The Impact of In-Home Services Utilization on the Institutionalization of Older People in Korea

As a result of aging populations, institutionalization of older people is creating an increasing financial burden in many countries. The purpose of the present study was to explore the impact of in-home service utilization on institutionalization. The subjects were newly certified as eligible for long-term care insurance between January and February 2009 in Korea. The follow-up period was 40 months, to April 2012. We used logistic regression models to identify factors influencing the transition to institutional service, adjusting for gender, age, living status, income level, activities of daily living, and chronic disease. The institutionalization rate was estimated to be 17.3% over 40 months. The interval from transitional living to institutionalization was 36 ± 8 months. Risk factors of transition to institutional services are being female, having advanced age, living with friends or cousins, getting dementia, and not using in-home services. We determined that institutionalization is mitigated by use of in-home services. Therefore, supplying appropriate in-home services to current nonusers would help to greatly reduce the rate of institutionalization of older people.     

A content analysis of BP's press releases dealing with crisis

This study aims to analyze what kinds of frames have been used in British Petroleum's (BP's) press releases, which dealt with the Gulf oil spill crisis that occurred in April 2010. A content analysis was conducted to explore the different frames used by BP in its press releases to deal with the crisis. The main and sub themes are also analyzed through a content analysis of press releases. This study attempts to examine BP's crisis communication strategy through press release usage by closely analyzing the frames and themes that were used. This study found that BP attempted to update the public on what the company was doing to resolve the oil spill crisis, and that they made every effort to manage the crisis by using the company's official update frame. In addition, by using the social responsibility frame, BP aimed to show the public that they had intentions of taking responsibility for the oil spill. Finally, BP used a minimal number of defensive frames as a way of showing the public that they did not want to flee from the responsibility of the oil spill crisis.     

Performative family: homosexuality,marriage and intergenerational dynamics in China

Using in‐depth interview data on nominal marriages – legal marriages between a gay man and a lesbian to give the appearance of heterosexuality – this paper develops the concept of performative family to explain the processes through which parents and their adult children negotiate and resolve disagreements in relation to marriage decisions in post‐socialist China. We identify three mechanisms – network pressure, a revised discourse of filial piety and resource leverage – through which parents influence their gay offspring's decision to turn to nominal marriage. We also delineate six strategies, namely minimizing network participation, changing expectations, making partial concessions, drawing the line, delaying decisions and ending the marriage, by which gay people in nominal marriages attempt to meet parental expectations while simultaneously retaining a degree of autonomy. Through these interactions, we argue that Chinese parents and their gay adult children implicitly and explicitly collaborate to perform family, emphasizing the importance of formally meeting society's expectations about marriage rather than substantively yielding to its demands. We also argue that the performative family is a pragmatic response to the tension between the persistent centrality of family and marriage and the rising tide of individualism in post‐socialist China. We believe that our findings highlight the specific predicament of homosexual people. They also shed light on the more general dynamics of intergenerational negotiation because there is evidence that the mechanisms used by parents to exert influence may well be similar between gay and non‐gay people.     

Distribution system choice in a service industry: An analysis of international insurance firms operating in the United States

Service firms play an increasingly important role in the global economy. However, the internationalization strategies of such firms, and especially their distribution system choices, have been underexplored in the international management literature. One specific service industry that has internationalized rapidly in recent years is the insurance industry. This paper examines the determinants and performance implications of the choice by international insurance firms between two rival distribution systems: direct writing and independent sales agents. Drawing on the transaction cost theory-based literature on resource commitment, control, and risk, we develop hypotheses on the determinants of the choice between these two distribution systems and on the performance implications of this choice for insurance firms. Analyzing a sample of 168 distribution entries into the United States by insurance firms from six foreign countries over the 1992–2000 period, we find that cultural distance has a U-shaped effect on the probability of direct writing, and that an insurer's intangible assets have a positive effect on this probability. We also find that the direct writing system performs better in terms of profitability, but that the independent agency system performs better in terms of market share growth.     

Analyzing Evacuation Versus Shelter‐in‐Place Strategies After a Terrorist Nuclear Detonation

We superimpose a radiation fallout model onto a traffic flow model to assess the evacuation versus shelter‐in‐place decisions after the daytime ground‐level detonation of a 10‐kt improvised nuclear device in Washington, DC. In our model, ≈80k people are killed by the prompt effects of blast, burn, and radiation. Of the ≈360k survivors without access to a vehicle, 42.6k would die if they immediately self‐evacuated on foot. Sheltering above ground would save several thousand of these lives and sheltering in a basement (or near the middle of a large building) would save of them. Among survivors of the prompt effects with access to a vehicle, the number of deaths depends on the fraction of people who shelter in a basement rather than self‐evacuate in their vehicle: 23.1k people die if 90% shelter in a basement and 54.6k die if 10% shelter. Sheltering above ground saves approximately half as many lives as sheltering in a basement. The details related to delayed (i.e., organized) evacuation, search and rescue, decontamination, and situational awareness (via, e.g., telecommunications) have very little impact on the number of casualties. Although antibiotics and transfusion support have the potential to save ≈10k lives (and the number of lives saved from medical care increases with the fraction of people who shelter in basements), the logistical challenge appears to be well beyond current response capabilities. Taken together, our results suggest that the government should initiate an aggressive outreach program to educate citizens and the private sector about the importance of sheltering in place in a basement for at least 12 hours after a terrorist nuclear detonation.     

Increasing Returns and Social Contagion in Cultural Industries

A formal definition of cultural industries is developed following four distinct features of cultural goods: (a) oversupply, (b) quality uncertainty, (c) network effects and (d) demand reversal. Drawing on economic and socio-psychological notions of ‘network’, increasing returns and social contagion effects are distinguished. Increasing returns may govern the adoption of standards when choices are binary, social contagion explains the diffusion of cultural goods when choices are multiple. Together, the four structural features delineating cultural industries account for curious competitive dynamics prevalent in cultural markets, such as the notorious 10 : 90 proportionality (under which 10% of cultural goods account for 90% of the market), causal ambiguity about the reasons for success, and the formation of fashions. Six managerial recommendations are advanced, focusing on a criticial circulation point triggering self-sustaining diffusion patterns. Finally ‘project-based enterprises’ and ‘network forms of governance’ are identified as the organizational forms most suited to the dynamics of the cultural markets.     

Ageing Society Issues in Korea*

Korean society is facing unprecedentedly higher population ageing, particularly in the first half of the 21st century. The implications of population ageing have a much wider effect than the welfare of the elderly. From a broader and long‐term perspective, understanding population ageing may require a new paradigm. Korea has attempted to model its policies for ageing society on those of advanced welfare states, but as these no longer seem viable, Korean policy‐makers are searching for more effective and efficient measures to deal with its rapid ageing population. Reflecting a broader and long‐term perspective, the Korean government recently produced a comprehensive national policy plan to deal with the consequences of rapid population ageing. This article outlines the phenomenon of population ageing in Korea and the recent development of national policies for population ageing, describing the Korean comprehensive national policy plan for responding to it and examining major issues and problems related to developing and implementing the plan. This article finally suggests a new, age‐integrated social system approach to an ageing society.     

Predictive factors of acculturation attitudes and social support among Asian immigrants in the USA

This study examines acculturation attitude and its relation to social support among Asian immigrants. The data were collected from 242 Korean, Indian and Filipino immigrants in the USA using the Acculturation Attitude Scale and the Social Support Index. Findings showed that Koreans had a less positive attitude toward acculturation than did Indian and Filipino participants. Acculturation attitude was positively correlated with educational level and English fluency. This study also found a negative correlation between acculturation attitude and social support. Social support from friends and English fluency were identified as significant predictor variables in determining the level of acculturation attitude. These findings not only contribute to social work education and practice, but also increase cultural sensitivity and awareness in working with these populations.     

Determinants of engagement in paid work following social security benefit receipt among older women

Work behavior among older men approaching or following retirement has received considerable research attention over the past two decades, but research on older women's work behavior is still in its incipient stage. Based on data from the 1982 New Beneficiary Survey (NBS) and the 1991 New Beneficiary Follow-up (NBF), this study analyzes the extent and determinants of employment among women who received their first Social Security benefits between 1980 and 1981. More than one fourth of the women continued to work or rejoined the labor force following their first Social Security benefit receipt. Financial need was found to be the primary reason for and the most significant determinant of women's continuing work or (re)entry into the labor force. But the level of education, health, spouse's work status, and previous work history were also found to be significant determinants of the likelihood and duration of their employment following Social Security receipt.