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Article History

Received: 3 May 2024

Accepted: 31 October 2024

First Online: 11 November 2024

Competing interests

: The authors declare no competing interests.

: The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the School of Guangdong Polytechnic Normal University on 11 January 2023 (Approval ID: Ref.230507). Although this university does not have an Institutional Review Board (IRB) in place, it requires researchers to comply with ethical standards that protect human participants’ rights, including privacy, confidentiality, informed consent, dignity, protection, and free choice. In accordance with these standards, researchers also adhere to the Nuremberg Code, the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki, and other international human rights conventions, ensuring the privacy and security of all participant data collected in the study. The research materials and procedures were independently reviewed and approved by the Associate Dean for Research at the affiliated school, confirming compliance with these ethical guidelines.

: Prior to data collection in May 2023, written informed consent was obtained from all participants. The first author facilitated this process, providing employees with clear information about the study’s objectives, procedures, and their rights, including the voluntary nature of participation and the right to withdraw at any time. Consent was secured through signed forms that confirmed participants’ understanding and agreement. Participants were assured that their anonymity and confidentiality would be strictly protected, with no personally identifiable information collected. The consent covered participation in the study, use of collected data for research purposes, and permission to publish aggregated research findings. All data were de-identified during the collection and processing stages, used solely for research analysis. Importantly, this study involved no interventions and therefore posed no risk to participants.