Submitted:
14 November 2024
Posted:
14 November 2024
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Abstract
Study examines the relationships among social capital, residential satisfaction, and attitudes to-ward disadvantaged groups in South Korea, with a focus on the moderating effects of educational and employment vulnerability. Using data from the 2022 Seoul Survey, which included a sample of 39,340 individuals, the analysis employed Hayes’ Process Macro to assess both mediation and moderated mediation effects. The results indicate that social capital significantly enhances resi-dential satisfaction, which in turn positively influences attitudes toward disadvantaged groups. Notably, the effects of residential satisfaction on attitudes were stronger for individuals who were educationally and employment-vulnerable, highlighting the amplified role of housing conditions in shaping social attitudes for these groups. These findings underscore the importance of en-hancing social capital and implementing targeted housing policies for vulnerable populations. Policy recommendations include integrating social capital-building initiatives with urban plan-ning strategies and addressing the specific needs of vulnerable groups through tailored housing interventions to foster social cohesion and inclusivity. Future research should explore other di-mensions of vulnerability and utilize longitudinal data to assess long-term impacts.
Keywords:
1. Introduction
2. Review of Literature
2.1. Definition and Influencing Factors of Attitudes Toward Socially Disadvantaged Groups
2.2. Relationship Between Social Capital and Residential Environment

2.3. Study Contributions
3. Materials and Methods
3.1. Data
3.1.1. Data Sources and Variables
3.1.2. Housing Environment Satisfaction
3.1.3. Social Capital
3.2. Analytic Methods
4. Results
4.1. Descriptive Statistics
4.2. Mediation Analysis: Housing Satisfaction as a Mediator
4.3. Moderation of Vulnerability Groups in the Mediation Process
4.4. Moderated Mediation Effect of Employment Vulnerability
4.5. Moderated Mediation Effect of Employment Income Vulnerability
5. Discussion
6. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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| Variable Name | Measurement Method | |
|---|---|---|
| Independent variable: Social capital | Institutional trust | 1. No trust at all 2. Little trust 3. Moderate trust 4. Some trust 5. High trust |
| Fairness | 1. Not fair at all 2. Little fair 3. Moderately fair 4. Somewhat fair 5. Very fair |
|
| Social integration perception |
1. Completely disagree 2. Somewhat disagree 3. Neutral 4. Somewhat agree 5. Completely agree |
|
| Dependent variable: Housing Environment satisfaction |
Safety | 1. Not serious at all 2. Little serious 3. Moderately serious 4. Somewhat serious 5. Very serious |
| Transportation | 1. Very dissatisfied 2. Somewhat dissatisfied 3. Neutral 4. Somewhat satisfied 5. Very satisfied 9. Not applicable |
|
| Pedestrian environment | 1. Very dissatisfied 2. Somewhat dissatisfied 3. Neutral 4. Somewhat satisfied 5. Very satisfied |
|
| Educational environment | 1. Very dissatisfied 2. Somewhat dissatisfied 3. Neutral 4. Somewhat satisfied 5. Very satisfied 9. Not applicable |
|
| Green environment | 1. Very dissatisfied 2. Somewhat dissatisfied 3. Neutral 4. Somewhat satisfied 5. Very satisfied |
|
| Housing | 1. Not at all 2. Not much 3. Moderate 4. Somewhat 5. Very much |
|
| Culture and leisure | 1. Very dissatisfied 2. Somewhat dissatisfied 3. Neutral 4. Somewhat satisfied 5. Very satisfied |
|
| Dependent variable: Attitudes toward vulnerable populations |
1. Completely disagree 2. Somewhat disagree 3. Neutral 4. Somewhat agree 5. Completely agree |
|
| Moderating variable: Vulnerable population |
Education (1-5) Employment type (2-4, 6-7) Pre-tax monthly average income (1-4) |
|
| Variable | Category | N | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Education | No education | 113 | 0.3 |
| Elementary school | 1,434 | 3.6 | |
| Middle school | 2,531 | 6.4 | |
| High school | 14,236 | 36.2 | |
| Vocational school | 8,061 | 20.5 | |
| College | 12,620 | 32.1 | |
| Graduate school | 345 | 0.9 | |
| Employment type | Regular temporary worker | 16,502 | 41.9 |
| Temporary wage worker | 3,388 | 8.6 | |
| Day labor wage worker | 570 | 1.4 | |
| Special employment worker | 221 | 0.6 | |
| Self-employed with employees | 1,543 | 3.9 | |
| Self-employed without employees | 3,512 | 8.9 | |
| Unpaid family worker | 329 | 0.8 | |
| Not applicable | 13,275 | 33.7 | |
| Monthly Pre-tax labor income | Less than €83 | 582 | 1.5 |
| €83-€167 | 2,380 | 6.0 | |
| €167-€250 | 8,715 | 22.2 | |
| €250-€333 | 8,692 | 22.1 | |
| €333-€417 | 3,547 | 9.0 | |
| More than €417 | 2,149 | 5.5 | |
| Not applicable | 13,275 | 33.7 | |
| Total | 39,340 | 100.0 | |
| Variable | Mean | StandardDeviation | Skewness | Kurtosis | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Social capital | 3.14 | 0.44 | -0.42 | 0.72 | |
| Housing environment satisfaction | 3.31 | 0.41 | -0.37 | 1.06 | |
| Attitudes toward vulnerable populations | 3.21 | 0.58 | -0.30 | 0.37 | |
| Variable | Social Capital | Housing Environment Satisfaction | Attitudes towardVulnerable Populations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social capital | 1 | ||
| Housing environment satisfaction | .556*** | 1 | |
| Attitudes toward vulnerable populations | .411*** | .347*** | 1 |
| Model | DV | IV | B | SE | Β | T | p | F(R2) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Housing environment satisfaction | Social capital | 0.518 | 0.004 | .557 | 132.836*** | < .001 | 17645.393*** (.310) |
| 2 | Attitudes toward vulnerable populations | Social capital | 0.537 | 0.006 | .411 | 89.457*** | < .001 | 8002.571*** (.172) |
| 3 | Attitudes toward vulnerable populations | Social capital | 0.412 | 0.007 | .316 | 57.753*** | < .001 | 4596.371*** (.189) |
| Housing environment satisfaction | 0.241 | 0.008 | .172 | 31.451*** | < .001 |
| Model | DV | IV | B | SE | t | p | F(R2) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Residential environment satisfaction | social capital | 0.518 | 0.004 | 132.836*** | <.001 | 17645.393*** (.310) |
| 2 | attitudes toward vulnerable populations | social capital | 0.412 | 0.007 | 57.784*** | <.001 | 2308.183*** (.190) |
| Residential environment satisfaction | 0.222 | 0.012 | 18.577*** | <.001 | |||
| Educational Disadvantaged Group | -0.029 | 0.006 | -5.211*** | <.001 | |||
| Housing Environment Satisfaction & Educational Disadvantaged Groups | 0.030 | 0.014 | 2.221* | .026 |
| Model | DV | IV | B | SE | t | p | F(R2) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Residential environment satisfaction | social capital | 0.518 | 0.004 | 132.836*** | <.001 | 17645.393*** (.310) |
| 2 | attitudes toward vulnerable populations | social capital | 0.412 | 0.007 | 57.784*** | <.001 | 2308.183*** (.190) |
| Residential environment satisfaction | 0.222 | 0.012 | 18.577*** | <.001 | |||
| Educationally Vulnerable Groups | -0.029 | 0.006 | -5.211*** | <.001 | |||
| residential environment satisfaction & educationally disadvantaged groups | 0.030 | 0.014 | 2.221* | .026 | |||
| Note. * p<.05 ** p<.01 *** p<.001. | |||||||
| Education | B | S.E. | t | 95% CI | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LLCI | ULCI | ||||
| Non-vulnerable groups | 0.222 | 0.012 | 18.577 | 0.199 | 0.246 |
| Vulnerable groups | 0.252 | 0.009 | 28.577 | 0.235 | 0.270 |
| B | S.E. | 95% CI | |
|---|---|---|---|
| LLCI | ULCI | ||
| 0.016 | 0.008 | 0.000 | 0.031 |
| Model | DV | IV | B | SE | t | p | F(R2) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Residential environment satisfaction | social capital | 0.522 | 0.005 | 110.730*** | <.001 | 12261.163*** (.320) |
| 2 | attitudes toward vulnerable populations | social capital | 0.417 | 0.009 | 48.718*** | <.001 | 1638.102*** (.201) |
| Residential environment satisfaction | 0.249 | 0.011 | 23.358*** | <.001 | |||
| Employment-vulnerable groups | -0.058 | 0.007 | -8.420*** | <.001 | |||
| Residential environment satisfaction & employment-vulnerable groups | -0.050 | 0.017 | -2.952** | .003 |
| Employment Status | B | S.E. | t | 95% CI | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LLCI | ULCI | ||||
| Non-vulnerable groups | 0.249 | 0.011 | 23.358 | 0.228 | 0.270 |
| Vulnerable groups | 0.199 | 0.015 | 13.360 | 0.170 | 0.228 |
| B | S.E. | 95% CI | |
|---|---|---|---|
| LLCI | ULCI | ||
| -0.026 | 0.010 | -0.046 | -0.007 |
| Model | DV | IV | B | SE | t | p | F(R2) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Residential environment satisfaction | social capital | 0.522 | 0.005 | 110.730*** | <.001 | 12261.163*** (.320) |
| 2 | attitudes toward vulnerable populations | social capital | 0.421 | 0.009 | 49.111*** | <.001 | 1638.102*** (.201) |
| Residential environment satisfaction |
0.235 | 0.010 | 24.173*** | <.001 | |||
| income-vulnerable groups | 0.011 | 0.010 | 1.064 | .287 | |||
| residential environment satisfaction & income-vulnerable groups | -0.066 | 0.024 | -2.686** | .007 |
| Earned Income | B | S.E. | t | 95% CI | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LLCI | ULCI | ||||
| Non-vulnerable groups | 0.235 | 0.010 | 24.173 | 0.216 | 0.254 |
| Vulnerable groups | 0.169 | 0.023 | 7.227 | 0.123 | 0.215 |
| B | S.E. | 95% CI | |
|---|---|---|---|
| LLCI | ULCI | ||
| -0.034 | 0.015 | -0.064 | -0.006 |
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