• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.433-441
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• 2012

Accompanied by Chinese strong economic growth rates and development of demand for the construction industry, Chinese construction industry has already become one of the largest construction markets in the world. Unfortunately, the frequent occurrence of safety incidents on Chinese construction sites is a large obstacle for other countries construction companies seeking to enter the Chinese construction market. This study aims to analyze and compare the safety awareness of Chinese and Korean construction workers. Our research showed that the safety awareness of Korean construction workers is far higher than that of their Chinese counterparts, particularly in terms of the efficiency of safety education and the observance of safety rules. The development of a safety management plan based on these results will contribute to reducing the frequency of accidents on Chinese construction sites.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.129-151
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to determine the Mediating Effects of Job Engagement between Perception in Compensation and Innovation Behavior in Chinese Enterprise Workers. The empirical study was conducted by a questionnaire survey on 700 workers in companies located in the southern area of China. The statistical analysis results revealed the following. First, the perception in compensation of Chinese workers has significant positive effects on the innovation behaviors. And intrinsic compensation has more relative significant effects than extrinsic compensation. Second, the perception in compensation has significant positive effects on the job engagement. In this case, extrinsic compensation has more relative significant effects than intrinsic compensation does. Third, job engagement of workers has significant positive effects on the innovation behaviors. Fourth, job engagement has mediating effects between perception in compensation and innovation behaviors. In conclusion, for the sustainable growth and competitive advantage of Chinese enterprises, it is important to perceive the needs of extrinsic and intrinsic perception in compensation of workers, and to design suitable compensation policies and programs to promote innovation behaviors and job engagement considering the distribution and procedural justice, and also to reflect the needs and job characteristics of workers.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.28-40
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• 2010

Purpose: The purpose of the study >was to examine the prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders(WMSDs) and to identify the relationship between work-related psychosocial and acculturative factors and WMSDs among Korean-Chinese workers living in Korea. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 195 Korean-Chinese workers who have worked full-time for the past 6 months. A structured questionnaire, including measures for musculoskeletal symptoms, physical demand, work-related psychosocial(job demand, job control, interpersonal conflict), acculturative (acculturation strategy and acculturative stress), and personal factors, was used. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis were conducted using the SPSS WIN 17.0. Results: The prevalence of WMSDs was 64.1%. In comparison to Korean workers, job demand of this group was lower while both interpersonal conflict and lack of job control were higher among them. Integration was the most commonly used acculturation strategy and mean scores of acculturative stress were below the median. Acculturative stress was positively correlated with integration and assimilation while negatively correlated with separation and marginalization. Interpersonal conflict and integration appeared to be related to WMSDs among male and female Korean-Chinese workers, respectively. Conclusion: The WMSD interventions need to be planned in consideration of different influences of work-related psychosocial and acculturative factors on WMSDs by gender.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.153-165
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• 2008

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to understand health-promotion behaviors and to find factors associated with the behaviors among Korean-Chinese workers who live in Korea. Methods: The number of Korean-Chinese workers participated in this study was 187, and the sample was chosen using a convenient sampling method. To understand general characteristics, frequencies and percentages were utilized. To examine the seven categories of health-promotion behavior, their average scores were calculated. To explore factors related to health-promotion behaviors, a multiple stepwise regression analysis was performed. Independent variables used for the analysis were self-concept, social support, stress, perceived health status, and demographics. Results: The average score of the seven health-promotion behaviors was 2.35. Of the seven subcategories of health-promotion behaviors, the scores of rest/sleep and self-actualization were relatively higher; the scores of exercise and stress management were relatively lower. Of demographics and four factors of main interest (i.e., self-concept, social support, stress, perceived health status), education level, types of residence, social support, and perceived health status remained statistically significant. Among the four factors, social support had the greatest impact on health-promotion behaviors. Conclusions: This study has two suggestions. First, it is needed to develop strategies, which can help Korean-Chinese workers enhance levels of health-promotion behaviors regarding stress management and exercise. Second, considering the greatest effect of social support on health-promotion behavior, it is necessary to strengthen social support among Korean-Chinese workers.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.527-536
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• 2015

This research focuses on comparing the impact that working conditions have on the job satisfaction of Korean and Chinese-Korean construction workers. The data shows that factors such as the quality of wages, food catering, and leisure facilities showed a positive correlation on the workers' satisfaction. Further comparative analysis showed differences between the effect these factors have on the satisfaction of Korean workers and Chinese-Korean workers, who occupy the highest portion of the foreign workforce in Korea. The analysis concluded that to the Chinese-Korean workers, wage had the strongest impact on their satisfaction over other factors, whereas this difference was not present in the Korean workers. The results of this study highlighting these differences between the worker groups can contribute to developing the efficiency of the management of construction sites in Korea.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.1-23
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• 2003

The goal of this paper is to explore and compare the situations of North Korean and Chinese labor forces in the Russian Far East (RFE). First of all, the past and present pictures of North Korean and Chinese labor forces were reviewed, and then local Russinans' views about those foreign workers were analyzed in terms of political, economic, socio-psychological and public order aspects. As a result, it turned out that both North Korean and Chinese workers were regarded as useful to the RFE from economic viewpoint, but not as beneficial to local Russians in terms of maintenance of public order. According to the political and socio-psychological views of local Russians, North Korean labor forces were much more preferable to their Chinese counterparts. This paper implies that participation of South Korea in the development of RFE via North Korea workers is significant in that local Russians are very afraid of flooding Chinese workers there.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.9-16
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• 2024

Background: E-waste workers in Hong Kong are handling an unprecedented amount of e-waste, which contains various neurotoxic chemicals. However, no study has been conducted to evaluate the neurological health status of e-waste workers in Hong Kong. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of neurobehavioral alterations and to identify the vulnerable groups among Hong Kong e-waste workers. Methods: We recruited 109 Hong Kong e-waste workers from June 2021 to September 2022. Participants completed standard questionnaires and wore a GENEActiv accelerometer for seven days. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and Questionnaire 16/18 (Q16/18) were used to assess subjective neurobehavioral alterations. The GENEActiv data generated objective sleep and circadian rhythm variables. Workers were grouped based on job designation and entity type according to the presumed hazardous level. Unconditional logistic regression models measured the associations of occupational characteristics with neurobehavioral alterations after adjusting for confounders. Results: While dismantlers/repairers and the workers in entities not funded by the government were more likely to suffer from neurotoxic symptoms in Q18 (adjusted odds ratio: 3.18 [1.18-9.39] and 2.77 [1.10-7.46], respectively), the workers from self-sustained recycling facilities also have poor performances in circadian rhythm. Results also showed that the dismantlers/repairers working in entities not funded by the government had the highest risk of neurotoxic symptoms compared to the lowest-risk group (i.e., workers in government-funded companies with other job designations). Conclusion: This timely and valuable study emphasizes the importance of improving the working conditions for high-risk e-waste workers, especially the dismantlers or repairers working in facilities not funded by the government.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.185-201
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• 2015

This paper suggests how Korean housemaids, called Sikmo, and Korean-Chinese migrant domestic workers have similar class positions and therefore form a dual identity in their interactions with female employers. rough spoken stories of the experiences of 27 females from Seoul, including Korean-Chinese domestic workers, Korean housemaids, and their employers, this research effectively overcomes the dichotomous discourse of natives versus foreigners. Instead it suggests the new interpretation that it is not foreignness but class inferiority of the domestic workers that plays a key role in establishing relationships with employers. Korean housemaids and Korean-Chinese domestic workers, both groups of whom are migrant workers, have developed coping strategies to enhance their labor value by spatially relocating themselves from their home society to a new society. They possess a similar labor status in women's history, being of low income, low education, and rural births. Consequently, these women experience 'translocal anchoring,' meaning their identities are intertwined with that of their home societies, and employers perceive them based on the characteristics of these places. The Korean employers perceive that the domestic workers' morality and intellectuality are inferior based on their class differences. This stigmatizing process leads employers to regard domestic workers as ambivalent people, not only threatening outsiders but also objects of pity, needing love and protection of their employers. The employers educate them culturally, teaching them skills to survive in the urban environment. These skills include cooking and language, in addition to advice on long-term plans to blend into society.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.438-457
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• 2019

The main purpose of this paper is to identify the entry types and locational determinants of North Korean workers in cross-border regions between North Korea and China. More specifically, the paper has attempted to divide the entry type of them in the regions into two; 1) entry via transactions between Chinese traders with North Korea and North Korea trade companies, and 2) entry via transactions between Korean-Chinese middlemen and North Korean trade companies. Also, it has analyzed main factors of their locational determinants in the spatial contexts of the regions. There have been changes in two perspectives in terms of the entry paths and types of them in accordance with the transformation of characteristics of United Nations sanction against North Korea from 'call-upon' to 'decide' after UN Security Council Resolution 2094 in 2013. Firstly, main agents who have dealing with North Korean trade companies which have right to dispatch North Korean workers have been changed from Chinese traders into Korean-Chinese brokers who are specialized in the introduction of North Korean workers with one-stop service from visa administrative to labor managements. Secondly, there has been a transfer of North Korean workers in the regions from formal to informal workers who has been admitted into China with a short stay or a tourist visa, and then remained illegally to be employed in China. Therefore, as demands on service which is able to guarantee the security of North Korean informal workers and their managements have increased, Korean-Chinese brokers have been stimulated in the regions after the operation of real international sanctions against overseas North Korean workers. In addition, the main factors of their locational determinants in cross-border regions between North Korea and China are could be analyzed in three perspectives; 1) an increase in real wages in accordance with the reform of the Chinese social insurance system after 2011, 2) the structural vulnerability of labor markets in the regions, 3) the utilization of stable and manageable workers.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.185-194
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• 2013

Purpose: This study was to explore situations that might put the middle-aged Korean-Chinese female migrant workers at risk for work-related musculoskeletal diseases (WMSDs). At the development phase of a continuing health project, the study aimed to clarify health promotion program needs of the migrant population. Methods: A qualitative description research design was used with three focus groups of 23 Korean-Chinese female migrant workers. Each focus group interview was conducted for 70-minutes using semi-structured interview guidelines. The data were analyzed using directed qualitative content analysis techniques. Results: The majority of the participants were household workers and their work included heavy material handling, standing for a long time, and working in awkward postures. They experienced discrimination from employers, lack of control at work, limitations in open-communication, job insecurity, and acculturation. They had needs to have health promotion programs for preventing and managing chronic diseases, depression and menopause as well as WMSDs. Conclusion: The participants were situated in work environments with physical demanding tasks, acculturative and job-related stress and lack of opportunities to participate in health promotion programs. It is suggested to develop a comprehensive program to better meet the needs of middle-aged Korean-Chinese female migrant workers rather than targeting the reduction of WMSDs.