Journal of Transport and Land Use

CPEC Social-cultural impacts of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor on the well-being of local community

Yunpeng Sun

Tianjin University of Commerce

Usman Ghani

China University of Science and Technology

Abdul Hameed Pitafi

Hefei University of Technology

Tahir Islam

School of Economics and Management, Tongji University

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5198/jtlu.2020.1724

Keywords: CPEC, Well-being, Education, social-cultural, Quality of Life, Community resource

---

Abstract

In this research, the impact of infrastructure improvement as a result of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) initiative on the well-being and quality of life (QOL) of residents has been studied. Using the primary data collected from the local population of the Baluchistan province of Pakistan, a link between the socio-cultural effects of CPEC development and the subjective well-being of local citizens has been established. A total of 495 relevant responses were used to assess the well-being of the population through structural equation modeling. Results have shown that the social, cultural, and educational benefits of local communities are significant predictors of the well-being of citizens, and QOL issues have shown to have a major impact on the well-being of citizens. However, findings have also shown that the community resource has an important link with the subjective well-being of citizens. Furthermore, the results also give the local community perceptions of the CPEC initiative; hence the officials of the province can use the findings of this study to create prospective approaches based on the local community perceptions toward better exploitation of CPEC as an opportunity.

---

References

Ahmad, R., & Hong, M. (2017). China-Pakistan economic corridor and its social implication for Pakistan: How will CPEC boost Pakistan’s infrastructures and overcome the challenges? Arts and Social Sciences Journal, 8(2), 265.

Ali, L., Mi, J., Shah, M., Khan, A., & Imran, M. (2017). Transport culture akin to the China-Pakistan economic corridor. Human Systems Management, 36(4), 381–396.

Ali, S. (2015). Importance and implications of CPEC in South Asia: The Indian factor. Journal of Indian Studies, 1(1), 21–36.

Asomani-Boateng, R., Fricano, R. J., & Adarkwa, F. (2015). Assessing the socio-economic impacts of rural road improvements in Ghana: A case study of transport sector program support (II). Case Studies on Transport Policy, 3(4), 355–366.

Barrios, E. B. (2008). Infrastructure and rural development: Household perceptions on rural development. Progress in Planning, 70(1), 1–44.

Boschini, A., Dreber, A., von Essen, E., Muren, A., & Ranehill, E. (2018). Gender, risk preferences and willingness to compete in a random sample of the Swedish population. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 83(C). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2019.101467

Chaum, D. (2019). Random sample elections: Google patents.

Chen, Y., Lehto, X. Y., & Cai, L. (2013). Vacation and well-being: A study of Chinese tourists. Annals of Tourism Research, 42, 284–310.

Cohen, J., Cohen, P., West, S. G., & Aiken, L. S. (2013). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences. London: Routledge.

Cohen, S. (2004). Social relationships and health. American Psychologist, 59(8), 676.

Daldeniz, B., & Hampton, M. P. (2013). Dive tourism and local communities: Active participation or subject to impacts? Case studies from Malaysia. International Journal of Tourism Research, 15(5), 507–520.

Delamere, T. A., Wankel, L. M., & Hinch, T. D. (2001). Development of a scale to measure resident attitudes toward the social impacts of community festivals, Part I: Item generation and purification of the measure. Event Management, 7(1), 11–24.

Diener, E., Oishi, S., & Lucas, R. E. (2003). Personality, culture, and subjective well-being: Emotional and cognitive evaluations of life. Annual Review of Psychology, 54(1), 403–425.

Diener, E., & Suh, E. (1997). Measuring quality of life: Economic, social, and subjective indicators. Social Indicators Research, 40(1–2), 189–216.

Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18, 39–50.

Hair, J., Hollingsworth, C. L., Randolph, A. B., & Chong, A. Y. L. (2017). An updated and expanded assessment of PLS-SEM in information systems research. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 117(3), 442–458.

Hair, J. F., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2011). PLS-SEM: Indeed a silver bullet. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 19(2), 139–152.

Haq, R., & Farooq, N. (2016). Impact of CPEC on social welfare in Pakistan: A district level analysis. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 32nd Annual General Meeting and Conference, Pakistan Society of Development Economics, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad, Pakistan.

Hinkin, T. R. (1998). A brief tutorial on the development of measures for use in survey questionnaires. Organizational Research Methods, 1(1), 104–121.

Hussain, A. (2017). Knowledge Based Approach to CPEC.

Kanwal, S., Chong, R., & Pitafi, A. H. (2019a). China-Pakistan economic corridor projects development in Pakistan: Local citizens benefits perspective. Journal of Public Affairs, 19(1), 12.

Kanwal, S., Chong, R., & Pitafi, A. H. (2019b). Support for China–Pakistan economic corridor development in Pakistan: A local community perspective using the social exchange theory. Journal of Public Affairs, 19(2), 12.

Kanwal, S., Pitafi, A. H., Ahmad, M., Khan, N. A., Ali, S. M., & Surahio, M. K. (2019). Cross‐border analysis of China-Pakistan economic corridor development project and local residence quality of life. Journal of Public Affairs, 20(2), e2022.

Kanwal, S., Pitafi, A. H., Malik, M. Y., Khan, N. A., & Rashid, R. M. (2020). Local Pakistani Citizens’ Benefits and Attitudes Toward China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Projects. SAGE Open, 10(3), 2158244020942759.

Kanwal, S., Pitafi, A. H., Pitafi, A., Nadeem, M. A., Younis, A., & Chong, R. (2019). China-Pakistan economic corridor (CPEC) development projects and entrepreneurial potential of locals. Journal of Public Affairs, 19(2), e1954.

Kanwal, S., Pitafi, A. H., Rasheed, M. I., Pitafi, A., & Iqbal, J. (2019). Assessment of residents’ perceptions and support toward development projects: A study of the China-Pakistan economic corridor. The Social Science Journal, 57, 1–17.

Kanwal, S., Rasheed, M. I., Pitafi, A. H., Pitafi, A., & Ren, M. (2020). Road and transport infrastructure development and community support for tourism: The role of perceived benefits, and community satisfaction. Tourism Management, 77, 104014.

Khetran, M. S. (2016). CPEC: Benefits for Balochistan: Retrieved from (ISSI issue brief): http://issi. org.pk/wp-content/uploads

Kim, K., Uysal, M., & Sirgy, M. J. (2013). How does tourism in a community impact the quality of life of community residents? Tourism Management, 36, 527–540.

Liang, H., Saraf, N., Hu, Q., & Xue, Y. (2007). Assimilation of enterprise systems: the effect of institutional pressures and the mediating role of top management. MIS Quarterly, 31(1) 59–87.

Liu, H., Ke, W., Wei, K. K., & Hua, Z. (2013). The impact of IT capabilities on firm performance: The mediating roles of absorptive capacity and supply chain agility. Decision Support Systems, 54(3), 1452–1462. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dss.2012.12.016

Masson, S., & Petiot, R. (2009). Can the high speed rail reinforce tourism attractiveness? The case of the high speed rail between Perpignan (France) and Barcelona (Spain). Technovation, 29(9), 611–617.

Mattson, J. (2011). Transportation, distance, and health care utilization for older adults in rural and small urban areas. Transportation Research Record, 2265(1), 192–199.

McGillivray, M., & Clarke, M. (2006). Human well-being: Concepts and measures. In Understanding human well-being (pp. 3–16) Tokyo: UNU Press.

Naidoo, P., & Pearce, P. L. (2018). Enclave tourism versus agritourism: The economic debate. Current Issues in Tourism, 21(17), 1946–1965.

Nawijn, J., & Mitas, O. (2012). Resident attitudes to tourism and their effect on subjective well-being: The case of Palma de Mallorca. Journal of Travel Research, 51(5), 531–541.

Nunkoo, R., & Gursoy, D. (2016). Rethinking the role of power and trust in tourism planning. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 25(4), 512–522.

Nunnally, J. C., & Bernstein, I. (1978). Psychometric theory. (2nd edition).New York: McGraw-Hill.

Pappas, N. (2014). Hosting mega events: Londoners’ support of the 2012 Olympics. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 21, 10–17.

Pavlou, P. A., & El Sawy, O. A. (2006). From IT leveraging competence to competitive advantage in turbulent environments: The case of new product development. Information Systems Research, 17(3), 198–227.

Pitafi, A. H., Kanwal, S., Alii, A., Khan, A. N., & Ameen, W. (2018). Moderating roles of IT competency and work cooperation on employee work performance in an ESM environment. Technology in Society, 55, 199–208.

Pitafi, A. H., Kanwal, S., & Khan, A. N. (2020). Effects of perceived ease of use on SNSs-addiction through psychological dependence, habit: The moderating role of perceived usefulness. International Journal of Business Information Systems, 33(3), 383–407.

Pitafi, A. H., Kanwal, S., & Pitafi, A. (2019). Effect of enterprise social media and psychological safety on employee's agility: Mediating role of communication quality. International Journal of Agile Systems and Management, 12(1), 1–26.

Pitafi, A. H., Khan, A. N., Khan, N. A., & Ren, M. (2020). Using enterprise social media to investigate the effect of workplace conflict on employee creativity. In Telematics and Informatics. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science.

Pitafi, A. H., Liu, H., & Cai, Z. (2018). Investigating the relationship between workplace conflict and employee agility: The role of enterprise social media. Telematics and Informatics, 35(8), 2157–2172.

Pitafi, A. H., Rasheed, M. I., Kanwal, S., & Ren, M. (2020). Employee agility and enterprise social media: Role of IT proficiency and work expertise. Technology in Society, 63, 101333. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2020.101333

Quinn, B. (2006). Problematising ‘festival tourism’: Arts festivals and sustainable development in Ireland. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 14(3), 288–306.

Ranjan, A. (2015). The China-Pakistan economic corridor: India’s options. Delhi: Institute of Chinese Studies.

Raza, H., Mohiuddin, Z. A., Zaidi, S. S. Z., & Osama, A. (2018). CPEC: Pakistan-China cordial ties—a boost to Pakistan's economy. Journal of Accounting, Business and Finance Research, 2(1), 1–6.

Rehman, A. U., Hakim, A., Khan, K., & Khan, I. U. (2018). Role of CPEC in development of trade, transport and economy of Pakistan. Romanian Journal of Transport Infrastructure, 7(1), 77–92.

Richards, G., & Wilson, J. (2004). The impact of cultural events on city image: Rotterdam, cultural capital of Europe 2001. Urban Studies, 41(10), 1931–1951.

Ryan, R. M., & Frederick, C. (1997). On energy, personality, and health: Subjective vitality as a dynamic reflection of well-being. Journal of Personality, 65(3), 529–565.

Shaikh, F., Ji, Q., & Fan, Y. (2016). Prospects of Pakistan–China energy and economic corridor. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 59, 253–263.

Sirgy, M. J., Rahtz, D. R., Cicic, M., & Underwood, R. (2000). A method for assessing residents' satisfaction with community-based services: A quality-of-life perspective. Social Indicators Research, 49(3), 279–316.

Smith, J. H. (2001). Education foundations: Changing public education and the way Connecticut communities pay for it. CPEC Best Practices Report, 2(1).

Tehsin, M., Khan, A. A., & Sargana, T.-u.-H. (2017). CPEC and sustainable economic growth for Pakistan. Pakistan Vision, 18(2), 102–118.

Wagner, C. (2016). The effects of the China-Pakistan economic corridor on India-Pakistan relations. Retrieved from https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-46898-4

Wei, C., Pitafi, A. H., Kanwal, S., Ali, A., & Ren, M. (2020). Improving employee agility using enterprise social media and digital fluency: Moderated mediation model. IEEE Acesss, 8, 68799–68810.

Wolf, S. O. (2018). China–Pakistan economic corridor (CPEC): Regional cooperation in the wider South Asian region. In China's global rebalancing and the new silk road (pp. 85-100). New York: Springer.

Woo, E., Kim, H., & Uysal, M. (2015). Life satisfaction and support for tourism development. Annals of Tourism Research, 50, 84–97.

Yolal, M., Gursoy, D., Uysal, M., Kim, H. L., & Karacaoğlu, S. (2016). Impacts of festivals and events on residents’ well-being. Annals of Tourism Research, 61, 1–18.

Yoon, Y., Gursoy, D., & Chen, J. S. (2001). Validating a tourism development theory with structural equation modeling. Tourism Management, 22(4), 363–372.