scholarly journals Gender, work and care in policy and practice: Working mothers’ experience of intergenerational exchange of care in South Korea

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 589-608
Author(s):  
Sirin Sung

This article aims to uncover working mothers’ experiences in relation to intergenerational exchange of care and support in South Korea. It examines the impact of Confucian gender ideology on the operation of intergenerational reciprocity within the Korean family. Increasing numbers of working mothers make intergenerational exchange of care between working mothers and their family members an important issue. Although studies have focused on the importance of the Confucian virtue of filial piety in intergenerational support, little research has explored the influence of Confucian gender ideology on working mothers’ experiences of intergenerational exchange from a gender perspective. This article aims to fill this research gap by exploring the experiences of Korean working mothers in the intergenerational exchange of care. It draws on qualitative semi-structured interviews with 30 married women in paid employment in Seoul, Korea, carried out in 2014. This article argues that traditional gender expectations of married women’s responsibility for parents-in-law persist regarding intergenerational reciprocity, despite recent development of policies for care.

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (18) ◽  
pp. 5005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chongryol Park ◽  
Ronald McQuaid ◽  
Jiwoon Lee ◽  
Seungjin Kim ◽  
Insuk Lee

This study aims to explore what factors are critically associated with job retention in Engineering and Information Technology small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in South Korea, and how employers think about staff retention policy in relation to business growth. This contrasts with previous studies that mainly focus on employee motivation, job retention, and turnover. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted face-to-face with founder Chief Executive Officers (CEOs). The results suggest that an important factor influencing job retention policies of these SMEs was to motivate employees to make greater voluntary effort, including through developing a collaborative organizational culture, rather than solely offering them additional financial rewards or using other Human Resource Management (HRM) practices to improve individual performances. Interviewees believed that job retention and business growth were closely related, and they discussed various ways of eliciting emotional commitment from employees. Unlike research on larger firms, these suggestions did not involve immediate financial rewards. How employers thought that the roles played by employees strongly influenced their firm’s productivity and competitiveness. This study suggests SME employers adjust their retention policy specifically to improve their firm’s survival and long-term growth.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuang Liu

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide an exploratory understanding of the impact of social support on job stress of shift working mothers in Macao casinos.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative research method was adopted in this study. A snowball sampling strategy was used to recruit participants, and in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted on participants from different casinos of six Macao gaming operators.FindingsThe paper found out that emotional and instrumental supports from families and friends are the most important social support for shift working mothers to cope with their job stress in casinos.Research limitations/implicationsA qualitative method may lead to a misinterpretation or ignorance of key information due to the researcher bias. The snowball sampling strategy may lead to a biased sample which may not represent the entire population.Originality/valueThe understanding of what types of social support that shift working mothers appreciate and need the most may provide managerial implications for casino operators for a better support to their female employees.


2014 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 402-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thilakshi Kodagoda

Purpose – This purpose of this paper is to examine how working mothers understand childcare practices and perception on existing childcare centres in a different social context like Sri Lanka. Design/methodology/approach – A thematic analysis approach is used to analyse mothers’ narratives, drawn from in-depth qualitative interviews, along with data from some representative secondary sources. Findings – The paper considers women professional and managerial employees in Sri Lanka, and demonstrates that working mothers use diverse childcare arrangements to harmonise their work and family life, strongly believing their own mother as the best caregiver for their small children. Research limitations/implications – This study represented only middle-class mothers, therefore the research suggested that different mothers (professional and managerial) take their decisions differently. Based on this argument, it can be expected that mothers of different occupations are more likely to take different decisions as they believe what is “right and proper”. Thus, extensive research is warranted. Practical implications – This paper discusses the implications while extending the geographical scope of the literature on mothers’ gender ideology on childcare and existing practices in childcare centres. Social implications – State and private organizations should consider investments in childcare support and other flexible work options so that women continue to remain in their careers. Originality/value – The paper extends the geographical scope of the literature on mothers’ gender ideology on childcare and existing practices in childcare centres. This would be the first research article directly focused on the impact of working mothers’ gender ideologies on childcare and perception on existing childcare centres in Sri Lanka. Thus, the present study provides a number of new research avenues for future researchers to use.


Author(s):  
Chongryol Park ◽  
Ronald McQuaid ◽  
Jiwoon Lee ◽  
Seungjin Kim ◽  
Insuk Lee

This study investigates aspects of job retention and business growth in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It examines how employers think about retention policy in relation to business growth, in contrast to previous studies’ main focus on employee motivation, job retention, and turnover. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted face-to-face with Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of Engineering and Informational Technology SMEs in South Korea. The results show that an important factor influencing job retention policies of SMEs is the motivation of employees to make voluntary effort, rather than offering them additional financial rewards or using other Human Resource Management (HRM) practices to improve individual performances. Interviewees believed that job retention and business growth are closely related and they discussed various ways of eliciting emotional contributions from employees. Unlike research on larger firms, these suggestions did not involve financial rewards. How employers think about the roles played by employees strongly influences their firm’s productivity and competitiveness. The SME CEOs examined in this study considered this issue central to their firm’s survival and growth. This study suggests SME employers adjust their retention policy correspondingly.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 51-74
Author(s):  
Fonteh Athanasius Amungwa

This paper examines the impact of community education and challenges facing Centres for Education and Community Action as a rural development strategy in Cameroon. The study was conducted in the North-West Region of Cameroon, employing field observations, semi-structured interviews with key informants using a convenient sampling technique and through elaborate review of documents. These research instruments were blended into what is termed triangulation and the data collected was analysed descriptively. The main focus of qualitative analysis is to understand the ways in which people act and the accounts that people give for their actions. This paper posits that extreme dependence on the provision of Western formal education cannot solve the problems of a rapidly changing society like Cameroon, which is facing a long-term economic crisis and persistent unemployment issues of graduates. Consequently, education should be redefined in the context of the prevailing economic crisis to make it responsive to the aspirations of rural communities. Findings showed that community education had contributed towards rural development immensely but has suffered many challenges due to neglect of the field in the policy agenda. This paper recommends the integration of community education with formal education to facilitate group and community betterment in particular and rural transformation in general.


2018 ◽  
Vol 68 (suppl 1) ◽  
pp. bjgp18X696929
Author(s):  
Jill Mitchell

BackgroundThere is an emerging debate that general practice in its current format is out-dated and there is a requirement to move to a federated model of provision where groups of Practices come together. The emergence of federations has developed over the past 5 years but the factors that influence how federations develop and the impact of this new model is an under researched area.AimThe study explored the rationale around why a group of independent GP practices opted to pursue an alternative business venture and the benefits that this strategy offered.MethodA single organisational case study of a federation in the North of England was conducted between 2011–2016. Mixed methods data collection included individual and group semi-structured interviews and quantitative surveys.ResultsFederations promote collaborative working, relying on strategic coherence of multiple individual GP practices through a shared vision and common purpose. Findings revealed many complexities in implementing a common strategy across multiple independent businesses. The ability of the federation to gain legitimacy was two dimensional – externally and internally. The venture had mixed successes, but their approach to quality improvement proved innovative and demonstrated outcomes on a population basis. The study identified significant pressures that practices were experiencing and the need to seek alternative ways of working but there was no shared vision or inclination to relinquish individual practice autonomy.ConclusionOrganisational development support is critical to reform General Practice. Whether central funding through the GP Five Year Forward View will achieve the scale of change required is yet to be evidenced.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
R. Varisa Patraporn

Khmer Girl’s in Action is a nonprofit that successfully utilizes community-based participatory research (CBPR) with university partners to create social change for youth in Long Beach, CA. Based on semi-structured interviews and content analysis of news articles, I explore the impact and sustainability of this research work and the research partnerships. Findings highlight impacts such as youth empowerment, heightened awareness around community needs, policy change, and CBPR curriculum improvements in the field as impacts. Sustainability requires integrating research into program funding, utilizing a tailored training curriculum, building on community members prior relationships, and selecting partners that share common goals, levels of commitment, and flexibility. As funders demand more data to justify community needs, understanding more examples of such work in the Asian American community will be useful for informing future partnerships.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (17) ◽  
pp. 1195-1204
Author(s):  
Florence D Mowlem ◽  
Brad Sanderson ◽  
Jill V Platko ◽  
Bill Byrom

Aim: To understand the impact of anticancer treatment on oncology patients’ ability to use electronic solutions for completing patient-reported outcomes (ePRO). Materials & methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven individuals who had experienced a cancer diagnosis and treatment. Results: Participants reported that the following would impact the ability to interact with an ePRO solution: peripheral neuropathy of the hands (4/7), fatigue and/or concentration and memory issues (6/7), where they are in a treatment cycle (5/7). Approaches to improve usability included: larger, well-spaced buttons to deal with finger numbness, the ability to pause a survey and complete at a later point and presenting the recall period with every question to reduce reliance on memory. Conclusion: Symptoms associated with cancers and anticancer treatments can impact the use of technologies. The recommendations for optimizing the electronic implementation of patient-reported outcome instruments in this population provides the potential to improve data quality in oncology trials and places patient needs at the forefront to ensure ‘fit-for-purpose’ solutions.


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