• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.32
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• pp.49-73
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• 2006

During the past decades, public opinion polls have become an ubiquitous tool for probing the complexity of people's beliefs and attitudes on a wide variety of issues. Especially since the late 1970s, the use of polls by news organizations has increased dramatically. Along with the proliferation of traditional polls, in the past few years pollsters and news organizations have come to recognize the advantages of online polls. Increasingly there has been more effort to take the pulse of the public through the Internet. With the Internet's rapid growth during the past years, advocates of online polling often emphasize the relative advantages over traditional polls. Researchers from Harris Black International Ltd., for example, argue that "Internet polling is less expensive and faster and offers higher response rates than telephone surveys." Moreover, since many of the newer online polls draw respondents from large databases of registered Internet users, results of online polls have become more balanced. A series of Harris Black online polls conducted during the 1998 gubernatorial and senatorial elections, for example, has accurately projected the winners in 21 of the 22 races it tracked. Many researchers, however, severely criticize online polls for not being representative of the larger population. Despite the often enormous number of participants, Internet users who participate in online polls tend to be younger, better educated and more affluent than the general population. As Traugott pointed out, the people polled in Internet surveys are a "self selected" group, and thus "have volunteered to be part of the test sample, which could mean they are more comfortable with technology, more informed about news and events ... than Americans who aren't online." The fact that users of online polls are self selected and demographically very different from Americans who have no access to the Internet is likely to influence the estimates of what the majority of people think about social or political issues. One of the goals of this study is therefore to analyze whether people perceive traditional and online public opinion polls differently. While most people might not differentiate sufficiently between traditional random sample polls and non representative online polls, some audiences might perceive online polls as more useful and representative. Since most online polls allow some form of direct participation, mostly in the form of an instant vote by mouse click, and often present their findings based on huge numbers of respondents, consumers of these polls might perceive them as more accurate, representative or reliable than traditional random sample polls. If that is true, perceptions of public opinion in society could be significantly distorted for those who rely on or participate in online polls. In addition to investigating how people perceive random sample and online polls, this study focuses on the perceived impact of public opinion polls. Similar to these past studies, which focused on how public opinion polls can influence the perception of mass opinion, this study will analyze how people perceive the effects of polls on themselves and other people. This interest springs from prior studies of the "third person effect," which have found that people often tend to perceive that persuasive communications exert a stronger influence on others than on themselves. While most studies concerned with the political effects of public opinion polls show that exit polls and early reporting of election returns have only weak or no effects on the outcome of election campaigns, some empirical findings suggest that exposure to polls can move people's opinions both toward and away from perceived majority opinion. Thus, if people indeed believe that polls influence others more than themselves, perceptions of majority opinion could be significantly altered because people might anticipate that others will react more strongly to poll results.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.139-145
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• 2003

The purpose of this study was to investigate the awareness and practice of Korean consumer on food safety. A telephone survey was conducted from 1,040 adults randomly selected from each province and large city of Korea. Therefore, 12.4% of the subjects experienced foodborne illness at least once a year and 0.3% was hospitalized due to the illness. General restaurant (37.2%) and home (21.2%) were the main causative place of foodborne illness, and the most frequently associated foods were meat and meat products (41.7%) and fish and fish products (18.7%). Regarding the causative agent of foodborne illness, the respsondents were aware of Cholera (75.5%), Vibrio gastroenteritis (73%), Shigellosis (65.5%), Bacillary dysentery (65.5%) and Salmonellosis (47.5%) very well; however very few were aware of Listeriosis (9.9%) and brucellosis (8.3%) and ever believed they were not food-related illness. When the survey data were analyzed based on 3 models (Model 1: Knowledge about the pathogens associated food and water, Model 2: The awareness of food safety, Model 3: Attitudes and behavior about foodborne disease prevention and measure) by Multiple regression analysis. The results showed that the awareness of the causative agent of foodborne illness was significantly related with the previous experience of foodborne illness (OR: 1.714) followed by education level (OR: 0.536) and married status (OR: 0.527). The awareness of food safety was significatly related with education level (OR: 0.702). Education (OR: 0.816) and gender (OR:0.650) were the main factors affecting the awareness of the practice to prevent foodborne illness. However, the previous experience of foodborne illness and food safety education, and the awareness of food safety did not show any correlation, suggesting that the experience and awareness of foodborne illness do not affect the real practice of food safety.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.747-759
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• 2001

The sanitary status of 264 restaurants was investigated to develop a program of sanitary education at restaurants for improving sanitary levels of restaurant and consumers’ food safety. This investigation was performed through direct interviews on general items and sanitations for employees, facilities, equipments and food treatment. The restaurants are grouped into four different types according to the food served: Korean style food, Japanese style raw fish, roasted ribs, and western style food. It is found that sanitary education for employees are conducted at 66.5% of the total restaurants. The highest percentages are obtained by Korean style food restaurants (83.1%) and the lowest by western style food restaurants (55.6%).Washing facilities for employees are equipped at only 66.8% of the total restaurants. In the personal sanitation, 96.6% of the employees wash their hand after touching a dirty stuff, 77.5% after touching money and 57.1% after using telephone. It is also revealed that during food preparation shoes, overgarments, and caps are worn by 58.5%, 55.5%, and 20.6% of the employees, respectively. 73.5% of the restaurants are equipped with dish storages facilities while only 59.2% of restaurants have sterilizers for dishes. Also, chopping boards are sterilized more than once a week by 74.8% of them and knives everyday by 71.6%, 15.4% of restaurants sterilize their knives only once a week. 56.8% of restaurants check temperatures of the refrigerators and 26.2% of restaurants do not even sterilize the refrigerators. 31.8% of restaurants sterilize the kitchens with sodium hopochlorite after cooking. 93.3% of the restaurants store the raw food and the cooked foods separately. 49.8% of the restaurants refroze thawed food and 19.4% of the restaurants reuse leftovers. The frozen foods are thawed at room temperature by 49.4% of the total restaurants and 66.7% of the roasted rib restaurants.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.273-314
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• 2004

There is a belief in the construction industry that the traditional court system may not be an ideal forum to effectively and efficiently resolve construction disputes due to the protracted proceedings and the three tier appeal system resulting in a long delay in the final and conclusive settlement of the dispute, relatively high costs involved, the lack of requisite knowledge and experience in the relevant industry, etc. Hence, they assert that certain alternative dispute resolution ('ADR') methods, such as mediation, conciliation, arbitration or a new system for dispute settlement in the form of any combination thereof should be developed and employed for construction disputes so as to resolve them more promptly and efficiently to the satisfaction of all the disputants concerned. This paper discusses certain merits of such assertions and the need for additional considerations for effective resolution of the construction disputes in light of the complexity of the case, importance of expert witnesses, parties' relationship and non-level playing field of the construction industry and so on. At the same time, however, given the inherent nature of disputes rendering the parties involved in an adversarial position, it would rather be difficult, if not practically impossible, to satisfy all the parties concerned in the dispute. Accordingly, in this study, it is also purported to address the demerits of such assertions by studying the situation from a more balanced perspective, in particular, in relation to the operation of such ADRs. In fact, most of such ADRs as stipulated by special acts, such as the Construction Industry Basic Act of Korea, in the form of mediation or conciliation, have failed to get support from the industry, and as a result, such ADRs are seldom used in practice. Tn contrast, the court system has been greatly improved by implementing a new concentrated review system and establishing several tribunals designed to specialize in the review and resolution of specific types of disputes, including the construction disputes. These improvements of the court system have been warmly received by the industry. Arbitration is another forum for settlement of construction disputes, which has grown and is expected to grow as the most effective ADR with the support from the construction industry. In this regard, the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board ('KCAB') has established a set of internal rules end procedures in operation to efficiently handle construction disputes. Considering the foregoing, this paper addresses the most important elements of the arbitration, i.e., arbitration agreement and arbitral award, primarily focusing on the domestic arbitrations before the KCAB. However, since this parer is prepared for presentation at the construction disputes seminar for the public audience, it is not intended for academic purposes, nor does it delve into any specific acadcmic issues. Likewise, although this paper addresses certain controversial issues by way of introduction, it mainly purports to facilitate the understanding of the general public, including the prospective arbitrators on the KCAB roster without the relevant legal education and background, concerning the importance of the integrity of the arbitration agreement and the arbitral award. In sum, what is purported in this study is simply to note that there are still many outstanding issues with mediation, conciliation and arbitration, as a matter of system, institutional operation or otherwise, for further study and consideration so as to enhance them as effective means for settlement of construction disputes, in replacement of or in conjunction with the court proceeding. For this purpose, it is essential for all the relevant parties, including lawyers, engineers, owners, contractors and social activists aiming to protect consumers' and subcontractors' interests, to conduct joint efforts to study the complicated nature of construction works and to develop effective means for examination and handling of the disputes of a technical nature, including the accumulation of the relevant industrial data. Based on the foregoing, the parties may be in a better position to select the appropriate dispute resolution mechanism, a court proceeding or in its stead, an effective ADR, considering the relevant factors of the subject construction works or the contract structure, such as the bargaining position of the parties, their financial status, confidentiality requirements, technical or commercial complexity of the case at hand, urgency for settlements, etc.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.29-38
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• 2015

The Energy Storage System stores electricity for later use. This system can store electricity from legacy electric power systems or renewable energy systems into a battery device when demand is low. When there is high electricity demand, it uses the electricity previously stored and enables efficient energy usage and stable operation of the electric power system. It increases the energy usage efficiency, stabilizes the power supply system, and increases the utilization of renewable energy. The recent increase in the global interest for efficient energy consumption has increased the need for an energy storage system that can satisfy both the consumers' demand for stable power supply and the suppliers' demand for power demand normalization. In general, an energy storage system consists of a Power Conditioning System, a Battery Management System, a battery cell and peripheral devices. The specifications of the subsystems that form the energy storage system are manufacturer dependent. Since the core component interfaces are not standardized, there are difficulties in forming and operating the energy storage system. In this paper, the design of the profile structure for energy storage system and realization of private profiling system for energy storage system is presented. The profiling system accommodates diverse component settings that are manufacturer dependent and information needed for effective operation. The settings and operation information of various PCSs, BMSs, battery cells, and other peripheral device are analyzed to define profile specification and structure. A profile adapter software that can be applied to energy storage system is designed and implemented. The profiles for energy storage system generated by the profile authoring tool consist of a settings profile and operation profile. Setting profile consists of configuration information for energy device what composes energy saving system. To be more specific, setting profile has three parts of category as information for electric control module, sub system, and interface for communication between electric devices. Operation profile includes information in relation to the method in which controls Energy Storage system. The profiles are based on standard XML specification to accommodate future extensions. The profile system has been verified by applying it to an energy storage system and testing charge and discharge operations.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.153-165
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• 2021

With the disappearance of boundaries between online and offline, the O2O(online to offline) platform service is rapidly growing. Unlike general products, freshness is an important decision-making factor for agri-food, and there are many limiting factors for growth as an open market among O2O platforms due to the characteristics of difficult refunds and exchanges compared to other items and new transaction methods. In order to overcome these obstacles, consumer innovation must be considered. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of O2O(online to offline) platform characteristics perception on agri-food repurchase intentions. And an empirical survey of the hypothesis is made that innovation will show a moderating effect between agri-food O2O platform characteristics and repurchase intention. And an empirical survey of the hypothesis is made that innovation will show a moderating effect between agri-food O2O platform characteristics and repurchase intention. For this purpose, Using a convenience sampling technique, an online survey was conducted through Google survey from April 1 to April 15, 2021. A total of final analysis data were collected from a total of 270 purchase experienced of agri-food O2O(online to offline) platform. The SPSS program was used for analysis, and multiple regression analysis was used for hypothesis verification. The results showed that Economic, Interaction, and Playfulness had a significant positive effect on agri-food repurchase intend. Also, Interactivity × innovation, playfulness × innovation were found to have a significant positive (+) effect on repurchase intention. The results of this study show that innovation reduces the burden on consumers for new systems and mobile transactions. The results of this study suggest that convenient interface design is important for activating O2O transactions of agri-food. In addition, education and support are needed to strengthen the IT competency of farmers. The results of this study will be able to contribute to the establishment of infrastructure for agri-food open market shopping malls. In future studies, the influence of the O2O platform type on the purchase intention should be studied continuously.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.343-355
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• 2022

This study investigated the consumption tendency and awareness of paprika in order to expand and promote the consumption of Capsicum annuum L. The research investigated the relationship of preference and loyalty based on emotional response of paprika according to the semantic differential scale. The survey was conducted from January to February 2022 using a random sampling method targeting 155 general people, and a total of 142 questionnaires were analyzed excluding 13 wrong answers. The nine items on the awareness of paprika showed to be consisted of three factors such as 'Food taste', 'Usability', and 'Economics' by factor analysis. Regarding to the awareness of paprika the positive answer that 'I think paprika is good for health' among the nine questions was the highest at 92.3%. In the preference aspect of shape, blocky type had the highest preference for the shape of paprika, followed by mini and conical types in order of preference (p < 0.001). As for color preference, yellow paprika was the most preferred, followed by orange, red, and green, showing statistical significance. The emotional response of paprika by paprika image showed a statistically significant difference in the four colors. The words such as 'bright', 'clean', and 'spirited' appeared as representative emotional vocabulary for paprika. Multiple regression analysis was performed to examine the effect of paprika on the three factors of awareness, preference, and loyalty due to the quality of life. As a result, the higher the paprika preference and quality of life, and the higher the taste and availability factors, the higher the paprika awareness and loyalty. As the variable that has the most influence on the loyalty of the survey respondents, preference was found to have the highest explanatory power at 43%. From these results, it was judged as a very important factor in the survey on the shape and color preference of paprika. Therefore, the recent increase in awareness that paprika is good for health is thought to act as a positive factor in revitalizing the domestic market and increasing consumption of paprika in the future. Also, among the three types of paprika, the yellow blunt type showed the highest preference. Therefore, in order to produce and promote this type of paprika, it is also important to increase the cultivation to suit the purchasing propensity of consumers.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.27-48
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• 2011

The Chinese counterfeits has begun to gain great attention recently because of the drastic increase in its volume. The consumption of counterfeit harms to manufacturer who spend millions of dollars to create and develop new product. The counterfeits in Chinese can cause international dispute and lower national reputation. The purpose of this study were to examine if the buyers of counterfeits tend to care more about interpersonal relationship than non-buyers among Chinese. Data were gathered by surveying Chinese consumer living in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou metropolitan area using convenient sampling, and 480 questionnaires were used in the statistical analysis. In analyzing data, descriptive statistics, factor analysis, structural equation modeling with AMOS were conducted. The results of this study were follows, first, attitude toward counterfeits was classified into three factors such as interpersonal relationship, perception, and involvement. It is general belief that attitudes toward counterfeits were correlated with on brand attachment, however this study show that the buyers of counterfeits tended to purchase counterfeit goods as more alternatives of genuine(original) product than non-buyers. Perhaps, the buyers of counterfeits tended to have lower consumer ethics than non-buyers because they value counterfeit high. It is generally accepted that both a producer and a buyer violate the laws, but they are rather generous for buyer. The results of this study suggest consumers' attitude towards counterfeit need to be changed, following consumer education and strict law enforcement. Based on these results, global brand marketing strategies for luxury goods were suggested.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.35-52
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• 2023

Recently, as the non-face-to-face environment has developed due to COVID-19 and environmental pollution, the importance of online digital healthcare is increasing, and venture start-ups and activities such as health care, telemedicine, and digital treatments are also actively underway. This study conducted the impact on the acceptability of digital healthcare smartwatches with an integrated approach of the expanded integrated technology acceptance model (UTAUT2) and the behavioral inference model (BRT). The most advanced integrated technology acceptance model for innovative technology acceptance research was used to identify major factors such as utility expectations, social effects, convenience, price barriers, lack of alternatives, and behavioral intentions. For the study, about 410 responses from ordinary people in their teens to 60s across the country were collected, and based on this, the hypothesis was verified using structural equations after testing reliability and validity of the data. SPSS 23 and AMOS 23 were used for research analysis. Studies have shown that personal innovation has a significant impact on the reasons for acceptance (use value, social impact, convenience of use), attitude, and non-use (price barriers, lack of alternatives, and barriers to use). These results are the same as the results of previous studies that confirmed the influence of the main value of innovative ICT on user acceptance intention. In addition, the reason for acceptance had a significant effect on attitude, but the effect of the reason for non-acceptance was not significant. It can be analyzed that consumers are interested in new ICT products and new services, but purchase them more carefully and selectively. This study has evolved from the acceptance analysis of general-purpose consumer innovation technology to the acceptance analysis of consumer value in smartwatch digital healthcare, which is a new and important area in the future. Industrially, it can contribute to the product's purchase and marketing. It is hoped that this study will contribute to increasing research in the digital healthcare sector, which will play an important role in our lives in the future, and that it will develop into in-depth factors that are more suitable for consumer value through integrated approach models and integrated analysis of consumer acceptance and non-acceptance.

• Journal of Korea Technology Innovation Society
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.73-97
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• 2007

R&D into future technologies should be conducted in conjunction with technological innovation strategies that are linked to corporate survival within a framework of information and knowledge-based competitiveness. As such, future technology strategies should be ensured through open R&D organizations. The development of future technologies should not be conducted simply on the basis of future forecasts, but should take into account customer needs in advance and reflect them in the development of the future technologies or services. This research aims to select as segmentation variables the customers' attitude towards accepting future telecommunication technologies and their value orientation in their everyday life, as these factors wilt have the greatest effect on the demand for future telecommunication services and thus segment the future telecom service market. Likewise, such research seeks to segment the market from the stage of technology R&D activities and employ the results to formulate technology development strategies. Based on the customer attitude towards accepting new technologies, two groups were induced, and a hierarchical customer segmentation model was provided to conduct secondary segmentation of the two groups on the basis of their respective customer value orientation. A survey was conducted in June 2006 on 800 consumers aged 15 to 69, residing in Seoul and five other major South Korean cities, through one-on-one interviews. The samples were divided into two sub-groups according to their level of acceptance of new technology; a sub-group demonstrating a high level of technology acceptance (39.4%) and another sub-group with a comparatively lower level of technology acceptance (60.6%). These two sub-groups were further divided each into 5 smaller sub-groups (10 total smaller sub-groups) through two rounds of segmentation. The ten sub-groups were then analyzed in their detailed characteristics, including general demographic characteristics, usage patterns in existing telecom services such as mobile service, broadband internet and wireless internet and the status of ownership of a computing or information device and the desire or intention to purchase one. Through these steps, we were able to statistically prove that each of these 10 sub-groups responded to telecom services as independent markets. We found that each segmented group responds as an independent individual market. Through correspondence analysis, the target segmentation groups were positioned in such a way as to facilitate the entry of future telecommunication services into the market, as well as their diffusion and transferability.