Man, Yu Ching. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 135-144). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / ABSTRACT (English version) --- p.i / ABSTRACT (Chinese version) --- p.iii / ACKNOWLEDGEMENT --- p.iv / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.v / LIST OF TABLES --- p.iii / LIST OF FIGURES --- p.ix / Chapter 1. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter 2. --- BACKGROUND --- p.3 / Chapter 2.1 --- Social and Historical Context --- p.3 / Chapter 2.2 --- News Industry in Hong Kong --- p.7 / Chapter 2.3 --- Female journalists in Hong Kong Journalism Field --- p.9 / Chapter 3. --- THEORETICAL CONTEXT --- p.14 / Chapter 3.1 --- Relationship between Patriarchy and Capitalism --- p.14 / Chapter 3.2 --- Studies on Gender in Organisations --- p.17 / Chapter 3.3 --- Studies on Gender Inequality in Organisational Structure --- p.21 / Chapter 3.4 --- An Overview of Female Journalists in News Organisations --- p.23 / Chapter 3.5 --- Studies on Gender and News Production --- p.26 / Chapter 4. --- ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK --- p.29 / Chapter 4.1 --- Empowerment --- p.29 / Chapter 4.1.1 --- Definitions of empowerment --- p.29 / Chapter 4.1.2 --- Feminist notion of empowerment --- p.31 / Chapter 4.1.3 --- Dimensions of empowerment --- p.33 / Chapter 4.1.4 --- Empowerment in this research --- p.34 / Chapter 4.2 --- Longwe's Empowerment Model --- p.35 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Gender-analysis model --- p.35 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Levels of equality in Longwe's empowerment model --- p.38 / Chapter 4.3 --- News Organisation Analysis --- p.41 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- Development of news organisation analysis --- p.42 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Three Levels of organisation analysis --- p.43 / Chapter 5. --- RESEARCH QUESTIONS --- p.48 / Chapter 6. --- RESEARCH DESIGN & METHODOLOGY --- p.50 / Chapter 6.1 --- Methodology --- p.50 / Chapter 6.2 --- Sampling Methods --- p.50 / Chapter 6.3 --- Interviews --- p.51 / Chapter 6.4 --- Interviewees --- p.54 / Chapter 7. --- ANALYSIS & DISCUSSION I --- p.59 / Chapter 7.1 --- Fair Opportunities to Get Welfare and Benefits --- p.61 / Chapter 7.2 --- Equal Access to Training --- p.64 / Chapter 7.3 --- Contradictory Empowerment Experience in Conscientisation Process --- p.67 / Chapter 7.4 --- Limited Power in Decision-making Process --- p.79 / Chapter 7.5 --- Balance of Power Yet to Come at Control Level --- p.86 / Chapter 8. --- ANALYSIS & DISCUSSION II --- p.89 / Chapter 8.1 --- Macro-level (Social Environment) --- p.90 / Chapter 8.2 --- Meso-level (Organisation) --- p.94 / Chapter 8.2.1 --- Ecology of news industry in Hong Kong --- p.94 / Chapter 8.2.2 --- Pre-dominance of macho newsroom culture --- p.101 / Chapter 8.2.3 --- Hierarchal and patriarchal structure in newsrooms --- p.106 / Chapter 8.2.4 --- Fundamental nature of journalists' work --- p.109 / Chapter 8.2.5 --- Electronic vs. print media --- p.111 / Chapter 8.3 --- Micro-level (Individual) --- p.120 / Chapter 8.3.1 --- Perceptions towards traditional role of women --- p.120 / Chapter 8.3.2 --- Gender awareness --- p.123 / Chapter 9. --- CONCLUSION --- p.126 / Chapter 10. --- REFERENCES --- p.135 / Chapter 11. --- APPENDICES --- p.145 / Appendix 1 Manpower statistics at managerial/supervisory/production level of the journalism industry in Hong Kong from 1981 to 2001 --- p.145 / Appendix 2 Interview questions --- p.150 / Appendix 3 Chinese translation of the interview questions --- p.153

Kanter’s theory (1993) maintains that access to empowerment structure would lead to positive organizational behaviour and that individual differences are inconsequential. This study proposed that Chinese cultural value of social orientation needs to be considered when applying the theory to nursing practice in Hong Kong. Based on the perspective of person-situation interaction, it was also hypothesized that need for empowerment and self-esteem would act as moderators in the empowerment process. In this study, job satisfaction and psychological well-being were used as outcome measures to evaluate the empowerment process. A cross-sectional survey research was conducted to test the hypotheses formulated in this study. Reliability and validity of the measuring instruments were first established in a preliminary study. All measurements were incorporated in a standardized questionnaire which also contained items on sociodemographic characteristics. The participants were Chinese frontline nurses (N = 556) from different areas of practice in an acute hospital, of which 83% of them were aged between 25 and 39. Education of the participants ranged from hospital-based training to Master degree. A great majority (86%) of the respondents were females. Confirmatory factor analysis supported Kanter’s four-factor model (i.e., opportunity, information, support, and resources) of nursing empowerment. Availability of formal and informal power was found to facilitate access to empowerment structure. Measures of empowerment were of satisfactory reliability and construct validity. Access to empowerment structure was associated with subjective feelings of being empowered. This feeling of psychological empowerment mediated the impact of structural empowerment on outcome measures. Nurses with higher education or higher nurse rank reported greater access to empowerment structures. They also exhibited greater job satisfaction and better psychological well-being. Less experienced nurses reported greater access to opportunity and supports, whereas more experienced nurses exhibited greater job satisfaction and psychological well-being. The association of structural empowerment with job satisfaction was less significant among nurses who held stronger view of social orientation, but these nurses enjoyed better positive well-being with greater access to empowerment structures. Structural empowerment was associated with positive outcomes among nurses who reported high need for empowerment, but not among those whose need was low. With access to empowerment structure, nurses with high self-esteem reported a higher level of job satisfaction than did those with lower self-esteem. However, structural empowerment promoted positive well-being among nurses with moderate self-esteem, but not among those of high self-esteem. The impact of structural empowerment was negative among nurses of low self-esteem. This study confirmed the applicability of Kanter’s theory of structural empowerments among Hong Kong frontline nurses whose ecological culture was predominantly collectivistic. However, to implement structural empowerment effectively, the model needs to be expanded to include cultural-personality factors such as social orientation, need for empowerment, and self-esteem. In view of the substantial contribution of global empowerment to positive outcomes, an integration of structural and psychological empowerment was proposed. Findings of the present study were discussed with reference to relevant issues and compared with findings reported in the West. Limitations of the study were considered and suggestions for future research made. / published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Recurrent themes identified in the narratives of the research participants revealed their perceptions and experiences of the diverse forms of power in this setting, their understanding and interpretation of the meaning of empowerment, and the building of foundations for effective empowering practices. The research findings show how practitioners enhance their own reflexivity as well as those of service partners and users to create a favorable learning environment. They challenged the dominant discourses and produced alternative ones, thus enriching the meaning of education. They also engaged in different dimensions of empowerment, namely (1) the personal dimension as how service users recaptured a sense of competence to meet life challenges and fight for their own benefits; (2) the interpersonal dimension as how practitioners collaborated with school personnel to safeguard student rights and secure social justice; (3) the school and community dimensions as how practitioners initiated positive changes to school policies and mobilized community resources for student development; and (4) the institutional dimension as how practitioners played the advocacy role in the education sector. / The findings provide a knowledge base for an understanding of the significant aspects of power and empowerment in school social work service. The recommendations induced are put into policy, practice, and research categories. They serve as useful information for policy makers to revisit the existing school social work policy to improve the working conditions of practitioners. They give valuable reference materials for youth workers to apply the empowerment approach in actual practice. They also stimulate other intellectuals to explore future directions of social work research in general, as well as youth and school social work studies in particular. / The research findings suggest that empowerment can be generated through a number of ways and understood in terms of dialogical process, reflexive practice, discourse construction, localized actions, collective actions and multiple interventions. The synthesis of these domains opens up the possibility for developing a framework of empowerment-oriented school social work practice. This framework provides a "map" to guide practitioners to work with power in diverse, dynamic, creative, and contextual ways. / This thesis examines the field experiences of Hong Kong school social workers in encountering different forms of power and carrying out empowering practices. A critical social work perspective is adopted to theorize a conceptual framework to explicate the narratives collected through in-depth interviews with 15 frontline school social workers. These research participants were chosen with regard to their service experience, the agencies they belonged to, and the types of schools they served. Using discourse analysis as the research strategy adds a power and political dimension in analyzing their narratives in the Hong Kong context. It gives a comprehensive and detailed description of their reactions to the power relations, performances of flexible roles, generation of new discourses, and use of various strategies to initiate empowering practices. / To Su Ming. / "August 2006." / Adviser: Steven Sek-yum Ngai. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-03, Section: A, page: 1163. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 416-452). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.