• Journal of Distribution Science
• /
• v.10 no.3
• /
• pp.43-50
• /
• 2012

This study sets out to examine how a brand image that matches the advertising model has a positive impact on brand attitude and price fairness perceptions. We reviewed the constructs on the basis of previous studies and each of the concepts has been redefined. One such concept, "image congruence," refers to the harmony, fitness, and matching quality of images. For example, how well celebrity advertising model is matches the brand image shows image congruence. Results are summarized as follows: First, the congruence of brand image and sports advertising model has no significant impact on brand attitude certainty and persistence. Second, the individual's brand attitude certainty and brand attitude persistence has a positive impact on the perceptions of price fairness. Third, the congruence of brand image and sports advertising model has a positive impact on the perceptions of price fairness. The first and the third results suggest that the positive impact on the price fairness perceptions is temporary but it has insignificant effects on the formation of brand attitude causing ongoing purchases. In other words, in order to influence consumers' long-term confidence on the brand, improving the quality of products or services has to precede promotional strategies such as advertising. When an advertising model is inappropriate for the brand image, consumers perceive product price changes as a negative issue in the short term. However, in the long term, attitude formation such as consumers' repurchase intentions and word of mouth will be not affected. The second result suggests that an already existing positive brand attitude can contribute more positively to change the perceptions of price fairness. In particular, attitude persistence has greater influence than attitude certainty on the price fairness. It suggests that persistence issues such as the trading period and the frequency of transactions must be managed and controlled because they are more important than the certainty issues such as strength of belief or trust. For example, when a commercial model for expensive sporting goods matches up with the brand image, consumer feels less pressure on the price changes. However, it does not determine the consumer's repeated purchases or sustainable transactions and it also has no absolute impact on the brand trust. In other words, consumer brand attitude should be recognized and approached as a routine strategy in view of the result that it is of great value as a causal variable in the process of consumer decision-making.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.123-134
• /
• 2010

Considering the benefits for both consumers and suppliers, firms are taking advantage of the Internet as a medium to communicate with and sell products to their consumers. This trend makes the online shopping environment a growing field for both researchers and practitioners. This paper contributes by testing a model of online consumer behavior with websites varying in levels of hedonism. Unlike past studies, we included all three types of emotions (arousal, pleasure, and dominance) and flow into the model. In this study, we assumed that website interfaces, such as background colors, music, and fonts impact the three types of emotions at the initial exposure to the site (Mazaheri, Richard, and Laroche, 2011). In turn, these emotions influence flow and consumers' perceptions of the site atmospherics-perception of site informativeness, effectiveness, and entertainment. This assumption is consistent with Zajonc (1980) who argued that affective reactions are independent of perceptual and cognitive operations and can influence responses. We, then, propose that the perceptions of site atmospherics along with flow, influence customers' attitudes toward the website and toward the product, site involvement, and purchase intentions. In addition, we studied the moderating impact of the level of hedonism of websites on all the relationship in the model. Thus, the path coefficients were compared between "high" and "low" hedonic websites. We used 39 real websites from 12 product categories (8 services and 4 physical goods) to test the model. Among them, 20 were perceived as high hedonic and 19 as low hedonic by the respondents. The result of EQS 6.1 support the overall model: $\chi^2$=1787 (df=504), CFI=.994; RMSEA=.031. All the hypotheses were significant. In addition, the results of multi-groups analyses reveal several non-invariant structural paths between high and low hedonic website groups. The findings supported the model regarding the influence of the three types of emotions on customers' perceptions of site atmospherics, flow, and other customer behavior variables. It was found that pleasure strongly influenced site attitudes and perceptions of site entertainment. Arousal positively impacted the other two types of emotions, perceptions of site informativeness, and site involvement. Additionally, the influence of arousal on flow was found to be highly significant. The results suggested a strong association between dominance and customers' perceptions of site effectiveness. Dominance was also found to be associated with site attitudes and flow. Moreover, the findings suggested that site involvement and attitudes toward the product are the most important antecedents of purchase intentions. Site informativeness and flow also significantly influenced purchase intentions. The results of multi-group analysis supported the moderating impacts of hedonism of the websites. Compared to low (high) hedonic sites, the impacts of utilitarian (hedonic) attributes on other variables were stronger in high (low) hedonic websites. Among the three types of emotions, dominance (controlling feelings) effects were stronger in high hedonic sites and pleasure effects were stronger in low hedonic sites. Moreover, the impact of site informativeness was stronger for high hedonic websites compared to their low-hedonic counterparts. On the other hand, the influence of effectiveness of information on perceptions of site informativeness and the impact of site involvement on product attitudes were stronger for low hedonic websites than for high hedonic ones.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
• /
• v.45 no.1
• /
• pp.59-69
• /
• 2013

This study investigated the frequency, amount and consumption patterns of 50 potentially hazardous foods (PHF) along with consumers' risk perceptions towards PHF in Korea. A quantitative survey was performed from May through August by trained interviewers, surveying 1,000 adults aged over 18 who were randomly selected from six major provinces in Korea. Consumers perceived seafood, including shellfish, mussel, sashimi and sushi, as the top foods with the highest risk, followed by raw sliced beef. The food with the highest frequency intake per month was leafy vegetables, which is used to wrap other foods, followed by blanched vegetables, fried chicken, etc. The group of middle aged individuals with economic stability had the highest frequency intake of sashimi and sushi. Respondents living in small regions consume greater PHF portions at once. Food safety education with regard to the risk of PHF is essential for consumers, with high frequent intake of PHF.

• Asia Marketing Journal
• /
• v.12 no.3
• /
• pp.1-24
• /
• 2010

Typically, marketing literature on innovation diffusion has focused on the pre-adoption process and only a few studies explicitly examined consumers' post-adoption behavior of innovative mobile services. Besides, prior use diffusion research has considered the variables that determine the consumers' initial adoption in explaining the post adoption usage behavior. However, behavioral sciences and individual psychology suggest that social influences are a potentially important determinant of usage behavior as well. The purpose of this study is to investigate into the effects of network factor and brand identification as social influences on the consumers' use diffusion or continued usage intention of a mobile service. Network factor designates consumer perception of the usefulness of a network, which embraces the concept of network externality and that of critical mass. Brand identification captures distinct aspects of social influence on technology acceptance that is not captured by subjective norm in situations where the technology use is voluntary. Additionally, this study explores the effect of the use diffusion on the brand switching intention, a generally unexplored form of post-adoption behavior. There are only a few empirical studies in the literature addressing the issue of IT user switching. In this study, the use diffusion comprises of rate of use and variety of use. The research hypotheses are as follows; H1. Network factor will have a positive influence on the rate of use of mobile services. H2. Network factor will have a positive influence on variety of use of mobile services. H3. Network factor will have a positive influence on continued usage intention. H4. Brand identification will have a positive influence on the rate of use. H5. Brand identification will have a positive influence on variety of use. H6. Brand identification will have a positive influence on continued usage intention. H7. Rate of use of mobile services are positively related to continued usage intention. H8. Variety of Use of mobile services are positively related to continued usage intention. H9. Rate of use of mobile services are negatively related to brand switching intention. H10. Variety of Use of mobile services are negatively related to brand switching intention. With the assistance of a marketing service company, a total of 1023 questionnaires from an online survey were collected. The survey was conducted only on those who have received or given a mobile service called "Gifticon". Those who answered insincerely were excluded from the analysis, so we had 936 observations available for a further stage of data analysis. We used structural equation modeling and overall fit was good enough (CFI=0.933, TLI=0.903, RMSEA=0.081). The results show that network factor and brand identification significantly increase the rate of use. But only brand identification increases variety of use. Also, network factor, brand identification and the use diffusion are positively related to continued usage intention. But the hypotheses that the use diffusion are positively related to brand switching intention were rejected. This result implies that continued usage intention cannot guarantee reducing brand switching intention.

• Journal of Distribution Science
• /
• v.10 no.3
• /
• pp.51-61
• /
• 2012

This study seeks to understand how the choice of a coffee shop is related to a customer's loyalty and which characteristics of a shop influence this choice. It considers large-sized coffee shops brands whose market scale has gradually grown. The users' choice of shop is determined by price, employee service, shop location, and shop atmosphere. The study investigated the effects of these four properties on the brand attitudes of coffee shops. The effects were found to vary depending on users' characteristics. The properties with the largest influence were shop atmosphere and shop location Therefore, the purpose of the study was to examine the properties that could help coffee shops get loyal customers, and the choice properties that could satisfy consumers' desires The study examined consumers' perceptions of shop properties at selection of coffee shop and the difference between perceptual difference and coffee brand in order to investigate customers' desires and needs and to suggest ways that could supply products and service. The research methodology consisted of two parts: normative and empirical research, which includes empirical analysis and statistical analysis. In this study, a statistical analysis of the empirical research was carried out. The study theoretically confirmed the shop choice properties by reviewing previous studies and performed an empirical analysis including cross tabulation based on secondary material. The findings were as follows: First, coffee shop choice properties varied by gender. Price advantage influenced the choice of both men and women; men preferred nearer coffee shops where they could buy coffee easily and more conveniently than women did. The atmosphere of the coffee shop had the greatest influence on both men and women, and shop atmosphere was thought to be the most important for age analysis. In the past, customers selected coffee shops solely to drink coffee. Now, they select the coffee shop according to its interior, menu variety, and atmosphere owing to improved quality and service of coffee shop brands. Second, the prices of the brands did not vary much because the coffee shops were similarly priced. The service was thought to be more important and to elevate service quality so that price and employee service and other properties did not have a great influence on shop choice. However, those working in the farming, forestry, fishery, and livestock industries were more concerned with the price than the shop atmosphere. College and graduate school students were also affected by inexpensive price. Third, shop choice properties varied depending on income. The shop location and shop atmosphere had a greater influence on shop choice. The customers in an income bracket of less than 2 million won selected low-price coffee shops more than those earning 6 million won or more. Therefore, price advantage had no relation with difference in income. The higher income group was not affected by employee service. Fourth, shop choice properties varied depending on place. For instance, customers at Ulsan were the most affected by the price, and the ones at Busan were the least affected. The shop location had the greatest influence among all of the properties. Among the places surveyed, Gwangju had the least influence. The alternate use of space in a coffee shop was thought to be important in all the cities under consideration. The customers at Ulsan were not affected by employee service, and they selected coffee shops according to quality and preference of shop atmosphere. Lastly, the price factor was found to be a little higher than other factors when customers frequently selected brands according to shop properties. Customers at Gwangju reacted to discounts more than those in other cities did, and the former gave less priority to the quality and taste of coffee. Brand preference varied depending on coffee shop location. Customers at Busan selected brands according to the coffee shop location, and those at Ulsan were not influenced by employee kindness and specialty. The implications of this study are that franchise coffee shop businesses should focus on customers rather than aggressive marketing strategies that increase the number of coffee shops. Thus, they should create an environment with a good atmosphere and set up coffee shops in places that customers have good access to. This study has some limitations. First, the respondents were concentrated in metropolitan areas. Secondary data showed that the number of respondents at Seoul was much more than that at Gyeonggi-do. Furthermore, the number of respondents at Gyeonggi-do was much more than those at the six major cities in the nation. Thus, the regional sample was not representative enough of the population. Second, respondents' ratio was used as a measurement scale to test the perception of shop choice properties and brand preference. The difficulties arose when examining the relation between these properties and brand preference, as well as when understanding the difference between groups. Therefore, future research should seek to address some of the shortcomings of this study: If the coffee shops are being expanded to local areas, then a questionnaire survey of consumers at small cities in local areas shall be conducted to collect primary material. In particular, variables of the questionnaire survey shall be measured using Likert scales in order to include perception on shop choice properties, brand preference, and repurchase. Therefore, correlation analysis, multi-regression, and ANOVA shall be used for empirical analysis and to investigate consumers' attitudes and behavior in detail.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF PACKAGING SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.49-59
• /
• 2002

The main function of plastic materials in food packaging is to preserve a food for safe transportation and storage. The interactions between food and plastic materials in food packaging have become increasingly important for food quality and safety because monomer, low molecular weight components, or additives of plastic packaging materials can migrate into a food. The use of antioxidants in plastic materials can help protect the degradation of film itself and retard the oxidation of a packaged food containing lipid, through the migration of antioxidant from the packaging to a product via an evaporation / sorption mechanism. Nowadays, antioxidant (BHT) impregnated plastic materials are used for commercial food packaging application with the intention of achieving an extended shelf life of food in USA. Alpha tocopherol, as one of the most important free radical scavengers, has been well known in biological systems. Moreover, the potential use of alpha tocopherol as an additive for polymers used in the packaging industry may offer the most positive perception from both consumers and manufacturers. Alpha tocopherol has been used as an antioxidant for polyolefin resins fabricated to both bottles and film and has applications in the food packaging industry as a replacement for BHT. Today, alpha tocopherol offers an attractive choice for use as an antioxidant in polymers. This paper provides an overview of antioxidant effectiveness and applications for its use by the food packaging industry based on the evaporation-sorption mechanism of a packaging model product, where quality is associated with lipid oxidation. Important analytical techniques for predicting antioxidant interaction between the package system and product are discussed.

• Management & Information Systems Review
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.81-111
• /
• 2011

Relationship Marketing has been dealt with as an effective strategy to sustain customer loyalty in many previous researches. For relationship development, a customer's efforts are necessary as well as an organization's efforts. However, the role of customers for the development of the relationship with an organization has been dealt in few previous researches so far. Furthermore, whereas researchers understand the importance of consumers' motivation in the relationship, few researchers had paid attention. This research is based on the Self-Determination Theory (SDT) to explain the role of customer motivation in the process of relationship development and performance. We started by using SDT to confirm the psychological side of relationship development in customer aspects. Then, this paper verified the relationships among environmental factors(informative communication, perceived personalization), relationship motivation(identified motivation, internal motivation) and relational factors(affective commitment, relationship strength). It suggested that customer's roles in psychological parts be inevitable in developing the relationship and it acquired by such stimulations from service providers. In conclusion, this paper has several marketing implications on customer acquisition and retention. For service providers, they should recognize the fact that a customer's perception of self-determination factors can generate tangible and intangible performance in relationship development.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
• /
• v.20 no.6
• /
• pp.895-911
• /
• 2012

The purpose of this study was to examine consumers' perceptions of eco-friendly children's-wear and their impact on the selection criteria for children's-wear and stores. A descriptive survey method using a self-administered questionnaire was employed. The sample consisted of mothers with children under the age of 13 residing in Seoul and the Gyeonggi area. Data were collected from September 2011 to October, 2011. The collected data were analyzed to find the differences between purchasers and non-purchasers of eco-friendly children's-wear in terms of their perceptions of eco-friendly children's-wear, as well as the influence of these perceptions on the consideration degree of criteria for the selection of children's wear and store. The results indicate that perceptions of eco-friendly children's-wear implied five key factors related to quality reliability, expected value, style, degree of recognition, and dissatisfaction with design and price. The results also revealed some differences between the group purchasing eco-friendly children's-wear and the group not purchasing eco-friendly children's-wear. These different perceptions were related to the aspects of quality reliability, expected value, style, degree of recognition. In general, the non-purchasing group displayed a lower mean score than the purchasing group. Both groups showed a low interest in aesthetic appreciation and the degree of recognition factor. The results showed that consumer's perceptions of eco-friendly children's-wear had an influence on the criteria for the selection of children's-wear and store type in both groups. Considering the findings of the study, it is clear that both purchasers and non-purchasers of eco-friendly children's-wear showed differences in their perceptions and purchasing behavior. Therefore, marketing strategies to appeal to the non-purchasing group should be differentiated from strategies used to ensure the loyalty of the purchasing group.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.20 no.4
• /
• pp.305-314
• /
• 2020

Mobile environment is relatively free from time and space constraints, and has unique characteristics such as not applying physical and social vulnerability because of it's non-face-to-face channel. Since such spatial and temporal speciality is likely to appear in a different form from psychological action and action in a general face-to-face environment, it is necessary to conduct an empirical study based on the results of the existing research that has been studied as major psychological variables of action in mobile environment. However, advance research have not been conducted in earnest on the vulnerability and anxiety of the consumers in a new environment called mobile finance. so this study intends to establish the basis through empirical research. As a result, women among traditional vulnerable groups perceived themselves to be vulnerable in mobile financial environments than men and felt fear of crime strongly. In addition, the vulnerability of mobile financial crime did not have a significant direct effect on mobile financial use, but it was confirmed that mobile crime fear was mediated completely and had an indirect effect on mobile financial use.

• Resources Recycling
• /
• v.28 no.6
• /
• pp.3-8
• /
• 2019

Recently, plastic waste in Korea has been recognized as a critical issue due to an increase in massive production of plastics, difficulty in disposal of waste plastics, and public recognition of toxicity in micro-plastics, etc. To resolve those problems, the regulation to reduce plastics consumption may be primarily considered but, in this case, clarification should be made on the rationales and the action plans in the regulation for individual waste plastic items. Another problem is the small capital sizes of domestic recycling companies, which leads to poor R&D capacity, low recycling yields and thus lowering values of recycling items. This adversely affects consumers' perception. The R&D toward recycling technical progress should take into account the environmental friendliness and recyclability from the early product design stages. Certainly, this should be supported in governmental policy and public action plans. In addition, by referring to advanced policies of i.e. European Union, the recycling industry should be recognized as an opportunity toward new investment & employment. If necessary, the regulation of plastic consumption through a formal evaluation process such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) will also be helpful. The values of recycled plastics should be improved through the identification and elimination of harmful chemical substances potentially contained in the products.