• Information Systems Review
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.59-81
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• 2024

Online consumer reviews provide a variety of information from the customer perspective in terms of satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Negative emotional expression is a potential antecedent of review usefulness, and can also influence potential consumers' attitudes and decisions. In addition, because national culture provides a perspective from which individuals view the world and act, it is highly likely that differences in negative emotional expression will occur depending on culture. This study explores the relationship between national culture and negative emotional expression based on impression management theory and ultimately analyzes the impact on review usefulness. For empirical analysis, 16,076 reviews of 140 hotels located in Seoul were collected and analyzed using the PLS-SEM method. As a result of the analysis, it was found that power distance and masculinity culture dimensions had a positive effect on reviewers' negative emotional expressions, while uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation had a negative effect. In addition, negative emotional expression was analyzed to have a positive effect on review usefulness even when review ratings were controlled.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.153-172
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• 2008

Products can maintain a high level of market share for many years by succeeding early in the development of a market. To overcome the benefit of pioneering a market, late entrants to the market can use differentiation strategies: developing novel attributes or enhancing preexisted attributes. In general, preexisted attributes are more memorable, but novel attributes can be weighted as heavily as preexisted attributes by contextual constraints. Based on the research of appraisal-congruent judgement, certainty appraisal dimension may affect the degree to which people engage in systematic or heuristic processing. This study examines the effects of alignability (the ease with which the attributes of one object can be aligned or mapped onto another object) of product attributes and certainty on consumer preferences for late entrants. Participants were induced to experience certainty and then completed a questionnaire. As predicted, participants induced certainty were likely to engage in heuristic processing, while participants induced uncertainty were likely to engage in systematic processing. This study provides an implication that companies should additionally consider consumers' feeling of certainty when launching a new brand.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Surveying, Geodesy, Photogrammetry and Cartography
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.251-258
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• 1998

The purpose of this study is to develop the District-level Planning Support System (DPSS) by using GIS. The district-level planning which is related for district-level control of city, needs the various parcel-level information which is composing the urban physical environment. The information has to be stored and analyzed for recognizing the study area, then the district-level planning will be efficiently managed. The use of GIS in the process of district-level planning is restricted for the creation of thematic map. GIS is not used for the analysis of spatial patterns and planning process. This study evaluates the characteristics of current district-level planning and the basic components of urban physical environment. And the database model is built. The topology among components is defined by using the spatial relationship. Then the spatial query machine for district-level planing is developed by using ArcView 3.1, Avenue and Dialog Extension. This spatial query machine is applied for case study. This study shows 1) the possibility of the district-level planning support system for analyzing spatial relationship, 2) the needs of the up-to-date topographic map showing current building's footlines and the complete integration with cadastral maps, it will reduce the uncertainty in the spatial decision making process, 3) the methodology for the construction of spatial decision making rules, 4) the further study for the using of raster, network, image and three dimension data.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.263-270
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• 2021

In this study, a reliability-based design optimization of a 130-m class fixed-type offshore platform, to be installed in the North Sea, was carried out, while considering environmental, material, and manufacturing uncertainties to enhance its structural safety and economic aspects. For the reliability analysis, and reliability-based design optimization of the structural integrity, unity check values (defined as the ratio between working and allowable stress, for axial, bending, and shear stresses), of the members of the offshore platform were considered as constraints. Weight of the supporting jacket structure was minimized to reduce the manufacturing cost of the offshore platform. Statistical characteristics of uncertainties were defined based on observed and measured data references. Reliability analysis and reliability-based design optimization of a jacket-type offshore structure were computationally burdensome due to the large number of members; therefore, we suggested a method for variable screening, based on the importance of their output responses, to reduce the dimension of the problem. Furthermore, a deterministic design optimization was carried out prior to the reliability-based design optimization, to improve overall computational efficiency. Finally, the optimal design obtained was compared with the conventional rule-based offshore platform design in terms of safety and cost.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.30
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• pp.261-274
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• 1996

In the present age dominate by both cer-taingty of 1% and uncertainty of 99% 'Fuzzy thinking' of Bart Kosko that is the way to solve the problems by the scientific way through a worldview of Buddhism or Taoism greatly prevails around the world over 'Lateral greatly prevails around the world over 'Lateral thinking' and the authenticity or the right and-wrong of the uncertainty which is the thinking way to find the answer of the problems of illogical way of Edward de Beno against the western vertical thinking were Concurrently fashion designers over the world also adopt the oriental elements. But there exist differences of thoughts between the orient and the occident. And they have dif-ferent thinking way of aestheticism and references of the value on the beauty. Not only beauty but the view through the mind as intuitional thought in which not only the rec-ognition of sense but also the rationalism and the naturalness play key role. The aesthetic sense in the orient contains both the truth and virtue. 2) The beauty of the mean It's from the thought of neutralization of Confucius. The mean or moderation state which in harmony with ethical virtue and aes-thetic beauty is the ideal and is the ultimate. Therefore the thought of Confucian is the creativity in which the balance and the har-mony is most important. Fashion design is also one of the representation of the mean because the spirit of the designer is harmonized for-mlessly with the object of the model of the fashion design. 2) The beauty of skillfulness It indicates the Taoism of Lao-tzu and Chuangtzu. It takes a super-artistic declar-ation that human can feel and recognize the color of colorlessness the sound of sound-lessness and the taste of tastelessness. The thought of arts affected by Taoism is 'ad-vanced age' called the beauty of skillfulness. The view of arts of lao-tzu takes the beauty of cosmos and the nature as a standard. Es-pecially the beauty of inactivity is recognized by the linkage between the beauty and the ugliness. And these things appear in fashion design as a design element such as humor or exaggeration. 3) The beauty of non-dualism It is thought of Buddhism that all evil passions of worry occur form the opposition in dualism. Finally this thought leads to that everything is consistent and truth is only one from the point of view that virtue and vice has on linkage that is 'no virtues no vices' and 'one with two, two, with one, one is not two' A big tendency like this became the root forma-tion of the thought of the oriental arts. 3. Characteristics of the oriental aesthetic sense on the present fashion design 1) The formation of the fashion design on the oriental elements In the picture-incantation which was a representation of an era when the thought of 'cosmic dual forces' dominated the basic polygons of 'a circle square triangle' means both 'one two three' and 'the negative positive mean' of cosmic elements. From this point of view the was of planner cutting in the Orient is dif-ferent from that of the Occidental which is in three-dimensional. The planner polygon type of the cut-pieces comes to have the meaning of the three-dimension when they consist of a suit that has the combination of each cut-piece. This shows the consistency with the principle of cosmos creation of Taoism that one is two two is three and three is every-thing. 2) The coloring and the symbolic represen-tation of the fashion design on the orien-tal elements The sense on the colors in the Orient from the thought of 'the cosmic dual forces and the five elements' is not the experi-enced from the knowledge but contains the consideration of philosophy Five-primary-color representing compass directions Blue(East) Red(South) Yellow(Center) White (West) and Black (North) is called ' the posi-tive' for this five-primary-color secondary-color which comes from the compound of the primary colors is called 'the negative' The thought of 'the cosmic dual forces and the five elements' is also an theory containing the natural order of the cos-mos and this shows the perceptional differ-ence that they are not conceptual but to be recognized and fell directly. A thought of Buddhism which is 'Colors are colorlessness and Clolorlessness are color's proves that. 3) The pattern and symbolic representation of the fashion design on the oriental elements The pattern as a visual style is a figure of symbolic representation which adopt the mental and physical world of human and are the compo-sition of artistic revelation of the human nature and the religous thought of incantation. Es-pecially the symbolic representation of the oriental thought of Confusion. Buddhism and Taoism There are patterns such as plants aminals the oriental four gods and geometry. From the above it's the time toward the 21'th century when the world is constructing one global area and one historical zone. And the exotic mood of the Orient represented in the fashion which doesn't make the common feeling in general does not cease to develop only to express the visual modeling but also adopts the thought religion and the art which are the root of the Orientail and contains inherent willing of modeling.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.87-99
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• 1994

Purpose : The determination of electron beam output factor was investigated from individual applicator for various energy of ML-15MDX linear accelerator. The output factor of electron beam was extended from square to rectangular field in individual applicator size through with a least-square fit to a polynomial expression. Materials : In this experiments. the measurement of output was obtained from 2${\times}$cm$^2$ to 20${\times}$20cm$^2$ of field size in different applicator size for 4 to 15 MaV electron beam energy. The output factor was defined as the ratio of maximum dose output on the central axis of the field of individual applicator size to that of a given field size. Applicator factors were derived from comparing with the output dose of reference field size 10${\times}$10cm$^2$. The thickness of block was specially designed as 10mm in thickness of Lipowitz metal for field shaping in all electron energy. Two types of output curves are included as output factors versus side of square fields and that of variable side length for X and Y in one-dimensional to compare the expected values to that of experiments. Results : Expected output factors of rectangular which was derived from that of square fields in individual applicator size from 2${\times}$2cm$^2$ to 20${\times}$20cm$^2$ in different electron energy was very closed to that of experimental measurements within 2% uncertainty. However 1D method showed a 3% discrepancy in small rectangular field for low energy electron beam. Conclusion : Emperical non-linear polynomial regressions of square root and 1D method were performed to determin the output factor in various field size and electron energy. The expected output of electron beam of square root method for square field and 1D method for rectangular field were very closed to that of measurement in all selected electron beam energy.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.107-112
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• 2007

Purpose: The pelvic phantom was fabricated in the following purposes: (1) Dose verification of IMRT plan using Eclipse planning computer, (2) to study the interface effect at the interface between rectal wall and air. The TLD can be inserted in the pelvic phantom to confirm the dose distribution as well as uncertainty at the interface. Materials and Methods: A pelvic phantom with the dimension of 30 cm diameter, 20 cm height and 20 cm thickness was fabricated to investigate the dose at the rectal wall. The phantom was filled with water and has many features like bladder, rectum, and prostate and seminal vesicle (SV). The rectum is made of 3 cm-dimater plastic pipe, and it cab be blocked by using a plug, and film can be inserted around the rectal wall. The phantom was scanned with Philips Brillance scanner and various organs such as prostate, SV, and rectal wall, and bladder wall were delineated. The treatment parameters used in this study are the same as those used in the protocols in the SNUH. TLD chips are inserted to the phantom to evaluate the dose distribution to the rectal wall (to simulate high dose gradient region), bladder wall and SV (to simulate the high dose region) and 2 spots in anterior surface (to simulate the low dose region). The TLD readings are compared with those of the planning computer (ECLIPSE, Varian, USA). Results: The target TLD doses represented as the prostate and SV show excellent agreements with the doses from the RTP within +/-3%. The rectal wall doses measured at the rectal wall are different from the those of the RTP by -11%. This is in literatures called as an interface effect. The underdosages at the rectal wall is independent of 3 heterogeneity correction algorithm in the Eclipse RTP. Also the low dose regions s represented as surface in this study were within +/-1%. Conclusion: The RTP estimate the dosage very accurately withihn +/-3% in the high dose (SV, or prostate) and low dose region (surface). However, the dosage at the rectal wall differed by as much as 11% (In literatures, the underdosage of 9$\sim$15% were reported). This range of errors occurs at the interface, for example, at the interface between lung and chest wall, or vocal cord. This interface effect is very important in clinical situations, for example, to estimate the NTCP (normal tissue complication probability) and to estimate the limitations of the current RTP system. Monte-carlo-based RTP will handle this issue correctly.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.113-145
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• 2009

Recently, due to the globalization of the IT(Information Technology) market, devices and systems designed in one country are used in other countries as well. This phenomenon is becoming the key factor for increased interest on cross-cultural, or cross-national, research within the IT area. However, as the IT market is becoming bigger and more globalized, a great number of IT practitioners are having difficulty in designing and developing devices or systems which can provide optimal experience. This is because not only tangible factors such as language and a country's economic or industrial power affect the user experience of a certain device or system but also invisible and intangible factors as well. Among such invisible and intangible factors, the cultural characteristics of users from different countries may affect the user experience of certain devices or systems because cultural characteristics affect how they understand and interpret the devices or systems. In other words, when users evaluate the quality of overall user experience, the cultural characteristics of each user act as a perceptual lens that leads the user to focus on a certain elements of experience. Therefore, there is a need within the IT field to consider cultural characteristics when designing or developing certain devices or systems and plan a strategy for localization. In such an environment, existing IS studies identify the culture with the country, emphasize the importance of culture in a national level perspective, and hypothesize that users within the same country have same cultural characteristics. Under such assumptions, these studies focus on the moderating effects of cultural characteristics on a national level within a certain theoretical framework. This has already been suggested by cross-cultural studies conducted by scholars such as Hofstede(1980) in providing numerical research results and measurement items for cultural characteristics and using such results or items as they increase the efficiency of studies. However, such national level culture has its limitations in forecasting and explaining individual-level behaviors such as voluntary device or system usage. This is because individual cultural characteristics are the outcome of not only the national culture but also the culture of a race, company, local area, family, and other groups that are formulated through interaction within the group. Therefore, national or nationally dominant cultural characteristics may have its limitations in forecasting and explaining the cultural characteristics of an individual. Moreover, past studies in psychology suggest a possibility that there exist different cultural characteristics within a single individual depending on the subject being measured or its context. For example, in relation to individual vs. collective characteristics, which is one of the major cultural characteristics, an individual may show collectivistic characteristics when he or she is with family or friends but show individualistic characteristics in his or her workplace. Therefore, this study acknowledged such limitations of past studies and conducted a research within the framework of 'theoretically integrated model of user satisfaction and emotional attachment', which was developed through a former study, on how the effects of different experience elements on emotional attachment or user satisfaction are differentiated depending on the individual cultural characteristics related to a system or device usage. In order to do this, this study hypothesized the moderating effects of four cultural dimensions (uncertainty avoidance, individualism vs, collectivism, masculinity vs. femininity, and power distance) as suggested by Hofstede(1980) within the theoretically integrated model of emotional attachment and user satisfaction. Statistical tests were then implemented on these moderating effects through conducting surveys with users of four digital devices (mobile phone, MP3 player, LCD TV, and refrigerator) in three countries (US, Germany, and Russia). In order to explain and forecast the behavior of personal device or system users, individual cultural characteristics must be measured, and depending on the target device or system, measurements must be measured independently. Through this suggestion, this study hopes to provide new and useful perspectives for future IS research.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.37-46
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• 2009

The Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced in May 2008 that U.S. retail e-commerce sales for 2006 reached $ 107 billion, up from $ 87 billion in 2005 - an increase of 22 percent. From 2001 to 2006, retail e-sales increased at an average annual growth rate of 25.4 percent. The explosive growth of E-Commerce has caused profound changes in marketing channel relationships and structures in many industries. Despite the great potential implications for both academicians and practitioners, there still exists a great deal of uncertainty about the impact of the Internet channel introduction on distribution channel management. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the ownership of the new Internet channel affects the existing channel members and consumers. To explore the above research questions, this study conducts well-controlled mathematical experiments to isolate the impact of the Internet channel by comparing before and after the Internet channel entry. The model consists of a monopolist manufacturer selling its product through a channel system including one independent physical store before the entry of an Internet store. The addition of the Internet store to this channel system results in a mixed channel comprised of two different types of channels. The new Internet store can be launched by the independent physical store such as Bestbuy. In this case, the physical retailer coordinates the two types of stores to maximize the joint profits from the two stores. The Internet store also can be introduced by an independent Internet retailer such as Amazon. In this case, a retail level competition occurs between the two types of stores. Although the manufacturer sells only one product, consumers view each product-outlet pair as a unique offering. Thus, the introduction of the Internet channel provides two product offerings for consumers. The channel structures analyzed in this study are illustrated in Fig.1. It is assumed that the manufacturer plays as a Stackelberg leader maximizing its own profits with the foresight of the independent retailer's optimal responses as typically assumed in previous analytical channel studies. As a Stackelberg follower, the independent physical retailer or independent Internet retailer maximizes its own profits, conditional on the manufacturer's wholesale price. The price competition between two the independent retailers is assumed to be a Bertrand Nash game. For simplicity, the marginal cost is set at zero, as typically assumed in this type of study. In order to explore the research questions above, this study develops a game theoretic model that possesses the following three key characteristics. First, the model explicitly captures the fact that an Internet channel and a physical store exist in two independent dimensions (one in physical space and the other in cyber space). This enables this model to demonstrate that the effect of adding an Internet store is different from that of adding another physical store. Second, the model reflects the fact that consumers are heterogeneous in their preferences for using a physical store and for using an Internet channel. Third, the model captures the vertical strategic interactions between an upstream manufacturer and a downstream retailer, making it possible to analyze the channel structure issues discussed in this paper. Although numerous previous models capture this vertical dimension of marketing channels, none simultaneously incorporates the three characteristics reflected in this model. The analysis results are summarized in Table 1. When the new Internet channel is introduced by the existing physical retailer and the retailer coordinates both types of stores to maximize the joint profits from the both stores, retail prices increase due to a combination of the coordination of the retail prices and the wider market coverage. The quantity sold does not significantly increase despite the wider market coverage, because the excessively high retail prices alleviate the market coverage effect to a degree. Interestingly, the coordinated total retail profits are lower than the combined retail profits of two competing independent retailers. This implies that when a physical retailer opens an Internet channel, the retailers could be better off managing the two channels separately rather than coordinating them, unless they have the foresight of the manufacturer's pricing behavior. It is also found that the introduction of an Internet channel affects the power balance of the channel. The retail competition is strong when an independent Internet store joins a channel with an independent physical retailer. This implies that each retailer in this structure has weak channel power. Due to intense retail competition, the manufacturer uses its channel power to increase its wholesale price to extract more profits from the total channel profit. However, the retailers cannot increase retail prices accordingly because of the intense retail level competition, leading to lower channel power. In this case, consumer welfare increases due to the wider market coverage and lower retail prices caused by the retail competition. The model employed for this study is not designed to capture all the characteristics of the Internet channel. The theoretical model in this study can also be applied for any stores that are not geographically constrained such as TV home shopping or catalog sales via mail. The reasons the model in this study is names as "Internet" are as follows: first, the most representative example of the stores that are not geographically constrained is the Internet. Second, catalog sales usually determine the target markets using the pre-specified mailing lists. In this aspect, the model used in this study is closer to the Internet than catalog sales. However, it would be a desirable future research direction to mathematically and theoretically distinguish the core differences among the stores that are not geographically constrained. The model is simplified by a set of assumptions to obtain mathematical traceability. First, this study assumes the price is the only strategic tool for competition. In the real world, however, various marketing variables can be used for competition. Therefore, a more realistic model can be designed if a model incorporates other various marketing variables such as service levels or operation costs. Second, this study assumes the market with one monopoly manufacturer. Therefore, the results from this study should be carefully interpreted considering this limitation. Future research could extend this limitation by introducing manufacturer level competition. Finally, some of the results are drawn from the assumption that the monopoly manufacturer is the Stackelberg leader. Although this is a standard assumption among game theoretic studies of this kind, we could gain deeper understanding and generalize our findings beyond this assumption if the model is analyzed by different game rules.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.208-218
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• 2010

Internet has grown fast and become one of the most important retail channels now. Various types of Internet retailers, hereafter etailers, have been introduced so far and as one type of Internet shopping mall, 'surrogate Internet shopping mall' has been prosperous and attracting consumers in the domestic market. Surrogate Internet shopping mall is a unique type of etailer that globally purchases well-known brand goods that are not imported in the market, completes delivery in the favor of individual buyers, and collects fees for these specific services. The consumers, who are usually interested in purchasing high-end and unique but not eligible brands, have difficulties to purchase these items overseas directly from the retailers or brands in other countries due to worries of payment failure and no address available for their usually domestic only delivery. In Korea, both numbers of surrogate Internet shopping malls and the magnitude of sales have been growing rapidly up to more than 430 active malls and 500 billion Korean won in 2008 since the population of consumers who want this agent shopping service is also expending. This etail business concept is originated from 'surrogate-mediated purchase' and this type of shopping agent has existed in many different forms and also in wide ranges of context level for quite a long time. As marketers face their individual buyers' representatives instead of a direct contact with them in many occasions, the impact of surrogate shoppers on consumer's decision making has been enormously important and many scholars have explored various range of agent's impact on consumer's purchase decisions in marketing and psychology field. However, not much rigorous research in the Internet commerce has been conveyed yet. Moreover, since as one of the shopping agent surrogate Internet shopping malls specifically connect overseas brands or retailers to domestic consumers, one specific character of the mall's, image of surrogate buying country, where surrogate purchases are conducted in, may play an important role to form consumers' attitude and purchase intention toward products. Furthermore it also possibly affects various dimensions of perceived risk in consumer's information processing. However, though tremendous researches have been carried exploring the effects of diverse dimensions of country of origin, related studies in Internet context has been rarely executed. There have been some studies that prove the positive impact of country of origin on consumer's evaluations as one of information clues in product manufacture descriptions, yet studies detecting the relationship between country image of surrogate buying origin and product evaluations rarely undertaken regarding this specific mall type. Thus, the authors have found it well-worth investigating in this specific retail channel and explored systematic relationships among focal constructs and elaborated their different paths. The authors have proven that country image of surrogate buying origin in the mall, where surrogate malls purchase products in and brings them from for buyers, not only has a positive effect on consumers' product evaluations including attitude and purchase intention but also has a negative effect on all three dimensions of perceived risk: product-related risk, shipping-related risk, and post-purchase risk. Specifically among all the perceived risk, product-related risk which is arisen from high uncertainty of product performance is most affected (${\beta}$= -.30) by negative country image of surrogate buying origin, and also shipping-related risk (${\beta}$= -.18) and post-purchase risk (${\beta}$= -.15) get influenced in order. Its direct effects on product attitude (${\beta}$= .10) and purchase intention (${\beta}$= .14) are also secured. Each of perceived risk dimension is proven to have a negative effect on purchase intention through product attitude as a mediator (${\beta}$= -.57: product-related risk ${\rightarrow}$ product attitude; ${\beta}$= -.24: shipping-related risk ${\rightarrow}$ product attitude; ${\beta}$= -.44: post-purchase risk ${\rightarrow}$ product attitude) as well. From the additional analysis, the paths of consumers' information processing are shown to be different based on their levels of product knowledge. While novice consumers with low level of knowledge consider only perceived risk important, expert consumers with high level of knowledge take both the country image, where surrogate services are conducted in, and perceived risk seriously to build their attitudes and formulate decisions toward products more delicately and systematically, which is in line with previous studies. This study suggests several pieces of academic and practical advice. Precisely, country image of surrogate buying origin does affect on consumer's risk perceptions and behavioral consequences. Therefore a careful selection of surrogate buying origin is recommended. Furthermore, reducing consumers' risk level is required to blossom this new type of retail business whether its consumer are novices or experts. Additionally, since consumer take different paths of elaborating information based on their knowledge levels, sophisticated marketing approaches to each group of consumers are required. For novice buyers strong devices for risk mitigation are needed to induce them to form better attitudes and for experts selections of better and advanced countries as surrogate buying origins are advised while endorsement strategy for the site might work as a reliable information clue to all consumers to mitigate the barriers to purchase goods online. The authors have also explained that the study suffers from some limitations, including generalizability. In future studies, tests of and comparisons among different types of etailers with relevant constructs are recommended to broaden the findings.