Promoting Service Leadership Qualities in University Students: The Case of Hong Kong (Quality of Life in Asia)

This book outlines the development of service leadership curricula, programs and materials designed for university students in Hong Kong. In addition, it includes evaluation studies and specific service leadership programs, making it a pioneering book that integrates service leadership and student wellbeing for Chinese university students. In view of the transformation of industries resulting in shifts from manufacturing economies to service economies, the book takes a holistic approach to leadership development, focusing on three basic components of effective service leadership that are closely related to student wellbeing: leadership competencies such as emotional intelligence and resilience, moral character, and a caring disposition. This approach represents a move away from literature that emphasizes the elite leadership model, assuming that leadership is the privilege of a talented few. By extension, it argues that the promotion of service leadership qualities is a good strategy for promoting student wellness. The individual chapters are extended versions of papers presented at the “International Conference on Service Leadership Education for University Students: Experience in Hong Kong,” which was held in May 2014. The book offers a valuable contribution to Chinese and global academic literature on service leadership and will benefit researchers and educators alike.

Daniel T.L. Shek (PhD, FHKPS, BBS, SBS, JP) is Chair Professor of Applied Social Sciences in the Department of Applied Social Sciences and Associate Vice President (Undergraduate Programme), The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He is the Chief Editor of Journal of Youth Studies and Applied Research in Quality of Life and past Consulting Editor of Journal of Clinical Psychology. He is a Series Editor of Quality of Life in Asia published by Springer and an Associate Editor of the Encyclopedia of Family Studies to be published by Wiley-Blackwell. He is an Editorial Advisor of British Journal of Social Work and an Editorial Board member of many journals, including Social Indicators Research and Journal of Adolescent Health. Daniel T.L. Shek has to date published over 85 books, 154 book chapters and more than 500 articles in international refereed journals.

Dr. Po Chung is a co-founder of DHL Asia Pacific and Chairman Emeritus of DHL Express (Hong Kong) Ltd. He is passionate about the nature and value of service in world societies and global centers of commerce. His professional life has been dedicated in large part to understanding how to provide superb service, how to educate others as service leaders, and how to design and operate service-sector organizations. As Chairman of Hong Kong Institute of Service Leadership & Management Limited, Dr. Chung is a champion of the effort to develop service-oriented courses and programs in Hong Kong’s major universities. Dr. Chung is also author of the Character Leadership book series which includes The First Ten Yards and Service Reborn.   Two new titles in the series, The 12 Dimensions of a Service Leader and 25 Principles of Service Leadership, will be published in 2015.