• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.249-277
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• 2019

This study examined the involuntary retirement of executives in conglomerates based on Williams' need-threat temporal model of ostracism(2009), which explains the psychology of individuals facing social exclusion in the stages of reflexive, reflective and resignation. In-depth interviews were conducted on 15 retirees from conglomerates, and their contents were used for phenomenological method of analysis. As a result, in the reflexive stage of need-threat temporal model of ostracism, they experienced cognitive panic and emotional panic immediately following retirement. Due to an unexpected shocking experience of retirement notice, they experienced cognitive numbness first, and repressed the following negative feelings cognitively to hide them. In the reflective stage, retirees dream of 'a complete restoration to their best performance in the past', but as such expectation fails, they don't adjust to the reality more due to 'unrealistic thought', 'self-deception', and 'shift responsibility'. In resignation stage, a long-term failure to satisfy the desire led them to experience a sense of defeat and helplessness. Such results were reviewed and compared to Williams' need-threat temporal model of ostracism, and the implications of such result on the nation, companies and retirees in terms of the response to retirement.