• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.101-116
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• 2017

This study aimed to investigate the determinants of confidence in courtship and marriage, childbirth and parenting of the unmarried employed of the echo boomers born between 1982-1992, using data from the 19th wave of the nationwide Korea Labor and Income Panel Study. The differences of confidence in courtship, marriage, childbirth, and parenting of the echo boomers according to sociodemographic variables, psychosocial variables, workplace related variables were examined and multiple regression analysis was conducted in order to identify the factors that affect the confidence in courtship and marriage, childbirth and parenting. The results were as follows: The level of confidence in courtship and marriage, childbirth and parenting showed a statistically significant difference depending upon socioeconomic status and psychosocial variables. However, among the workplace related variables, other than childbirth and parenting within the job satisfaction category, all other variables showed a statistically significant difference. In addition, as the determining factors affecting all issues of courtship, marriage, childbirth, and parenting, youth perceptions of Korean society revealed to be the most influential factor, followed by social support and organizational commitment.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.29 no.2 s.53
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• pp.311-329
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• 1996

This study was designed to compare the level of medical utilization between the urban and rural areas of Korea and to explain the differences between the two regions. Data from the National Health Interview Survey performed by the Korean Institute of Health & Social Affairs in 1992 were used for this study utilizing a sample size of 21,841 people. The level of medical utilization such as the number of physician visits and the number of hospital admissions was compared between the regions with ANOVA. Various determinants for medical use were also compared by univariate analysis. Statistical models which included enabling factors, predisposing factors, need factors and region were constructed for bivariate analysis in order to further elucidate the level of medical utilization. The results were as follows: 1. There was greater medical use, both in terms of physician visits and inpatient care in the rural areas in spite of insufficient health resources. The particular reasons for higher medical utilization in rural areas were attributed to a higher number of initial physician visits as well as a longer the length of stay per hospital admission. Therefore, indicators representing the degree of met need (utilization/need) showed no significant difference between rural and urban areas in spite of the fact that the medical need is larger in rural areas. 2. Use of public health facilities received a significant portion of physician visits in the rural area. The government's effort to enhance primary health care through health centers, health subcenters and the nurse practitioner's post in rural areas has contributed to the increase of access to medical care in the rural areas. 3. There were some differences in the socio-demographic characteristics between two regions ; There were more elderly people over the age of 65: unstable marital status, less education and lower incomes also characterized the rural areas. Therefore, among rural people, there were more predisposing factors for medical use. Additionaly, need factors such as poor self-reported health status and high morbidity level were also high in the rural area. 4. In contrast it was learned that, the supply of health resources was mostly concentrated in the urban areas except for public health facilities. Therefore, geographical access to medical care was lower in the rural area both in terms travel time and travel cost. 5. The coefficient of the region variable was insignificant in the regression model which controlled the supply factor only. However, utilization was significantly higher in urban areas if the model included predisposing factors and need factors in addition to the supply factor. The results were interpreted as rural people have greater medical needs.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.7
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• pp.3163-3167
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• 2014

Background: Breast-conserving surgery (BCS) plus radiotherapy is equivalent to modified radical mastectomy (MRM) in terms of outcome. However there is wide variation in mastectomy rates dependent both on tumour and patient characteristics. Objective: This study aimed to assess the determinants of surgery choice in Asian patients with early breast cancer in a middle-income country. Materials and Methods: 184 patients with early breast cancer treated between Jan 2008 and Dec 2010 were recruited to complete a questionnaire. Chi-square test was used to analyze the association between surgery choice and demographic and tumour factors, surgeon recommendation, family member and partner opinions, fear of recurrence, avoidance of second surgery, fear of disfigurement, interference with sex life, fear of radiation and loss of femininity. Results: 85 (46%) had BCS while 99 (54%) had mastectomy. Age >60, Chinese ethnicity, lower education level, and larger tumour size were significantly associated with mastectomy. Surgeon recommendation was important in surgery choice. Although both groups did not place much importance on interference with sex life, 14.1% of the BCS group felt it was very important compared to 5.1% in the mastectomy group and this was statistically significant. There was no statistical difference between the two groups in terms of the other factors. When analyzed by ethnicity, significantly more Malay and Indian women considered partner and family member opinions very important and were more concerned about loss of femininity compared to Chinese women. There were no statistical differences between the three ethnic groups in terms of the other factors. Conclusions: When counseling on surgical options, the surgeon has to take into account the ethnicity, social background and education level, age and reliance on partner and family members. Decision-making is usually a collective effort rather than just between the patient and surgeon, and involving the whole family into the process early is important.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.12 no.10
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• pp.4359-4368
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• 2011

Among several macroeconomic missteps blamed for the recent global financial crisis including the social problems of income distribution and the lack of proper financial remedies, two of them have received particular attention: the global BOP(Balance of Payment) imbalance and the misguided monetary policy. Such BOP imbalance was blamed for massive foreign exchange investment flows from Asia into the U.S., triggering the financial and real estate bubble in America. The latter refers to the excessively loose monetary policy of the U.S. Federal Reserve, which pushed financial institutions and households into reckless investment behavior in search of higher returns. Given the abuse of certain innovative financial techniques and new investment instruments that have been created in recent decades, both collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) and credit default swaps (CDS) enjoyed a symbiotic and toxic relationship prior to the financial crisis This paper is organized as follows: The first section analyzes the real causes of the recent financial crisis. The second details the role of CDOs and CDS. Then, to identify key determinants of the CDS spreads in an emerging capital market, the sample data of major Korean firms' CDS spreads are used to estimate the risk premium by utilizing the multiple regression analysis. The empirical test result indicates that Korean 3-year treasury bond rate(TYIELD), market to book value ratio(MV/BV), and assets size(INASSETS) are shown to demonstrate statistically significant influences on the changes of the CDS premium for sample firms.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.369-383
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to investigate the determinants of intent to leave among IT industry employees, based on the Price's structural model of employee turnover. The sample used in this study were composed of 370 employees from 10 IT firms located in Seoul and Gyeonggi-Do. Data were collected with self-administered questionnaires and analyzed using structural equation modelling technique. This study found that four task reward variables(job variety, job autonomy, job challenge, and role ambiguity), two social reward variables (supervisory support and coworker support), three organizational reward variables(promotional chances, job security, and distributive justice) and one environmental variable(job opportunity), had significant effects on IT industry employees' intent to leave in terms of total effects and his directions of those significant effects were consistent with theoretical predictions; and that two mediating variables, job satisfaction and organizational commitment had the most important effects on IT industry employees' intent to leave in terms of total effects. The theoretical and practical implications of the research findings were discussed and the directions for future research were suggested.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.12 no.11
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• pp.338-357
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• 2012

This study investigated any possible financial attributes of the CDS spreads of a firm belonging to financial industries headquartered in the Republic of Korea. There were few studies on this issue, especially for the firms located in emerging capital markets. Coupled with the models such as a multiple regression and a principal component analysis(PCA), this research has identified that only two explanatory variables such as SLOPE and INTER3 (i.e. interaction effect between the BETA and the SLOPE) consistently showed their statistically significant influence on the CDS spreads through the 'selected' model without and with applying a stepwise regression procedure for the robustness. Given the rapid developments of sophisticated financial derivatives, this study may suggest a valuable insight to foreign and domestic investors to identify the possible determinants of CDS spreads at the firm- and/or the industry-level.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.41-52
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• 2015

Purpose - Given globalization, the new niche market of medical tourism is likely to experience sustainable growth for various reasons, such as aging populations and a shift in the medical consumerism paradigm toward prevention. Importantly, understanding medical customers' behavior is necessary to benefit from a competitive advantage in this industry. The existing research primarily accessed the key factors of medical quality and costs to explain health customers' behavior but is limited in terms of enabling an understanding of the decision process. This limitation exists because, given the intangibility and greater associated risks in the highly professional industry of international medical tourism, most customers lack the knowledge and experience needed to evaluate the central factors-such as the medical competence of health care countries-before purchases. Therefore, they actively search for useful information through various distributions to reduce uncertainty and to make better choices. Interestingly, most of these information channels are associated with word-of-mouth (WOM). However, no evidence is found in the literature to estimate the effect of WOM in the medical tourism field. Thus, this study focuses on WOM to explore its interaction with key medical characteristic factors and the attractiveness of destinations referred to by sources. This study also affects customers' evaluations and, in turn, influences their intention to seek health care services abroad. Research design, data, and methodology - The literature review addressed an interesting research model for estimating the relations among WOM, medical characteristics, attractiveness, and customers' choice intention regarding international health care. In the key economic regions in China, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Shandong, and Guangdong, 2,500 survey questionnaires were distributed to potential customers of different ages, education, and income levels. A resulting 1,717 (68.68 percent of the original 2,500) usable surveys were obtained for analysis. Moderated regression analysis was used to determine the effects of WOM in the decision process regarding international health care destinations. Results - The results indicate that WOM is a good moderator of the relationships between the factors evaluated by sources and customers. More importantly, the WOM effects reflect the factors of tie strength, credibility, and vividness. The results also reveal that, given the moderating role of WOM, the intention of potential Chinese customers to seek the referred health care country varies according to the medical characteristics of medical competency and reputation as evaluated by customers. In contrast, the travel attractiveness of the attractions, facilities, accessibility, and social environment are critical determinants of destination choice intention. Conclusions - The moderating role of WOM has been confirmed through the international healthcare destination selection process. Medical tourism managers should user WOM as an effective marketing tool for industry development. Specially, marketers should consider the effects of WOM determinants, such as tie strength, credibility, and vividness, to develop an effective strategy. Furthermore, this study estimates the factors that affect customers' selection of medical tourism destinations. Health care managers or policy makers should consider a broad variety of variables that may attract more Chinese customers to international health care.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.63-69
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• 2018

This study is to examine the determinants of the elderly poverty by using the Decision-tree analysis. In line with this perspective, this study includes individual characteristics, family characteristics, working characteristics, and periodic income characteristics after retirement as determinants for senior poverty. The study uses data from the Korean Retirement and Income Study based on panel survey and employs the Decision-tree analysis to explain the causes of the elderly poverty. As the result of analysis, earned wage has the greatest effect on the elderly poverty. Depending on status of the earned wage, there are 2 different variable groups. One with no earned wage includes public pension, education, and residence, paid employee and gender in the other with earned wage. Based on the analytical results, the study suggests measures to address the elderly poverty.

• Review of Culture and Economy
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.3-28
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• 2014

The characteristics of performing arts differ from those of utilitarian goods in terms of economics. Factors other than price need to be considered to understand the demand for performing arts. Audience surveys as well as econometric demand studies have confirmed that socio-economic factors such as age, income, employment, and education are major determinants of the demand for performing arts. This study focused on the attributes of concerts rather than consumer characteristics to determine the concerts audiences select in terms of transaction cost. Genre, price, internet search trends, and the purpose of performance as well as price are tested as determinants of demand by using the data set for a major concert hall in Seoul. Genre and the specific purpose of concerts influence the demand for concerts. Internet search trends of the performer are used as indicators of popularity and information exposure, which are positively correlated with demand. This result supports the hypothesis that larger audiences would attend concerts that require lower information search costs. To note, price has a positive effect on demand in the higher price range, which means that concerts at higher prices attract larger audiences, whereas normal goods have a negative slope in the demand curve. This result can be explained by the hypothesis that consumers use price as an indicator of the quality expected of a concert. Transaction cost for selecting classical concerts thus forms an inverse-U shape curve against ticket price. These results provide some explanation of why audiences of classical music choose to attend concerts at high ticket prices while offering evidence in favor of the hypothesis that performing arts are selected in a social context.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.133-157
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• 2012

This study analyzed plans for retirement by focusing on preferred retirement timing(PRT) measure. Current pension program show rather strong guideline about the timing of full-retirement. This study asked whether the middle age group are willing to retire correspond to the policy guidelines or not. Research sample came from 2008 KLOSA data, recruiting 1,367 workers who are residing in cities or in metropolitan area (women: 34.8%). I have analyzed one item question asking "In what age do you want to fully retire?", The results showed that, about two third of respondents declared they do not want to retire unless they have health problems, or would expect to retire no earlier than age 70. However, a third of respondents expected normal retirement coming between 60~64. Second, the determinants of timing for retirement were differ by PRT. Social determinants, such as gender, short work hours, being employed, and higher status in family income were associated with early PRT. While, good health status, positive view on the future economics were highly associated with late PRT. The results reveal that the timing of retirement is getting more diverse and obscure in the individual level.