High Level of (Passive) Compliance in a Low-Trust Society: Hong Kong Citizens’ Response Towards the COVID-19 Lockdown

Ho, Ka; Fong, Chi-Shun; Wan, Trevor T W

doi:10.1093/police/paaa090

Cited by 19 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 25 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The feasibility of this approach would depend on the epidemic situation in the particular society. Furthermore, previous studies have indeed reported that the local Hong Kong population generally shows strong adherence to protective measures, such as the use of face masks, the use of alcohol-based hand sanitisers, as well as social distancing regulations (Chan et al, 2021 ; Ho et al, 2021 ; Yan et al, 2021 ). While our focus was on the influences of large-scale population-wide COVID-19 restrictions on momentary affect, it would also be worthwhile to consider the possible additional roles played by individual differences in adherence to mandatory protective measures and the perceived distress associated with the various COVID-19 measures in future studies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Impact of restrictive COVID-19 measures on daily momentary affect in an epidemiological youth sample in Hong Kong: An experience sampling study

Wong

Hui

et al. 2022

Curr Psychol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Restrictive COVID-19 measures can have significant mental health impacts, particularly on young people. How such measures may influence day-to-day momentary affect, nonetheless, remains to be explored. Experience sampling data were collected from 165 young people (aged 15–24) as part of a larger epidemiological youth mental health study in Hong Kong. We examined the impact of one of the most stringent COVID-19 measures – dine-in restrictions – on momentary positive and negative affect and current contexts and activities of these young people. The effects of a milder form of COVID-19 measure – school suspension – were separately examined. Multilevel analysis revealed that those in the dine-in ban group, compared to dining-as-usual, showed significantly reduced momentary positive affect ( β = −0.17, SE = 0.06, p = 0.003). Its effect remained significant even when accounting for baseline depressive and anxiety symptoms and socioeconomic status ( β = −0.15, SE = 0.05, p = 0.008). The effect of dine-in ban on reduced momentary positive affect was found specifically when participants were in indoor locations (e.g., home, office), alone, and engaged in passive leisure activities. This pattern was not observed when participants were at school or at other outdoor locations, with friends, or engaged in active leisure activities. No significant effect of school suspension on momentary affect was observed. More severe COVID-19 measures, such as dine-in ban, can have significant impacts on the momentary positive affect of young people. Certain contexts and activities may offer protection against the consequences of COVID-19 measures. The current findings may help to inform future designs of mental health interventions and public health policies. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-022-03183-y.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Impact of restrictive COVID-19 measures on daily momentary affect in an epidemiological youth sample in Hong Kong: An experience sampling study

Wong

Hui

et al. 2022

Curr Psychol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This anti-pandemic model marks a sharp departure from the general emphasis of centrally administered, mass mobilisation of practices in most non-democratic Asian regimes. Hong Kong saw a very low number of cases up until November 2021, and the academic paradox, from a sociological angle, is the high level of public compliance with the legal regime despite low public trust in the government (Ho et al. , 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since mid-2019, civil society has expressed spontaneous reactions calling for “self-help” and “self-discipline” given the crisis of legitimacy facing the government as a continuation of prolonged civil unrest (Wan et al. , 2020; Ho et al. , 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strong government responses? Reflections on the management of COVID-19 in Hong Kong and Taiwan

Wong

Ho²,

Wang

et al. 2022

IJPSM

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

PurposeA debate emerged among members of public administration academia soon after COVID-19 appeared on the roles and measures that governments ought to deploy to prevent infection. One prevalent discourse is the strength of “strong government” in the fight against the virus—the administrative capacity to launch prompt, appropriate and effective actions that entail collaboration with citizens. A notable development in governance is that new public management (NPM) principles, such as the value of money and the pluralisation of service delivery, are gradually put aside when governments urgently need to curb the spread of infection. The roles of bureaucracy and centralised action are re-emphasised in the policymaking and implementation of anti-epidemic measures. Such a trend allows us to examine if the COVID-19 public health crisis has fundamentally reversed the trend of government retreat in public service within neoliberal regimes since the 1980s.Design/methodology/approachFor this research, the authors selected two “strong governments” in Asia—Hong Kong and Taiwan—by showing how administrators outline their anti-pandemic strategies, examining the role of government in coordinating responses and how bureaucracy interacts with the other two key domains of the governance mechanism: civil society and the market. These two offshore Chinese capitalist economies and pluralistic societies are perceived to have “strong government capacity” in the fight against COVID-19, presumably as a key attribute to their success confining the spread of infection during the early stages of the first outbreak. Both societies reported low infection rates and low mortality rates until September 2020. The authors browsed databases developed by scholars (Cheng et al., 2020; Hale et al., 2020) and referred to two “rubrics” to assess and compare government actions in both places in response to COVID-19. The authors itemised, categorised and counted the policy actions in both places according to the rubrics, noticed that the policy footprint appeared in over two-thirds of indicators of proactive government interventions and identified double-digit counts in nearly half of the categories.FindingsThe authors found that both governments attempted to establish strong stewardship and quick measures to contain the infection. The pattern of “strong government” is, however, not the same as that superficially exhibited. Taiwan took limited steps to regulate business activities but proactively intervened and coordinated the supply of hygienic utilities. Hong Kong launched aggressive attempts to reduce human mobility but remained non-active despite the “face mask run” in society. The “strong government” aspect also received divergent reactions from society. There was extensive cross-sectoral collaboration under the centralised “National Team” advocacy in Taiwan, and there has been no record of local infection for over 10 months. The Hong Kong government was repeatedly doubted for its undesirable stewardship in anti-epidemic measures, the effectiveness of policy interventions and the impartiality of law enforcement. Spontaneous actions during the health crisis from civil societies and private markets were noted, but they seemed uncoordinated with official attempts.Originality/valueThe initial findings enable us to rethink correlations between state capacity and legitimacy in the fight against the virus and its development post-COVID-19. Apparently, Taiwan and Hong Kong demonstrated a “re-expansion” of their public sector during the public health crisis, but not in the same format. This can be understood based on their varying regime values and administrative systems. The pandemic has been a catalyst, pushing both regimes back to their original track of public administration establishments. The concept of “path dependence” might explain the initial development and project the longer-term transformation of the public sector in both places.

show abstract

“…The centrally planned and coordinated actions for anti-pandemic, as well as the statutory power to make the compliance of citizens, must be sustainable and have to be Hong Kong's response to COVID-19 supplemented to the self-discipline of citizens undergoing mandatory quarantine and during home stay order. High level of public hygiene awareness of the public and legitimacy of the government to seek proactive compliance from the public is also indispensable (Ho et al, 2020). How to improve and sustain the policy capacity of government?…”

Section: Postscriptsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hong Kong’s response to COVID-19: a glance to the control measures and their enforcement

Ho¹,

Chan²

2021

STICS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose This study aims to examine Hong Kong’s responses to COVID-19, arguing that Hong Kong’s relatively low infection rate is due to self-discipline of citizens together with the enforcement measures introduced by the government. Design/methodology/approach This study reviewed the government policy announcements and the prevailing scholarly analyses on Hong Kong society during COVID-19. Findings It starts by examining the partial lockdown and control measures since mid-January, and the roles of different government units in enforcement were examined and assessed. Suppression of viral outbreak in Hong Kong should primarily be attributed to the appropriate lockdown and quarantine actions of the government. Originality/value However, outperformance of the frontline professionals and the highly aware, self-disciplined and mutually aided citizens in the community are also the key to the “interim success” by June 2020 in the highly accessible and densely populated city.

show abstract

High Level of (Passive) Compliance in a Low-Trust Society: Hong Kong Citizens’ Response Towards the COVID-19 Lockdown

Cited by 19 publications

References 25 publications

Impact of restrictive COVID-19 measures on daily momentary affect in an epidemiological youth sample in Hong Kong: An experience sampling study

Impact of restrictive COVID-19 measures on daily momentary affect in an epidemiological youth sample in Hong Kong: An experience sampling study

Strong government responses? Reflections on the management of COVID-19 in Hong Kong and Taiwan

Hong Kong’s response to COVID-19: a glance to the control measures and their enforcement

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About