• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.1-26
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• 2022

With the spread of social networks, platform-based social commerce has grown rapidly with the use of multiple smart devices. Given the rapid growth of social commerce sites such as Coupang and Ticket Monster, it is very important to understand the user's purchase decision-making process in a social commerce environment. The purpose of this study is to develop a richer understanding of the goals of users using social commerce. Second, a methodological alternative for analyzing the user's goals is introduced. In this study, laddering interview and means-end chain analysis were used. As a result of interview conducted on 40 users who have more than 6 months of purchasing experience using social commerce, a hierarchical goal map showing the user's goal structure was derived. This map contains 22 ultimate goals of social commerce, including warm relationships with others, fun and enjoyment of shopping, accomplishment, satisfaction, financial saving, and convenience. In addition, there are various paths from activities to ultimate goals, so investigating the goals pursued by users can give us insight into understanding user.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.131-140
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• 2013

Assuming that roles of traditional mass media are also shown in Twitter services, the study aims at exploring Twitter users' motives and rationales in re-tweet behavior. Based on the laddering interview method, the study gathers data on (1) message attributes (what kinds of messages do you re-tweet?); (2) consequences (what kinds of consequences are you expecting when you re-tweet?); and (3) values (what are the ultimate values in your re-tweet behavior?). The most repetitive value occurring in participants' retweet was feeling "sympathy" and "sharing" rationales. For such rationales, participants oftentimes utilize messages with "agenda" and "information" that are relative to themselves. Messages with "helping" to help others also frequently showed up in their retweet rationales. Known as liberalists' rationales, "communal consciousness", and "calling for others' action" are also shown, but not as frequent as "feeling sympathy and sharing. A total of 48 items from the analyses were used in a subsequent study as variables to identify factors (dimensions) of retweet motivation.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.67
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• pp.209-240
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• 2014

This study observes reporters' awareness on the use of social media and their Core Values by using the Theory of Means-End Chain and drawing conclusions from a Hierarchical Value Map (HVM). In order to analyze reporters' knowledge and awareness on the use of social media via the laddering method, in-depth interviews of 46 reporters were conducted. The study showed that reporters consider sense of kinship, well-balanced understanding, and the desire for knowledge to be important Core Values. The results revealed that the convenience in interpersonal communication, development of intimacy in relationships, entertainment and affection, curiosity, the reduction in the cost of the acquisition of information, understanding of trends in issues, a peek into new information and the maintenance of interests, psychological dependability, and quick updates on information items are considered important Consequences of social media. In the Attributes level, the ability to write postings and links on Facebook and readability and 'follow' and 'mention' features on Twitter were confirmed to be important items in social media. The findings infer that reporters that make use of social media use Twitter and Facebook to build a sense of kinship with other users and gain well-balanced understanding by accessing a lot of information through social media. While this study examined the level of reporters' familiarity with the use of social media via the laddering method, the results cannot be seen as a generalization, as the interviewees were reporters from only the major news organizations.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.1006-1016
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• 2013

This study seeks to identify the Entertainment tourist's pursuit values using means-ends chain theory. Data collection for this study is from July to October, 2012 in Jeju island. The procedure, Soft Laddering involves a series of one-on-one deep interviews with tourists who enjoyed performance arts. To carry out this study, first of all, contents analysis was employed to interview results. Second, Implication Matrix was made by contents analysis which showed direct and indirect relations. Finally, HVM was mapped for value systems. The results showed that Entertainment tourist's pursuit values were classified resulting in three values: Aesthetics, Communication with others, Pleasure. Especially in entertainment tourism, the major attributes was fun; the consequences was sensorial pleasure; the ultimate pursuit values was pleasure. These results support that entertainment tourists is homo ludens and entertainment tourism's marketer should concentrate on story-watching than story-telling.

• Journal of Korea Entertainment Industry Association
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.89-99
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• 2021

A brand community refers to a group of people who have a passion and loyalty for the brand, and is attracting attention as an effective marketing strategy to increase brand equity because it actively tends to support and promote the brand without expecting compensation. The objective of this study is to identify factors that are needed for sustainable brand community management. Existing studies on brand community management have mainly been conducted by quantitative methods measuring consumer satisfaction and dissatisfaction towards brand community activities, however, this study applied qualitative methods using means-end chains and laddering approaches in order to deeply identify a consumer's desired value on brand community activities. An in-depth interview of 41 members of BTS ARMY, a representative example of brand community, has been conducted and analyzed. The result of this study is as follows. In order to encourage active brand community activities, it is important to provide brand community members with a variety of high-quality brand-related content for a unique aesthetic experience, and a forum where all members can interact and exchange information and ideas to enhance brand value and experience. Finally, to nurture a strong brand community as a partner to co-create brand equity, rather than just a fan community, it is needed to build an environment that fosters opportunities for brand community members to increase self-respect and fulfillment through their brand community activities.