Ching Leong
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View article: How to induce honesty: results from a large-scale experiment
How to induce honesty: results from a large-scale experiment Open
Everyday public behavior is premised on honesty. But the imperative to be honest can conflict with self-interest. This conflict between public good and private gain is one of the largest sources of malignity in policymaking, often resultin…
View article: Two steps forward, one step back: negative spillovers in water conservation
Two steps forward, one step back: negative spillovers in water conservation Open
Showering is one of the most water-intensive behaviours in urban households, accounting for 20–30% of water use. Real-time feedback from smart devices has been proven to significantly reduce water consumption in showers. Still, it is not k…
View article: Blame avoidance and credit-claiming dynamics in government policy communications: evidence from leadership tweets in four OECD countries during the 2020–2022 COVID-19 pandemic
Blame avoidance and credit-claiming dynamics in government policy communications: evidence from leadership tweets in four OECD countries during the 2020–2022 COVID-19 pandemic Open
Government information activities are often thought to be motivated by a classic calculus of blame minimization and credit maximization. However, the precise interactions of “blame” and “credit” communication activities in government are n…
View article: Problems in applying Soft OR methods to climate actions: lessons from two cases of governmental use
Problems in applying Soft OR methods to climate actions: lessons from two cases of governmental use Open
The field of Soft Operational Research (Soft OR) has emerged from the attempt to address contextually rich, multi-actor ‘wicked’ problems that are not amenable to traditional ‘hard’ operational research techniques, which often rely on math…
View article: What is Behavioral in Policy Studies?
What is Behavioral in Policy Studies? Open
The recent behavioral turn among economic, administrative and other scholars has resulted in a new way of thinking about policy sciences which emphasizes behavioural insights and the need for greater research into this facet of policy-maki…
View article: Managing internal policy risk: Australia, the UK and the US compared
Managing internal policy risk: Australia, the UK and the US compared Open
Most studies of risk management examine only exogenous risks – that is, those external to the policy-making process such as the impact of climate change, extreme weather events, natural disasters or financial calamities. But there is also …
View article: Soft OR as a response to inherent vices: Problem structuring to offset policy volatility
Soft OR as a response to inherent vices: Problem structuring to offset policy volatility Open
Most policies suffer from what we call the "inherent vices" of policy design – attributes which increase policy volatility and risks of failure. These risks of uncertainty, maliciousness and non-compliance often emerge from the human or be…
View article: Policy Learning, Policy Failure, and the Mitigation of Policy Risks: Re-Thinking the Lessons of Policy Success and Failure
Policy Learning, Policy Failure, and the Mitigation of Policy Risks: Re-Thinking the Lessons of Policy Success and Failure Open
Policy failures are often assumed to be unintentional and anomalous events about which well-intentioned governments can learn why they occurred and how they can be corrected. These assumptions color many of the results from contemporary st…
View article: The “Inherent Vices” of Policy Design: Uncertainty, Maliciousness, and Noncompliance
The “Inherent Vices” of Policy Design: Uncertainty, Maliciousness, and Noncompliance Open
Policy designs must not only “work” in the sense of accomplishing their goals but must also work in their intended fashion. Most research to date has focused on the former topic and dwells on the technical aspects of how various tools and …
View article: Data for: Shame and Identity: Motivating Toilet Use in India
Data for: Shame and Identity: Motivating Toilet Use in India Open
1. A survey questionnaire administered face to face to all 300 interviewees,66 questions on socio-economic background, latrine knowledge and perceptions and sanitation preferences. Each survey took 45 minutes to complete. 2. Q method surve…
View article: Success at scale: six suggestions from implementation and policy sciences
Success at scale: six suggestions from implementation and policy sciences Open
Very often, significantly smaller benefits are observed in final policy outcomes than are indicated by initial research discoveries. Al-Ubaydli et al. have identified a poor understanding of the ‘science of scaling’ as the underlying cause…
View article: Can conformity overcome the yuck factor? Explaining the choice for recycled drinking water
Can conformity overcome the yuck factor? Explaining the choice for recycled drinking water Open
Of the 17 SDGS, the United Nations has recently revealed that countries are not on track to receive the water and sanitation goals by the deadline. As climatic events decrease the reliability of traditional drinking sources, especially in …
View article: Constructing a fabula of resilience: a lived experience approach
Constructing a fabula of resilience: a lived experience approach Open
Recent research in the studies of socio-ecology has raised an intriguing side effect associated with coping strategies and perceptions of environmental risk – where a perceived ability to cope with the effects of climate change and ecologi…
View article: Motivating household water conservation: A field experiment in Singapore
Motivating household water conservation: A field experiment in Singapore Open
We test and compare different incentives in motivating water conservation using a randomized controlled trial. In a field experiment carried out with Singaporean households, regular feedback was given, with informative, normative and monet…
View article: Global IWRM Ideas and Local Context: Studying Narratives in Rural Cambodia
Global IWRM Ideas and Local Context: Studying Narratives in Rural Cambodia Open
This article investigates how the “constructivist turn” in public policy and international political economy informs the interaction of global ideas and local practice in water governance. We use the implementation of ideas associated with…
View article: Global IWRM Ideas and Local Context: Studying Narratives in Rural Cambodia
Global IWRM Ideas and Local Context: Studying Narratives in Rural Cambodia Open
This article investigates how the “constructivist turn” in public policy and international political economy informs the interaction of global ideas and local practice in water governance. We use the implementation of ideas ass…
View article: Why contracts fail: a game theoretic approach to managing urban water
Why contracts fail: a game theoretic approach to managing urban water Open
In developing countries, urban water is often provided by public private partnership (PPP). However, PPPs remain highly contentious, with many contracts renegotiated or stalled. Prima facie, this stems from issues in the French model of co…
View article: The Role of Narratives in Sociohydrological Models of Flood Behaviors
The Role of Narratives in Sociohydrological Models of Flood Behaviors Open
While current efforts to model sociohydrologic phenomena provide crucial insight, critics argue that these do not fully reflect the complexity one observes empirically in the real world. The policy sciences, with its focus on the interacti…
View article: The paradox of social resilience: Explaining delays in water infrastructure provision in Kathmandu
The paradox of social resilience: Explaining delays in water infrastructure provision in Kathmandu Open
One of the enduring puzzles within the management of water and other environmental resources is the sustained under-investment despite their critical importance. This paper brings together two emerging lines of research in answering this p…
View article: Hajer’s institutional void and legitimacy without polity
Hajer’s institutional void and legitimacy without polity Open
Maarten Hajer’s “Policy without polity? Policy analysis and the institutional void” (2003) was a harbinger of an age of uncertainty. Instead of a classical-modernist model, where political institutions dominate policy-making structure, reg…
View article: Singapore and Sydney: Regulation and Market-Making
Singapore and Sydney: Regulation and Market-Making Open
The different institutional forms of water utilities of Singapore and Sydney provide an interesting natural experiment on the role of a regulator in government-owned utilities (GOUs). In both cities, water is provided by GOUs. In Sydney, h…
View article: The Role of Emotions in Drinking Recycled Water
The Role of Emotions in Drinking Recycled Water Open
As global freshwater supplies shrink, recycled drinking water (RDW) has become an increasingly important source of water supply. However, RDW remains an underinvested resource despite being a safe and reliable source of water. The dominant…
View article: A composite framework of river sustainability: integration across time, space and interests in the Yellow River and Ganges River
A composite framework of river sustainability: integration across time, space and interests in the Yellow River and Ganges River Open
The concept of sustainability has a key component of balancing developmental needs of the present and the future, what we call the time element (TE). Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) has emerged as a paradigm of river governanc…