People

Dr. Wai-Hang YEE 余偉鏗

Honorary Associate Professor: Dr. YEE (Henry) Wai-Hang is associate professor in the School of Humanities and Social Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. His research interests lie in the intersection between public administration, public management, and public policy. He recent research examines designs and dynamics of major reforms in the public sector, with particular focuses on policy implementation, regulatory enforcement and compliance, and street-level bureaucracy.


He was assistant professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration (PPA), The University of Hong Kong, where he served as Deputy Director of the Master of Public Administration programme, and Co-Director (PPA) (acting) of the Bachelor of Social Sciences (Government and Laws) & Bachelor of Laws programme. Upon graduation from the University of Southern California, he joined the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore as assistant professor, where he also served as Research Fellow at the Asian Competitiveness Institute, and received the Research Excellence Award. His article “Governing the Neighborhood with Confucian Ideas” received the Marc Holzer Best Article Award (Runner-up) by the Section on Chinese Public Administration of the American Society for Public Administration & Chinese Public Administration Review. He obtained his Bachelor and Master degrees from The University of Hong Kong.

Selected Publications

  • Yee, Wai-Hang, and Peng Liu. 2021. Governance Capacity and Regulatory Enforcement: Street-level Organizations in China's Frontline Regulatory System for Food Safety. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 87(2): 256-274. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020852321992110
  • Yee, Wai-Hang, and Sandra van Thiel. 2021. Global Reform Meets Local Context: Cultural Compatibility and Practice Adoption in Public Sector Reform. International Journal of Public Sector Management, 34(2): 224-240. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPSM-02-2020-0037
  • Yee, Wai-Hang, and Peng Liu. 2020. Control, Coordination, and Capacity: Deficits in China's Frontline Regulatory System for Food Safety. Journal of Contemporary China, 29 (124): 503-518. https://doi.org/10.1080/10670564.2019.1677361
  • Yee, Wai-Hang, Weijie Wang, and Terry L Cooper. 2018. Governing the Neighborhood with Confucian Ideas. Chinese Public Administration Review 9(2): 113-127, http://dx.doi.org/10.22140/cpar.v9i2.159. The article was awarded the Marc Holzer Best Article Award (Runner-up) in the 2019 American Society for Public Administration Annual Conference Section on Chinese Public Administration.
  • Yee, Wai-Hang, and Hui Li. 2018. Unpacking the "Political-Institutional Complex ": The Role of Physical and Institutional Infrastructures in Indonesia's Decentralization Reform. Journal of Infrastructure, Policy and Development 2(1): 174-192, http://dx.doi.org/10.24294/jipd.v2i1.158.
  • Muiris MacCarthaigh, Martin Painter, and  Wai-Hang Yee. 2016. Managing for Legitimacy: Agency Governance in its “Deep” Constitutional Context. Public Administration Review 76(3): 496-506, https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12494.
  • Yee, Wai-Hang, Shui-Yan Tang, and Carlos Wing-Hung Lo. 2016. Regulatory Compliance when the Rule of Law is Weak: Evidence from China’s Environmental Reform. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 26(1): 95-112, https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muu025.
  • Yee, Wai-Hang, Carlos Wing-Hung Lo, and Shui-Yan Tang. 2013. Assessing Ecological Modernization in China: Stakeholder Demands and Corporate Environmental Management Practices in Guangdong Province. China Quarterly 213: 101-129, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305741012001543.
  • Martin Painter, and Wai-Hang Yee. 2012. Agencies and Policy in an Administrative State: The Case of Hong Kong. Policy and Society 31(3): 223-235, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polsoc.2012.07.004.
  • Martin Painter, and Wai-Hang Yee. 2011. Task Matters: A Structural-Instrumental Analysis of the Autonomy of Hong Kong Government Bodies. American Review of Public Administration 41(4): 395-410, https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074010380451.