• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• 제19권3호
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• pp.69-98
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• 2009

We investigated what factors motivate gamers to participate in a guild and why they continue to be engaged as members of the guild. We find that, based on the result of focus group interviews with MMORPG gamers, social support and self-esteem factors play important roles. Considering both prior research and the focus group interviews we have conducted, we define social support and character control as independent variables. Character identity, guild identity, and self-esteem are proposed as mediating variables while guild flow and game loyalty as dependent variables. Accordingly, we develop the research model and hypotheses, and verify them empirically. Based on our experiences of playing the WoW game, we proposed a research model and conducted focus-group interviews (FGIs). FGIs involve formulating a hypothesis and then collecting some relevant data. FGIs were conducted face-to-face with students of C University in Korea. We formulated structured interview schedules, and the questions were based on our research variables and personal experiences. The questions for the interviews encompassed the following areas: (a) the demographic characteristics of the focus group; (b) the number of years for which respondents had played online games; (c) the motive for starting a game; (d) the number of game-characters assumed by each gamer; (e) the type of game played; and (f) other issues such as the reasons for involvement in the play, the willingness to reuse the game in case new versions were released, etc. On average, it took two hours to interview each of three groups. A primary set of FGIs was conducted with three groups on the premise that there would be some differences caused by character race (Horde vs. Alliance) or by playable server (Normal vs. Combat). With respect to the manner of playing, we found that guild members shared information, felt a sense of belonging, and played computer games for quite a long time through the guild; however, they did not undergo these experiences when playing alone. Gamers who belonged to a specific guild helped other players without expecting compensation for that, freely shared information about the game, gave away items for free, and more generous with other members who made mistakes. The guild members were aware of the existence other members and experienced a sense of belonging through interactions with, and evaluations from, other players. It was clear that social support was shown within the guild and that it played an important role as a major research variable. Based on the results of the first FGIs, a second set of in-depth FGIs was carried out with a focus on the psychology of the individual within the guild and the social community of the guild. The second set of FGIs also focused on the guild's offline meetings. Gamers, over all, recognize the necessity of joining a community, not only off-line but also online world of the guild. They admit that the guild is important for them to easily and conveniently enjoy playing online computer games. The active behavior and positive attitudes of existing guild members can motivate new members of the guild to adapt themselves to the guild environment. They then adopt the same behaviors and attitudes of established guild members. In this manner, the new members of the guild strengthen the bonds with other gamers while feeling a sense of belonging, and developing social identity, thereby. It was discovered that the interaction among guild members and the social support encouraged new gamers to quickly develop a sense of social identity and increase their self-esteem. The guild seemed to play the role of socializing gamers. Sometimes, even in the real world, the guild members helped one another; therefore, the features of the guild also spilled over to the offline environment. We intend to use self-esteem, which was found through the second set of FGIs, as an important research variable. To collect data, an online survey was designed with a questionnaire to be completed by WoW gamers, who belong to a guild. The survey was registered on the best three domestic game-sites: 'WoW playforum,' 'WoW gamemeca,' and 'Wow invent.' The selected items to be measured in the questionnaire were decided based on prior research and data from FGIs. To verify the content of the questionnaire, we carried out a pilot test with the same participants to point out ambiguous questions as a way to ensure maximum accuracy of the survey result. A total of 244 responses were analyzed from the 250 completed questionnaires. The SEM analysis was used to test goodness-of-fit of the model. As a result, we found important results as follows: First, according to the statistics, social support had statistically significant impacts on character control, character identity, guild identity and self-esteem. Second, character control had significant effects on character identity, guild identity and self-esteem. Third, character identity shows its clear impact on self-esteem and game loyalty. Fourth, guild identity affected self-esteem, guild flow and game loyalty. Fifth, self-esteem had a positive influence on the guild flow. These days, the number of virtual community is rising along with its significance largely because of the nature of the online games. Accordingly, this study is designed to clarify the psychological relationship between gamers within the guild that has been generally established by gamers to play online games together. This study focuses on the relationships in which social support influences guild flow or game loyalty through character control, character identity, guild identity, and self-esteem, which are present within a guild in the MMORPG game environment. The study results are as follows. First, the effects of social support on character control, character identity, guild identity and self-esteem are proven to be statistically significant. It was found that character control improves character identity, guild identity and self-esteem. Among the seven variables, social support, which is derived from FGIs, plays an important role in this study. With the active support of other guild members, gamers can improve their ability to develop good characters and to control them. Second, character identity has a positive effect on self-esteem and game loyalty, while guild identity has a significant effect on self-esteem, guild flow and game loyalty. Self-esteem affects guild flow. It was found that the higher the character and guild identities become, the greater the self-esteem is established. Contrary to the findings of prior research, our study results indicate that the relationship between character identity and guild flow is not significant. Rather, it was found that character identity directly affects game players' loyalty. Even though the character identity had no direct effect on increasing guild flow, it has indirectly affected guild flow through self-esteem. The significant relationship between self-esteem and guild flow indicates that gamers achieve flow, i.e., a feeling of pleasure and excitement through social support. Several important implications of this study should be noted. First, both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to conduct this study. Through FGIs, it was observed that both social support and self-esteem are important variables. Second, because guilds had been rarely studied, this research is expected to play an important role in the online community. Third, according to the result, six hypotheses (H1, H5, H6, H7, H8, and H11) setup based on FGIs, were statistically significant; thus, we can suggest the corresponding relationships among the variables as a guideline for follow-up research. Our research is significant as it has following implications: first, the social support of the guild members is important when establishing character control, character identity, guildidentity and self-esteem. It is also a major variable that affects guild flow and game loyalty. Second, character control when improved by social support shows notable influence on the development of character identity, guild identity and self-esteem. Third, character identity and guild identity are major factors to help establish gamers' own self-esteem. Fourth, character identity affects guild flow through self-esteem and game loyalty. The gamers usually express themselves through characters; the higher character identity is, the more loyalty a gamer has. Fifth, guild identity, established within the guild, has clear effects on self-esteem, guild flow and game loyalty. Sixth, qualitative and quantitative methods are employed to conduct this study. Based on the results of focus group interviews and SEM analysis, we find that the social support by guild members and psychological factors are significant in strengthening the flow of guild and loyalty to the game. As such, game developers should provide some extra functions for guild community, through which gamers can play online games in collaboration with one another. Also, we suggest that positive self-esteem which is built up through social support can help gamers achieve higher level of flow and satisfaction, which will consequently contribute to minimizing the possibility for the players to develop negative attitude toward the guild they belong to.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• 제20권3호
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• pp.167-190
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• 2010

The research conducted here focuses on the effect of factors that affect the behavior of UCC (User Created Content) website users, other than user's rational recognition of how useful a UCC website can be. Most discussions in the existing literature on information systems have focused on users' evaluation how a UCC website can help to attain the users' own goals. However, there are other factors and this research pays attention to an individual's 'personality,' which is stable and biological in nature. Specifically, I have noted here that 'extroversion' and 'neuroticism,' the two common personality factors presented in Eysenck's most representative 'EPQ Model' and 'Big Five Model,' are the two personality factors that affect a site's 'usefulness,' by this I mean how useful does the user consider the website and its content. How useful a site is considered by the user is the other factor that has been regarded as the antecedent factor that influences the adoption of information systems in the existing MIS (Management Information System) research. Secondly, as using or creating a UCC website does not guarantee the user's or the creator's extrinsic motivation, unlike when using the information system within an organization, there is a greater likelihood that the increase in user's activities in relation to a UCC website is motivated by emotional factors rather than rational factors. Thus, I have decided to include the relationship between an individual's personality and what they find pleasurable in the research model. Thirdly, when based on the S-O-R Paradigm of Mehrabian and Russell, the two cognitive factors and emotional factors are finally affected by stimulus, and thus these factors ultimately have an effect on an individual's respondent behavior. Therefore, this research has presented an assumption that the recognition of how useful the site and content is and what emotional pleasure it provides will finally affect the behavior of the UCC website users. Finally, the relationship between the recognition of how useful a site is and how pleasurable it is to useand UCC usage may differ depending on certain situational conditions. In other words, the relationship between the three factors may vary according to how much users are involved in the creation of the website content. Creation thus emerges as the keyword of UCC. I analyzed the above relationships through the moderating variable of the user's involvement in the creation of the site. The research result shows the following: When it comes to the relationship between an individual's personality and what they find pleasurable it is extroverted users who have a greater likelihood to feel pleasure when using a UCC website, as was expected in this research. This in turn leads to a more active usage of the UCC web site because a person who is an extrovert likes to spend time on activities with other people, is sensitive to new experiences and stimuli and thus actively responds to these. An extroverted person accepts new UCC activities as part of his/her social life, rather than getting away from this new UCC environment. This is represented by the term 'Foxonomy' where the users meet a variety of users from all over the world and contact new types of content created by these users. However, neuroticism creates the opposite situation to that created by extroversion. The representative symptoms of neuroticism are instability, stress, and tension. These dispositions are more closely related to stress caused by a new environment rather than this creatingcuriosity or pleasure. Thus, neurotic persons have an uneasy feeling and will eventually avoid the situation where their own or others' daily lives are frequently exposed to the open web environment, this eventually makes them have a negative attitude towards the web environment. When it comes to an individual's personality and how useful site is, the two personality factors of extroversion and neuroticism both have a positive relationship with the recognition of how useful the site and its content is. The positive, curious, and social dispositions of extroverted persons tend to make them consider the future usefulness and possibilities of a new type of information system, or website, based on their positive attitude, which has a significant influence on the recognition of how useful these UCC sites are. Neuroticism also favorably affects how useful a UCC website can be through a different mechanism from that of extroversion. As the neurotic persons tend to feel uneasy and have much doubt about a new type of information system, they actively explore its usefulness in order to relieve their uncomfortable feelings. In other words, neurotic persons seek out how useful a site can be in order to secure their own stable feelings. Meanwhile, extroverted persons explore how useful a site can be because of their positive attitude and curiosity. As a lot of MIS research has revealed that the recognition of how useful a site can be and how pleasurable it can be to use have been proven to have a significant effect on UCC activity. However, the relationship between these factors reveals different aspects based on the user's involvement in creation. This factor of creationgauges the interest of users in the creation of UCC contents. Involvement is a variable that shows the level of an individual's mental effort in creating UCC contents. When a user is highly involved in the creation process and makes an enormous effort to create UCC content (classed a part of a high-involvement group), their own pleasure and recognition of how useful the site is have a significantly higher effect on the future usage of the UCC contents, more significantly than the users who sit back and just retrieve the UCC content created by others. The cognitive and emotional response of those in the low-involvement group is unlikely to last long,even if they recognize the contents of a UCC website is pleasurable and useful to them. However, the high-involvement group tends to participate in the creation and the usage of UCC more favorably, connecting the experience with their own goals. In this respect, this research presents an answer to the question; why so many people are participating in the usage of UCC, the representative form of the Web 2.0 that has drastically involved more and more people in the creation of UCC, even if they cannot gain any monetary or social compensation. Neither information system nor a website can succeed unless it secures a certain level of user base. Moreover, it cannot be further developed when the reasons, or problems, for people's participation are not suitably explored, even if it has a certain user base. Thus, what is significant in this research is that it has studied users' respondent behavior based on an individual's innate personality, emotion, and cognitive interaction, unlike the existing research that has focused on 'compensation' to explain users' participation with the UCC website. There are also limitations in this research. Firstly, I divided an individual's personality into extroversion and neuroticism; however, there are many other personal factors such as neuro-psychiatricism, which also needs to be analyzed for its influence on UCC activities. Secondly, as a UCC website comes in many types such as multimedia, Wikis, and podcasting, these types need to be included as a sub-category of the UCC websites and their relationship with personality, emotion, cognition, and behavior also needs to be analyzed.

• 마케팅과학연구
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• 제18권4호
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• pp.1-32
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• 2008

기업연상(corporate association)이 제품 평가(product responses)에 어떻게 영향을 미치는 가에 대한 연구가 부진하다는 Brown and Dacin(1997)의 문제 제기가 있은 후, 기업연상이 제품 판단에 미치는 영향과 과정에 대한 조절변수와 매개변수들을 파악하려는 연구가 진행되어 왔다. 본 연구에서는 기업연상의 두가지 유형인 CA(corporate ability) 연상과 CSR(corporate social responsibility) 연상이 성능과 재무위험에 미치는 영향력과 그 영향력을 조절하는 변수들을 조사하였다. 분석 결과에 의하면, 주효과(main effects)에 있어서는, 가설에서 기대한 바와 같이 CA 연상이 성능위험과 재무위험에 유의한 영향력을 갖는 것으로 나타난 반면, CSR 연상은 성능위험과 재무위험에 대해 유의한 영향력을 갖지 않는 것으로 나타났다. 조절변수로 인한 상호작용효과와 관련해서는, CA 연상이 성능위험과 재무위험에 미치는 주효과에 대해 제품범주 지식과 관여는 각각 유의한 조절효과를 나타내었다. 하지만, CSR 연상이 성능위험과 재무위험에 미치는 주효과에 대해서는 제품범주 지식과 관여의 조절효과는 나타나지 않았다. 이러한 연구 결과를 통하여 제품의 기능적인 속성에 대한 정보가 부족한 제품에 대해 소비자가 지각하는 위험을 감소시키기 위하여, 기업은 CSR 연상보다는 CA 연상에 대해 강조할 필요가 있다는 결론을 내리게 되었다.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• 제24권4호
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• pp.443-472
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• 2014

To survive in the global competitive environment, enterprise should be able to solve various problems and find the optimal solution effectively. The big-data is being perceived as a tool for solving enterprise problems effectively and improve competitiveness with its' various problem solving and advanced predictive capabilities. Due to its remarkable performance, the implementation of big data systems has been increased through many enterprises around the world. Currently the big-data is called the 'crude oil' of the 21st century and is expected to provide competitive superiority. The reason why the big data is in the limelight is because while the conventional IT technology has been falling behind much in its possibility level, the big data has gone beyond the technological possibility and has the advantage of being utilized to create new values such as business optimization and new business creation through analysis of big data. Since the big data has been introduced too hastily without considering the strategic value deduction and achievement obtained through the big data, however, there are difficulties in the strategic value deduction and data utilization that can be gained through big data. According to the survey result of 1,800 IT professionals from 18 countries world wide, the percentage of the corporation where the big data is being utilized well was only 28%, and many of them responded that they are having difficulties in strategic value deduction and operation through big data. The strategic value should be deducted and environment phases like corporate internal and external related regulations and systems should be considered in order to introduce big data, but these factors were not well being reflected. The cause of the failure turned out to be that the big data was introduced by way of the IT trend and surrounding environment, but it was introduced hastily in the situation where the introduction condition was not well arranged. The strategic value which can be obtained through big data should be clearly comprehended and systematic environment analysis is very important about applicability in order to introduce successful big data, but since the corporations are considering only partial achievements and technological phases that can be obtained through big data, the successful introduction is not being made. Previous study shows that most of big data researches are focused on big data concept, cases, and practical suggestions without empirical study. The purpose of this study is provide the theoretically and practically useful implementation framework and strategies of big data systems with conducting comprehensive literature review, finding influencing factors for successful big data systems implementation, and analysing empirical models. To do this, the elements which can affect the introduction intention of big data were deducted by reviewing the information system's successful factors, strategic value perception factors, considering factors for the information system introduction environment and big data related literature in order to comprehend the effect factors when the corporations introduce big data and structured questionnaire was developed. After that, the questionnaire and the statistical analysis were performed with the people in charge of the big data inside the corporations as objects. According to the statistical analysis, it was shown that the strategic value perception factor and the inside-industry environmental factors affected positively the introduction intention of big data. The theoretical, practical and political implications deducted from the study result is as follows. The frist theoretical implication is that this study has proposed theoretically effect factors which affect the introduction intention of big data by reviewing the strategic value perception and environmental factors and big data related precedent studies and proposed the variables and measurement items which were analyzed empirically and verified. This study has meaning in that it has measured the influence of each variable on the introduction intention by verifying the relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variables through structural equation model. Second, this study has defined the independent variable(strategic value perception, environment), dependent variable(introduction intention) and regulatory variable(type of business and corporate size) about big data introduction intention and has arranged theoretical base in studying big data related field empirically afterwards by developing measurement items which has obtained credibility and validity. Third, by verifying the strategic value perception factors and the significance about environmental factors proposed in the conventional precedent studies, this study will be able to give aid to the afterwards empirical study about effect factors on big data introduction. The operational implications are as follows. First, this study has arranged the empirical study base about big data field by investigating the cause and effect relationship about the influence of the strategic value perception factor and environmental factor on the introduction intention and proposing the measurement items which has obtained the justice, credibility and validity etc. Second, this study has proposed the study result that the strategic value perception factor affects positively the big data introduction intention and it has meaning in that the importance of the strategic value perception has been presented. Third, the study has proposed that the corporation which introduces big data should consider the big data introduction through precise analysis about industry's internal environment. Fourth, this study has proposed the point that the size and type of business of the corresponding corporation should be considered in introducing the big data by presenting the difference of the effect factors of big data introduction depending on the size and type of business of the corporation. The political implications are as follows. First, variety of utilization of big data is needed. The strategic value that big data has can be accessed in various ways in the product, service field, productivity field, decision making field etc and can be utilized in all the business fields based on that, but the parts that main domestic corporations are considering are limited to some parts of the products and service fields. Accordingly, in introducing big data, reviewing the phase about utilization in detail and design the big data system in a form which can maximize the utilization rate will be necessary. Second, the study is proposing the burden of the cost of the system introduction, difficulty in utilization in the system and lack of credibility in the supply corporations etc in the big data introduction phase by corporations. Since the world IT corporations are predominating the big data market, the big data introduction of domestic corporations can not but to be dependent on the foreign corporations. When considering that fact, that our country does not have global IT corporations even though it is world powerful IT country, the big data can be thought to be the chance to rear world level corporations. Accordingly, the government shall need to rear star corporations through active political support. Third, the corporations' internal and external professional manpower for the big data introduction and operation lacks. Big data is a system where how valuable data can be deducted utilizing data is more important than the system construction itself. For this, talent who are equipped with academic knowledge and experience in various fields like IT, statistics, strategy and management etc and manpower training should be implemented through systematic education for these talents. This study has arranged theoretical base for empirical studies about big data related fields by comprehending the main variables which affect the big data introduction intention and verifying them and is expected to be able to propose useful guidelines for the corporations and policy developers who are considering big data implementationby analyzing empirically that theoretical base.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• 제14권1호
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• pp.25-51
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• 2012

정보기술의 활용이 마케팅 전략의 중요한 부분으로 부각되는 시장 환경에서 본 논문에서는 패스트푸드 레스토랑에서 주문시 Self Service Technology(SST)를 사용 할 때 기술준비도와 소비자 준비도에 따른 사용동기, 태도, 사용의도의 차이를 검증하고자 하였다. Parasuraman이 TRI를 개발한 이후 SST와 TRI를 접목한 연구가 이루어져 왔지만 여전히 부족한 실정이다. 소비자 준비도 역시 SST사용에 대한 소비자의 동기와 태도 및 의도와 직접적인 영향을 미칠 수 있지만 이에 대한 연구는 이루어지지 않았다. 이에 본 연구에서는 패스트푸드 레스토랑에서 터치스크린 SST를 도입함에 있어 소비자의 기술준비도와 소비자 준비도가 Dabholkar & Bagozzi(1994)가 제안한 SST 핵심태도모델에 미치는 영향을 고찰하였다. 이때 모든 소비자와 상황적 요인에 따른 차이를 파악하고자 자아의식, 상호작용욕구, 기술에 대한 두려움 등의 소비자특성과 지각된 대기시간, 지각된 과밀 등의 상황적 요인에 따른 조절 효과를 검증하였다. AMOS 18.0프로그램을 사용하여 구조방정식 모델로 분석하였고 연구 결과 기술준비도 중 낙관성은 사용용이성과 재미 동기에 유의한 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 혁신성은 사용용이성과 성과에 유의한 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 역할의 명확성, 능력 및 자아 효능감으로 구성된 소비자준비도는 사용용이성, 성과와 재미 등 모든 SST사용동기 요소에 기술준비도보다 강하고 유의한 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 마지막으로 SST 핵심태도모델 내의 SST 사용 동기, 사용 태도 및 사용의도 간의 관계에서 소비자 특성과 상황적 요인의 조절효과를 검증한 결과 지각된 과밀을 제외한 모든 변수들이 조절효과를 지니는 것으로 나타났다. 이러한 연구 결과를 바탕으로 터치스크린 SST를 도입하려는 기업에 실무적 제언을 하였다.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• 제14권2호
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• pp.65-96
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• 2012

루머는 신뢰할 만한 타당한 근거나 이유가 없음에도 불구하고 광범위하게 이야기되는 일상적인 대화나 의견으로서 오랜기간 소비자 개개인의 사적 영역의 문제였다. 그러나 대중의 사랑과 주목을 받는 기업이나 브랜드는 선천적으로 소비자의 관심으로부터 멀어질 수 없으며, 항상 루머의 주요한 소재가 되어 왔다. 그 결과 현대의 소비자 커뮤니케이션 환경에서 루머는 기업 경영활동에 중요한 위기 요인이 되고 있다. 기업과 브랜드들이 당면하는 소비자 루머들은 크게 기업과 관련된 음모성 루머와 상품과 직접적 관련이 있는 오염성 루머로 나누어지며 국내외에서 많은 위기 사례들이 발견되고 있다. 심지어 P&G, SK, 현대, 삼성처럼 잘 정비된 홍보 조직을 갖춘 굴지의 대기업들조차 이런 루머로부터 자유롭지 못하며, 기존의 대응방식 역시 적절하지 못했던 것이 사실이다. 부정적 루머가 주목받아야 하는 이유는 해당 기업의 매출 및 점유율 하락은 물론 주식 가격에도 부정적인 영향을 미치며 오랜기간 구축해온 소비자와의 관계마저 황폐화시킬 가능성이 있기 때문이다. 최근 인터넷, 소셜 네트워크 서비스의 확산과 더불어 브랜드와 관련된 루머의 중요성은 더욱 증대하고 있으나 루머 연구는 지금까지 기업이나 마케팅 연구자의 정당한 주목을 받지 못하였다. 이에 본 연구는 루머의 다각적인 측면을 고려하는 상황주의자적 연구 패러다임을 기반으로 지각된 유용성, 원천 신뢰성, 메시지 신뢰성, 걱정, 생동감과 같은 루머와 관련된 속성들이 루머 수용강도와 루머 구전의도에 미치는 영향을 분석하였다. 이를 위하여 가상 브랜드와 루머가 제시되었으며, 실증조사를 통한 데이터 수집과 분석이 이루어졌다. 연구 결과에 따르면 원천 신뢰성, 메시지 신뢰성, 걱정, 생동감 같은 루머 특성 변수들은 루머 수용 강도에 유의한 영향을 미치고, 루머 수용강도는 루머 구전의도에 유의한 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 반면에 지각된 중요성은 루머 수용강도에 유의한 영향을 미치지 못하며, 상품 관여도의 조절효과 역시 유의하지 않은 것으로 나타났다. 본 연구는 주요한 실무적, 학문적 시사점을 제공하고 있다. 첫째, 루머를 자연발생적인 사회 현상이 아니라 소비자의 주요 활동의 일부이며, 마케터의 관심과 대응 커뮤니케이션 전략이 필요한 브랜드 관련 현상임을 주장하였다. 둘째, 브랜드 루머의 심리적, 사회적인 다차원적 구성 요인과 확산되는 경로를 제시함으로서 루머에 대한 능동적인 관리 가능성을 제시하였다. 셋째, 온라인상의 루머 활동이 기업 성과에 미치는 영향을 제시함으로서 기업들의 적극적인 온라인 커뮤니케이션 활동과 평판 관리의 필요성을 주장하였다. 넷째, 소비자의 걱정과 같은 부정적 정서가 루머의 온상이 되고 있음을 규명함으로서 소비자의 의혹을 불식시키기 위하여 정확하고 진실된 정보를 제공해야 함을 주장하였다. 다섯째, 루머의 유용성이 확산에 미치는 영향 가설이 기각되었으며, 상품 관여도의 조절 효과 역시 기각되었다. 이는 루머를 접하는 소비자의 입장에서 볼 때, 루머 자체가 무의미하더라도 단순한 재미나 호기심만으로도 얼마든지 확산될 가능성을 암시하고 있다. 일부 기업들은 사실이 아니라는 이유만으로 루머를 무시하거나 간과하는 경우들이 있으나, 기업의 예상과 다르게 루머가 얼마든지 확산될 수 있는 가능성을 보여주며, 기업의 보다 세심한 대응 전략의 필요성을 요구하고 있다.

• 미술자료
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• 제98권
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• pp.226-241
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• 2020

러시아 상트페테르부르크의 에르미타주 박물관 3층 맨 우측에는, 세계 유수의 실크로드 미술 컬렉션을 상설전시하는 "중앙아시아실"이 자리 잡고 있다. 20세기 초 실크로드를 학술조사한 러시아의 코즐로프(Pyotr Kozlov), 베레조프스키(Mikhail Berezovsky), 올덴부르그(Sergey Oldenburg) 등에 의해 수집된 고고 미술품 들이다. 에르미타주 박물관 소장의 방대한 이들 유물은 그 대강을 파악할 수 있도록 지역별로 분류하여 공개중이며, 이제까지 독일과 프랑스, 영국, 네덜란드, 한국, 일본 등에서 개최된 특별전시를 통해 그 일부를 소개하기도 하였다. 그리고 러시아 실크로드 탐험대의 성과물을 종합적으로 공개한 대형 기획전시 이 2008년에 에르미타주 박물관에서 개최됨으로써, 러시아의 실크로드 관련 유물이 세상에 본격적으로 알려지게 되었다. 이번에 간행된 『아장구자예술품(俄藏龜玆藝術品)』(2018)은 중국의 상해고적출판사(上海古籍出版社)가 에르미타주 박물관과 공동으로, 당관 소장 실크로드 유물 가운데 쿠차 지역의 예술품만을 선정하여 출판한 도록이다. 이 도록의 편집과 논고 및 유물 해설은 에르미타주 박물관 동양부(Oriental Department)의 시니어 큐레이터 키라 사모슉(Dr. Kira Samosyuk)이 담당하였다. 키라 박사는 하라호토(Khara-Khoto)와 서역(西域) 미술 전문가로, 그 이름이 국제적으로 널리 알려져 있는 중앙아시아 불교미술 연구의 석학이다. 본서에는 에르미타주 박물관 소장의 쿠차 지역 출토 유물을 망라하여, 중앙아시아 불교미술에 있어서의 쿠차 지역의 특징을 입체적으로 파악할 수 있도록 하였을 뿐만 아니라, 러시아 탐험대가 남긴 현장사진과 스케치 등에 이르기까지 빠짐없이 소개함으로써, 수집 유물 이외의 귀중한 정보도 아울러 제공하고 있다. 키라 사모슉 박사는 본서의 게재 논문 「The Art of the Kuche Buddhist Temples」에서, 러시아의 실크로드 탐험의 개요를 소개하고, 주로 불교시대 쿠차의 역사 전개 과정과 쿠차에 전래된 불교의 양상 그리고 석굴의 벽화 묘사와 그 연대 문제를 논한 후, 벽화의 주제와 소상(塑像), 석굴사원이 예배의 장으로서 어떻게 운용되고 있었는지에 대해 상세하게 언급하고 있다. 키라 박사는 결론으로서, 쿠차 문화는 불교 전파의 역사 가운데 독립적인 위치를 점하고 있었을 뿐만 아니라, 중국이나 유목세계의 여러 민족과 관계를 맺고 있었으며, 간다라 미술, 헬레니즘, 고대 이란, 중국 문화와의 관련성 속에서 독자적인 성격을 구축하였음을 논하고 있다. 그리고 쿠차 지역에서 형성된 문화는 타림분지뿐만 아니라 돈황(敦煌)과 중원(中原) 지역의 석굴예술에도 지대한 영향을 미치고 있다는 점으로 문장을 마감하고 있다. 키라 박사의 논고 가운데 주목할 부분은 쿠차 지역 석굴의 조성(造成) 연대(年代)에 관한 것이다. 그녀는 이제까지 여러 학자들에 의해 제기된 벽화의 조성 연대에 관한 견해를 소개하며, 벽화의 인물이 착용하고 있는 갑주(甲冑)의 도상(圖像) 특징 등을 소그드 미술 등 주변 지역에서 출토된 관련 자료와 비교하여, 키질의 조성 연대를 기존의 학설보다 백여 년 이상 소급해야 함을 주장하며, 5세기 이전으로 추정하고 있다. 그러나 쿠차 지역 석굴의 조성 시기의 문제는 석굴의 형식 문제를 비롯하여 불화(佛畫)의 주제(主題)와 양식(樣式), 안료(顔料)의 문제, 복식(服飾)이나 두발(頭髮), 제 장식(裝飾) 요소 등을 학제적(學際的) 연구 방법으로 재조명하고, 그 과정에 나타나는 주변 문화권과의 관련성 등을 종합적으로 고찰한 위에 방사성탄소 연대 측정 등 과학적 방법을 보조 자료로 활용하는 수밖에 없다. 에르미타주 박물관에는 제2차세계대전 때 베를린에서 전리품으로 가져온 벽화편이 다수 소장되어 있다. 일반인에게는 물론 학계에서도 그 행방을 전혀 모르고 있었던 이들 벽화편이 최근에 보존처리를 마치고 일반에게 상설전시를 통해 소개되고 있다. 본서 출판의 경위를 서술한 서언(序言)에는 이번 간행이 에르미타주 박물관 소장 쿠차 예술품의 제1차 출판이라고 한 점으로 보아, 아마도 보존처리가 끝난 독일 컬렉션을 소개하는 도록의 편집도 예정되어 있는 듯하다. 아울러 투르판과 호탄 지역 문물을 소개하는 도록의 간행도 기대해본다. 현재 쿠차의 석굴사원에서 절취한 벽화편은 러시아와 독일, 한국 등 여러 국가에 분장되어 있다. 이번 도록 출판을 계기로 쿠차 현지의 키질 석굴을 비롯한 제 석굴사원의 잔존벽화를 중심으로, 세계 각지에 흩어져 있는 벽화를 함께 소개하여 이들 석굴사원 벽화의 원래 모습을 온전하게 소개하는 종합도록의 간행도 필요할 것으로 본다. 그리고 동서의 문화가 혼합되어 있고 쿠차 지역 특유의 지역적 특성이 반영된 석굴사원의 벽화류 등을 소개하는 도록에는, 각 유물에 대한 보다 상세한 해설이 요망된다. 그리고 미술사 이외에도 보존과학적 측면에서의 안료 분석 등 학제적 조사연구 성과도 포함될 수 있기를 기대해본다. 작금의 중국 서부 개발 정책에 따라, 신장 지역의 오아시스에 인구가 과밀 거주함으로써 유발되는 기후변화 등으로 석굴사원의 벽화는 현재 심각한 위기에 처해있다. 이러한 난관을 타개하기 위해서는, 중국의 문화계뿐만 아니라 문화재 보존수복(保存修復)의 첨단 기술을 보유하고 있는 여러 국가들이 실크로드 석굴벽화의 보존수복을 위해 공동 노력하고 아울러 관련 인적자원 양성 등을 위해 보존과학센터를 운영하는 등 모두의 중지를 모아야할 때다. 본서는 20세기 초 서구 열강에 의해 추진된 실크로드의 고대 유적 조사 결과 가운데, 러시아 조사대가 쿠차 지역의 석굴사원을 중심으로 거둔 성과를 종합적으로 소개하는 출판물이지만, 향후 에르미타주 박물관 소장의 독일 컬렉션 벽화까지 전부 소개될 경우, 쿠차의 불교미술과 실크로드 연구에 크게 공헌할 것임에 틀림없다. 이런 의미에서 본서는 이제까지 축적되어 온 쿠차 지역에 대한 고고미술 연구의 마지막 퍼즐 조각이자 실크로드 연구의 새로운 방향을 제시한 학적 의미를 지니고 있다. 본서는 에르미타주 박물관의 실크로드 미술 연구의 성과물이자 새로운 편집 체계로서 학적 편의를 제공하였다는 점에서 큰 의미를 부여할 수 있으며, 이 모든 것을 기획하고 실크로드 미술 연구에 새로운 경지를 개척한 키라 사모슉 박사에게 경의를 표하는 바이다.