Public Policies that Help Foster Social Inclusion

Author(s): Chau-kiu Cheung

Source: Social Indicators Research , May 2013, Vol. 112, No. 1 (May 2013), pp. 47-68
Published by: Springer

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/24719172

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Soc Indic Res (2013) 112:47-68
DOI 10.1007/s 11205-012-0039-3

Public Policies that Help Foster Social Inclusion

Chau-kiu Cheung

Accepted: 2 April 2012/Published online: 15 April 2012

© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012

Abstract Public policies can be effective in raising people's social inclusion as intended
only reasonably through their implementation. With respect to the implementation per
spective, this study examines the effectiveness of eight policies as perceived to implement
in Hong Kong, China. The study employs data collected from 1,109 Chinese adults ran
domly sampled in a telephone survey. Results showed that perceived implementation of
three of the policies, concerning elderly healthcare, civic education policy, and social
enterprise, induced significant positive effects on social inclusion that the adult experi
enced. These effects represent externalities created by the policies, such that the policies
are helpful to people other than those targeted. Furthermore, the study identified some
background conditions, such as certain target and disadvantaged groups, for enhancing the
effectiveness of the policy implementation.

Keywords Social inclusion • Policy implementation ■ Policy effectiveness

Social impact theory ■ Advocacy coalition theory

1 Introduction

Promoting social inclusion in society is an active endeavor in public policy in the mo

world (Oxoby 2009). Social inclusion refers to access to favorable opportunities in soc
to enhance one's life chances (Kelly 2010). Such opportunities comprise employme
housing, education, social services, and social protection (Smyth 2008). These opp
nities just reflect an individual's daily life experience, which is the focus of the pre
study, as well as many others (Seeker et al. 2009; Shortall and Warner 2010). The abs
of the opportunities is social exclusion, in which poverty and material deprivation
notorious instances (Stevenson et al. 2010). Social inclusion is significant, especially in
neoliberal perspective, in that it implies people's willingness to access resources a

C. Cheung (13)
Department of Applied Social Studies, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong,
Hong Kong, China
e-mail: ssjacky@cityu.edu.hk

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48 C. Cheung

facilities in socie
Because of the
families, cultur
order to enhanc
policies are to r
different strata
way through the
and individuals a
inherent in the
public policies ta
are to affect the
Such effects, n
Demonstrating t
study, stationed
the effectivene
tiveness is desir
policy making i
inclusion from
The study is to
Hong Kong in 2
refers to sociali
Kong. It relies o
people also indic
The policies are
families, food a
Kong. These pol
Kong, with an
Accordingly, th
Kong, which is
its autonomous
international re
authoritative di
Public policies f
other industria
development ar
lems (Hülse and
multiple aspects
so on (Bask 200
poverty and ec
tackling social
tribution and so
more than econ
welfare, in line
Therefore, vitali
of free
a choice
neoliberal orien
engagement in
which generate e
2001). Paradoxic

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Public Policies that Help Foster Social Inclusion 49

social inclusion as compensation to assuage the problems

2010). Social inclusion is therefore a cure to unemploym
from the misdeed of neoliberal or deindustrialization p
2010). All these apply to Hong Kong as well, where ne
vidual responsibility, self-sufficiency, deindustrializatio
ing the priority wish of government (Lee et al. 2007)
therefore the political mission in Hong Kong, particularly
is a recognized solution to the vexing and notorious pr
inequality. Meanwhile, public policy assumes a definite ro
in Hong Kong (Wong 2007). The effectiveness of publ
inclusion is of paramount concern, to the extent that public
a rationalistic perspective that treasures research and e

2 Policy Effectiveness

A way to evaluate the effectiveness of public policy, as ad

implementation approach (Holcomb and Nightingale 2
recognizes that although public policy generally applies m
in its implementation across different people and sectors
have differential involvement and experience with and
policy. Perceived policy implementation and outcomes
individual level and useful to gauge the effectiveness o
a policy can only be reasonably effective with proper im
policy alone cannot produce an effective impact (Heat
Hence, perceptions about the implementation of polic
effectiveness, such as in the facilitation of political tr
government performance at large (Sunshine and Tyler 20
the impact of policy implementation on social harmon
2011). The main finding of the study is that government
buttresses social harmony. This finding looks rather ob
explores the effectiveness of specific policies implemente
In other words, the study addresses how the implementa
person determines the person's social inclusion experien
obvious as that in the earlier study (Wong and Shik 201
theoretical explanation and empirical verification.
The explanation importantly evolves from the impl
2012). Accordingly, policy effectiveness hinges on reso
nication, and workability involved in the implementa
powered, skillful, viable, integral, and publicized imple
the policy effective. A generic theory that summarizes th
impact theory, which posits that the social impact realize
the strength of the impact, the size of population involve
of the impact to the object of the impact (Hogg 1992; L
policy effectiveness, the theory implies that a policy tha
uses more resources, and more relevant to the promotion
would be more effective in sustaining social inclusion. I
and advocacy coalition theory provide detailed factors for
under the implementation approach (Cairney 2012; Nie

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 50 C. Cheung

theory states that

would yield effec
policy effectivene
beliefs are congru
achieve effective
gruence in belief
safeguard the eff
the necessity of
coalition and its a
implementation i
ation or trust. Th
policies in consol
The policy of est
urban renewal and
Table 1). Herein,
when culture is p
zone is to sustain
with Western an
ambitious in upgr
Because of the dif
progress on the d
That is, the devel
activities yet. Ess
policy, in line wi
Accordingly, cultu
for social inclusio
be socially inclus
and practice of so
many people in a
inclusion, and ap
zone is then to cu
inclusion. Accordi
sustain living and
and participation
Moreover, cultur
understanding an

Table 1 Policy effec

Policy Social Advocacy Rational Implementation
expected by various
impact coalition choice in general

Cultural zone 0 0 0 0

Sport 0 0 0 0

Social enterprise + 0 + 0

Happy family 0 + + 0

Food aid 0 + + +

Elder health care 0 + + +

Vaccination 0 + + +

Civic education + 0 0 0
+: effective, 0: ineffective

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Public Policies that Help Foster Social Inclusion 51

provides a space for culturally marginalized groups to p

cultures, and the provision is an instance of social inclusi
zone building has its direct beneficiaries in participants
Moreover, the cultural activity would have promotional a
the norm and practice of social inclusion through various
activity is appealing, amusing, and worthy of publicizing.
direct impact, however great, may be limited to people at
the location of the cultural zone, which definitely cannot
Kong. The setup of the cultural zone, however relevan
directly represent a way of enhancing social inclusion,
indirectly through cultural engagement. In terms of ration
of the cultural zone is not effective, in view of a number
the top management of the development project. As such
deceptive practice haunt the cultural zone development
theory, the policy may not be effective due to the misma
zone development policy and that of the population. T
deficiency in cultural or artistic orientation or desire in
Rather than accepting cultural or multicultural enchantm
oriented toward business and consumption, which have li
cultural zone would turn out to be another mega empor
social inclusion with cultural activity. Hence, the contribu
social inclusion may not be as high as expected.
The policy of sport development in Hong Kong has
Olympiad and accompanied the hosting of the East Asian
for applying for hosting the Asian Olymipiad. This policy
the sport participation of the Hong Kong population, e
sports of bicycling, windsurfing, swimming, canoeing, an
notably for developing social inclusion, in view of the ass
social capital (Kelly 2010; Liu 2009). Such a policy stems
easy way to gather and include people and dissolve thei
also appears to be an instrument to cultivate active ci
prosocial causes in society. In addition, sport involves o
nication, voluntary engagement, and problem solving b
inclusion (Hoye and Nicholson 2009). In terms of the socia
policy is strong in appealing to participants and spectators
socially inclusive in that sport is mostly a collective activi
to social inclusion through advocacy for sportsmanship an
play regardless of social background (Sonnentag et al. 2
also appear to be consonant with the belief in fairness an
and Chu 2000). This consonance would sustain the effectiv
policy, in view of advocacy coalition theory. However,
sport tends to contradict the aim of social inclusion (
emphasis would make sport a divisive rather than inclusiv
choice theory, the implementation involved in sport deve
and misdeed. Problems of overspending, bribery, and var
around sport development in Hong Kong. These problem
and effectiveness of sport development.
The policy of social enterprise development is to spon
prises, which run businesses for social causes. Typically

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 52 C. Cheung

marginalized in t
inclusive goals (
enhancing access
also contributes
inclusion. Becau
people's trust to
for social enterp
Hong Kong and
support from th
it usually adher
thus appears to b
advocacy coalitio
the spirit of soc
making and pers
and consumption
the choosy popu
reference to rati
effectiveness, as
enterprise also r
fraudulent pract
The policy of h
mobilizes commu
its focus on the
necessary for th
springs from th
violence, inept pa
community resou
of the policy is t
members. Facilita
families is the m
community care
family policy is
employment, gi
In the happy fam
not a major goal
resources specif
basis are not clea
though the policy
light of advocac
consistency wit
(Ho et al. 2005). E
of the extended
vention into the
of rational choic
its attraction of
various social ser
weaken the effe
The food aid po
inclusion of poo

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Public Policies that Help Foster Social Inclusion 53

policy arena of Hong Kong, which traditionally provides w

With the aim of alleviating poverty, provision of food
guarding social inclusion (London 2003). The social impact
Kong does not seem to be strong, as resources committed to
Providing food aid only involves recipients on a personal or
people of diverse backgrounds. This does not mean an ins
straightforward sense. The effectiveness of the policy is
impact theory. With reference to rational choice theory
aid policy benefits from the flexible and responsive w
The implementation is also workable and straightforward
skill. As regards advocacy coalition theory, the food aid po
of the emphasis on food in Chinese and Hong Kong cultu
the food aid policy would gain Hong Kong people's suppo
extend social inclusion.

The elderly healthcare voucher policy is to provide vouchers to older adults' use of
private practitioners' healthcare services. This policy aims to raise the social inclusion of
older adults by sponsoring their access to healthcare services. The underlying condition is
that older adults suffer in healthcare due to their financial and health difficulties (Dwyer
and Hardill 2011). In Hong Kong, private healthcare services tend to have better quality
than are public ones, which at least require longer waiting time. The voucher policy
therefore enables older adults to access more expensive and better healthcare services.
Besides, the healthcare policy represents an important measure to lever social inclusion by
enhancing caring in society (Glendinning 2008). Importantly, the voucher policy is com
patible with the neoliberal preference for consumer choice and control and rendering
quality services. In terms of social impact theory, the policy does not seem to exert an
immense impact, as it only directly benefits older adults with financial means. Healthcare
for older adults also does not usually embody social inclusion in a sense broader than
personal care. In terms of advocacy coalition theory, the elderly healthcare voucher policy
would be effective due to the traditional virtue of respecting and caring for older people in
Chinese and Hong Kong cultures (Ho et al. 2006). Facilitating healthcare for older adults
therefore would get public support in the cause of social inclusion. The policy relies on
implementation by private healthcare practitioners, who would compete in a way to
optimize the effectiveness of their services and thereby the voucher policy. As such, older
adults would access quality healthcare intended by the social inclusion policy.
The vaccination policy is to provide free vaccination to children and older adults to
prevent various epidemics from afflicting these people. This is a policy to enhance social
inclusion by expediting these people's access to preventive healthcare. The policy again
realizes social inclusion through caring for vulnerable people (Glendinning 2008). This is
because health and health services are essential criteria for social inclusion (Nederveen
Pieterse 2010). The social impact of the policy, nevertheless, is limited, because the policy
benefits people selectively and temporarily. Such preventive healthcare is mainly a form of
personal care, without gathering people for the cause of social inclusion. The policy is
therefore not directly relevant to people who do not receive the free vaccination. Social
impact theory would then anticipate a low level of effectiveness for the policy to raise
social inclusion. In terms of advocacy coalition, the policy would be effective because of
its consistency with the value to take care of vulnerable people. That is, Hong Kong people
generally endorse caring for children and older adults and public support for healthcare
(Lai and Tao 2006). According to rational choice theory, the vaccination policy would be
effective because its implementation goes through both public and private channels of

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54 C. Cheung

healthcare. That
public or privat
simplest healthc
achieve its goal
The policy of c
and national ed
strengthening o
thereby aims at
Mainland China.
among students
by public fundin
primary target
crucial driver f
one, resources e
because education
individuals with
parents around
education would
of social inclusi
impact theory.
theory. This is b
Kong, when a nu
2007; Zheng and
from China (Es
education policy
support for the
appreciable, as v
not expect the c
centralized and

3 Differential P

The effectivene
teristics, just as
Two possible way
the effectiveness
of policy and soc
policy would be g
Second, the effec
disadvantaged, a
concern for pub
policy is also fai
Rawls 1999). On
unlikely a sacrif
valuable and ind
that both the p
ory explains the
that the person

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Public Policies that Help Foster Social Inclusion 55

(Arthaud-Day and Near 2005; Diener and Lucas 2000). Con

of something, one would not find a benefit in getting m
The first possible way of differential effectiveness sugge
differential effectiveness for different groups, because the
the policy of cultural zone development would have grea
have higher education and religious faith (see Table 2). T
more cultural capital, which helps them seek and appreciate
extant theory and research (Lelli 2008). Notably, educated p
other cultural fields are just targets for involvement, cons
tural development policy in Hong Kong, as well as other
Kraaykamp 2001). The sport development policy would b
cation and wealth, and younger age than would others. Thi
engage more in sport, as witnessed in existing research (va
2001; Liu 2009). In contrast, the policy of social enterp
enhancement of social inclusion in people with lower e
inclusion (Jurik et al. 2006). The policy would reap greate
than for others. This is just the finding derived from exis
level (Thompson 2002). For the happy family policy, targ
lower education, wealth, residency, and social inclusion, an
those with more children in Hong Kong. Such people, ex
with more children, tend to be less dissatisfied with th
research findings (Plagnol and Easterlin 2008). The food
ciary in poor people. Research has clearly indicated that
receive food aid (Currie and Grozer 2001). The elderly hea
policies obviously target older adults and they would rec
icies. As regards the civic education policy, married peop
are likely to be target groups because of their parental sta
The second possible way of differential effectiveness c
disadvantage, or deficiency in social inclusion would benef
Hence, people who are older, single, nonreligious, lower

Table 2 Differential policy effectiveness expected by various theor

Interactive Age Residency Educ. Non-religious Adults Never Wealth Prior social
predictor married inclusion

N+ N- S+ N- S- N+ N- N+ N- N

S- N+ N- S+ N- N+ N- N+ S+ N- N
Enterprise S+ N+ S— N— S- N— N+ N— N+ S- N— S— N—
S+ N+ S- N- S- N- N+ S- N- S- N+ S- N- S- N
S+ N+ S- N- S- N- N+ N- N+ S- N- N
S+ N+ N- N- N+ N- N+ N- N
S+ N+ N- N- N+ N- N+ N- N
N+ N- N- N+ N- S- N+ N- N

S+: more effective expected by social im

S—: less effective expected by social imp
N+: more effective expected by need fulf
N—: less effective expected by need fulfi

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 56 C. Cheung

lower in social
These people ju
social inclusio
Wojcieszak an
The above the
of the eight n
doubt, resort
there is no def

4 Methods

The empirical investigation relied on a survey of 1,109 Hong Kong Chinese residents
18 or above, in December of 2010. This survey approached residents in households
on randomly sampled residential telephone numbers extracted from telephone direc
covering Hong Kong. The respondents were randomly selected household membe
selected by the latest birthday method. This survey tried to contact the household mem
repeated until the completion of the survey interview, identification of the house
numbers as invalid, or rejection by the household members. Trained interviewers recr
from a local university conducted the survey interviews in weekday evenings. An inte
lasted for 12 min on average. The resultant response rate of 31.1 % based on 3,56
households contacted. Such a response rate was comparable favorably to other telep
surveys that did not use extra means to boost the response rate (Keeter et al. 2006).
somewhat favorable response might be attributable to the legitimacy of the survey as
conducted by the university to address current policies. In addition, the survey
questions in two differently randomized orderings in order to minimize the bias d
question order. The two orderings had roughly equal proportions of responses (55.5
44.5 %). The randomized ordering also reduced the risk that the response to one
depended on the response to the preceding item (Tourangeau et al. 2000).
In order to represent the adult population in Hong Kong better, a weighting proc
assigned weights to cases to even out the chance of selection and according to the
distribution of age and gender in Hong Kong. The former assigned a higher weigh
case sampled from a household with more adult members, whereas the latter assig
higher weight to a case that under-represented the joint distribution of age and ge
With the weighted data, the sample showed average years of 42.5 in age, 37.2 in reside
in Hong Kong, and 10.7 in formal education (see Table 3). In the weighted sample, 5
were female, 64.0 % married, 33.7 % never married, 68.5 % being employees, 28.3
working, 82.7 % being nonreligious, and 74.0 % being born in Hong Kong. Beside
15.1 % were in poor families, identified as those spending more than one-third of inco
on food (Joassart-Marcelli 2005; Lott and Bullock 2007). In addition, the survey inv
the following measures.
Awareness of policy implementation had eight items, each about one of the ei
policies for social inclusion, concerning the development or provision of the cultural z
sport, social enterprise, happy families, food aid, elderly healthcare vouchers, vaccinat
and civic education. Each item concerned the extent of awareness of implementa
during the 3 months preceding the survey. An example was, "how much were you
about the implementation of the policy of culture zone development?" Responses to
item were in five steps, with the lowest step (very little) generating a score of 0, s

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 Public Policies that Help Foster Social Inclusion 57

Table 3 Means and standard deviations

Variable Scoring M SD

Social inclusion: previous 3 months 0-100 59.4 10.9

Socializing with people of high social status 0-100 35.9 22.2

Socializing with people of different strata 0-100 44.9 20.7

Socializing with people of different backgrounds 0-100 48.3 20.3

(not) Being rejected in society 0-100 76.0 21.8

(not) Being isolated in society 0-100 73.6 23.5

(not) Conflicting with people in society 0-100 77.7 21.1

Social inclusion: first 6 months in the year 0-100 58.0 11.8

Socializing with people of high social status 0-100 34.6 22.3

Socializing with people of different strata 0-100 43.4 20.2

Socializing with people of different backgrounds 0-100 43.0 21.3

(not) Being rejected in society 0-100 76.9 20.1

(not) Being isolated in society 0-100 74.9 22.5

(not) Conflicting with people in society 0-100 75.2 21.9

Awareness about policy implementation 0-100 40.8 13.5

Cultural zone 0-100 46.4 26.2

Sport 0-100 43.4 25.2

Social enterprise 0-100 38.7 26.3

Happy family 0-100 24.8 23.6

Food aid o-ioo 27.2 25.4

Elder healthcare voucher 0-100 56.7 24.2

Vaccination 0-100 49.8 26.1

Civic education 0-100 39.3 24.3

Adults in the household Persons 2.8 1.1

Question order 1 0, 100 55.5 49.7

Nonreligious 0, 100 82.7 37.9

Residency 0, 100 37.2 16.0

Bom in Hong Kong 0, 100 74.0 43.9

Employer 0, 100 2.7 16.2

Employee 0, 100 68.5 46.5

Poverty 0, 100 15.1 35.8

Never married 0, 100 33.7 47.3

Female 0, 100 58.0 49.4

Age Years 42.5 15.2

Personal income US$ 1,519.5 1,503.2
Family incomer US$ 3,309.4 2,267.3
Family income per capita US$ 706.6 571.1

step (rather little) a score of 25, third step (average) a score of 50, fourth step (rather a lot) a
score of 75, and highest step (very much) a score of 100.
Social inclusion experienced in society was a composite (i.e., factor score) of six items
to reflect the case both in the recent 3 months and in the first 6 months in 2010, with
reference to some sources (Boone and Leadbeater 2006; Phillips 2006). The six items were

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 58 C. Cheung

"socializing wit
"socializing wit
isolated in socie
in five steps, w
little) a score of
75, and highest
latter three ite
on factor analy
3 months was .
Wealth was a c
income, family
ately high shar
Marcelli 2005; L
of wealth was .691.
Acquiescence was a control variable identified to minimize the bias due to the common
use of rating in social inclusion and policy implementation awareness (Fernando and
Lorenzo-Seva 2010). The variable was the average of all rating items, representing the
tendency to rate everything highly and indiscriminately.
Linear regression analysis was appropriate to analyze social inclusion, as social
inclusion showed a normal distribution (skewness = .231, kurtosis = —.048, Jarque-Bera
Normality test p value = .030 > .01). The analysis proceeded in five cumulative steps.
First, the regression analysis entered background characteristics to show their total effects,
without any mediation by policy implementation. Second, the analysis entered perceived
policy implementations found to be significant by a stepwise selection procedure to
highlight the effects of significant policy implementations. Third, the analysis entered all
perceived policy implementations to observe the unique effects of the implementations.
Fourth, the analysis entered earlier social inclusion to unfold changes in social inclusion
due to the policy implementations. This series of analysis displayed the effects of policy
implementation, controlling for different sets of factors. Fifth, the analysis separately
added each interaction between each perceived policy implementation and each back
ground characteristic to reveal the interaction effect.
Notably, gender, age, residency, education, religiousness, adults in the family, marital
status, wealth, employment status or social class, acquiescence, and the survey version and
survey time were background characteristics. They were important for both policy and
controlling purposes. Their impacts on social inclusion are plausible, in view of existing
research. Such research has shown that the experience of social inclusion is higher in the
male, older person, married person, person with longer residency, higher education, and
wealth (Backman and Nilsson 2011; Wojcieszak and Mutz 2009). Besides, awareness
about policy has appeared to be higher in people who are male, older, staying in the place
longer, and higher in education (Flutchings 2003). As common causes of both social
inclusion and policy awareness, background characteristics were reasonably control vari
ables to unveil the true effect of policy awareness on social inclusion experienced.

5 Results

Based on simple averaging, latest social inclusion experienced by Hong Kong Chinese w
at a modest level (M = 59.4, see Table 3). Earlier social inclusion in the first 6 months
2010 was at a similar level (M = 58.0). In contrast, awareness about implementation

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 Public Policies that Help Foster Social Inclusion 59

the eight public policies was rather low, having an aver

awareness was the highest about the elderly healthcare
lowest about the happy family policy (M = 24.8). Aware
the latter policy and food aid policy (M = 27.2) was par
In predicting latest social inclusion, a number of backgr
their significant effects. These significant findings showe
in one who was female, religious, having more adults i
obviously higher in earlier social inclusion (see Table
survey time slightly affected social inclusion reported. S
higher, as experienced by people surveyed later. All these
thus justified as control factors to distill the effects o
mentation. In contrast, age, residency, education, marital
not indicate significant effects on social inclusion.
Awareness about the elderly healthcare voucher poli
social enterprise policy turned out to exert significant po
experienced, at Step 2 of the analysis (see Table 4). These

Table 4 Standardized regression coefficients for predicting social

Predictor (1) (2) (3) (4)

Female .138*** 147*** 147*** 133***

Age -.018 -.014 -.016 -.037

Residency .038 .067 .067 .024

Education .073 .079 .076 .036

Nonreligious -.148*** _ j49*** _ 144*** -.097**

Adults in the household 143*** .130*** .130*** .089**

Never married .052 .076 .076 .020

Wealth .165*** .162*** 163*** .112**

Employer .040 .015 .014 .051

Version 1 -.038 -.007 -.005 -.036

Survey time .086* .051 .046 .058

Acquiescence 133*** .055 .049 .096*

Awareness of elder health policy .225*** .220*** 12i***

Awareness of food aid policy -.102** -.105** -.082**

Awareness of civics policy 1J 7*** 1j7*** 12i***

Awareness of family policy -.092** -.090** -.025

Awareness of social enterprise policy .074* .069* .078*

Awareness of cultural policy .023 -.011

Awareness of sport policy -.014 -.025

Awareness of vaccination policy .012 -.035

Earlier social inclusion 393***
R2 .156 .234 .234 .355

( 1 ) Entering background predictors only

(2) Adding significant effects of policy exposure by stepwise selection
(3) Adding all effects of policy exposure
(4) Adding earlier social inclusion
* p < .05. ** p < .01. *** p < .001

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 60 C. Cheung

the inclusion of
Controlling for
implementations
positive changes
multicollinearit
Similarly, perce
played signific
analysis. The ef
tations into the
mentation of ha
inclusion. These
policy reduced s
the effect of th
social inclusion a
and latest socia
cultural zone dev
social inclusion
Perceived imple
significant posi
positive effects
In contrast, imp
a significant po
positive effects
that implementa
new arrival and
policy, which i
involved signific
with higher soc
policy manifest
implementation
social inclusion
significantly mo

Table 5 Additional a
social inclusion exp

Interactive Age Residency Educ. Non Adults Never Wealth Prior

predictor religious married social

inclusion

Cultural -.004 -.078** -.010 -.072* -.008 .034 -.026 .002

Sport -.023 -.110*** .028 -.048 .013 .032 .042 -.008

Enterprise -.028 _ j 15**# -.012 -.055 -.103** .033 .004 .022

Family .077** .072* -.068* .023 — 135*** -.032 -.059 -.074*

Food .068* .051 .029 .010 -.035 -.080** .007 -.171***

Elder -.046 -.044 .078** -.076** -.049 .033 .088** .028

Vaccine .006 -.020 .052 -.024 -.031 .019 124*** 108***

Civics .036 -.008 -.019 .024 -.006 -.004 .019 -.007

* p < .05. ** p < .01. *** p < .001

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Public Policies that Help Foster Social Inclusion 61

education, or having more adults in the household. Con

happy family policy offered more significantly positive
adult, one with lower education, or social inclusion earl
the cultural zone development policy, though not show
inclusion generally, created significantly more positive ef
one with a shorter stay in Hong Kong. Similarly, impleme
policy exhibited a significantly more positive effect on
ceived implementation of the vaccination policy contrib
effects on one with higher welfare or social inclusion ear

6 Discussion

Perceived implementation of the elderly healthcare voucher policy, social enterp

policy, and civic/national education policy manifested significant positive effects on so
inclusion experienced, even controlling for social inclusion earlier. The implementation
these polities as experienced by the Hong Kong resident thus tends to raise social inclu
favorable to the resident. Notably, the implementation has not been in their full swing,
primarily begins to publicize the virtue of the policy and thereby related goal of so
inclusion. Nevertheless, the elderly healthcare voucher policy has the highest degre
implementation, among other policies, as also perceived by Hong Kong people, co
ceivably because it is straightforward. The implementation of the other two policie
contrast, is only in progress. The findings, nevertheless, indicate the more implementat
of these three policies, the more social inclusion is to happen. These three policies
thereby distinctive in that the other five policies do not reveal such a contribution du
implementation. In terms of implementation theory and its variants, the elderly health
voucher policy is outstanding in attaining support from advocacy coalition theory, ratio
choice theory, and implementation theory in general. The policy would be effectiv
augmenting social inclusion, according to advocacy coalition theory, because of th
congruence of its policy belief with that of the Hong Kong population. Such congrue
would happen in charity or compassionate beliefs in support of older and needy pe
(Willis and Guan 2009). The congruence would in turn sustain the legitimacy of t
policies and their getting support from various advocacy coalitions. Such congruenc
consensus in advocacy is exactly a cornerstone for social inclusion (Wojcieszak and M
2009). Moreover, the policy of elderly healthcare has an advantage in the ease of im
mentation, capitalizing on the well-developed private healthcare suppliers. This add
edge may underlie the strongest effectiveness of the healthcare policy.
The policies of civic education and social enterprise appear to be effective in advancin
social inclusion, probably because of their relevance to social inclusion. According
implementation of the two policies exactly attempts to facilitate or at least advocate so
inclusion. The two policies would be effective based on the relevance component of s
impact theory. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of the social enterprise policy may
weaker than that of the civic education policy because the former injects fewer resour
and is therefore unable to maintain an immense impact on the entire territory. By cont
the civic education policy mainly applies to public or subsidized schooling, which
dominant and enduring enterprise in Hong Kong.
The other five policies did not exhibit a significant effect on social inclusion thro
their implementation. Cultural zone and sport development policies do not tend to
effective in promoting social inclusion, because of their lack of support from vari

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 62 C. Cheung

theories of im
implementatio
proposal for h
development h
and strong adv
unable to dem
family, food ai
appreciable so
invisible in mo
vaccination on
relevance to so
relevance to so
Moreover, fami
in raising socia
of the difficult
concomitant w
and happy fam
unintended am
needy and unha
weakened soci
Nevertheless,
different peop
impact theory,
relevant to th
effectiveness o
effectiveness o
of the happy f
household mem
would benefit
people would
cultural prefer
activities (Kat
would benefit
In addition, n
benefit more f
about the diffe
from the happ
social enterpris
benefit more f
benefit more f
inclusion earlie
However, som
and need fulfil
happy family p
benefit more f
the food aid p
vaccination po
need enjoy gre
favor of stren

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 Public Policies that Help Foster Social Inclusion 63

theory. Strength building theory essentially asserts that

activates and capitalizes on people's strengths (Barne
particularly germane to the promotion of social inclusi
holds the premises that people have strengths, which a
other people and parties to generate synergistic effect
the strengths combined. One condition for the compl
parties is the facilitation of exchange or collaboration
highly productive and satisfactory. Another condition for
matching between parties is the benefit of realization and
satisfy and motivate the people with strengths to achi
time residents may fit into the implementation of the
their experience about the city to facilitate social in
Generally, people with strengths can contribute to the
and enjoy the benefit from the policies as well. Apart
people may benefit in an indirect or passive way when
effectively makes other people more socially inclusi
operates reciprocally, involving both disadvantaged a
Warner 2010).

7 Further Research

A salient limitation of the study is its reliance on the single perspective o

residents to assess the impact of policy implementation on social inclusio
perspective is composed of the single site of Hong Kong, single time of th
single measurement based on self-report. Evidently, the study design is n
enough to established triangulated and corroborated findings based on multipl
multiple time points of data collection to ascertain the temporal or cau
multiple informants to distinguish policy implementation and its impacts un
Achieving findings that are robust to variation in study sites and perspective
task of further research. In addition establishing the generality of findings a
perspectives, identifying the specificity of findings is equally important, an
feasible in a comparative study. This examination of specificity would mea
for contextual factors that are responsible for differential findings amon
Notably, the examination is to ascertain if cultural and structural factors spe
Kong engender findings specific to the present study. These contextual fa
because policy impacts on social inclusion are susceptible to social construct
categorization in a place (Dovidio et al. 2005; Oxoby 2009). In this regard,
and demographic compositions would be influential on the policy effectivene
likely to shape both policy implementation and social inclusion. The effect
elderly healthcare policy, for instance, may be attributable to cultural support
inclusion of older adults and other people as well in a homogeneous culture as
Hong Kong. This is to reiterate the significance of advocacy coalition theo
cultural context.

Further research would do a more crucial job in verifying the relevance of imple
mentation theories to explanation for policy effectiveness in social inclusion advancement.
Accordingly, direct tests of the impacts of factors proposed in social impact theory,
advocacy coalition theory, rational choice theory, and other implementation theories are
necessary to justify the implementation impacts. To be obiective and rieornns such tests

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64 C. Cheung

would capitalize
data. More reve
theory, need fu
ditions for eac
building theory
dition is the di
they may benef
Conversely, wh
in return for th
building theory
an active and s
(Malekoff 2004
fulfillment the

8 Implications

Not all public p

by people, are e
social enterpris
people's experien
effects on the
who are in olde
mony for the c
public spaces (G
groups, the pol
social norm. A
would be an eff
the congruence
of social inclusi
capitalize on th
Hong Kong. Th
also consistent
people. These p
modern society.
swift reflectio
2011). This refl
which would am
Nevertheless, t
with regard to
the cultural zon
implementation
implementation
limited, plausib
reside in the w
resources comm
foment a divisiv
Nicholson 2009)
munities would

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Public Policies that Help Foster Social Inclusion 65

Just as education may underlie the effectiveness of the

uplifting social inclusion, education or communication wo
places to learn to implement the policies for enhancing soc
is a crucial means to transferring knowledge about pol
Essential for the knowledge transfer would be the generatio
effective mechanism for public policy to lever social incl
places have different disadvantaged groups, educating
inclusion would be more effective than locating disadvanta
inclusion.

Acknowledgments The paper evolves from a research grant by the City University of Hong Kong (Project
number: 7002405).

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