• Title/Summary/Keyword: Control Strategies

Search Result 2,431, Processing Time 0.033 seconds

Sexual Trauma Survivors and Their Mental Health: Assessing Based on Types of the Traumatic Event (성적 트라우마 경험자의 정신건강: 트라우마 사건유형에 따른 비교 분석)

  • Soyoung Choi;Hyeyun Kim;Sumi Chae
    • Health Policy and Management
    • /
    • v.34 no.2
    • /
    • pp.129-140
    • /
    • 2024
  • Background: The mental health issues caused by trauma can manifest differently depending on the characteristics of the traumatic event. Particularly, individuals who have experienced sexual trauma are known to have more negative mental health outcomes compared to those who have experienced non-sexual trauma. The mental health issues of individuals who have experienced sexual trauma are severe, and new forms of threats, such as digital sexual crimes, are emerging. This study aimed to investigate whether the type of traumatic event, particularly focusing on sexual trauma events, contributes to differences in mental health outcomes and to identify factors influencing suicidal ideation and potential post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) risk. Methods: Based on an online survey conducted nationwide among adults aged 20 to 50, participants were categorized based on the type of trauma they experienced (sexual trauma events and non-sexual trauma events). The study conducted propensity score matching (PSM) using demographic factors (sex, age group, subjective economic status, and marital status) and resilience protective factors (cognition of recoverability, social support, and protection experiences in childhood) as control variables, excluding the experience of sexual trauma events, to investigate their potential impact on mental health (suicidal ideation and potential PTSD risk). Subsequently, binary logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify factors influencing mental health. Results: Even after PSM, individuals who experienced sexual trauma exhibited more negative outcomes in terms of suicidal ideation and potential PTSD risk compared to those who experienced non-sexual trauma. The results of binary logistic regression analysis showed that sexual trauma survivors were 1.9 times more likely to have suicidal thoughts (odds ratio [OR], 1.911) and 2.5 times more likely to have a potential PTSD risk (OR, 2.472). Furthermore, as resilience protective factors became more negative, the likelihood of suicidal ideation and potential PTSD risk increased. Conclusion: This study emphasizes the importance of understanding and supporting individuals who have experienced sexual trauma, highlighting the necessity for strategies aimed at mitigating suicidal ideation and potential PTSD risk among sexual trauma survivors, while also facilitating recovery through the promotion of resilience protective factors.

An Empirical Study in Relationship between Franchisor's Leadership Behavior Style and Commitment by Focusing Moderating Effect of Franchisee's Self-efficacy (가맹본부의 리더십 행동유형과 가맹사업자의 관계결속에 관한 실증적 연구 - 가맹사업자의 자기효능감의 조절효과를 중심으로 -)

  • Yang, Hoe-Chang;Lee, Young-Chul
    • Journal of Distribution Research
    • /
    • v.15 no.1
    • /
    • pp.49-71
    • /
    • 2010
  • Franchise businesses in South Korea have contributed to economic growth and job creation, and its growth potential remains very high. However, despite such virtues, domestic franchise businesses face many problems such as the instability of franchisor's business structure and weak financial conditions. To solve these problems, the government enacted legislation and strengthened franchise related laws. However, the strengthening of laws regulating franchisors had many side effects that interrupted the development of the franchise business. For example, legal regulations regarding franchisors have had the effect of suppressing the franchisor's leadership activities (e.g. activities such as the ability to advocate the franchisor's policies and strategies to the franchisees, in order to facilitate change and innovation). One of the main goals of the franchise business is to build cooperation between the franchisor and the franchisee for their combined success. However, franchisees can refuse to follow the franchisor's strategies because of the current state of franchise-related law and government policy. The purpose of this study to explore the effects of franchisor's leadership style on franchisee's commitment in a franchise system. We classified leadership styles according to the path-goal theory (House & Mitchell, 1974), and it was hypothesized and tested that the four leadership styles proposed by the path-goal theory (i.e. directive, supportive, participative and achievement-oriented leadership) have different effects on franchisee's commitment. Another purpose of this study to explore the how the level of franchisee's self-efficacy influences both the franchisor's leadership style and franchisee's commitment in a franchise system. Results of the present study are expected to provide important theoretical and practical implications as to the role of franchisor's leadership style, as restricted by government regulations and the franchisee's self-efficacy, which could be needed to improve the quality of the long-term relationship between the franchisor and franchisee. Quoted by Northouse(2007), one problem regarding the investigation of leadership is that there are almost as many different definitions of leadership as there are people who have tried to define it. But despite the multitude of ways in which leadership has been conceptualized, the following components can be identified as central to the phenomenon: (a) leadership is a process, (b) leadership involves influence, (c) leadership occurs in a group context, and (d) leadership involves goal attainment. Based on these components, in this study leadership is defined as a process whereby franchisor's influences a group of franchisee' to achieve a common goal. Focusing on this definition, the path-goal theory is about how leaders motivate subordinates to accomplish designated goals. Drawing heavily from research on what motivates employees, path-goal theory first appeared in the leadership literature in the early 1970s in the works of Evans (1970), House (1971), House and Dessler (1974), and House and Mitchell (1974). The stated goal of this leadership theory is to enhance employee performance and employee satisfaction by focusing on employee motivation. In brief, path-goal theory is designed to explain how leaders can help subordinates along the path to their goals by selecting specific behaviors that are best suited to subordinates' needs and to the situation in which subordinates are working (Northouse, 2007). House & Mitchell(1974) predicted that although many different leadership behaviors could have been selected to be a part of path-goal theory, this approach has so far examined directive, supportive, participative, and achievement-oriented leadership behaviors. And they suggested that leaders may exhibit any or all of these four styles with various subordinates and in different situations. However, due to restrictive government regulations, franchisors are not in a position to change their leadership style to suit their circumstances. In addition, quoted by Northouse(2007), ssubordinate characteristics determine how a leader's behavior is interpreted by subordinates in a given work context. Many researchers have focused on subordinates' needs for affiliation, preferences for structure, desires for control, and self-perceived level of task ability. In this study, we have focused on the self-perceived level of task ability, namely, the franchisee's self-efficacy. According to Bandura (1977), self-efficacy is chiefly defined as the personal attitude of one's ability to accomplish concrete tasks. Therefore, it is not an indicator of one's actual abilities, but an opinion of the extent of how one can use that ability. Thus, the judgment of maintain franchisee's commitment depends on the situation (e.g., government regulation and policy and leadership style of franchisor) and how it affects one's ability to mobilize resources to deal with the task, so even if people possess the same ability, there may be differences in self-efficacy. Figure 1 illustrates the model investigated in this study. In this model, it was hypothesized that leadership styles would affect the franchisee's commitment, and self-efficacy would moderate the relationship between leadership style and franchisee's commitment. Theoretically, quoted by Northouse(2007), the path-goal approach suggests that leaders need to choose a leadership style that best fits the needs of subordinates and the work they are doing. According to House & Mitchell (1974), the theory predicts that a directive style of leadership is best in situations in which subordinates are dogmatic and authoritarian, the task demands are ambiguous, and the organizational rule and procedures are unclear. In these situations, franchisor's directive leadership complements the work by providing guidance and psychological structure for franchisees. For work that is structured, unsatisfying, or frustrating, path-goal theory suggests that leaders should use a supportive style. Franchisor's Supportive leadership offers a sense of human touch for franchisees engaged in mundane, mechanized activity. Franchisor's participative leadership is considered best when a task is ambiguous because participation gives greater clarity to how certain paths lead to certain goals; it helps subordinates learn what actions leads to what outcome. Furthermore, House & Mitchell(1974) predicts that achievement-oriented leadership is most effective in settings in which subordinates are required to perform ambiguous tasks. Marsh and O'Neill (1984) tested the idea that organizational members' anger and decline in performance is caused by deficiencies in their level of effort and found that self-efficacy promotes accomplishment, decreases stress and negative consequences like depression and emotional instability. Based on the extant empirical findings and theoretical reasoning, we posit positive and strong relationships between the franchisor's leadership styles and the franchisee's commitment. Furthermore, the level of franchisee's self-efficacy was thought to maintain their commitment. The questionnaires sent to participants consisted of the following measures; leadership style was assessed using a 20 item 7-point likert scale developed by Indvik (1985), self-efficacy was assessed using a 24 item 6-point likert scale developed by Bandura (1977), and commitment was assessed using a 6 item 5-point likert scale developed by Morgan & Hunt (1994). Questionnaires were distributed to Korean optical franchisees in Seoul. It took about 20 days to complete the data collection. A total number of 140 questionnaires were returned and complete data were available from 137 respondents. Results of multiple regression analyses testing the relationships between the each of the four styles of leadership shown by the franchisor as independent variables and franchisee's commitment as the dependent variable showed that the relationship between supportive leadership style and commitment ($\beta$=.13, p<.001),and the relationship between participative leadership style and commitment ($\beta$=.07, p<.001)were significant. However, when participants divided into high and low self-efficacy groups, results of multiple regression analyses showed that only the relationship between achievement-oriented leadership style and commitment ($\beta$=.14, p<.001) was significant in the high self-efficacy group. In the low self-efficacy group, the relationship between supportive leadership style and commitment ($\beta$=.17, p<.001),and the relationship between participative leadership style and commitment ($\beta$=.10, p<.001) were significant. The study focused on the franchisee's self-efficacy in order to explore the possibility that regulation, originally intended to protect the franchisee, may not be the most effective method to maintain the relationships in a franchise business. The key results of the data analysis regarding the moderating role of self-efficacy between leadership behavior style as proposed by path-goal and commitment theory were as follows. First, this study proposed that franchisor should apply the appropriate type of leadership behavior to strengthen the franchisees commitment because the results demonstrated that supportive and participative leadership styles by the franchisors have a positive influence on the franchisee's level of commitment. Second, it is desirable for franchisor to validate the franchisee's efforts, since the franchisee's characteristics such as self-efficacy had a substantial, positive effect on the franchisee's commitment as well as being a meaningful moderator between leadership and commitment. Third, the results as a whole imply that the government should provide institutional support, namely to put the franchisor in a position to clearly identify the characteristics of their franchisees and provide reasonable means to administer the franchisees to achieve the company's goal.

  • PDF

A Prospective Randomized Comparative Clinical Trial Comparing the Efficacy between Ondansetron and Metoclopramide for Prevention of Nausea and Vomiting in Patients Undergoing Fractionated Radiotherapy to the Abdominal Region (복부 방사선치료를 받는 환자에서 발생하는 오심 및 구토에 대한 온단세트론과 메토클로프라미드의 효과 : 제 3상 전향적 무작위 비교임상시험)

  • Park Hee Chul;Suh Chang Ok;Seong Jinsil;Cho Jae Ho;Lim John Jihoon;Park Won;Song Jae Seok;Kim Gwi Eon
    • Radiation Oncology Journal
    • /
    • v.19 no.2
    • /
    • pp.127-135
    • /
    • 2001
  • Purpose : This study is a prospective randomized clinical trial comparing the efficacy and complication of anti-emetic drugs for prevention of nausea and vomiting after radiotherapy which has moderate emetogenic potential. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the anti-emetic efficacy of ondansetron $(Zofran^{\circledR})$ 8 mg bid dose (Group O) is better than the efficacy of metoclopramide 5 mg lid dose (Group M) in patients undergoing fractionated radiotherapy to the abdominal region. Materials and Methods : Study entry was restricted to those patients who met the following eligibility criteria: histologically confirmed malignant disease; no distant metastasis; performance status of not more than ECOG grade 2; no previous chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Between March 1997 and February 1998, 60 patients enrolled in this study. All patients signed a written statement of informed consent prior to enrollment. Blinding was maintained by dosing identical number of tablets including one dose of matching placebo for Group O. The extent of nausea, appetite loss, and the number of emetic episodes were recorded everyday using diary card. The mean score of nausea, appetite loss and the mean number of emetic episodes were obtained in a weekly interval. Results : Prescription error occurred in one patient. And diary cards have not returned in 3 patients due to premature refusal of treatment. Card from one patient was excluded from the analysis because she had a history of treatment for neurosis. As a result, the analysis consisted of 55 patients. Patient characteristics and radiotherapy characteristics were similar except mean age was $52.9{\pm}11.2$ in group M, $46.5{\pm}9.5$ in group O. The difference of age was statistically significant. The mean score of nausea, appetite loss and emetic episodes in a weekly interval was higher in group M than O. In group M, the symptoms were most significant at 5th week. In a panel data analysis using mixed procedure, treatment group was only significant factor detecting the difference of weekly score for all three symptoms. Ondansetron $(Zofran^{\circledR})$ 8 mg bid dose and metoclopramide 5 mg lid dose were well tolerated without significant side effects. There were no clinically important changes In vital signs or clinical laboratory parameters with either drug. Conclusion : Concerning the fact that patients with younger age have higher emetogenic potential, there are possibilities that age difference between two treatment groups lowered the statistical power of analysis. There were significant difference favoring ondansetron group with respect to the severity of nausea, vomiting and loss of appetite. We concluded that ondansetron is more effective anti-emetic agents in the control of radiotherapy-induced nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite without significant toxicity, compared with commonly used drug, i.e., metoclopramide. However, there were patients suffering emesis despite the administration of ondansetron. The possible strategies to improve the prevention and the treatment of radiotherapy-induced emesis must be further studied.

  • PDF

Meteorological Constraints and Countermeasures in Rice Breeding -Breeding for cold tolerance- (기상재해와 수도육종상의 대책 - 내냉성품종육성방안-)

  • Mun-Hue Heu;Young-Soo Han
    • KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
    • /
    • v.27 no.4
    • /
    • pp.371-384
    • /
    • 1982
  • Highly cold tolerant varieties are requested not only at high latitute cool area but also tropical high elevated areas, and the required tolerance is different from location to location. IRRI identified 6 different types of cold tolerance required in the world for breeding purpose; a) Hokkaido type, b) Suweon type, c) Taipei 1st season type, d) Taipei 2nd season type, e) Tropical alpine type and, f) Bangladesh type. The cold tolerance requested in Korea is more eargent in Tongil group cultivars and their required tolerance is the one such as the physiological activities at low temperature are as active as in Japonica group cultivars at least during young seedling stage and reproduction stage. With conventional Japonica cultivars, such cold tolerant characters are requested as short growth duration but stable basic vegetative growth, less sensitive to high temperature and less prolonged growth duration at low temperature. The methods screening for cold tolerance were developed rapidly after the Tongil cultivar was reliesed. The facilities of screening for cold tolerance, such as, low temperature incubator, cold water tank, growth cabinet, phytotron, cold water nursery in Chuncheon, breeding nursery located in Jinbu, Unbong and Youngduk, are well established. Foreign facilities such as, cold water tank with the rapid generation advancement facilities, cold nurseries located in Banaue, Kathmandu and Kashimir may be available for the screening of some limitted breeding materials. For the reference, screening methods applied at different growth stages in Japan are introduced. The component characters of cold tolerance are not well identified, but the varietal differences in a) germinability, b) young seedling growth, c) rooting, d) tillering, e) discolation, f) nutrition uptake, g) photosynthesis rate, h) delay in heading, i) pollen sterility, and j) grain fertility at low temperature are reported to be distinguishable. Relationships among those traits are not consistent. Reported studies on the inheritance of cold tolerance are summarized. Four or more genes are controlling low temperature germinability, one or several genes are controlling seedling tolerance, and four or more genes are responsible for the pollen fertility of the rice treated with cold air or grown in the cold water nursery. But most of those data indicate that the results may come out in different way if those were tested at different temperature. Many cold tolerant parents among Japonicas, Indicas and Javanicas were identified as the results of the improvement of cold tolerance screening techniques and IRTP efforts and they are ready to be utilized. Considering a) diversification of germ plasm, b) integration of resistances to diseases and insects, c) identification of adaptability of recommending cultivars and, d) systematic control of recommending cultivars, breeding strategies for short term and long term are suggested. For short term, efforts will be concentrated mainly to the conventional cultivar group. Domestic cultivars will be used as foundation stock and ecologically different foreign introductions such as from Hokkaido, China or from Taiwan, will be used as cross parents for the adjustment of growth durations and synthsize the prototype of tolerances. While at the other side, extreme early waxy Japonicas will be crossed with the Indica parents which are identified for their resistances to the diseases and insects. Through the back corsses to waxy Japonicas, those Indica resistances will be transfered to the Japonicas and these will be utilized to the crosses for the improvement of resistances of prototype. For the long term, efforts will be payed to synthsize all the available tolerances identified any from Japonicas, Indicas and Javanicas to diversify the germ plasm. The tolerant cultivars newly synthsized, should be stable and affected minimum. to the low temperature at all the growing stages. The resistances to the diseases and insects should be integrated also. The rapid generation advancement, pollen culture and international cooperations were emphasized to maximize the breeding efficiency.

  • PDF

Prophylactic cranial irradiation in limited small-cell lung cancer : incidence of brain metastasis and survival and clinical aspects (예방적 두강내 방사선 조사후 소세포 폐암 환자의 뇌전이 빈도와 생존율에 대한 연구)

  • Suh, Jae-Chul;Kim, Myung-Hoon;Park, Hee-Sun;Kang, Dong-Won;Lee, Kyu-Seung;Ko, Dong-Seok;Kim, Geun-Hwa;Jeong, Seong-Su;Cho, Moon-June;Kim, Ju-Ock;Kim, Sun-Young
    • Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
    • /
    • v.49 no.3
    • /
    • pp.323-331
    • /
    • 2000
  • Purpose: Brain metastases are present in approximately 10-16% of small cell lung cancer patients at diagnosis. Brain metastasis is an important clinical problem associated with increasing the survival rate, with a cumulative incidence of up to 80% in patients surviving 2 years. Prophylactic cranial irradiation(PCI) reduces the incidence of brain matastasis and may prolong survival in patients with limited small-cell lung cancer who achieved complete remission. This study was performed to analyze the incidence of brain metastasis, survival and clinical aspects after PCI in patients with limited small-cell lung cancer who achieved complete remission. Methods : Between 1989 and 1999, forty-two patients with limited small-cell lung cancer who achived achieved complete remission after therapy were enrolled into this study retrospectively. All patients received etoposide and cisplatin(VPP) alternating with cytoxan, adriamycin, and vincristine(CAV) every 3 weeks for at least 6 cycles initially. All patients received thoracic radiotherapy: concurrent(38.1%) and sequential(61.9%). All patients received late PCI. Results : Most patients(88.1%) were men, and the median age was 58 years. The median follow-up duration was 18.1 months. During the follow-up period, 57.1% of the patients developed relapse. The most frequent site of relapse was chest(35.7%), followed by brain(14.3%), liver(11.9%), adrenal gland(44%), and bone(2.2%). With the Kaplan-Meier method, the average disease-free interval was 1,090 days(median 305 days). The average time to development of brain relapse after PCI and other sites relapse(except brain) were 2,548 days and 1,395 days(median 460 days), respectively. The average overall survival was 1,233 days(median 634 days, 21.1 months), and 2-year survival rates was 41.7%. The average overall survival in the relapse group was 642 days(median 489 days) and in the no relapse group was 2,622 days(p<0.001). The average overall survival in the brain relapse group was 928 days(median 822 days) and in the no brain relapse group was 1,308 days(median 634 days)(p=0.772). In most patients(85.7%), relapse(except brain) or systemic disease was the usual cause of death. Brain matastasis was the cause of death in 14.3% of the cases. Conclusions : We may conclude that PCI reduces and delays brain metastasis in patients with limited small cell lung cancer who achieved complete remission. We found decreased survival in relapse group but, no significant survival difference was noted according to brain matastasis. And relapse(except brain) or systemic disease was the usual cause of death. In order to increase survival, new treatment strategies for control methods for relapse and systemic disease are required.

  • PDF

The Effects of Environmental Dynamism on Supply Chain Commitment in the High-tech Industry: The Roles of Flexibility and Dependence (첨단산업의 환경동태성이 공급체인의 결속에 미치는 영향: 유연성과 의존성의 역할)

  • Kim, Sang-Deok;Ji, Seong-Goo
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
    • /
    • v.17 no.2
    • /
    • pp.31-54
    • /
    • 2007
  • The exchange between buyers and sellers in the industrial market is changing from short-term to long-term relationships. Long-term relationships are governed mainly by formal contracts or informal agreements, but many scholars are now asserting that controlling relationship by using formal contracts under environmental dynamism is inappropriate. In this case, partners will depend on each other's flexibility or interdependence. The former, flexibility, provides a general frame of reference, order, and standards against which to guide and assess appropriate behavior in dynamic and ambiguous situations, thus motivating the value-oriented performance goals shared between partners. It is based on social sacrifices, which can potentially minimize any opportunistic behaviors. The later, interdependence, means that each firm possesses a high level of dependence in an dynamic channel relationship. When interdependence is high in magnitude and symmetric, each firm enjoys a high level of power and the bonds between the firms should be reasonably strong. Strong shared power is likely to promote commitment because of the common interests, attention, and support found in such channel relationships. This study deals with environmental dynamism in high-tech industry. Firms in the high-tech industry regard it as a key success factor to successfully cope with environmental changes. However, due to the lack of studies dealing with environmental dynamism and supply chain commitment in the high-tech industry, it is very difficult to find effective strategies to cope with them. This paper presents the results of an empirical study on the relationship between environmental dynamism and supply chain commitment in the high-tech industry. We examined the effects of consumer, competitor, and technological dynamism on supply chain commitment. Additionally, we examined the moderating effects of flexibility and dependence of supply chains. This study was confined to the type of high-tech industry which has the characteristics of rapid technology change and short product lifecycle. Flexibility among the firms of this industry, having the characteristic of hard and fast growth, is more important here than among any other industry. Thus, a variety of environmental dynamism can affect a supply chain relationship. The industries targeted industries were electronic parts, metal product, computer, electric machine, automobile, and medical precision manufacturing industries. Data was collected as follows. During the survey, the researchers managed to obtain the list of parts suppliers of 2 companies, N and L, with an international competitiveness in the mobile phone manufacturing industry; and of the suppliers in a business relationship with S company, a semiconductor manufacturing company. They were asked to respond to the survey via telephone and e-mail. During the two month period of February-April 2006, we were able to collect data from 44 companies. The respondents were restricted to direct dealing authorities and subcontractor company (the supplier) staff with at least three months of dealing experience with a manufacture (an industrial material buyer). The measurement validation procedures included scale reliability; discriminant and convergent validity were used to validate measures. Also, the reliability measurements traditionally employed, such as the Cronbach's alpha, were used. All the reliabilities were greater than.70. A series of exploratory factor analyses was conducted. We conducted confirmatory factor analyses to assess the validity of our measurements. A series of chi-square difference tests were conducted so that the discriminant validity could be ensured. For each pair, we estimated two models-an unconstrained model and a constrained model-and compared the two model fits. All these tests supported discriminant validity. Also, all items loaded significantly on their respective constructs, providing support for convergent validity. We then examined composite reliability and average variance extracted (AVE). The composite reliability of each construct was greater than.70. The AVE of each construct was greater than.50. According to the multiple regression analysis, customer dynamism had a negative effect and competitor dynamism had a positive effect on a supplier's commitment. In addition, flexibility and dependence had significant moderating effects on customer and competitor dynamism. On the other hand, all hypotheses about technological dynamism had no significant effects on commitment. In other words, technological dynamism had no direct effect on supplier's commitment and was not moderated by the flexibility and dependence of the supply chain. This study makes its contribution in the point of view that this is a rare study on environmental dynamism and supply chain commitment in the field of high-tech industry. Especially, this study verified the effects of three sectors of environmental dynamism on supplier's commitment. Also, it empirically tested how the effects were moderated by flexibility and dependence. The results showed that flexibility and interdependence had a role to strengthen supplier's commitment under environmental dynamism in high-tech industry. Thus relationship managers in high-tech industry should make supply chain relationship flexible and interdependent. The limitations of the study are as follows; First, about the research setting, the study was conducted with high-tech industry, in which the direction of the change in the power balance of supply chain dyads is usually determined by manufacturers. So we have a difficulty with generalization. We need to control the power structure between partners in a future study. Secondly, about flexibility, we treated it throughout the paper as positive, but it can also be negative, i.e. violating an agreement or moving, but in the wrong direction, etc. Therefore we need to investigate the multi-dimensionality of flexibility in future research.

  • PDF

Analysis on Factors Influencing Welfare Spending of Local Authority : Implementing the Detailed Data Extracted from the Social Security Information System (지방자치단체 자체 복지사업 지출 영향요인 분석 : 사회보장정보시스템을 통한 접근)

  • Kim, Kyoung-June;Ham, Young-Jin;Lee, Ki-Dong
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
    • /
    • v.19 no.2
    • /
    • pp.141-156
    • /
    • 2013
  • Researchers in welfare services of local government in Korea have rather been on isolated issues as disables, childcare, aging phenomenon, etc. (Kang, 2004; Jung et al., 2009). Lately, local officials, yet, realize that they need more comprehensive welfare services for all residents, not just for above-mentioned focused groups. Still cases dealt with focused group approach have been a main research stream due to various reason(Jung et al., 2009; Lee, 2009; Jang, 2011). Social Security Information System is an information system that comprehensively manages 292 welfare benefits provided by 17 ministries and 40 thousand welfare services provided by 230 local authorities in Korea. The purpose of the system is to improve efficiency of social welfare delivery process. The study of local government expenditure has been on the rise over the last few decades after the restarting the local autonomy, but these studies have limitations on data collection. Measurement of a local government's welfare efforts(spending) has been primarily on expenditures or budget for an individual, set aside for welfare. This practice of using monetary value for an individual as a "proxy value" for welfare effort(spending) is based on the assumption that expenditure is directly linked to welfare efforts(Lee et al., 2007). This expenditure/budget approach commonly uses total welfare amount or percentage figure as dependent variables (Wildavsky, 1985; Lee et al., 2007; Kang, 2000). However, current practice of using actual amount being used or percentage figure as a dependent variable may have some limitation; since budget or expenditure is greatly influenced by the total budget of a local government, relying on such monetary value may create inflate or deflate the true "welfare effort" (Jang, 2012). In addition, government budget usually contain a large amount of administrative cost, i.e., salary, for local officials, which is highly unrelated to the actual welfare expenditure (Jang, 2011). This paper used local government welfare service data from the detailed data sets linked to the Social Security Information System. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the factors that affect social welfare spending of 230 local authorities in 2012. The paper applied multiple regression based model to analyze the pooled financial data from the system. Based on the regression analysis, the following factors affecting self-funded welfare spending were identified. In our research model, we use the welfare budget/total budget(%) of a local government as a true measurement for a local government's welfare effort(spending). Doing so, we exclude central government subsidies or support being used for local welfare service. It is because central government welfare support does not truly reflect the welfare efforts(spending) of a local. The dependent variable of this paper is the volume of the welfare spending and the independent variables of the model are comprised of three categories, in terms of socio-demographic perspectives, the local economy and the financial capacity of local government. This paper categorized local authorities into 3 groups, districts, and cities and suburb areas. The model used a dummy variable as the control variable (local political factor). This paper demonstrated that the volume of the welfare spending for the welfare services is commonly influenced by the ratio of welfare budget to total local budget, the population of infants, self-reliance ratio and the level of unemployment factor. Interestingly, the influential factors are different by the size of local government. Analysis of determinants of local government self-welfare spending, we found a significant effect of local Gov. Finance characteristic in degree of the local government's financial independence, financial independence rate, rate of social welfare budget, and regional economic in opening-to-application ratio, and sociology of population in rate of infants. The result means that local authorities should have differentiated welfare strategies according to their conditions and circumstances. There is a meaning that this paper has successfully proven the significant factors influencing welfare spending of local government in Korea.

A Study on Startups' Dependence on Business Incubation Centers (창업보육서비스에 따른 입주기업의 창업보육센터 의존도에 관한 연구)

  • Park, JaeSung;Lee, Chul;Kim, JaeJon
    • Korean small business review
    • /
    • v.31 no.2
    • /
    • pp.103-120
    • /
    • 2009
  • As business incubation centers (BICs) have been operating for more than 10 years in Korea, many early stage startups tend to use the services provided by the incubating centers. BICs in Korea have accumulated the knowledge and experience in the past ten years and their services have been considerably improved. The business incubating service has three facets : (1) business infrastructure service, (2) direct service, and (3) indirect service. The mission of BICs is to provide the early stage entrepreneurs with the incubating service in a limited period time to help them grow strong enough to survive the fierce competition after graduating from the incubation. However, the incubating services sometimes fail to foster the independence of new startup companies, and raise the dependence of many companies on BICs. Thus, the dependence on BICs is a very important factor to understand the survival of the incubated startup companies after graduation from BICs. The purpose of this study is to identify the main factors that influence the firm's dependence on BICs and to characterize the relationships among the identified factors. The business incubating service is a core construct of this study. It includes various activities and resources, such as offering the physical facilities, legal service, and connecting them with outside organizations. These services are extensive and take various forms. They are provided by BICs directly or indirectly. Past studies have identified various incubating services and classify them in different ways. Based on the past studies, we classify the business incubating service into three categories as mentioned above : (1) business infrastructure support, (2) direct support, and (3) networking support. The business infrastructure support is to provide the essential resources to start the business, such as physical facilities. The direct support is to offer the business resources available in the BICs, such as human, technical, and administrational resources. Finally, the indirect service was to support the resource in the outside of business incubation center. Dependence is generally defined as the degree to which a client firm needs the resources provided by the service provider in order to achieve its goals. Dependence is generated when a firm recognizes the benefits of interacting with its counterpart. Hence, the more positive outcomes a firm derives from its relationship with the partner, the more dependent on the partner the firm must inevitably become. In business incubating, as a resident firm is incubated in longer period, we can predict that her dependence on BICs would be stronger. In order to foster the independence of the incubated firms, BICs have to be able to manipulate the provision of their services to control the firms' dependence on BICs. Based on the above discussion, the research model for relationships between dependence and its affecting factors was developed. We surveyed the companies residing in BICs to test our research model. The instrument of our study was modified, in part, on the basis of previous relevant studies. For the purposes of testing reliability and validity, preliminary testing was conducted with firms that were residing in BICs and incubated by the BICs in the region of Gwangju and Jeonnam. The questionnaire was modified in accordance with the pre-test feedback. We mailed to all of the firms that had been incubated by the BICs with the help of business incubating managers of each BIC. The survey was conducted over a three week period. Gifts (of approximately ₩10,000 value) were offered to all actively participating respondents. The incubating period was reported by the business incubating managers, and it was transformed using natural logarithms. A total of 180 firms participated in the survey. However, we excluded 4 cases due to a lack of consistency using reversed items in the answers of the companies, and 176 cases were used for the analysis. We acknowledge that 176 samples may not be sufficient to conduct regression analyses with 5 research variables in our study. Each variable was measured through multiple items. We conducted an exploratory factor analysis to assess their unidimensionality. In an effort to test the construct validity of the instruments, a principal component factor analysis was conducted with Varimax rotation. The items correspond well to each singular factor, demonstrating a high degree of convergent validity. As the factor loadings for a variable (or factor) are higher than the factor loadings for the other variables, the instrument's discriminant validity is shown to be clear. Each factor was extracted as expected, which explained 70.97, 66.321, and 52.97 percent, respectively, of the total variance each with eigen values greater than 1.000. The internal consistency reliability of the variables was evaluated by computing Cronbach's alphas. The Cronbach's alpha values of the variables, which ranged from 0.717 to 0.950, were all securely over 0.700, which is satisfactory. The reliability and validity of the research variables are all, therefore, considered acceptable. The effects of dependence were assessed using a regression analysis. The Pearson correlations were calculated for the variables, measured by interval or ratio scales. Potential multicollinearity among the antecedents was evaluated prior to the multiple regression analysis, as some of the variables were significantly correlated with others (e.g., direct service and indirect service). Although several variables show the evidence of significant correlations, their tolerance values range between 0.334 and 0.613, thereby demonstrating that multicollinearity is not a likely threat to the parameter estimates. Checking some basic assumptions for the regression analyses, we decided to conduct multiple regression analyses and moderated regression analyses to test the given hypotheses. The results of the regression analyses indicate that the regression model is significant at p < 0.001 (F = 44.260), and that the predictors of the research model explain 42.6 percent of the total variance. Hypotheses 1, 2, and 3 address the relationships between the dependence of the incubated firms and the business incubating services. Business infrastructure service, direct service, and indirect service are all significantly related with dependence (β = 0.300, p < 0.001; β = 0.230, p < 0.001; β = 0.226, p < 0.001), thus supporting Hypotheses 1, 2, and 3. When the incubating period is the moderator and dependence is the dependent variable, the addition of the interaction terms with the antecedents to the regression equation yielded a significant increase in R2 (F change = 2.789, p < 0.05). In particular, direct service and indirect service exert different effects on dependence. Hence, the results support Hypotheses 5 and 6. This study provides several strategies and specific calls to action for BICs, based on our empirical findings. Business infrastructure service has more effect on the firm's dependence than the other two services. The introduction of an additional high charge rate for a graduated but allowed to stay in the BIC is a basic and legitimate condition for the BIC to control the firm's dependence. We detected the differential effects of direct and indirect services on the firm's dependence. The firms with long incubating period are more sensitive to indirect service positively, and more sensitive to direct service negatively, when assessing their levels of dependence. This implies that BICs must develop a strategy on the basis of a firm's incubating period. Last but not least, it would be valuable to discover other important variables that influence the firm's dependence in the future studies. Moreover, future studies to explain the independence of startup companies in BICs would also be valuable.

The Policy of Win-Win Growth between Large and Small Enterprises : A South Korean Model (한국형 동반성장 정책의 방향과 과제)

  • Lee, Jang-Woo
    • Korean small business review
    • /
    • v.33 no.4
    • /
    • pp.77-93
    • /
    • 2011
  • Since 2000, the employment rate of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) has dwindled while the creation of new jobs and the emergence of healthy SMEs have been stagnant. The fundamental reason for these symptoms is that the economic structure is disadvantageous to SMEs. In particular, the greater gap between SMEs and large enterprises has resulted in polarization, and the resulting imbalance has become the largest obstacle to improving SMEs' competitiveness. For example, the total productivity has continued to drop, and the average productivity of SMEs is now merely 30% of that of large enterprises, and the average wage of SMEs' employees is only 53% of that of large enterprises. Along with polarization, rapid industrialization has also caused anti-enterprise consensus, the collapse of the middle class, hostility towards establishments, and other aftereffects. The general consensus is that unless these problems are solved, South Korea will not become an advanced country. Especially, South Korea is now facing issues that need urgent measures, such as the decline of its economic growth, the worsening distribution of profits, and the increased external volatility. Recognizing such negative trends, the MB administration proposed a win-win growth policy and recently introduced a new national value called "ecosystemic development." As the terms in such policy agenda are similar, however, the conceptual differences among such terms must first be fully understood. Therefore, in this study, the concepts of win-win growth policy and ecosystemic development, and the need for them, were surveyed, and their differences from and similarities with other policy concepts like win-win cooperation and symbiotic development were examined. Based on the results of the survey and examination, the study introduced a South Korean model of win-win growth, targeting the promotion of a sound balance between large enterprises and SMEs and an innovative ecosystem, and finally, proposing future policy tasks. Win-win growth is not an academic term but a policy term. Thus, it is less advisable to give a theoretical definition of it than to understand its concept based on its objective and method as a policy. The core of the MB administration's win-win growth policy is the creation of a partnership between key economic subjects such as large enterprises and SMEs based on each subject's differentiated capacity, and such economic subjects' joint promotion of growth opportunities. Its objective is to contribute to the establishment of an advanced capitalistic system by securing the sustainability of the South Korean economy. Such win-win growth policy includes three core concepts. The first concept, ecosystem, is that win-win growth should be understood from the viewpoint of an industrial ecosystem and should be pursued by overcoming the issues of specific enterprises. An enterprise is not an independent entity but a social entity, meaning it exists in relationship with the society (Drucker, 2011). The second concept, balance, points to the fact that an effort should be made to establish a systemic and social infrastructure for a healthy balance in the industry. The social system and infrastructure should be established in such a way as to create a balance between short- term needs and long-term sustainability, between freedom and responsibility, and between profitability and social obligations. Finally, the third concept is the behavioral change of economic entities. The win-win growth policy is not merely about simple transactional relationships or determining reasonable prices but more about the need for a behavior change on the part of economic entities, without which the objectives of the policy cannot be achieved. Various advanced countries have developed different win-win growth models based on their respective cultures and economic-development stages. Japan, whose culture is characterized by a relatively high level of group-centered trust, has developed a productivity improvement model based on such culture, whereas the U.S., which has a highly developed system of market capitalism, has developed a system that instigates or promotes market-oriented technological innovation. Unlike Japan or the U.S., Europe, a late starter, has not fully developed a trust-based culture or market capitalism and thus often uses a policy-led model based on which the government leads the improvement of productivity and promotes technological innovation. By modeling successful cases from these advanced countries, South Korea can establish its unique win-win growth system. For this, it needs to determine the method and tasks that suit its circumstances by examining the prerequisites for its success as well as the strengths and weaknesses of each advanced country. This paper proposes a South Korean model of win-win growth, whose objective is to upgrade the country's low-trust-level-based industrial structure, in which large enterprises and SMEs depend only on independent survival strategies, to a high-trust-level-based social ecosystem, in which large enterprises and SMEs develop a cooperative relationship as partners. Based on this objective, the model proposes the establishment of a sound balance of systems and infrastructure between large enterprises and SMEs, and to form a crenovative social ecosystem. The South Korean model of win-win growth consists of three axes: utilization of the South Koreans' potential, which creates community-oriented energy; fusion-style improvement of various control and self-regulated systems for establishing a high-trust-level-oriented social infrastructure; and behavioral change on the part of enterprises in terms of putting an end to their unfair business activities and promoting future-oriented cooperative relationships. This system will establish a dynamic industrial ecosystem that will generate creative energy and will thus contribute to the realization of a sustainable economy in the 21st century. The South Korean model of win-win growth should pursue community-based self-regulation, which promotes the power of efficiency and competition that is fundamentally being pursued by capitalism while at the same time seeking the value of society and community. Already existing in Korea's traditional roots, such objectives have become the bases of the Shinbaram culture, characterized by the South Koreans' spontaneity, creativity, and optimism. In the process of a community's gradual improvement of its rules and procedures, the trust among the community members increases, and the "social capital" that guarantees the successful control of shared resources can be established (Ostrom, 2010). This basic ideal can help reduce the gap between large enterprises and SMEs, alleviating the South Koreans' victim mentality in the face of competition and the open-door policy, and creating crenovative corporate competitiveness. The win-win growth policy emerged for the purpose of addressing the polarization and imbalance structure resulting from the evolution of 21st-century capitalism. It simultaneously pursues efficiency and fairness on one hand and economic and community values on the other, and aims to foster efficient interaction between the market and the government. This policy, however, is also evolving. The win-win growth policy can be considered an extension of the win-win cooperation that the past 'Participatory Government' promoted at the enterprise management level to the level of systems and culture. Also, the ecosystemic development agendum that has recently emerged is a further extension that has been presented as a national ideal of "a new development model that promotes the co-advancement of environmental conservation, growth, economic development, social integration, and national and individual development."

The Location of Medical Facilities and Its Inhabitants' Efficient Utilization in Kwangju City (광주시(光州市) 의료시설(醫療施設)의 입지(立地)와 주민(住民)의 효율적(效率的) 이용(利用))

  • Jeon, Kyung-Sook
    • Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
    • /
    • v.3 no.2
    • /
    • pp.163-193
    • /
    • 1997
  • Medical services are a fundamental and essential service in all urban areas. The location and accessibility of medical service facilities and institutions are critical to the diagnosis, control and prevention of illness and disease. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a study on the location of medical facilities in Kwangju and the utilization of these facilities by the inhabitants. The following information is a summary of the findings: (1) Korea, like many countries, is now witnessing an increase in the age of its population as a result of higher living standards and better medical services. Korea is also experiencing a rapid increase in health care costs. To ensure easy access to medical consultation, diagnosis and treatment by individuals, the hierarchical efficient location of medical facilities, low medical costs, equalized medical services, preventive medical care is important. (2) In Korea, the quality of medical services has improved significantly as evident by the increased number of medical facilities and medical personnel. However, there is still a need for not only quantitative improvements but also for a more equitable distribution of and location of medical services. (3) There are 503 medical facilities in Kwangju each with a need to service 2,556 people. This is below the national average of 1,498 inhabitants per facility. The higher locational quotient and satisfactory population per medical facility showed at the civic center. On the other hand, problem regions such as the traditional residential area in Buk-Gu, Moo-deung mountain area and the outer areas of west Kwangju still maintain rural characteristics. (4) In the study area there are 86 general medicine clinics which provide basic medical services. i. e. one clinic per every 14,949 residents. As a basic service, its higher locational quotient showed in the residential area. The lower population concentration per clinic was found in the civic center and in the former town center, Songjeong-dong. In recently build residential areas and in the civic center, the lack of general medicine clinics is not a serious medical services issue because of the surplus of medical specialists in Korea. People are inclined to seek a consultation with a specialist in specific fields rather than consult a general practitioner. As a result of this phenomenon, there are 81 internal medicine facilities. Of these, 32.1% provide services to people who are not referred by a primary care physician but who self-diagnose then choose a medical facility specializing in what they believe to be their health problem. Areas in the city, called dongs, without any internal facilities make up 50% of the total 101 dongs. (5) There are 78 surgical facilities within the area, and there is little difference at the locational appearance from internal medicine facilities. There are also 71 pediatric health clinics for people under 15 years of age in this area, represents one clinic per 5,063 people. On the quantitative aspect, this is a positive situation. Accessibility is the most important facility choice factor, so it should be evenly located in proportion to demander distribution. However, 61% of 102 dongs have no pediatric clinics because of the uneven location. (6) There are 43 obstetrical and gynecological clinics in Kwangju, and the number of residents being served per clinic is 15,063. These services need to be given regularly so it should increase the numbers. There are 37 ENT clinics in the study area with the lower concentration in Dong-gu (32.4%) making no locational differences by dong. There are 23 dermatology clinics with the largest concentration in Dong-Gu. There are 17 ophthalmic clinics concentrated in the residential area because of the primary function of this type of specialization. (7) The use of general medicine clinics, internal medicine clinics, pediatric clinics, ENT clinics by the inhabitants indicate a trend toward primary or routine medical services. Obstetrics and gynecology clinics are used on a regular basis. In choosing a general medicine clinic, internal medicine clinic, pediatric clinic, and a ENT clinic, accessibility is the key factor while choice of a general hospital, surgery clinic, or an obstetrics and gynecology clinic, thes faith and trust in the medical practitioner is the priority consideration. (8) I considered the efficient use of medical facilities in the aspect of locational and management and suggest the following: First, primary care facilities should be evenly distributed in every area. In Kwangju, the number of medical facilities is the lowest among the six largest cities in Korea. Moreover, they are concentrated in Dong-gu and in newly developed areas. The desired number of medical facilities should be within 30 minutes of each person's home. For regional development there is a need to develop a plan to balance, for example, taxes and funds supporting personnel, equipment and facilities. Secondly, medical services should be co-ordinated to ensure consistent, appropriate, quality services. Primary medical facilities should take charge of out-patient activities, and every effort should be made to standardize and equalize equipment and facility resources and to ensure ongoing development and training in the primary services field. A few specialty medical facilities and general hospitals should establish a priority service for incurable and terminally ill patients. (9) The management scheme for the inhabitants' efficient use of medical service is as follows: The first task is to efficiently manage medical facilities and related services. Higher quality of medical services can be accomplished within the rapidly changing medical environment. A network of social, administrative and medical organizations within an area should be established to promote information gathering and sharing strategies to better assist the community. Statistics and trends on the rate or occurrence of diseases, births, deaths, medical and environment conditions of the poor or estranged people should be maintained and monitored. The second task is to increase resources in the area of disease prevention and health promotion. Currently the focus is on the treatment and care of individuals with illness or disease. A strong emphasis should also be placed on promoting prevention of illness and injury within the community through not only public health offices but also via medical service facilities. Home medical care should be established and medical testing centers should be located as an ordinary service level. Also, reduced medical costs for the physically handicapped, cardiac patients, and mentally ill or handicapped patients should be considered.

  • PDF