The influence of volunteer motivation on satisfaction, attitudes, and support for a mega-event

The aim of this paper is to examine the host residents' perceptions towards the 2008 Beijing Olympics and its impacts. A scale comprising 20 impact items with four factors, namely: social-psychological impacts; urban development impacts; economic development impacts; and social life impacts was developed. The majority of local respondents perceived the impacts of the Olympic Games very positively, particularly with those related to the social-psychological, urban development, and economic development factors. Residents' perceptions towards some social life impacts (e.g. inconvenience caused by increased traffic congestion, overcrowding, and higher prices) were mixed. Based on their different social representations (i.e. perceptions towards the impacts of the Olympic Games), residents were classified into two groups: 'favourers' and 'ambivalents'. It was noted that residents' political self-identification (attitudes about government performance), their preference of more tourism development, and personal tourism industry work experience were the three most significant factors that influenced residents' perceptions towards the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

Residents' Perceptions towards The Impacts of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

This study aimed to better understand how minor mental health problems (MMPs) are perceived by well-educated urban dwellers in China who are influenced by Western values Urban China is a rapidly changing society in which traditional Chinese culture and Western thought coexist As a result, the established processes of interdependent self-appraisal have been challenged and a sense of a bicultural self has developed among a growing proportion of the population The fieldwork for this study included interviews and observations The results are derived mainly from interviews with professional practitioners, students, and lay people from three urban sites One of the main findings was that respondents who referred to traditional and collectivistic Chinese values tended not to label MMPs as psychiatric disorders or illnesses but as challenges in daily life and relationships strain While the Western medical model of MMPs considers them a form of illness, they were not viewed in this way in traditional collectivistic China in the past, even among educated urban dwellers However, the urban and educated Chinese who have developed a stronger sense of a bicultural self are now more likely to perceive and deal with MMPs from a Western viewpoint

Collectivism, individualism, and pragmatism in China: implications for perceptions of mental health.

Bickhard (2004) has made the following comments on the development of science:
 Every science passes through a phase in which it considered its basic subject matter to be some sort of substance or structure. Fire was identified with phlogiston; heat with caloric; and life with vital fluid. Every science has passed beyond that phase, recognizing its subject matter as being some sort of process: combustion in the case of fire; random thermal motion in case of heat; and certain kinds of far from thermodynamic equilibrium in the case of life. (p. 122) In the case of cross-cultural and cultural psychology, decades of research have revealed many substantive differences among cultures (see Chiu & Hong, 2006, 2007; Lehman, Chiu, & Schaller, 2004). The field is now ready to transition into a new phase “that empirically establishes linkages between the active cultural ingredients hypothesized to cause between-country differences and the observed differences themselves” (Matsumoto & Yoo, 2006, p. 234).

Cultural Processes: An Overview

Shifting Selves: Home beyond the House - A Study of Ageing, Housing and Wellbeing of Older Chinese Migrants to New Zealand

Indigenous theories proposed that the self boundary of Chinese has permeability. The present study examines the moderating effect of the boundary-permeated self on Beijing residents' support and participation in the Beijing Olympic Games (BOG). In a survey after BOG, data about the boundary-permeated self, patriotism, BOG focus, and BOG participation were collected. The results indicate that the boundary-permeated self moderated the relationship between patriotism and participation in BOG. For respondents with a high permeability of the self boundary, their national focus and participation became more positive as their patriotism increased; for respondents with low permeability, their participation was high regardless of their patriotism level.

Effects of boundary‐permeated self and patriotism on social participation in the Beijing Olympic Games

This article is dealing with the consequences of Beijing 2000 Olympic Games for the host city population and focuses primarily on three areas of expectations and impact: (1) On China’s international reputation; (2) On enhancing national pride, social and national identity, and (3) On the impact on the “individual self” and how BOG may give personal benefits. To separate the consequences in this way, between the impact on “international”, “national,” and “personal” matters, is particularly interesting in a collectivistic or interdependent culture such as traditional China. Nearly 1000 residents of Beijing have filled in a questionnaire or been interviewed. The sampling technique was a combination of quota and random sampling. The results showed that the international influence is expected to be significantly greater than the national governmental influence, and greater than the influence on the common people as a group. Older residents of Beijing focused significantly more than the younger residents on the international and national consequences, whereas the younger generation focused more on individual consequences and personal benefits. The great majority of the respondents expect the Beijing Olympics to enhance China’s reputation internationally and improve international relations. The support and expectations from the Chinese people for utilizing the Beijing Olympics as an instrument to reach such goals and to promote international cooperation are stronger than in other host cities and countries.

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Xiaoping Ying

Papers

Effects of boundary‐permeated self and patriotism on social participation in the Beijing Olympic Games

National Identity in China - Contribution from the Beijing Olympic Games? A Survey among Residents of Beijing