Articles by three SSPS scholars win major awards and recognition in public administration

A big congratulations to Dr Tao Lei, Professor Peter Cheung Tsan-yin, and Dr Xiao Hanyu from the Department of Social Sciences and Policy Studies (SSPS) for winning major awards and recognition in the field of public administration with their articles. Their exemplary works have brought significant contributions to social science research.

Dr Tao Lei, Research Assistant Professor at SSPS, has been honoured with the prestigious William E. Mosher and Frederick C. Mosher Award given by the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) for his exceptional contribution to the field. First published in October 2023, the award-winning article “Advancing the frontiers of genomic public administration: From genetics to administrative attitudes, behaviors, and practices” is written by Dr Tao as the first author, and two other scholars as co-authors. This is the first time an Asian scholar has received this award.

The article was selected as the best academic article of 2023 in the Public Administration Review, a top 5%-ranked journal in its field. This research proposes a new research sub-field, Genomic Public Administration, with the aim of bridging behavioural genetics and public administration research. It also introduces an integrated research framework that encourages scholars to investigate the joint effects of genetic and environmental factors in shaping administrative behaviours.

This ground-breaking work is expected to help academics and practitioners in gaining better understanding of the micro-foundations of administrative behaviours and devise more effective interventions and regulatory practices. In addition to complementing traditional public administration theory by examining the genetic roots of administrative behaviours and practices, genomic public administration may also enrich genetic inquiries by adding public sector applications.

First published in February 2023, “Influence of external authorities on collaborative friction” is co-authored by Professor Peter TY Cheung, Professor (Practice) of SSPS, with three other scholars from the City University of Hong Kong and Fudan University. Published in the Public Administration Review, a top journal in the field of public administration, the paper has received the Article of the Year 2023 award from the Section on Chinese Public Administration (SCPA) of the American Society for Public Administration, which recognises outstanding original research in English related to Chinese public administration topics. Building upon the model of the collaborative governance regime (CGR), this research uses the concept of collaborative friction to examine how external imposition influences collaboration among entities with notable institutional differences.

Based on their research findings, Professor Cheung and his co-authors put forward several theoretical propositions about the role of external imposition on collaboration, focusing on four large-scale infrastructure projects between governments in Hong Kong and the Mainland. As commented by SCPA, the article stood out among hundreds of publications in 2023 for “its significant contribution to public and nonprofit administration literature, its relevance to the Chinese context, and its exceptional research quality including theoretical, methodological, and analytical rigor”.

Dr Xiao Hanyu, Assistant Professor from SSPS, co-authored the article “Government information disclosure and citizen coproduction during COVID-19 in China” with two other scholars from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. The paper, which was first published in September 2021, is one of the top 10 most-cited papers published in Governance, a highly regarded journal in political science published by the UK-based Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd, for the years 2021-22 and 2022-23.

The article by Dr Xiao and his team engages with the issue of information campaign which has been long and widely recognised as a pillar of public health crisis management, and investigates the impact of information disclosure on influencing citizen cooperation crucial for emergency management in the context of COVID-19 pandemic in China. It finds that information disclosure significantly enhanced citizen coproduction during emergencies and earlier disclosure of public health information yielded greater and quicker effect.

The study further reveals that government capacity and citizens' trust in government at the local level significantly moderate the positive impact of information disclosure. With robust empirical data and innovative research methodology, this article points out important and straightforward policy implications: Government should disclose information to boost citizen coproduction during crisis.

“I would like to congratulate Professor Cheung, Dr Tao, and Dr Xiao for receiving these prestigious awards and recognition which showcase their distinguished academic achievements in the field of public administration. Their research outputs are built on solid theoretical framework and supported by concrete empirical evidence. Potential impact of these works on policy making should not be underestimated. We are honoured to have Professor Cheung, Dr Tao, and Dr Xiao as our faculty members, and they will surely continue to bring their finest research works to the department. Together with other colleagues, we are building SSPS as an ideal place for doing social science research,” Dr Fox Hu Zhiyong, Acting Head of SSPS, said.