The Korea Local Administration Review

Since 2011, OECD has released the Better Life Index (BLI) as an integrated framework for measuring and comparing the quality of life in different countries. In the case of Korea, the community index, which is identified as the quality of support network, is ranked at the bottom. Theoretically, social support network can be discussed in line with the concept of social capital. Several studies on social capital emphasize that social capital itself has a multi-dimensional characteristic and needs to be comprehensively approached through various policy areas in a collaborative manner. Then, what is the current status of social support networks in Korea and what are the effects of various public policy sectors on the formation and development of social support networks? This study aims to briefly review the current status of social support networks and to analyze the influencing factors of several public policy areas that affect social support networks.
First of all, the paper overviews theoretical discussions about the quality of life, social capital, and social support network, by which it draws some implications for the direction of public policy. Using the Seoul Survey Data (2017), then, the effects of various factors (individual level, public policy areas, and local socio-economic level) are analyzed through logit analysis. From the results, the level of social participation is found to have the largest effect on social support network. The other policy areas are also confirmed to have the positively significant influences to social support network in the order of cultural and welfare policy, walking and local living environment, and local safety. In short, local projects based on the participation of local residents, such as community-building, can be considered to have the greatest impact on the improvement of the social support network indicator. At the same time, public policies that focus on the local cultural and welfare environments, as well as pedestrian and residential environments can be effective in improving the social support network indicator. Finally, this study argues that the activation of social support network should be understood as a comprehensive outcome that can be achieved when various public policy areas collaborate together under the long-term strategies at the national level.