• (The) Research of the performance art and culture
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• no.41
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• pp.5-38
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• 2020

The current state of performance halls in South Korea is closely related to the performance art and culture of the nation as the culture of putting on and enjoying a performance is deeply rooted in public culture and arts halls representing each area at the local government level. Today, public culture and arts halls have multiple management purposes, and the subjects of their management are in the public domain including the central and local governments or investment and donation foundations in overwhelming cases. Public culture and arts halls thus have close correlations with the institutional aspect of cultural policies as the objects of culture and art policies at the central and local government level. The full-blown era of public culture and arts halls opened up in the 1980s~1990s, during which multi-purpose performance halls of a similar structure became universal around the nation. Public culture and arts halls of the uniform shape were distributed around the nation with no premise of genre characteristics or local environments for arts, and this was attributed to the cultural policies of the military regime. The Park Chung-hee regime proclaimed Yusin that was beyond the Constitution and enacted the Culture and Arts Promotion Act(September, 1972), which was the first culture and arts act in the nation. Based on the act, a five-year plan for the promotion of culture and arts(1973) was made and led to the construction of cultural facilities. "Public culture and arts" halls or "culture" halls were built to serve multiple purposes around the nation because the Culture and Arts Promotion Act, which is called the starting point of the nation's legal system for culture and arts, defined "culture and arts" as "matters regarding literature, art, music, entertainment, and publications." The definition became a ground for the current "multi-purpose" concept. The organization of Ministry of Culture and Public Information set up a culture and administration system to state its supervision of "culture and arts" and distinguish popular culture from the promotion of arts. During the period, former President Park exhibited his perception of "culture=arts=culture and arts" in his speeches. Arts belonged to the category of culture, but it was considered as "culture and arts." There was no department devoted to arts policies when the act was enacted with a broad scope of culture accepted. This ambiguity worked as a mechanism to mobilize arts in ideological utilizations as a policy. Against this backdrop, the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, a multi-purpose performance hall, was established in 1978 based on the Culture and Arts Promotion Act under the supervision of Ministry of Culture and Public Information. There were, however, conflicts of value over the issue of accepting the popular music among the "culture and arts = multiple purposes" of the system, "culture ≠ arts" of the cultural organization that pushed forward its establishment, and "culture and arts = arts" perceived by the powerful class. The new military regime seized power after Coup d'état of December 12, 1979 and failed at its culture policy of bringing the resistance force within the system. It tried to differentiate itself from the Park regime by converting the perception into "expansion of opportunities for the people to enjoy culture" to gain people's supports both from the side of resistance and that of support. For the Chun Doo-hwan regime, differentiating itself from the previous regime was to secure legitimacy. Expansion of opportunities to enjoy culture was pushed forward at the level of national distribution. This approach thus failed to settle down as a long-term policy of arts development, and the military regime tried to secure its legitimacy through the symbolism of hardware. During the period, the institutional ground for public culture and arts halls was based on the definition of "culture and arts" in the Culture and Arts Promotion Act enacted under the Yusin system of the Park regime. The "multi-purpose" concept, which was the management goal of public performance halls, was born based on this. In this context of the times, proscenium performance halls of a similar structure and public culture and arts halls with a similar management goal were established around the nation, leading to today's performance art and culture in the nation.

• (The) Research of the performance art and culture
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• no.22
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• pp.185-221
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• 2011

This study overseas compatriots in the North during the propagation and development of dance patterns and was going to be based, people living outside of the dance culture as a group of overseas Koreans, especially dance culture of Koreans in Japan, China are interested in and thought about the necessity of the study. Issues discussed in the literature of research results, autonomous community of Koreans in Japan ethnic Koreans and Chinese dance culture dance Choi Seung-hee starting point common was, two ethnic groups, directly or indirectly from the Choi Seung-hee learn to dance or have received specialized training to work, compiled by Choi Seung-hee Korea on the basis of basic dance training was learning the dance. In addition, specialized training and dance training institutions in the North Koreans in Japan Social Dance Group for the system, such as dance training in a separate place where talented people through the exhaust, to act in a professional troupes have maintained a system. In contrast, Chinese ethnic Koreans in Yanbian Autonomous University and Central University for Nationalities in the dance departments are stationed there, the transfer from the Joseon dance dance by educating gifted talents have been dispose, South Korea and similar aspects of the dance education system can be seen. Dance work based training and the tendency of Koreans in Japan in terms of social practice and dance in the North of basic training as basic training and specialized training, and work to represent the North korea's famous dance folk dance performances have been transmitted intact. In China, however, ethnic Koreans Choi Seung-hee compiled by borough basis and the work of the North korean dance training or specialized training received directly from her, she founded the dance student of Choi Seung-hee developed basic techniques of Chinese ethnic dance and ethnic Koreans in China, while receiving only Sewonaga dance training system as a deal on exchanges with the North Korean dance dancing free dance culture for creation peppered ethnic Koreans in China was formed. When passed down to the time, Koreans in Japan since the 1960s, society began to visit Pyongyang in the 1970s, subjected to a direct transfer, and education and through the 1990s, the North Koreans in Japan by inviting dancers and dance directly to basic training by getting education bukhanchum As can be seen in the spectacular aspects will have to reproduce. However, ethnic Koreans in China in the 1950s in districts in Beijing, Pyongyang and received direct guidance from Choi Seung-hee, Dancers from the North after Pyongyang rather than direct guidance on the occasion of his visit to China Dance Troupe was affected. On the other hand Korean dance since the 1990s, starting with Ethnic Koreans in China only began to absorb a different dance culture has been created. The same nation, yet living in the region and to configure the ethnic groups, the configuration of the system and political system, according to the North Dancing transfer process and the development pattern similar, but each of the identities to ensure their own traits with a dance culture, the formation and develop the arrival of You can find out. In other words, Koreans in Japan and Federation of Koreans in Japan under the control of social forces of the dance culture by Acculturation variation of dance culture, dance culture of the borough ethnic Koreans in China Acculturation by the voluntary and free borrowers were able to gauge the changes in development.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.58-69
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• 2022

This study compares and analyses the impacts of holding domestic garden expos that will be fundamental for holding garden expos in the future. Satisfaction with the three sites of the 2013 Suncheon Bay International Gardening Expo, 2015 Seoul Gardening Expo, and 2022 Goyang International Flower Fair, as well as factors affecting the satisfaction in economic, social/cultural, environment/ecology, and operation aspects, were analyzed. As a result of the study, the satisfaction level of all three sites was high, with a value of 3.5 or higher. In particular, satisfaction with the 2013 Suncheon Bay International Gardening Expo was the highest. It was found that there was a difference between the satisfaction level of the 2013 Suncheon Bay International Gardening Expo and the 2015 Seoul Gardening Expo. As a regional festival, the 2013 Suncheon Bay International Garden Expo has acquired a high status due to the 'Suncheon Bay Garden' being designated as the first National Garden. It is thought that great satisfaction was obtained because economic, social, cultural, and environmental revitalization was achieved by matching the values of citizen participation and ecological conservation. As a result of the comparison of perception types affecting the satisfaction by garden fair, satisfaction at the 2013 Suncheon Bay International Gardening Expo and the 2015 Seoul Gardening Expo, it was found that both affected all four aspects. The 2022 Goyang International Flower Fair did not affect satisfaction in the operational aspect. This seems to be because the Goyang International Flower Fair is already a fixed local brand. As a result of analyzing the detailed factors of perception that affect satisfaction, the three target sites were commonly analyzed, including social and cultural factors, which attract cultural events, improve pride and affection for the region, and help educate children. In terms of environmental and ecological factors were analyzed as an inconvenience in life due to traffic congestion. It can be seen that it has the same meaning as the comparative analysis of the difference in factors on the satisfaction of the target site. There is no difference in the effect on satisfaction in terms of social·cultural, and environmental·ecological aspects, but there are differences in terms of economy and operation. Based on the analysis results of this study, to hold a domestic garden expo in the future, it is necessary to properly utilize "environmental" and "ecological" garden aspects that have potential values according to the region's characteristics to develop sustainable, eco-friendly tourism resources. In addition, values will be more apparent when cultural and artistic programs are planned to establish a differentiated identity in the host area and are appropriately used as a marketing means for a local fair. A well-planned local festival through communication with local residents can affect the image of the region and lead to the revitalization of the local communities by securing urban competitiveness along with the establishment of urban brands, so it can be said that local residents' participation and national or local organizations' cooperation is essential.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.34
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• pp.61-72
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• 2022

Purpose: Conventional CBCT(Cone-beam Computed-tomography) caused an error in the target volume due to organ movement in the area affected by respiratory movement. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the usefulness of accuracy and time spent using the Gated CBCT function, which reduces errors when performing RGRT(respiratory gated radiation therapy), and to examine the appropriateness of phase. Materials and methods: To evaluate the usefulness of Gated CBCT, the QUASAR^TM respiratory motion phantom was used in the Truebeam STx^TM. Using lead marker inserts, Gated CBCT was scaned 5 times for every 20~80% phase, 30~70% phase, and 40~60% phase to measure the blurring length of the lead marker, and the distance the lead marker moves from the top phase to the end of the phase was measured 5 times. Using Cedar Solid Tumor Inserts, 4DCT was scanned for every phase, 20-80%, 30-70%, and 40-60%, and the target volume was contoured and the length was measured five times in the axial direction (S-I direction). Result: In Gated CBCT scaned using lead marker inserts, the axial moving distance of the lead marker on average was measured to be 4.46cm in the full phase, 3.11cm in the 20-80% phase, 1.94cm in the 30-70% phase, 0.90cm in the 40-60% phase. In Fluoroscopy, the axial moving distance of the lead marker on average was 4.38cm and the distance on average from the top phase to the beam off phase was 3.342cm in the 20-80% phase, 3.342cm in the 30-70% phase, and 0.84cm in the 40-60% phase. Comparing the results, the difference in the full phase was 0.08cm, the 20~80% phase was 0.23cm, the 30~70% phase was 0.10cm, and the 40~60% phase was 0.07cm. The axial lengths of ITV(Internal Target Volume) and PTV(Planning Target Volume) contoured by 4DCT taken using cedar solid tumor inserts were measured to be 6.40cm and 7.40cm in the full phase, 4.96cm and 5.96cm in the 20~80% phase, 4.42cm and 5.42cm in the 30~70% phase, and 2.95cm and 3.95cm in the 40~60% phase. In the Gated CBCT, the axial lengths on average was measured to be 6.35 cm in the full phase, 5.25 cm in the 20-80% phase, 4.04 cm in the 30-70% phase, and 3.08 cm in the 40-60% phase. Comparing the results, it was confirmed that the error was within ±8.5% of ITV Conclusion: Conventional CBCT had a problem that errors occurred due to organ movement in areas affected by respiratory movement, but through this study, obtained an image similar to the target volume of the setting phase using Gated CBCT and verified its usefulness. However, as the setting phase decreases, the scan time was increases. Therefore, considering the scan time and the error in setting phase, It is recommended to apply it to patients with respiratory coordinated stereotactic radiation therapy using a wide phase of 30-70% or more.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.97-125
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• 2012

Companies recently introduce art collaborated products incorporating culture into a product. Art collaborated products include incorporating famous movies and/or design of an artist into a newly launched product. The introduction of art collaborated products are gradually increasing. However, research for this trend is relatively scarce. Although research concerning design has discussed a number of different factors as playing a role in influencing responses to design including culture, fashion, innate preferences, etc.), only limited attention has been paid to the processes by which consumers generate responses to product designs. People with different characteristics may respond differently. When people encounter these art products, they may become curious, may think that these products are unique, novel and innovative. People tend to show different levels of curiosity when they encounter new and novel objects, which they have rarely seen or experienced. Curiosity is defined as a desire for acquiring new knowledge and new sensory experience. Previous studies demonstrated that curiosity motivates individuals to engage in exploratory behaviors. People also show different levels of need for uniqueness, which is defined as being different from others or becoming distinctive among a larger group. Individual's need for uniqueness results from signals conveyed by the material objects that individuals choose to display. Recently, researcher have developed the need for uniqueness with three distinct constructs. These three concepts include creative choice, unpopular choice, and avoidance of similarity. Creative choice is a trait tendency of an individual by expressing or differentiating himself from others through consumptions of unique products. Unpopular choice is related to an individual's tendency to consume products, which deviates from group norms. Avoidance of similarity is linked to the avoidance of consumption behavior of products that are not famous. Past research implies that people with different levels of need for uniqueness show different motivational processes. Previous research also demonstrates that different customer emotions may be derived when consumers are exposed to these art collaborated products. Research tradition has been investigated three different emotional responses such as pleasure, arousal, and dominance. Pleasure is defined as the degree to which a person feels good, joyful, happy, or satisfied in a situation. Arousal is defined as the extent to which a person feels stimulated, active, or excited. Dominance is defined as the extent that a person feels powerful vis-a-vis the environment that surrounds him/her. Previous research show that complex, speedy, and surprising stimuli may excite consumers and thus make them more pleased and engaged in their approach behavior. However, the current study identified these emotional responses as positive emotion, negative emotion, and arousal. These derived emotions may lead consumers to approach and/or avoidance behaviors. In addition, males and females tend to respond differently when they are exposed to art collaboration products. Building on this research tradition, the current study aims to investigate the inter-relationships between individual traits such as curiosity and need for uniqueness and individual's emotional responses including positive and negative emotion and arousal when people encounter various art collaborated products. Emotional responses are proposed to influence purchase intention. Additionally, previous studies show that male and females respond differently to similar stimuli. Accordingly, gender difference are proposed to moderate the links between individual traits and emotional responses. These research aims of the current study may contribute to extending our knowledge in terms of (1) which individual characteristics are related to different emotions, and (2) how these different emotional responses inter-connected to future purchase intention of arts collaborated products. In addition, (3) the different responses to these arts collaborated products by males and females will guide managers how to concoct different strategies to these segments. The questionnaire for the present study was adopted from the previous literature and validated with a pilot test. The survey was conducted in Daegu, a third largest city in South Korea, for three weeks during June and July 2011. Most respondents were in their twenties and thirties. 350 questionnaires were distributed and among them 300 were proved to be valid (valid response rate of 85.7%). Survey questionnaires from valid 300 respondents are used to test hypotheses proposed. The structural equation model (SEM) was used to validate the research model. The measurement and structural model was tested using LISREL 8.7. The measurement model test demonstrated that consistency, convergent validity, and discriminat validity of the measurement items were acceptable. The results from the structural model demonstrate that curiosity has a positive impact on positive emotion, but not on negative emotion and arousal. Need for uniqueness has three different sub-concepts such as creative choice, unpopular choice, and avoidance of similarity. The results show that creative choice has a positive effect on arousal and positive emotion, but has a negative impact on negative emotion. Unpopular choice has a positive effect on arousal, but on neither positive nor negative emotions. Avoidance of similarity has no impact on neither emotions nor arousal. The results also demonstrated that gender has a moderating influence. Males show more negative emotion to creative and unpopular choices. Implications and future research directions are discussed in conclusion.

• (The) Research of the performance art and culture
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• no.43
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• pp.47-78
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• 2021

This study was written to examine the acceptance of pansori in movies based on pansori, and to explore changes in modern society's perception and expectations of pansori. A pansori is getting the love of the upper and lower castes in the late Joseon period, but loses the status at the time of the Japanese colonial rule and Korean War. In response, the country designated pansori as an important intangible cultural asset in 1964 to protect the disappearance of pansori. Until the 1980s, however, pansori did not gain popularity by itself. After the 2000s, Pansori tried to breathe in with the contemporary public due to the socio-cultural demand to globalize our culture. And now Pansori is one of the most popular cultures in the world today, as the pop band Feel the Rhythm of KOREA shows. The changing public perception of pansori and its status in modern society can also be seen in the mass media called movies. This study explored the process of this change with six films based on pansori, from "Seopyeonje" directed by Lim Kwon-taek in 1993 to the film "The Singer" in 2020. First, the films "Seopyeonje" and "Hwimori" were produced in the 1990s. Both of these films show the reality of pansori, which has fallen out of public interest due to the crisis of transmission in the early and mid-20th century. And in the midst of that, he captured the scene of a singer struggling fiercely for the artistic completion of Pansori itself. Next, look at the film "Lineage of the Voice" in 2008 and "DURESORI: The Voice of East" in 2012. These two films depict the growth of children who perform art, featuring contemporary children who play pansori and Korean traditional music. Pansori in these films is no longer an old piece of music, nor is it a sublime art that is completed in harsh training. It is only naturally treated as one of the contemporary arts. Finally, "The Sound of a Flower" in 2015 and "The Singer" in 2020. The two films constructed a story from Pansori's history based on the time background of the film during the late Joseon Dynasty, when Pansori was loved the most by the people. This reflects the atmosphere of the times when traditions are used as the subject of cultural content, and shows the changed public perception of pansori and the status of pansori.

• (The) Research of the performance art and culture
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• no.19
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• pp.347-378
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• 2009

Those who were from Jaeincheon and Jaein line entertainers played great roles during transition period from traditional society to modern society, and even at present the dances of them are the representative traditional dances of Korea and the matrix of Korean originality. Nevertheless, Korea dance field has given little importance to these dances, but too much importance to Gibang dance in studying traditional dances, which causes the studies on Jaein line danced to be superficial or separate. Therefore, the aims of this article are to analyze the dances of Jaein line by Han Seong-jun, who was representative for the dances, and to appraise the historical value of them. Han Seong-jun(1874-1942) was the most influential dummer and dancer of his day in Japanese colonial times, and has been recognized as one of the masters of traditional dances. He established autonomy of traditional dances by reorganizing, collecting and stage-formalizing the dances, and systemized transmitting ways for various folk dances including a Buddhist dance, which made it possiblefor those dances to be traditional dances of Korea and the bases for creative dances. The values of Jaein line dances, which were transmitted through Han, are the following: First, the dances have been designated as national or regional intangible cultural assets, and, as the representative traditional arts, we proudly show them to the world. Second, the dances, as one of the genres of Korean dances, are the subjects of younger scholars' studies. Third, the dances become one of the representative examples of revivals of traditional dances, which tend to be extinct during modernization times, and contribute to establishing national identity and subjectivity. In addition, they contribute to discovering and transmitting other traditional dances. Fourth, the dances enable many dancers to make association, that is, Association for Preservation of Traditional Dances,for the transmitting the dances, and to distribute the dances and get many dancers to transmit the dances. Furthermore, as new performance repertories, they give another pleasure to the audience. In addition to the above, as a base for expansion of Korean creative dances, Han's dances have other values such as the following: First, in searching for a new methodology for creation, he played an important role in rediscovering the foundation in the tradition, and tried to discover nationalidentity by employing the traditional dances for expression of theme. Second, he contributed to drastically dissolving the genres by expanding the gesture language from motion factors of traditional dances, which can be compared to the modern dance. Third, he tried new challenging approaches to re-create the tradition, and contributed to pursuing the simple elements of our traditional dances as traditional aesthetics. While the dances of Jaein line have such values as the above, there are also some problems around the dances, such as the confusion in the process of transmission resulted from different transmission forms and transmitters, which we must no longer leave as it is. Furthermore, it is urgent that the rest of Jaein line dances be recovered and designated as intangible cultural assets for the sound transmission of the traditional dances.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.55-76
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• 2012

Most people prefer to choose zero-cost products they may get without paying any money. The 'zero-cost effect' can be explained with a 'zero-cost model' where consumers attach special values to zero-cost products in a different way from general economic models (Shampanier, Mazar and Ariely 2007). If 2 different products at the regular prices of ￦200 and ￦400 simultaneously offer ￦200 discounts, the prices will be changed to ￦0 and ￦200, respectively. In spite of the same price gap of the two products after the ￦200 discounts, people are much more likely to select the free alternative than the same product at the price of ￦200. Although prior studies have focused on the 'zero-cost effect' in isolation of other factors, this study investigates the moderating effects of a self-regulatory resource and a construal level on the selection of free products. Self-regulatory resources induce people to control or regulate their behavior. However, since self-regulatory resources are limited, they are to be easily depleted when exerted (Muraven, Tice, and Baumeister 1998). Without the resources, consumers tend to become less sensitive to price changes and to spend money more extravagantly (Vohs and Faber 2007). Under this condition, they are also likely to invest less effort on their information processing and to make more intuitive decisions (Pocheptsova, Amir, Dhar, and Baumeister 2009). Therefore, context effects such as price changes and zero cost effects are less likely in the circumstances of resource depletion. In addition, construal levels have profound effects on the ways of information processing (Trope and Liberman 2003, 2010). In a high construal level, people tend to attune their minds to core features and desirability aspects, whereas, in a low construal level, they are more likely to process information based on secondary features and feasibility aspects (Khan, Zhu, and Kalra 2010). A perceived value of a product is more related to desirability whereas a zero cost or a price level is more associated with feasibility. Thus, context effects or reliance on feasibility (for instance, the zero cost effect) will be diminished in a high level construal while those effects may remain in a low level construal. When people make decisions, these 2 factors can influence the magnitude of the 'zero-cost effect'. This study ran two experiments to investigate the effects of self-regulatory resources and construal levels on the selection of a free product. Kisses and Ferrero-Rocher, which were adopted in the prior study (Shampanier et al. 2007) were also used as alternatives in Experiments 1 and 2. We designed Experiment 1 in order to test whether self-regulatory resource depletion will moderate the zero-cost effect. The level of self-regulatory resources was manipulated with two different tasks, a Sudoku task in the depletion condition and a task of drawing diagrams in the non-depletion condition. Upon completion of the manipulation task, subjects were randomly assigned to one of a decision set with a zero-cost option (i.e., Kisses ￦0, and Ferrero-Rocher ￦200) or a set without a zero-cost option (i.e., Kisses ￦200, and Ferrero-Rocher ￦400). A pair of alternatives in the two decision sets have the same price gap of ￦200 between a low-priced Kisses and a high-priced Ferrero-Rocher. Subjects in the no-depletion condition selected Kisses more often (71.88%) over Ferrero-Rocher when Kisses was free than when it was priced at ￦200 (34.88%). However, the zero-cost effect disappeared when people do not have self-regulatory resources. Experiment 2 was conducted to investigate whether constual levels influence the magnitude of the 'zero-cost effect'. To manipulate construal levels, 4 different 'why (in the high construal level condition)' or 'how (in the low construal level condition)' questions about health management were asked. They were presented with 4 boxes connected with downward arrows. In a box at the top, there was one question, 'Why do I maintain good physical health?' or 'How do I maintain good physical health?' Subjects inserted a response to the question of why or how they would maintain good physical health. Similar tasks were repeated for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th responses. After the manipulation task, subjects were randomly assigned either to a decision set with a zero-cost option, or to a set without it, as in Experiment 1. When a low construal level is primed with 'how', subjects chose free Kisses (60.66%) more often over Ferrero-Rocher than they chose ￦200 Kisses (42.19%) over ￦400 FerreroRocher. On contrast, the zero-cost effect could not be observed any longer when a high construal level is primed with 'why'.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.1-24
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• 2012

Nowadays, customer satisfaction has been one of company's major objectives, and the index to measure and communicate customer satisfaction has been generally accepted among business practices. The major issues of CSI(customer satisfaction index) are three questions, as follows: (a)what level of customer satisfaction is tolerable, (b)whether customer satisfaction and company performance has positive causality, and (c)what to do to improve customer satisfaction. Among these, the second issue is recently attracting academic research in several perspectives. On this study, the second issue will be addressed. Many researchers including Anderson have regarded customer satisfaction as core competencies, such as brand equity, customer equity. They want to verify following causality "customer satisfaction → market performance(market share, sales growth rate) → financial performance(operating margin, profitability) → corporate value performance(stock price, credit ratings)" based on the process model of marketing performance. On the other hand, Insoo Jeon and Aeju Jeong(2009) verified sequential causality based on the process model by the domestic data. According to the rejection of several hypotheses, they suggested the balance model of marketing performance as an alternative. The objective of this study, based on the existing process model, is to examine the causal relationship between customer satisfaction and corporate value performance. Anderson and Mansi(2009) proved the relationship between ACSI(American Customer Satisfaction Index) and credit ratings using 2,574 samples from 1994 to 2004 on the assumption that credit rating could be an indicator of a corporate value performance. The similar study(Sangwoon Yoon, 2010) was processed in Korean data, but it didn't confirm the relationship between KCSI(Korean CSI) and credit ratings, unlike the results of Anderson and Mansi(2009). The summary of these studies is in the Table 1. Two studies analyzing the relationship between customer satisfaction and credit ratings weren't consistent results. So, in this study we are to test the conflicting results of the relationship between customer satisfaction and credit ratings based on the research model considering Korean credit ratings. To prove the hypothesis, we suggest the research model as follows. Two important features of this model are the inclusion of important variables in the existing Korean credit rating system and government support. To control their influences on credit ratings, we included three important variables of Korean credit rating system and government support, in case of financial institutions including banks. ROA, ER, TA, these three variables are chosen among various kinds of financial indicators since they are the most frequent variables in many previous studies. The results of the research model are relatively favorable : R², F-value and p-value is .631, 233.15 and .000 respectively. Thus, the explanatory power of the research model as a whole is good and the model is statistically significant. The research model has good explanatory power, the regression coefficients of the KCSI is .096 as positive(+) and t-value and p-value is 2.220 and .0135 respectively. As a results, we can say the hypothesis is supported. Meanwhile, all other explanatory variables including ROA, ER, log(TA), GS_DV are identified as significant and each variables has a positive(+) relationship with CRS. In particular, the t-value of log(TA) is 23.557 and log(TA) as an explanatory variables of the corporate credit ratings shows very high level of statistical significance. Considering interrelationship between financial indicators such as ROA, ER which include total asset in their formula, we can expect multicollinearity problem. But indicators like VIF and tolerance limits that shows whether multicollinearity exists or not, say that there is no statistically significant multicollinearity in all the explanatory variables. KCSI, the main subject of this study, is a statistically significant level even though the standardized regression coefficients and t-value of KCSI is .055 and 2.220 respectively and a relatively low level among explanatory variables. Considering that we chose other explanatory variables based on the level of explanatory power out of many indicators in the previous studies, KCSI is validated as one of the most significant explanatory variables for credit rating score. And this result can provide new insights on the determinants of credit ratings. However, KCSI has relatively lower impact than main financial indicators like log(TA), ER. Therefore, KCSI is one of the determinants of credit ratings, but don't have an exceedingly significant influence. In addition, this study found that customer satisfaction had more meaningful impact on corporations of small asset size than those of big asset size, and on service companies than manufacturers. The findings of this study is consistent with Anderson and Mansi(2009), but different from Sangwoon Yoon(2010). Although research model of this study is a bit different from Anderson and Mansi(2009), we can conclude that customer satisfaction has a significant influence on company's credit ratings either Korea or the United State. In addition, this paper found that customer satisfaction had more meaningful impact on corporations of small asset size than those of big asset size and on service companies than manufacturers. Until now there are a few of researches about the relationship between customer satisfaction and various business performance, some of which were supported, some weren't. The contribution of this study is that credit rating is applied as a corporate value performance in addition to stock price. It is somewhat important, because credit ratings determine the cost of debt. But so far it doesn't get attention of marketing researches. Based on this study, we can say that customer satisfaction is partially related to all indicators of corporate business performances. Practical meanings for customer satisfaction department are that it needs to actively invest in the customer satisfaction, because active investment also contributes to higher credit ratings and other business performances. A suggestion for credit evaluators is that they need to design new credit rating model which reflect qualitative customer satisfaction as well as existing variables like ROA, ER, TA.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.155-175
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• 2010

Most of the service industries including finance and telecommunications have become matured and saturated. The competitions have become severe while the differences among brands become smaller. Therefore maintaining good relationships with customers has been critical for the service providers. In case of credit card and debit card, the similar patterns are shown. It is important for them to maintain good relationships with customers, and therefore, they have used marketing program which provides customized services to customers and utilizes the membership programs. Not only do they build and maintain good relationships, but also highlight their brands from the emotional aspects. For example, KB Card or Hyundai Card uses well-known designers' works for their credit card design. As well, they differentiate the designs of credit cards to stress on their brand personalities. BC Card introduced the credit card with perfume that a customer would like. Even though the credit card is small and not shown to public easily, it becomes more important for those companies to touch the customers' feelings with the brand personalities and their images. This is partly because of changes in consumers' lifestyles. Y-generations becomes highly likely to express themselves in many different ways and more emotional than X-generations. For the Y-generations, therefore, even credit cards in the wallet should be personalized and well-designed. In line with it, credit cards with good design can be seen as an example of brand identity, where different design for each customer can be used to recognize the membership groups that customers want to belong. On the other hand, these credit card companies offer the special treatment benefits for those customers who are heavy users for the cards. For example, those customers who love sports will receive some special discounts when they use their credit cards for sports related products. Therefore this study attempted to explore the relationships between relational benefits, brand identification and loyalty. It has been well known that relational benefits and brand identification lead to loyalty independently from many other studies, but there has been few study to review all the three variables all together in a research model. Furthermore, as reviewed above, in the card industry, many companies attempt to associate the brand image with their products to fit their customers' lifestyles while relational benefits are still playing an important role for their business. Therefore in our research model, relational benefits, brand identification, and loyalty are all included. We focus on the mediating effect of brand identification. From the relational benefits perspective, only special treatment benefit and confidence benefit are included. Social benefit is not applicable for this credit card industry because not many cases of face-to-face interaction can be found. From the brand identification perspective, personal brand identity and social brand identity are reviewed and included in the model. Overall, the research model emphasizes that the relationships between relational benefits and loyalty will be mediated by the effect of brand identification. The effects of relational benefits which are confidence benefit and special treatment benefits on loyalty will be realized when they fit to the personal brand identity and social brand identity. In the research model, therefore, the relationships between confidence benefit and social brand identity, and between confidence benefit and personal identity are hypothesized while the effects of special treatment benefit on social brand identity and personal brand identity are hypothesized. Loyalty, then, is hypothesized to have positive relationships with personal brand identity and social brand identity. In addition, confidence benefit among the relational benefits is expected to have a direct, positive relationship with loyalty because confidence benefit has been recognized as a critical factor for good relationships and satisfaction. Data were collected from college students who have been using either credit cards or debit cards. College students were regarded good subjects because they are in Y-generation cohorts and have tendency to express themselves more. Total sample size was two hundred three at the beginning, but after deleting those data with many missing values, one hundred ninety-seven data points were remained and used for the model testing. Measurement items were brought from the previous literatures and modified for this research. To test the reliability, using SPSS 14, chronbach's α was examined and all the values were from .874 to .928 exceeding over .7. Using AMOS 7.0, confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to investigate the measurement model. The measurement model was found good fit with χ²(67)=188.388 (p= .000), GFI=.886, AGFI=.821, CFI=.941, RMSEA=.096. Using AMOS 7.0, structural equation modeling has been used to analyze the research model. Overall, the research model fit were χ²(68)=188.670 (p= .000), GFI=.886, AGFI=,824 CFI=.942, RMSEA=.095 indicating good fit. In details, all the paths hypothesized in the research model were found significant except for the path from social brand identity to loyalty. Personal brand identity leads to loyalty while both confidence benefit and special treatment benefit have a positive relationships with personal and social identities. As well, confidence benefit has a direct positive effect on loyalty. The results indicates the followings. First, personal brand identity plays an important role for credit/debit card usage. Therefore even for the products which are not shown to public easy, design and emotional aspect can be important to fit the customers' lifestyles. Second, confidence benefit and special treatment benefit have a positive effects on personal brand identity. Therefore it will be needed for marketers to associate the special treatment and trust and confidence benefits with personal image, personality and personal identity. Third, this study found again the importance of confidence and trust. However interestingly enough, social brand identity was not found to be significantly related to loyalty. It can be explained that the main sample of this study consists of college students. Those strategies to facilitate social brand identity are focused on high social status groups while college students have not been established their status yet.