crimes. The shadow of the sexual assault hypothesis was supported in this study. Fear of crime had little impact on attitudes toward prisoners.

Providing Justice for Low-Income Youths Publicly Funded Lawyers and Youth Clients in Hong Kong

Despite the undercurrents of rights protection in Hong Kong’s juvenile justice procedure, the ultimate goal remains punishment based on welfare needs. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 40 youth defendants and defence lawyers, this article will examine the ways in which youth defendants and defence lawyers negotiate the welfare and justice imperatives of the Hong Kong juvenile justice system and end up accepting the disciplinary welfare model. Publicly funded lawyers have become primarily plea mitigators, assisting the state in seeing to the welfare and ‘the best interests of the child’. A study of Hong Kong will lead to a broader understanding of how a welfare-oriented system can work in a time when juvenile justice systems around the world emphasize human rights, due process and children’s rights.

Perceptions of Fairness and Satisfaction in Lawyer–Client Interactions Among Young Offenders in Hong Kong:

This study used a mixed methods approach to examine the perceptions of fairness and satisfaction young offenders have toward their lawyers in the Hong Kong criminal justice system, drawing on procedural justice theory. A sample of 168 young offenders aged between 14 and 21 years old was surveyed. Regression analyses indicated that participants who had private lawyers were more satisfied compared to those who had duty lawyers. Two elements of procedural justice, participation, and trustworthiness, demonstrated the strongest influence on youths’ satisfaction with their lawyers. Supplementary interviews with 30 young defendants further explained the discrepancy, revealing that the limited amount of time spent by duty lawyers in meetings and their detached focus contributed to clients’ low perceptions of participation and trustworthiness.

A Comparison of Attitudes Toward Prisoners of Religious and Non-Religious College Students in Hong Kong:

While there have been numerous studies on the religious, namely, Christians’, attitudes toward punishment, less attention has been devoted to the religious attitudes toward prisoners. This study aims to examine and compare religious affiliation and spirituality with respect to attitudes toward prisoners. Respondents were comprised of a sample of college students in Hong Kong divided into three groups: Buddhists, Christians, and those self-identified as non-religious. Both Christians and Buddhists displayed more positive attitudes toward prisoners with respect to perceived bad character and perception of negative interaction compared with the non-religious. Likewise, Christians and Buddhists exhibited more positive attitudes toward prisoners with respect to empathy and perception that prisoners are normal compared with the non-religious. Spirituality, however, moderated these relationships as spirituality interacted with religious affiliation to produce more negative attitudes toward prisoners. Possible implications are discussed.

Passing the Threshold of One Justice System to the Next: Challenges of Emerging Young Adults in Hong Kong’s Adult Criminal Justice Process

In many criminal justice systems, there is a clear separation for juvenile and adult defendants. However, those in between, referred to as emerging young adult defendants (ages 18-25 years), are treated as adult defendants despite a growing recognition that emerging adulthood is a distinct period in the life course. The aim of this present study is to investigate the experiences and challenges faced by emerging young adult defendants (N = 25) in Hong Kong’s adult criminal justice process. Through in-depth semistructured interviews, it was found that emerging young adult defendants demonstrated a lack of understanding regarding their rights and the legal procedures, faced stress in being caught up in the criminal justice process, and were susceptible to influence by others, particularly family members, in making legal decisions. Implications and future directions of study are discussed.

Attitudes of the Hong Kong Chinese public towards sex offending policies: The role of stereotypical views of sex offenders

The Hong Kong government recently introduced a sex offender registry that gives the public access to records of sexual offence conviction. This step was taken in the context of a penal system that traditionally places a high value on rehabilitation and a culture that traditionally supports rape myths. This study explores public attitudes among the Hong Kong Chinese towards a variety of sex offending policies and the variables, particularly stereotypical views of offenders, which may influence them. Overall, support was expressed for policies that sought to manage the risk posed by sex offenders. This shift is explained by the emergence of a fear of sex offenders as Hong Kong tries to maintain its reputation for good social order amid social and political change, and a new emphasis on sex crimes as a danger to the most vulnerable members of society, namely children.

Chinese Migrants’ Perceptions of the Queensland Criminal Justice System

Research on perceptions of the criminal legal system has tended to mainly focus on attitudes toward the police and on minority groups other than Chinese communities. The aim of the present study is to measure perceptions of the integrity, competence, and fairness of the various elements of the criminal justice system among a Chinese migrant population residing in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Findings indicate that demographic variables have little impact on attitudes. But those who have experienced victimization, particularly male victims, see the justice system in a less favorable way. Policy implications of these results are also discussed.

Navigating through the effects of ‘Cracked Trials’: How Hong Kong legal practitioners deal with late guilty pleas

‘Cracked trials’ have been identified as a major problem in the criminal justice process, causing wastage of resources and time for all parties involved. The sliding scale of sentence discounts was implemented in England and Wales to tackle the problem of ‘cracked trials’ through providing the greatest amount of sentence reduction for earlier guilty pleas and thereby discouraging defendants from entering late guilty pleas. The sliding scale has been recently implemented or is being considered by other common law jurisdictions. This article examines how legal practitioners in Hong Kong have navigated around the adverse effects of cracked trials prior to the implementation of the sliding scale and argues how the sliding scale of sentence discounts is problematic. The findings offer insights regarding strategies and reforms on other aspects of the criminal procedure in responding to late guilty pleas.