Xu, Jili
Zhang, Xu
Ma, Haitao
Ye, Yeyao
Funding for this research was provided by:
National Natural Science Foundation of China (42301203, 42371213)
Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation of Guangdong Province (2022A1515110969)
Guangdong Academy of Sciences (GDAS) Project of Science and Technology Development (2023GDASZH-2023010101, 2023GDASZH-2023010101)
Major Program of National Social Science Foundation of China (21&ZD107)
Article History
Received: 26 October 2024
Accepted: 29 May 2025
First Online: 17 June 2025
Competing interests
: The authors declare no competing interests.
: This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Ethical approval was granted by the Human Research Ethics Committee of The University of Hong Kong on February 5, 2018 (Ethics approval number: EA1801044).
: The authors collaborated with a professional survey firm to do the firm-level questionnaire survey via a written agreement signed on December 31, 2020. Partnering with the professional survey firm was approved through the official tender process organised by The University of Hong Kong. The authors worked with the professional survey firm to carry out the questionnaire survey during January and May 2021. With a written declaration about the research objectives and data uses for the purpose of academic study at the beginning of the questionnaire, informed consent was obtained from all participants. All participants have been fully informed that their anonymity is assured, why the research is being conducted, how their data will be utilised, and if there are any risks to them of participating.