• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.77-90
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• 2023

This study aims to investigate the potential of alternative credit assessment through Social Networking Sites (SNS) as a complementary tool to conventional loan review processes. It seeks to discern the impact of SNS usage characteristics and loan product attributes on credit loan repayment. To achieve this objective, we conducted a binomial logistic regression analysis examining the influence of SNS usage patterns, loan characteristics, and personal attributes on credit loan conditions, utilizing data from Company A's credit loan program, which integrates SNS data into its actual loan review processes. Our findings reveal several noteworthy insights. Firstly, with respect to profile photos that reflect users' personalities and individual characteristics, individuals who choose to upload photos directly connected to their personal lives, such as images of themselves, their private circles (e.g., family and friends), and photos depicting social activities like hobbies, which tend to be favored by individuals with extroverted tendencies, as well as character and humor-themed photos, which are typically favored by individuals with conscientious traits, demonstrate a higher propensity for diligently repaying credit loans. Conversely, the utilization of photos like landscapes or images concealing one's identity did not exhibit a statistically significant causal relationship with loan repayment. Furthermore, a positive correlation was observed between the extent of SNS usage and the likelihood of loan repayment. However, the level of SNS interaction did not exert a significant effect on the probability of loan repayment. This observation may be attributed to the passive nature of the interaction variable, which primarily involves expressing sympathy for other users' comments rather than generating original content. The study also unveiled the statistical significance of loan duration and the number of loans, representing key characteristics of loan portfolios, in influencing credit loan repayment. This underscores the importance of considering loan duration and the quantity of loans as crucial determinants in the design of microcredit products. Among the personal characteristic variables examined, only gender emerged as a significant factor. This implies that the loan program scrutinized in this analysis does not exhibit substantial discrimination based on age and credit scores, as its customer base predominantly consists of individuals in their twenties and thirties with low credit scores, who encounter challenges in securing loans from traditional financial institutions. This research stands out from prior studies by empirically exploring the relationship between SNS usage and credit loan repayment while incorporating variables not typically addressed in existing credit rating research, such as profile pictures. It underscores the significance of harnessing subjective, unstructured information from SNS for loan screening, offering the potential to mitigate the financial disadvantages faced by borrowers with low credit scores or those ensnared in short-term liquidity constraints due to limited credit history a group often referred to as "thin filers." By utilizing such information, these individuals can potentially reduce their credit costs, whereas they are supposed to accrue a more substantial financial history through credit transactions under conventional credit assessment system.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.173-189
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• 2023

As supreme technologies continue to be developed, industries such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, robots, aerospace, electric vehicles, and solar energy are created, and the macro business environment is rapidly changing. Due to these large-scale changes and increased complexity, it is necessary to pay attention to the effect of social capital, which can create new value by utilizing capital increasing the importance of relationships rather than technology or asset ownership itself at the level of start-up strategy. Social capital is a concept first proposed by Hanifan in 1916, and refers to the overall sum of capabilities or resources that are latent or available for use in mutual, continuous, organic relationships or accumulated human relationship networks between individuals or social members. In addition, the diversity of start-up teams with diverse backgrounds, characteristics, and capabilities, rather than one exceptional founder, has been emphasized. Founding team diversity refers to the diversity of in-depth factors such as demographic factors, beliefs, and values of the founding team. In addition, changes in the macro environment are emphasizing the importance of technology start-ups and laboratory start-ups that lead industrial innovation and create the nation's core growth engines. This study focused on the I-Corps' program. I-Corps, which means innovation corps, is a laboratory startup program launched by the National Research Foundation (NSF) in 2011 to encourage entrepreneurship and commercialization of research results. It focuses on forming a startup team involving professors, researchers and market discovery activities. Taking these characteristics into account, this study empirically verified the impact of social capital from a network perspective and founding team diversity on I-Corps start-up performance. As a result of the analysis, the educational diversity of the founding team had a negative (-) effect on the financial performance of the founding team. On the other side, the gender diversity and the cognitive dimension of social capital had a positive (+) effect on the financial performance of the founding team. This study is expected to provide more useful theoretical and practical implications regarding the diversity, social capital, and performance interpretation of the I-Corps Lab startup team.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.153-169
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• 2024

Purpose: The main goal of this study was to identify the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on grocery purchases (i.e., fresh and processed foods by grain, vegetable, fruit, seafood, and meat categories) in Korea. To understand the specific impact of COVID-19, the study period was divided into 3 segments: PRE-COVID-19, INTER-COVID-19, and POST-COVID-19. Methods: We used the microdata of household income and expenditure from Statistics Korea (KOSTAT), representing households across the country. The data comprised monthly grocery expenditure data from January 2019 to September 2022. First, we compared the PRE-COVID-19 period to INTER-COVID-19 and then INTER-COVID-19 to POST-COVID-19 and used multiple regression analysis. The covariates used were the gender and age of the head of the household, the household's monthly income, the number of family members, the price index, and the month (dummy variable). Results: The expenditures on all grocery categories except fresh fruit increased from PRE-COVID-19 to INTER-COVID-19. From INTER-COVID-19 to POST-COVID-19, almost all grocery category spending declined, with processed meat being the only exception. Most purchases of protein sources, increased during INTER-COVID-19 compared to PRE-COVID-19, while ham/sausage/bacon for meat protein, fish cakes and canned seafood for seafood protein, and soy milk for plant-based protein did not decrease during POST-COVID-19 compared to INTER-COVID-19. Conclusion: These results show an overall increase in in-home grocery expenditure during COVID-19 due to an increase in eating at home, followed by a decrease in this expenditure in the POST-COVID-19 period. Among the trends, the protein and highly processed convenience food categories did not see a decline in spending during the POST-COVID-19 period, which is a reflection of the preferences of consumers in the post-COVID-19 period.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.63-104
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• 2011

The study examines the relationships among employee's goal orientation, IT personnel competency, personal effectiveness. The goal orientation includes learning goal orientation, performance approach goal orientation, and performance avoid goal orientation. Personal effectiveness consists of personal work satisfaction and personal work performance. In general, IT personnel competency refers to IT expert's skills, expertise, and knowledge required to perform IT activities in organizations. However, due to the advent of the internet and the generalization of IT, IT personnel competency turns out to be an important competency of technological experts as well as employees in organizations. While the competency of IT itself is important, the appropriate harmony between IT personnel's business capability and technological capability enhances the value of human resources and thus provides organizations with sustainable competitive advantages. The rapid pace of organization change places increased pressure on employees to continually update their skills and adapt their behavior to new organizational realities. This challenge raises a number of important questions concerning organizational behavior? Why do some employees display remarkable flexibility in their behavioral responses to changes in the organization, whereas others firmly resist change or experience great stress when faced with the need to alter behavior? Why do some employees continually strive to improve themselves over their life span, whereas others are content to forge through life using the same basic knowledge and skills? Why do some employees throw themselves enthusiastically into challenging tasks, whereas others avoid challenging tasks? The goal orientation proposed by organizational psychology provides at least a partial answer to these questions. Goal orientations refer to stable personally characteristics fostered by "self-theories" about the nature and development of attributes (such as intelligence, personality, abilities, and skills) people have. Self-theories are one's beliefs and goal orientations are achievement motivation revealed in seeking goals in accordance with one's beliefs. The goal orientations include learning goal orientation, performance approach goal orientation, and performance avoid goal orientation. Specifically, a learning goal orientation refers to a preference to develop the self by acquiring new skills, mastering new situations, and improving one's competence. A performance approach goal orientation refers to a preference to demonstrate and validate the adequacy of one's competence by seeking favorable judgments and avoiding negative judgments. A performance avoid goal orientation refers to a preference to avoid the disproving of one's competence and to avoid negative judgements about it, while focusing on performance. And the study also examines the moderating role of work career of employees to investigate the difference in the relationship between IT personnel competency and personal effectiveness. The study analyzes the collected data using PASW 18.0 and and PLS(Partial Least Square). The study also uses PLS bootstrapping algorithm (sample size: 500) to test research hypotheses. The result shows that the influences of both a learning goal orientation (${\beta}$ = 0.301, t = 3.822, P < 0.000) and a performance approach goal orientation (${\beta}$ = 0.224, t = 2.710, P < 0.01) on IT personnel competency are positively significant, while the influence of a performance avoid goal orientation(${\beta}$ = -0.142, t = 2.398, p < 0.05) on IT personnel competency is negatively significant. The result indicates that employees differ in their psychological and behavioral responses according to the goal orientation of employees. The result also shows that the impact of a IT personnel competency on both personal work satisfaction(${\beta}$ = 0.395, t = 4.897, P < 0.000) and personal work performance(${\beta}$ = 0.575, t = 12.800, P < 0.000) is positively significant. And the impact of personal work satisfaction(${\beta}$ = 0.148, t = 2.432, p < 0.05) on personal work performance is positively significant. Finally, the impacts of control variables (gender, age, type of industry, position, work career) on the relationships between IT personnel competency and personal effectiveness(personal work satisfaction work performance) are partly significant. In addition, the study uses PLS algorithm to find out a GoF(global criterion of goodness of fit) of the exploratory research model which includes a mediating variable, IT personnel competency. The result of analysis shows that the value of GoF is 0.45 above GoFlarge(0.36). Therefore, the research model turns out be good. In addition, the study performs a Sobel Test to find out the statistical significance of the mediating variable, IT personnel competency, which is already turned out to have the mediating effect in the research model using PLS. The result of a Sobel Test shows that the values of Z are all significant statistically (above 1.96 and below -1.96) and indicates that IT personnel competency plays a mediating role in the research model. At the present day, most employees are universally afraid of organizational changes and resistant to them in organizations in which the acceptance and learning of a new information technology or information system is particularly required. The problem is due' to increasing a feeling of uneasiness and uncertainty in improving past practices in accordance with new organizational changes. It is not always possible for employees with positive attitudes to perform their works suitable to organizational goals. Therefore, organizations need to identify what kinds of goal-oriented minds employees have, motivate them to do self-directed learning, and provide them with organizational environment to enhance positive aspects in their works. Thus, the study provides researchers and practitioners with a matter of primary interest in goal orientation and IT personnel competency, of which they have been unaware until very recently. Some academic and practical implications and limitations arisen in the course of the research, and suggestions for future research directions are also discussed.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.59-65
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• 2012

Objectives : The present study takes part of the agricultural district cohort study of a certain county located in Gyeonggido and aims to investigate the difference of the heart rate variability(HRV) according to the social support level. Methods : We used data from 1727 participants of a health promotion program who are older than 40 years old. A physical examination, as well as a one-to-one interview to obtain sociodemographic characteristics, was performed with each participant. In addition, the participants completed the Medical Outcomes Study-Social Support Survey(MOS-SSS) for their the social support level to be assessed, and their HRV were measured to evaluate their autonomic function. The entire group was divided in two groups according to its MOS-SSS points to facilitate the research. Those who were evaluated as the high 25%(432 persons) were denominated as high social support (HSS) group and those who were evaluated as the low 25%(425 persons) were denominated as poor social support(PSS) group. Results : The two groups showed significant differences on the sociodemographic factor such as mean age and gender composition(p<0.05). Comparing the indices related to the HRV, the HSS group had the following values higher than the PSS group : SDNN(F=4.938, p=0.027), TP(F=8.088, p=0.005), VLF(F=6.220, p=0.013) LF (F=3.873, p=0.049). Conclusion : According to the research, the PSS group showed dysfunction on their autonomic nervous system comparing to the HSS group. The social support helps an individual overcome difficulties, helps the adaptation during the changes of circumstances and in stressful situations it serves like a buffer. Based on that, it's possible to define that a low social support level gave an impact on the autonomic function. Also, using the fact that the HRV can evaluate the autonomic function in an objective view, it was possible to visualize that it has a potential to be used as an assistant factor to evaluate the social support.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.215-225
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• 2016

There is growing attention towards the performance of non-profit organizations (NPO) as cases of moral hazard have emerged as social issues and the public becomes interested in the accountability of NPOs. Social welfare is among the representative service areas of NPOs, and it is regarded as a human service because it is delivered by people. Therefore, human capital-measured by criteria such as levels of organizational commitment-significantly affects the performance of social welfare organizations. However, these organizations have a high turnover rate due to inadequate working environments, heavy workloads, intensive work, and poor remuneration. Against this background, we surveyed social welfare organizations located in Busan and examined how workers' organizational commitment affects their turnover intention and the performance of the organization. For data analysis, SPSS WIN 18.0 was used, and variable-specific frequency analysis and technical statistics were used to identify general properties. A Pearson correlation analysis and a multiple regression analysis were conducted to investigate correlations and causal relationships among main variables. The results showed that the social workers' level of organizational commitment was 3.36 for normative commitment, 3.07 for continuance commitment, and 2.75 for affective commitment. The level of normative commitment was slightly higher than moderate, continuance commitment was close to moderate, and affective commitment was lower than moderate. The surveyed social workers' turnover intention was 2.71, and organizational performance was 2.79; both of those results were slightly lower than moderate. It was observed that affective commitment, marital status, workload, and age affected social workers' turnover intention. Their affective commitment, gender, and age affected the organization's performance. These results suggest that, for launching or operating an NPO, it is important to manage human capital effectively, particularly their affective commitment, to lower workers' turnover intention and improve organizational performance.

• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.201-207
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• 2011

Purpose: This study was to find out the influence on eyes of indoor air quality in college students taking course, such as Sick-building syndrome symptoms and effects on the eye in new-built university buildings. Methods: We selected a new building in a university located in Metro Seoul and college students in a department for the study. The number of total participants was 33, to whom questionnaire surveys were conducted in advance to check individual traits (gender, age, whether to smoke, whether to wear contact lenses, or whether to drink). The first questionnaire surveys and checking of ocular symptoms to first indoor hazardous materials were conducted in October and two months later the second surveys and checking were carried out in December. The indoor air quality was measured when conducting the first questionnaire surveys and the second questionnaire surveys; especially measurements of gaseous materials such as aldehydes and VOCs in the indoor air were conducted. Results: Indoor air quality of the new building was as follows: formaldehyde level was 22.90 ${\mu}g/m^3$ in the first measurement and 16.79 ${\mu}g/m^3$ in the second measurement. In addition, most materials showed higher value in the first measurement. The level of TVOC was statistically significant (p<0.05) decreased on 448.54 ${\mu}g/m^3$ in the first and 62.55 ${\mu}g/m^3$ in the second. In clinical assessments to check ocular symptoms caused by eye irritations, dry eye syndrome was found in the first and second exposures. When comparing the first and second assessments, dry eyes deteriorated in the morning of the second attempt compared to the first one. Conclusions: In the survey of ocular symptoms and the measurement of indoor air quality, the level of formaldehyde was measured higher in the second attempt than the first; thus, it was confirmed the influence of indoor air quality in a new building upon ocular symptoms of occupants.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.195-203
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• 2012

Recurrent aphthous ulcer(RAU) is the most frequent form of oral ulceration with a prevalence in the general population ranging between 5% and 60%. The peak age of onset is between 10 and 19 years of age, and it can persist into adulthood and throughout the patient's lifespan, with no gender predilection. The disease is characterized clinically into three types: minor aphthous ulcer, major aphthous ulcer and herpeticform ulcers. The cause of RAU is unknown and thought to be multifactorial with many triggers or precipitating factors that include familial tendency or genetic predisposition, allergy, medications, hormones, stress or anxiety, and immunologic abnormalities. The need for consideration of psychological factors in the pathogenesis of oral disease has been increasingly acknowledged over the last decades and many studies have highlighted the psycho-social impact of oral conditions. In this study, we tried to evaluate the influence of emotional stress in RAU. There were thirty patients with a clinical diagnosis of RAU and other subjects who did not show any signs of systemic disorders include RAU. They are evaluated by using modified Holmes and Rahe's Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS). As a result, a significantly higher level of stress was found in the RAU patients than the control group. Therefore it can be concluded that psychological stressors play an important role in the RAU.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.1811-1815
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• 2014

Background: In clinical trials with no upper age limit, the proportion of older patients is usually small, probably reflecting the more conservative approach adopted by clinicians when treating the elderly. An exploratory analysis of elderly patients in the RECORD-1 Trial showed that patients ${\geq}$ 65 y.o. had superior median PFS than overall RECORD-1 population (5.4 months and 4.9 months, respectively). We investigated the efficacy, relative benefit and safety of Everolimus (EVE) as sequential therapy after failure of VEGFr-TKI therapy for older patients with metastatic renal cell cancer (mRCC), in daily practice. Materials and Methods: 172 consecutive IRB approved patients with mRCC (median age 65, M:F 135/37, 78% clear cell) who received salvage EVE at 39 tertiary institutions between October 2009 and August 2011 were included in this analysis. Some 31% had progressed on sunitinib, 22% on sorafenib, 1% on axitinib, 41% on sequential therapy, and 5% had received other therapy. Patients with brain metastases were not included and 95% of the patients had a ECOG (Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group) performance status (PS) of 0 or 1. Previous radiotherapy was an exclusion criterion, but prior chemotherapy was permitted. Adequate organ function and hematologic parameters were mandatory. EVE administration was approved by the institutional review board at each participating institution and signed informed consent was obtained from all patients. Results: Median time of the whole cohort to last follow-up was 3.5 months (range 0.4-15.2 months). Forty four percent were continuing to take EVE at last followup. There were 86 (50%) patients ${\geq}$ 65 y.o. and 86 (50%) <65 y.o. The percentage of patients who showed PR/SD was higher in the older group than in the younger one (5.9%/61.2% vs 1.2%/46.5%, respectively). Median survival of older patients was also significantly longer (3.5 +/- 0.31 vs 3.1 +/- 0.34, hazard ratio=0.45, CI; 0.255-0.802). Analysis using Cox regression model adjusted for gender, PS, number of metastases, site of metastases, histology, smoking history and age detected an association between age and PFS (p=0.011). The frequency of adverse events in elderly patients treated with EVE was no greater than that in younger patients, although such toxicity may have had a greater impact on their quality of life. Conclusions: Older patients should not generally be excluded from accepted therapies (mTOR inhibitors after failure of VEGFr-TKI therapy) for mRCC.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.239-246
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• 2007

Purpose : The progressive deterioration of renal function in children can impose a serious and lifelong impact on their lives. The ultimate goal in the management of children with chronic kidney disease(CKD) is to prolong survival, to prevent complications, and to promote growth and neurodevelopment. The aim of this study is to investigate the risk factors for the decline of renal function in pediatric CKD patients. Methods : Data from patients who met the criteria for the Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative(K/DOQI) CKD stage 2 to 4 between August 1999 and March 2007 were retrospectively analyzed. The estimated glomerular filtration rate(eGFR) was calculated by the Schwartz formula, using serum creatinine levels and height. We calculated the annual eGFR change from the difference between the baseline eGFR and the last eGFR divided by the duration(years) of the follow-up period. We analyzed the association between the annual eGFR change and factors such as age, gender, K/DOQI stage, underlying renal disease, serum calcium, and inorganic phosphorous during the follow-up period. Results : Sixty one children(44 boys & 17 girls) were enrolled. The age at entry was $7.1{\pm}4.7$ years. The annual eGFR change was $-1.2{\pm}11.9 mL/min/1.73m^2/year$. Our study showed that older age(P=0.005). hypocalcemia(P=0.012), and hypenhosphatemia(P=0.002) were significantly related to more rapid decline in renal function. Conclusion : In pediatric CKD, older age, hypocalcemia and hyperphosphatemia are related to more rapid deterioration of renal function.