• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.621-638
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• 2020

Luxury companies are striving to improve their communication with customers while paying attention to online promotion and marketing activities. As companies interact with customers in luxury brand communities via various channels, they yield consumers higher value throughout the effective consumption process. In addition, this connection enhances customers' understanding of the company, making it easier for companies to acquire empathy from customers. This study aims to analyze the value factors that affect luxury brand community members' purchase intention and brand attitude. This study utilizes online survey results of four hundred prestige brand community users in China. The results reveal the positive effects of customer engagement on customer psychological empowerment and flow, the positive impacts of customer psychological empowerment and flow on community identity and brand attachment, the positive effects of community identity on purchase intentions, and the positive effects of brand attachment on purchase intentions and brand attitude. Furthermore, the results show that community types and fashion involvement partially moderate customer engagement. This study provides theoretical suggestions for relationship marketing in the luxury brand community environment. Last, this study presents practical implications that companies could utilize to create an emotional connection with their community members, resulting in an increase of customer support.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.18-32
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• 2013

This study attempts to 1) identify the dimensions of perceived value in the restaurant industry and 2) assess the effects of these dimensions on overall customer satisfaction and behavioral intent. With a total of 272 samples obtained from empirical research, this study reviews the reliability and fitness of the research model, and verifies a total of 4 hypotheses using the Amos program. The hypothesized relationships in the model were tested simultaneously using a structural equation model(SEM). The proposed model provided an adequate fit to the data:${\chi}^2$ 140.087(df 80), CMIN/df 1.751, RMR .060, GFI .937, AGFI .906, NFI .962, CFI .983, RMSEA .053. As a result of confirmatorical analysis, the quality value, emotional value and economical value were quantified as perceived value in fastfood restaurants. These factors were indicated to have influence on customer satisfaction and re-visit intention. Limitations and future research were also discussed.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.1-14
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• 2019

Objectives: This study was conducted to analyze the effect of hospital social responsibility(HSR) activities on organizational health and customer orientation. Methods: We conducted an online survey with hospital employees and analyzed the questionnaires of 206 selected respondents. A regression analysis was performed to determine the relationship between independent and dependent variables. Results: First, 'consumer issues', 'community involvement and development', and 'fair operating practice' factors in HSR influenced 'medical environment suitability' in organizational health. The 'fair operating practice' factor in HSR affected 'management environment suitability' and 'community orientation' in organizational health. The 'labor practices' factor in HSR affected 'practices suitability' and 'vitality' in organizational health. Second, the activities on 'consumer issues' and 'environment' in HSR have influenced 'Reliability', 'Reactivity' and 'Tangibility' in Customer Orientation. The activities on 'consumer issues' have affected 'Empathy'. Conclusions: The results of this study provide a positive direction for medical institutions as they conduct HSR activities and provide a basis for establishing effective HSR strategies.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.5-10
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• 2012

Currently, the rewards programs offered by many companies to strengthen customer relationships have been working quite well. In addition, many companies' rewards programs, designed for stabilizing revenue, are recognized to be effective. However, these rewards programs are not significantly differentiated between companies and there are no accurate conclusions currently, which can be made about their effects. Because of this, a company with a customer rewards program may not comprehend the true level of active participation. In this environment some companies' rewards programs inadvertently hinder business profitability as a side effect while attempting to increase customer loyalty. In fact, airline and oil companies pass on the financial cost of their programs to the customer, and as a result, they have been criticized publicly. The result of this is that the corporations with bad rewards programs tend to get a bad image. In this study of stores' rewards programs, we centered our focus on the design of the program. The main problem in this study is to recognize the financial value of the rewards program and whether it can create a competitive edge for the companies despite the cost issues experienced by them. Customers receiving financial rewards for their business may be just as satisfied with a particular company or store versus those who are not, and the program, perhaps, does not form a distinctive competitive advantage. When the customer is deciding between competing companies to secure their product needs with, we wanted to figure out how much of an affect a valuable reward program had on their decision making. To evaluate this, we set the first hypothesis as, "based on the level of involvement of the customers, there is a difference between customers' preferences for rewards programs." In the results of Experiment 1 we saw that in a financial compensation program for high-involvement groups and low-involvement groups, significant differences appeared and Hypothesis 1 was partially supported. As for the second hypothesis that "customers will have different preferences between a financial rewards programs (SE) and a joint rewards programs (JE)," the analysis showed that the preference for JE was significantly higher than that for other programs. In addition, through Experiment 2, we were able to find meaningful results, which revealed that consumers have shown a significant difference in their preferences between SE and JE. The purpose of these experiments was to enable the designing of a rewards program by learning how to enhance service information distribution and strengthen customer relationships. From the results, there should be a great amount of value for future service-related endeavors and academic research programs. The research is significant, because the results can be found to have a positive effect on reward program designs however, it does have the following limitations. First, this study was performed using an experiment, and all experiments have limitations. Second, although there was an individual evaluation and a joint evaluation, setting a proper evaluation criteria was difficult. In this study, 1,000 Korean won (KRW) in the individual evaluation had a value of 2 points, and, in the joint evaluation, 1,000 KRW had a value of 1 point. There may have been alternative ways to differentiate the evaluations to obtain the proper results. In this study, since there was no funding, the experiments were performed orally however, this was complementary to the study. Third, the subjects who participated in this experiment were students. Conducting this study through experimentation was unavoidable for us, and future research should be conducted using an actual program with the target customers.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.65-94
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to analyze the brand loyalty formation by positive labeling. Affecting such factors as involvement, self-image, community engagement, preference, and choice cutback, positive labeling can be seen as one of psychological factors that shapes consumer's behavior and their decision. This study was carried out because little research was done to examine the influence of positive labeling toward brand loyalty, and also to find out the benefits that consumers can get from being labeled in positive terms. Data were collected through survey questionnaire and 151 usable responses were used. Following a series of pretests and confirmatory factor analysis helped to purify measures and verify the psychometric properties of the scale. Structural equation modeling with AMOS was used for testing of research hypotheses. The result of data analysis demonstrated the positive relationship between labeling and brand loyalty, i.e. positive labeling indirectly leads to consumers' loyalty toward a brand. Findings revealed significant relationship between involvement and emotional attachment, as well as the relationship between community engagement and choice cutback. The results gave support for the hypothesis of moderating effect of buzz on the relationship between involvement and emotional attachment, even though the hypothesis of moderating effect of distinction was rejected. Taking Apple's rivalry strategy as initial point, this study highlights the role of labeling in creating social identity. The study attempts to show the positive consequences of labeling strategy for firms that seeks ways of good competition without engaging into conflicts.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.18-29
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• 2005

The study is to find the relationship between brand concept consistency and the consumer attitude toward the extended brand and the moderating roles of knowledge, involvement and typicality on their relationships in the food-service industry. In the severely competitive market, brand extension strategy has become a key strategy to the companies that are trying to expand in the new market and to cut down the marketing cost. First , the similarity which is measured by consistency of brand concept has a positive effect on the consumer attitude toward the extended brand. Second, the knowledge on the original brand has moderating effect on the relationship between consistency of brand concept and the consumer attitude toward the extended brand. More knowledge brings on more favorable attitudes.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.315-322
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• 2008

Objectives : This study was performed to explore customer royalty and the related factors. Methods : 900 households(a 1% sample) were randomly selected from the total population of K city located in Kangwon province. An interview survey was performed with using a structured questionnaire for the subjects(923 persons) who had used medical service during the year before the survey, and the survey was done September, 2002. Results : When comparing the relating factors related with customer royalty according to the sociodemographic characteristics, the older group showed a significantly higher level of recognition for service quality, service reputation, internal customers' attitudes and switching cost. The lower income group showed a higher level of recognition for service quality, service image and switching cost. The lower educated group showed a higher level of recognition for service reputation, service image and internal customers' attitudes. The higher educated group showed a higher level of recognition for perceived risk, and seeking variety. In addition, the expert group or the service and manufacturing workers group showed a higher level of recognition for service involvement. On multiple regression analysis, internal customers' attitudes, service image, service reputation, service quality, switching cost, and substitutability showed significant relations with customer loyalty. Conclusions : This study showed that customer loyalty was significantly influenced by service factors like internal customers' attitudes, service image, service reputation, and service quality, and by market factors like switching cost, and substitutability. The results of this study can be used as a baseline for developing strategies to create and keep customers with high loyalty.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.27-34
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• 2010

During the past 10 years, sales of luxury goods increased significantly to more than US$ 130 billion in 2007. In this industry, more than half of the revenue comes from Asia where the average income has risen significantly, and the demand for luxury products is forecast to grow rapidly. Purchasing luxury brands appears to be an intriguing social phenomenon that is profitable for companies in this region. As a newly developed country, Korea is one of the most attractive luxury markets in Asia. Currently, a total of 120 luxury fashion brands have entered the Korean market, primarily in luxury districts in Seoul where the competition is fierce. The purposes of this study are to: (1) identify antecedents of attitude toward luxury brands, (2) examine the effect of attitudes toward luxury brands on customer equity, (3) determine the impact of attitudes toward luxury brands on customer lifetime value, and (4) investigate the influence of customer equity on customer life time value. Previous studies have examined materialism, social need, experiential need, need for uniqueness, conformity, and fashion involvement as antecedents of attitude toward luxury brands. Richins and Dowson (1992) suggested that that materialism influences consumption behavior relative to quantity of goods purchased. Nueno and Quelch (1998) reported that the ownership of luxury brands conveys information related to the owner's social status, communicates an image of success and prestige, and is a determinant of purchase behavior. Experiential need is recognized as an important aspect of consumption, especially for new products developed to meet consumer demand. Since luxury goods, by definition are relatively scarce, ownership of these types of products may fulfill consumers' need for uniqueness. In this study, value equity, relationship equity, and brand equity are examined as drivers of customer equity. The sample (n = 114) was undergraduate and graduate students at two private women's universities in Seoul, Korea. Data collection was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire survey in March, 2009. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, factor analysis, reliability analysis, and regression analysis using SPSS 15.0 software. Data analysis resulted in a number of conclusions. First, experiential need and fashion involvement positively influence participants' attitude toward luxury brands. Second, attitude toward luxury brands positively influences brand equity, followed by value equity and relationship equity. However, there is no significant relationship between attitude toward luxury brand and customer lifetime value. Finally, relationship equity positively influences customer lifetime value. In conclusion, young consumers are an important potential consumer group that tries different brands to discover the ones most suitable for them. Luxury marketers that use effective marketing strategies to attract and engender loyalty among this potentially lucrative consumer group may increase customer equity and lifetime value.

• Proceedings of the Korean Operations and Management Science Society Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.91-94
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• 2001

The exponential growth of the Internet usage has motivated the launching of many commercial business web sites. Internet as a purchasing medium shows several unique characteristics because of its customer- driven technologies and absence of physical products. Thus, new commercial medium provokes a reclassification of products. Twenty five types of commercial Products are empirically tested in the Internet retailing and found to be grouped into four categories. This classification framework is investigated in the view of involvement and web technology Furthermore, this paper proposes four business web implementation strategies - impressive, simple, sensory, and semantic - based on the product classification. Proposed guidelines on business web might increase customer satisfaction.

• Journal of Information Technology Applications and Management
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.89-116
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• 2004

Insurance companies are in a fierce race to catch a new customer. In this situation. sales force automation technologies are often used to support customer relationship management strategies. This study sets out a research model predicting SFA(Sales Force Automation) usage through theoretical studies. Survey data were collected from 145 salespeople across 2 firms that had implemented sales force automation tools and hypotheses were tested empirically. Data were analyzed by path-analysis method of AMOS. The major findings of this study are as follows: Computer self-efficacy, user involvement and voluntariness have a statistically significant influence on the positive perceptions of SFA. These perceptions have a statistically significant influence on user satisfaction and usage of SFA. while user satisfaction has a statistically significant influence on SFA usage. This paper concludes with the discussion of these results and their implications for academic researchers and insurance company managers.