Page 52 - IJPS-9-1

International Journal of
Population Studies Transportation assimilation in Hong Kong

Table 5. Summary of hypotheses and results
Hypotheses Results (✓=Supported, Notes
✗=Not supported)
1 Longer duration in Hong Kong is positively related to ✓ Duration is positive and significant throughout the models
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one’s likelihood to take minibuses.
2 Arriving in Hong Kong at a younger age is positively ✓ MigAge is negative and significant throughout the models
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related to one’s likelihood of taking the minibus.
3 Chinese immigrants are more likely to take the minibus ✗ Ethicity is not statistically significant in Model 1, meaning we
i
than immigrants of any other ethnicity in Hong Kong, and did not observe significant inter-ethnic differences in terms of
those Chinese immigrants arriving before 1997 were even the total effects
more likely to take the minibus compared to the latecomers.
4 Compared to immigrants from other ethnic backgrounds, ✓ Duration×Ethicity (D×South-east Asian) in Model 2 to Model
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i
the longer length of stay in Hong Kong, the less likely for 5 is negative and significant
Southeast Asian immigrants to take the minibus.
5 The ability to speak Cantonese is positively related to ✓ Cantonese is positive and significant throughout the models
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one’s likelihood of taking the minibus.
6 Living in districts with a higher percentage of ✗ EthDen is insignificant throughout the models
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non-Chinese immigrants is negatively correlated to an
immigrant’s transportation assimilation.
7 Among those who have spent the same period of time in Partially supported Duration× MigAge ×Ethicity is only significant between
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i
i
Hong Kong, immigrants arriving at a younger age are more Chinese arriving before 1997 versus Chinese arriving in or
likely to take the minibus than those arriving at an older age. after 1997
8 Compared to Chinese immigrants arriving in or after ✗ Results in Figure 3 support the opposite
1997, those arriving before the Handover are increasingly
more likely to take minibus in the long-term.
While the district-level characteristics are insignificant groups. It is possible that the ethnic concentration is not
throughout the models, this result offers interesting directly related to immigrants’ assimilation per se. Instead,
implications for assimilation theories, especially the it may well be that “the street, community center, work,
literature on residential segregation and inequality (Tessema park, and other public spaces” consist of more meaningful
et al., 2021). The previous literature on assimilation theories sites of ethnic segregation in people’s daily lives (Phillips,
has often argued for a bidirectional causal relationship 2007). Then, the minibus itself becomes a type of public
between social and spatial integration (Patel & Pradhan, space that either encourages or impedes social integration.
2020). For example, in the Netherlands, the government Unsurprisingly, immigrants of Chinese ethnicity, who are
attributes ethnic segregation to a lack of socioeconomic more culturally similar to the local people, are more likely
assimilation, which leads to the view that segregation, to pick up minibus in the long-term.
either ethnic or socioeconomic, can be combated by
altering the uneven spatial distribution of affordable Our research is also with several limitations. First,
housing (Bolt et al., 2008). Another example would be similar to most migration studies in general, our data
the scholars’ examination of Turkish neighborhoods in also suffer from selection bias, in which the individuals
Germany, in which ethnic concentration was viewed as we can observe are those choosing to stay in Hong Kong.
immigrants’ refusal to assimilate into the mainstream Since those who find it challenging to adapt to Hong
German sphere (Gruner, 2010). However, as Bolt et al. Kong society may have already left and are no longer in
(2010) argued, the relationship between integration and our dataset, we may thus overestimate the importance of
residential segregation might not be as straightforward the positive effects on transportation assimilation brought
as previous scholars have claimed. Immigrants’ “self- by the length of stay in the destination. In addition, for
segregation” argument may be overstated, and we need to the same reason, our dependent variable also tends to
pay more attention to the roles played by both individuals include the more integrated immigrants as it does not
and institutions of the host society in creating a segregated comprehensively capture the difficulty of taking a minibus.
society (Bolt et al., 2010). In our case, the rather compacted Since the question asks for respondents’ major mode of
topography of Hong Kong has created a much less spatially transportation to work, immigrants who need to work
segregated society. Nevertheless, we witnessed immigrants’ already represent a selected group. In addition, compared
different patterns of social assimilation across ethnic to hopping onto a minibus casually, taking a minibus bus to

Volume 9 Issue 1 (2023) 46 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.0386