Key factors influencing the non-married, middle class, generation Y workers in Bangkok area to consider living in residential home after their retirement.

Abstract

Thailand has entered aging society and the number of people aged over 60 years old has been rising every year. Thai people traditionally live together as a big family but this lifestyle is changing especially in the big cities representing by the rising numbers of micro family and non-married people. The objectives of this study were to study the opinion of the non-married, middle class, generation Y workers in Bangkok towards their plan and place to live after their retirement and the key factors which influence them to consider living in residential home after retirement. Qualitative approach was conducted to explore the perception toward life after retirement and the factors which influenced the subjects to consider living in private residential home. Each subject was selected on purposive sampling approach. The in-depth, semi-structural interview was performed to individual subject on face-to-face basis. The data was coded and analyzed based on the content analysis method. The results were focused on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and service design theories. The data from 30 subjects were collected. Most subjects wanted to live at their own resident after retirement rather than living in residential home. Most subjects currently had neutral opinion toward nursing home even they understood the purpose and benefits of it. However, they might change their perceptions if the future project met their needs and had better image. To consider living in residential home in the future, the key factors were facility design, caregiver, pricing, safety and privacy. The subjects expected good caregiver, good facility, good social, good activities and safety. The provided activities should match their needs to promote participation and involvement. In subjects’ opinion, the most advantages of residential home were having people to spend time with, having caregiver, living in a good environment, being cared by expert, and not being a burden to their family. The most disadvantages were pricing, rules and policy, distance from family, social issues and possibly depression. This research offered important findings for managerial implications particularly for the business owner or service provider who interests to establish the residential home for retired workers in future. The major recommendations are; 1) The name, image and concept of the project should be carefully designed 2) Defining the right target group was very important for the success of business and 3) One of the most subjects’ concerns was about neighbors and community in residential home so the business owner should beware on this.