Investigating determinants of quality of life: The case of older people in Ho Chi Minh City

This study was conducted to investigate the factors affecting the quality of life in terms of the health of the elderly in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam. Health production theory was used to form the analytical framework for the study. The data set of 300 surveyed elderly people, which was randomly drawn from the list of 841,000 older people in HCMC by Excel random function, was used for quantitative analysis, including Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and linear regression. Research results show that gender and marital status are not statistically significant while education, employment, bonding, bridging, and linking social capital statistically significant impact on the quality of life of the elderly. Specifically, the level of education improves the quality of life while employment reduces the quality of life. This finding is an important implication for policies related to the retirement age of employees. The research results have also provided empirical evidence on the potential of social capital, a resource existing in the network of relationships, in improving the quality of life besides other traditional resources. This finding is an important basis for policymakers in mobilizing social capital resources in the context of resource scarcity.