Bo WEN 文博
Associate Professor
Contact Information
Tel: +853 8822 8323
Office: Room E21B-4048, Humanities and Social Sciences Building (E21B)
E-mail: bowen@um.edu.mo
- Ph.D. in Public Policy and Management, University of Southern California (USC), US (2018)
- Graduate Certificate in Digital Media and Culture, University of Southern California (USC), US (2018)
- Master of Public Policy, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), US (2013)
- BA in Communication and Journalism, Shenzhen University, China (2011)
- Organization Theory and Behavior
- Public Personnel Management
- Policy Implementation
- Chinese Politics
- Regulatory Governance
- Civic Engagement
Asterisk (*) indicates the corresponding author; Hashtag (#) denotes student contributors
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
- Wang, B., & Wen, B. (2021). The Spatial Distribution of Businesses and Neighborhoods: What Industries Match or Mismatch What Neighborhoods? Habitat International, 117, 102440. [SSCI-listed #: Development Studies, 5/42]
- Wen, B.* (2020). Old Problems and New Dilemmas: The Conundrum of Environmental Management Reform in China. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 22(2), 281-299. [SSCI-listed #: Development Studies, 8/41]
- Wen, B.*, Tang, S. Y., & Lo, C. W. H. (2020). Changing Levels of Job Satisfaction among Local Environmental Enforcement Officials in China. The China Quarterly, 241, 112-143. [SSCI-listed #: Area Studies, 3/77]
- Li, H., Wen, B., & Cooper, T. L. (2019). What Makes Neighbourhood Associations Effective in Urban Governance? Evidence from Neighbourhood Council Boards in Los Angeles. The American Review of Public Administration, 49(8), 931-943. [SSCI-listed #: Public Administration, 18/48]
- Resh, W. G., Marvel, J. D., & Wen, B. (2019). Implicit and Explicit Motivation Crowding in Prosocial Work. Public Performance & Management Review, 42(4), 889-919. [SSCI-listed #: Public Administration, 32/48]
- Resh, W. G., Marvel, J. D., & Wen, B. (2018). The Persistence of Prosocial Work Effort as a Function of Mission Match. Public Administration Review, 78(1), 116-125. [SSCI-listed #: Public Administration, 2/47]
Refereed Commentaries and Review Essays
Refereed Conference Proceedings and Book Chapters
Prof. Wen’s work appears in renowned SSCI, SCI, and CSSCI journals. His scholarly contributions are in forms of award-winning original articles, commentaries, review papers, and book chapters in the fields of political science, applied economics, human-computer interaction, organizational behavior, regulatory governance, and China studies. In addition to his scholarly accomplishments, Prof. Wen has also achieved great success in securing extramural grants. He is serving as the Principal Investigator (PI) of an NSFC (Natural Science Foundation of China) project and a Co-Investigator (Co-I) for GRF (General Research Funds of Hong Kong) and SIRG (Strategic Interdisciplinary Research) projects. It also merits mentioning that Prof. Wen is the recipient of several prestigious recognitions and accolades, including the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Advocacy Award (CPSG), New Researcher Award (CityU), and Outstanding Reviewer Award (Public Administration by Wiley), among others. Prof. Wen’s commitment to the profession is evident through his active involvement in prominent roles. He has been elected as a board member representing countries and areas other than Mainland China and North America for the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA)–Section on Chinese Public Administration (SCPA). Furthermore, he serves as the section editor for Chinese Public Administration Review (C-PAR), demonstrating his dedication to fostering the dissemination of high-quality research in Chinese public administration.
Specifically, Prof. Wen’s research encompasses micro-, meso-, and macro-levels of analysis. At the micro-level, his primary focus is on human resource management in the public sector, which has gained significant popularity and become a dominant theme in public management research. One of his recent projects, funded by NSFC, aims to establish consensus among scholars regarding the measurement properties and performance-related effects of public service motivation (PSM) in the Chinese context, aligning with the scholarly call for localized PSM theories. At the organizational level, Prof. Wen’s research emphasizes the regulatory governance of environmental, energy, and housing policies. He firmly believes that effective programs resulting from policies require a well-functioning regulatory component that establishes reasonable rules, ensures faithful enforcement, and enables close monitoring to overcome collective action dilemmas. In a qualitative study conducted by Prof. Wen as a sole author, he argues that the weak enforcement of environmental regulations at the local level can be attributed to three longstanding and unaddressed shortcomings: a shortage of budgeted staff, a lack of personal security, and a lack of motivation among officials. Furthermore, the bureaucratic counterstrategies initially designed to address these problems have ironically given rise to new enforcement dilemmas. On a macro-level, Prof. Wen’s academic interests converge on issues related to institutional design and analysis. Given China’s vast size and imbalanced development, the establishment of a robust institutional setup becomes paramount in effectively addressing a multitude of governance challenges. An illustrative example of Prof. Wen’s work is a co-authored publication featured in a prestigious area study journal. In this paper, they summarize a series of policies and measures implemented by China in line with the 18th Party Congress to pursue fugitives who have fled the country and to recover stolen assets. Notably, the research underscores the significant impact of China’s anti-money laundering (AML) measures in optimizing the efficiency of other strategies, resulting in successful efforts to pursue corrupt officials who have sought refuge abroad.
Looking ahead, Prof. Wen is committed to embracing the challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, acknowledging the widening digital divide among different socioeconomic groups, and addressing emerging governance issues in this dynamic and transformative era. He is thus determined to step outside his comfort zone and collaborate with scholars from diverse disciplines who share a common vision. Notable examples of his ongoing projects include pushing the boundaries of biological public administration and exploring the policy design implications of generative AI. Throughout his published articles and ongoing projects, Prof. Wen maintains an unwavering objective: to identify and examine inherent problems within various political, bureaucratic, technical (algorithmic), and institutional frameworks. His ultimate aspiration is for the team he leads to contribute to a deeper understanding of these challenges and to propose solutions that promote efficiency, equity, participation, and shared prosperity.