• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.71-96
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• 2011

Within the traditional medical delivery system, patients residing in medically vulnerable areas, those with body movement difficulties, and nursing facility residents have had limited access to good healthcare services. However, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) provides us with a convenient and useful means of overcoming distance and time constraints. ICT is integrated with biomedical science and technology in a way that offers a new high-quality medical service. As a result, rapid technological advancement is expected to play a pivotal role bringing about innovation in a wide range of medical service areas, such as medical management, testing, diagnosis, and treatment; offering new and improved healthcare services; and effecting dramatic changes in current medical services. The increase in aging population and chronic diseases has caused an increase in medical expenses. In response to the increasing demand for efficient healthcare services, a telehealth service based on ICT is being emphasized on a global level. Telehealth services have been implemented especially in pilot projects and system development and technological research. With the service about to be implemented in earnest, it is necessary to study its overall acceptance by consumers, which is expected to contribute to the development and activation of a variety of services. In this sense, the study aims at positively examining the structural relationship among the acceptance factors for telehealth services based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Data were collected by showing audiovisual material on telehealth services to online panels and requesting them to respond to a structured questionnaire sheet, which is known as the information acceleration method. Among the 1,165 adult respondents, 608 valid samples were finally chosen, while the remaining were excluded because of incomplete answers or allotted time overrun. In order to test the reliability and validity of the assessment scale items, we carried out reliability and factor analyses, and in order to explore the causal relation among potential variables, we conducted a structural equation modeling analysis using AMOS 7.0 and SPSS 17.0. The research outcomes are as follows. First, service quality, innovativeness of medical technology, and social influence were shown to affect perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of the telehealth service, which was statistically significant, and the two factors had a positive impact on willingness to accept the telehealth service. In addition, social influence had a direct, significant effect on intention to use, which is paralleled by the TAM used in previous research on technology acceptance. This shows that the research model proposed in the study effectively explains the acceptance of the telehealth service. Second, the research model reveals that information privacy concerns had a insignificant impact on perceived ease of use of the telehealth service. From this, it can be gathered that the concerns over information protection and security are reduced further due to advancements in information technology compared to the initial period in the information technology industry, and thus the improvement in quality of medical services appeared to ensure that information privacy concerns did not act as a prohibiting factor in the acceptance of the telehealth service. Thus, if other factors have an enormous impact on ease of use and usefulness, concerns over these results in the initial period of technology acceptance may become irrelevant. However, it is clear that users' information privacy concerns, as other studies have revealed, is a major factor affecting technology acceptance. Thus, caution must be exercised while interpreting the result, and further study is required on the issue. Numerous information technologies with outstanding performance and innovativeness often attract few consumers. A revised bill for those urgently in need of telehealth services is about to be approved in the national assembly. As telemedicine is implemented between doctors and patients, a wide range of systems that will improve the quality of healthcare services will be designed. In this sense, the study on the consumer acceptance of telehealth services is meaningful and offers strong academic evidence. Based on the implications, it can be expected to contribute to the activation of telehealth services. Further study is needed to assess the acceptance factors for telehealth services, such as motivation to remain healthy, health care involvement, knowledge on health, and control of health-related behavior, in order to develop unique services according to the categorization of customers based on health factors. In addition, further study may focus on various theoretical cognitive behavior models other than the TAM, such as the health belief model.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.60 no.1
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• pp.86-92
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• 2022

Recently, the bio-healthcare market is enlarging worldwide due to various reasons such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Among them, biometric measurement and analysis technology are expected to bring about future technological innovation and socio-economic ripple effect. Existing systems require a large-capacity battery to drive signal processing, wireless transmission part, and an operating system in the process. However, due to the limitation of the battery capacity, it causes a spatio-temporal limitation on the use of the device. This limitation can act as a cause for the disconnection of data required for the user's health care monitoring, so it is one of the major obstacles of the health care device. In this study, we report the concept of a standalone healthcare monitoring module, which is based on both triboelectric effects and electromagnetic effects, by converting biomechanical energy into suitable electric energy. The proposed system can be operated independently without an external power source. In particular, the wireless foot pressure measurement monitoring system, which is rationally designed triboelectric sensor (TES), can recognize the user's walking habits through foot pressure measurement. By applying the triboelectric effects to the contact-separation behavior that occurs during walking, an effective foot pressure sensor was made, the performance of the sensor was verified through an electrical output signal according to the pressure, and its dynamic behavior is measured through a signal processing circuit using a capacitor. In addition, the biomechanical energy dissipated during walking is harvested as electrical energy by using the electromagnetic induction effect to be used as a power source for wireless transmission and signal processing. Therefore, the proposed system has a great potential to reduce the inconvenience of charging caused by limited battery capacity and to overcome the problem of data disconnection.

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.49-71
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• 2010

Franchise businesses in South Korea have contributed to economic growth and job creation, and its growth potential remains very high. However, despite such virtues, domestic franchise businesses face many problems such as the instability of franchisor's business structure and weak financial conditions. To solve these problems, the government enacted legislation and strengthened franchise related laws. However, the strengthening of laws regulating franchisors had many side effects that interrupted the development of the franchise business. For example, legal regulations regarding franchisors have had the effect of suppressing the franchisor's leadership activities (e.g. activities such as the ability to advocate the franchisor's policies and strategies to the franchisees, in order to facilitate change and innovation). One of the main goals of the franchise business is to build cooperation between the franchisor and the franchisee for their combined success. However, franchisees can refuse to follow the franchisor's strategies because of the current state of franchise-related law and government policy. The purpose of this study to explore the effects of franchisor's leadership style on franchisee's commitment in a franchise system. We classified leadership styles according to the path-goal theory (House & Mitchell, 1974), and it was hypothesized and tested that the four leadership styles proposed by the path-goal theory (i.e. directive, supportive, participative and achievement-oriented leadership) have different effects on franchisee's commitment. Another purpose of this study to explore the how the level of franchisee's self-efficacy influences both the franchisor's leadership style and franchisee's commitment in a franchise system. Results of the present study are expected to provide important theoretical and practical implications as to the role of franchisor's leadership style, as restricted by government regulations and the franchisee's self-efficacy, which could be needed to improve the quality of the long-term relationship between the franchisor and franchisee. Quoted by Northouse(2007), one problem regarding the investigation of leadership is that there are almost as many different definitions of leadership as there are people who have tried to define it. But despite the multitude of ways in which leadership has been conceptualized, the following components can be identified as central to the phenomenon: (a) leadership is a process, (b) leadership involves influence, (c) leadership occurs in a group context, and (d) leadership involves goal attainment. Based on these components, in this study leadership is defined as a process whereby franchisor's influences a group of franchisee' to achieve a common goal. Focusing on this definition, the path-goal theory is about how leaders motivate subordinates to accomplish designated goals. Drawing heavily from research on what motivates employees, path-goal theory first appeared in the leadership literature in the early 1970s in the works of Evans (1970), House (1971), House and Dessler (1974), and House and Mitchell (1974). The stated goal of this leadership theory is to enhance employee performance and employee satisfaction by focusing on employee motivation. In brief, path-goal theory is designed to explain how leaders can help subordinates along the path to their goals by selecting specific behaviors that are best suited to subordinates' needs and to the situation in which subordinates are working (Northouse, 2007). House & Mitchell(1974) predicted that although many different leadership behaviors could have been selected to be a part of path-goal theory, this approach has so far examined directive, supportive, participative, and achievement-oriented leadership behaviors. And they suggested that leaders may exhibit any or all of these four styles with various subordinates and in different situations. However, due to restrictive government regulations, franchisors are not in a position to change their leadership style to suit their circumstances. In addition, quoted by Northouse(2007), ssubordinate characteristics determine how a leader's behavior is interpreted by subordinates in a given work context. Many researchers have focused on subordinates' needs for affiliation, preferences for structure, desires for control, and self-perceived level of task ability. In this study, we have focused on the self-perceived level of task ability, namely, the franchisee's self-efficacy. According to Bandura (1977), self-efficacy is chiefly defined as the personal attitude of one's ability to accomplish concrete tasks. Therefore, it is not an indicator of one's actual abilities, but an opinion of the extent of how one can use that ability. Thus, the judgment of maintain franchisee's commitment depends on the situation (e.g., government regulation and policy and leadership style of franchisor) and how it affects one's ability to mobilize resources to deal with the task, so even if people possess the same ability, there may be differences in self-efficacy. Figure 1 illustrates the model investigated in this study. In this model, it was hypothesized that leadership styles would affect the franchisee's commitment, and self-efficacy would moderate the relationship between leadership style and franchisee's commitment. Theoretically, quoted by Northouse(2007), the path-goal approach suggests that leaders need to choose a leadership style that best fits the needs of subordinates and the work they are doing. According to House & Mitchell (1974), the theory predicts that a directive style of leadership is best in situations in which subordinates are dogmatic and authoritarian, the task demands are ambiguous, and the organizational rule and procedures are unclear. In these situations, franchisor's directive leadership complements the work by providing guidance and psychological structure for franchisees. For work that is structured, unsatisfying, or frustrating, path-goal theory suggests that leaders should use a supportive style. Franchisor's Supportive leadership offers a sense of human touch for franchisees engaged in mundane, mechanized activity. Franchisor's participative leadership is considered best when a task is ambiguous because participation gives greater clarity to how certain paths lead to certain goals; it helps subordinates learn what actions leads to what outcome. Furthermore, House & Mitchell(1974) predicts that achievement-oriented leadership is most effective in settings in which subordinates are required to perform ambiguous tasks. Marsh and O'Neill (1984) tested the idea that organizational members' anger and decline in performance is caused by deficiencies in their level of effort and found that self-efficacy promotes accomplishment, decreases stress and negative consequences like depression and emotional instability. Based on the extant empirical findings and theoretical reasoning, we posit positive and strong relationships between the franchisor's leadership styles and the franchisee's commitment. Furthermore, the level of franchisee's self-efficacy was thought to maintain their commitment. The questionnaires sent to participants consisted of the following measures; leadership style was assessed using a 20 item 7-point likert scale developed by Indvik (1985), self-efficacy was assessed using a 24 item 6-point likert scale developed by Bandura (1977), and commitment was assessed using a 6 item 5-point likert scale developed by Morgan & Hunt (1994). Questionnaires were distributed to Korean optical franchisees in Seoul. It took about 20 days to complete the data collection. A total number of 140 questionnaires were returned and complete data were available from 137 respondents. Results of multiple regression analyses testing the relationships between the each of the four styles of leadership shown by the franchisor as independent variables and franchisee's commitment as the dependent variable showed that the relationship between supportive leadership style and commitment ($\beta$=.13, p<.001),and the relationship between participative leadership style and commitment ($\beta$=.07, p<.001)were significant. However, when participants divided into high and low self-efficacy groups, results of multiple regression analyses showed that only the relationship between achievement-oriented leadership style and commitment ($\beta$=.14, p<.001) was significant in the high self-efficacy group. In the low self-efficacy group, the relationship between supportive leadership style and commitment ($\beta$=.17, p<.001),and the relationship between participative leadership style and commitment ($\beta$=.10, p<.001) were significant. The study focused on the franchisee's self-efficacy in order to explore the possibility that regulation, originally intended to protect the franchisee, may not be the most effective method to maintain the relationships in a franchise business. The key results of the data analysis regarding the moderating role of self-efficacy between leadership behavior style as proposed by path-goal and commitment theory were as follows. First, this study proposed that franchisor should apply the appropriate type of leadership behavior to strengthen the franchisees commitment because the results demonstrated that supportive and participative leadership styles by the franchisors have a positive influence on the franchisee's level of commitment. Second, it is desirable for franchisor to validate the franchisee's efforts, since the franchisee's characteristics such as self-efficacy had a substantial, positive effect on the franchisee's commitment as well as being a meaningful moderator between leadership and commitment. Third, the results as a whole imply that the government should provide institutional support, namely to put the franchisor in a position to clearly identify the characteristics of their franchisees and provide reasonable means to administer the franchisees to achieve the company's goal.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.28 no.12
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• pp.1280-1286
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• 2006

Three different virgin activated carbons made of each coal(Calgon), coconut(Samchully) and wood(Picabiol) based activated carbon(AC) were tested for an adsorption performance of 1,4-dioxane in a continuous adsorption column. Breakthrough behavior was Investigated that the breakthrough points of coal, coconut and wood based AC were observed as 3600 bed volumn(BV), 1440 BV and 144 BV respectively. Adsorption capacity(X/M) of coal, coconut and wood based AC was observed. The reported results of adsorption capacity showed that coal based AC was highest(578.9 ${\mu}g/g$), coconut based AC was intermediate(142.3 ${\mu}g/g$) and wood based AC was lowest(7.4 ${\mu}g/g$) due to increasing specific surface area. Moreover, carbon usage rates(CURs) for coal, coconut and wood based AC had been shown as 0.48 g/day, 1.41 g/day and 6.9 g/day respectively. The constant characteristic of the system, k of coal based AC was found to be 91.5 and k of coconut based AC was found to be 17.9. Removal efficiencies of 1,4-dioxane with different ozonation dosages(2 and 5 mg/L) for 20 min ozonation had been shown 38% and 87% respectively. There was no observation for biological removal of 1.4-dioxane by attached micro-organisms when used(3.1 years and over 5 years) biological activated carbon(BAC) without pretreatment of oxidation were employed. When a combination of ozonation(2 mg/L and 5 mg/L) and BAC process for $10{\sim}30$ min was applied, removal efficiency for 1,4-dioxine increased only $2{\sim}6%$ compared to only applying ozonation. Therefore removal efficiency of BAC process prior to using oxidation was proven to negligible. Consequently, the results presented in this paper provide a better insight into the adsorption performance of 1,4-dioxane. This observation suggests that using virgin activated carbon made of coal is the best selection for removal of 1,4-dioxane in the water treatment for an advanced treatment. It is clear from this research that longer EBCT for ozonation or higher ozone concentration are more effective operation methods for removal of 1,4-dioxane than longer EBCT in the BAC process.

• The Journal of Small Business Innovation
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.1-17
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• 2017

There is a serious information asymmetry between internal managers and outside investors in the process during IPOs. One mechanism that mitigates this information asymmetry is a high quality auditor. Since prior research document auditors' effect on newly listed firms at the IPO year, what has not yet been revealed in previous studies is the behavior of firms and auditors after listing. In this study, we investigate (i) the firms tendency of contracting with Big N auditors, and (ii) the effect of Big N auditors on accounting quality after the years of IPOs. Using a sample of 7,678 (1,892 firm-years of after IPOs, and 5,786 control firm-years) KOSDAQ observations between 2002 and 2012, we find that the likelihood of contracting with Big N auditor lasts only for two years after IPO compare to that of non-IPO control years. Secondly, we find that the effect of Big N auditors on clients' earnings management lasts for a very short period after IPO. These findings suggest that although prior literature argue that Big N auditors reduce earnings management of their clients, at least the period right after IPO, it is not consistent. Our study contributes to the existing literature in several ways. First, we provide new evidences of firms' auditor selection decisions by investigating years after the listing. In second, as an evidence of accruals reversal, we document decrease in discretionary accruals after IPOs. Third, we find that there is not always a positive relation between Big N auditor and accounting quality by showing the insignificant Big N auditor effect after IPOs. Our results also suggest several implications to IPO related stakeholders. First, to IPO firms, we provide evidences that decisions of hiring auditors affect firms earnings. Also, lead IPO underwriters may consider how these decisions influence future performance. Second, investors may want to use information not only in the preofferings but also after public offerings. Our study insists that auditor hiring decisions affects their own welfare. Finally, accounting standard setters may find these results useful for evaluating how much discretion they should allow corporate managers to hire auditors. In addition, our result casts doubt on auditor designation.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.147-157
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to determine the correlation between wetland visitors' consciousness of ecology and their needs and thereby, provide for some effective measures to manage them. For this purpose, 3 study points were set up: "wetland visitors' consciousness of ecology and their needs", "differences of such consciousness depending on their demographic variables" and the "relationship between such consciousness and their needs". To this end, Upo Wetland visitors were surveyed for an empirical analysis. The visitors' awareness about ecology was measured with Dunlap's 15-item NEP Inventory, while their needs were analyzed in reference to Maslow's 7-Step Human Desire Ladder. The survey was conducted at Upo Wetland for 3 days, and as a result, a total of 228 questionnaires were returned. The results of this study can be summarized as follows; First, the visitors' consciousness of ecology and their needs were higher than the normal level. In terms of their consciousness of ecology, their awareness of the ecological crisis potential and anti-humanism was highest. In terms of their needs, the aesthetic need was highest, followed by the cognitive one. On the other hand, the needs for self-achievement and self-esteem were lowest; except them, the higher the needs were positioned at Maslow's ladder of desire, and subjects were more responsive to them. As a result of analyzing the correlation between the subjects' consciousness of ecology and their needs, it was found that the correlation was negative in some sub-areas, while being positive in other sub-areas. After all, the ratio of the sub-areas having a positive correlation was as 3 times high as that of the sub-areas having a negative correlation. Even as for the correlation coefficient values, they were higher in the positive sub-areas, which suggests that the correlation between wetland visitors' consciousness of ecology and their needs were positive, although at a lower level, in overall terms. As a result of comparatively analyzing visitors' needs by dividing them into 3 sub-groups depending on the levels of their consciousness of ecology, it was found that the higher their consciousness of ecology was, their needs were higher. Overall, wetland visitors' awareness of ecology was higher than the normal level, and it was estimated that such awareness would continue to increase. Hence, it could be inferred that their needs, particularly, their aesthetic and cognitive ones would continue to increase, too. Accordingly, it is deemed important to manage the wetland landscape making use of its visual resources, while continuing to provide the visitors with the contents fulfilling their need for knowledge.

• 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.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.93-104
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• 2019

The entrepreneurship can be a source of national growth potential as behavioral tendencies of people who seek innovation, take risks of failure, and proactively respond to opportunities. In particular, in the economic situation of Korea where growth has been stagnated, it is necessary to strengthen the entrepreneurship of women which is relatively lower than men's in order to activate the start-up and economic participation of the whole people. In this regard, this study focuses not only on gender differences in entrepreneurship but also on the hidden impact of social contexts that cause gender differences in entrepreneurship. Specifically, this study examined the moderating effects of childbirth, a factor that reflects the social context of Korea in the relationship between gender and entrepreneurship. According to the results of the model that includes the interaction effect of these variables in addition to the independent effects of gender and childbirth, the gender effect disappeared, while the significant effect of both the childbirth variable and the interaction variable of gender and childbirth were confirmed. Furthermore, according to additional analysis, which identified the differences in entrepreneurship by creating four types of treatment groups based on gender and childbirth status, entrepreneurship was significantly lower in the 'female and childbirth' group than in all other groups. The difference between the remaining treatment groups was not statistically significant. These results indicate that differences in entrepreneurship levels between men and women overlap not with the unique trait of men and women, but with the social contextual effects of Korea, where women are under the full burden of childbirth and parenting. This study suggests implications that effective policy measures to promote women's entrepreneurship or economic activity should be taken by taking into account the social context of Korea that suppresses women's entrepreneurial behavior.

• Korean small business review
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.77-93
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• 2011

Since 2000, the employment rate of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) has dwindled while the creation of new jobs and the emergence of healthy SMEs have been stagnant. The fundamental reason for these symptoms is that the economic structure is disadvantageous to SMEs. In particular, the greater gap between SMEs and large enterprises has resulted in polarization, and the resulting imbalance has become the largest obstacle to improving SMEs' competitiveness. For example, the total productivity has continued to drop, and the average productivity of SMEs is now merely 30% of that of large enterprises, and the average wage of SMEs' employees is only 53% of that of large enterprises. Along with polarization, rapid industrialization has also caused anti-enterprise consensus, the collapse of the middle class, hostility towards establishments, and other aftereffects. The general consensus is that unless these problems are solved, South Korea will not become an advanced country. Especially, South Korea is now facing issues that need urgent measures, such as the decline of its economic growth, the worsening distribution of profits, and the increased external volatility. Recognizing such negative trends, the MB administration proposed a win-win growth policy and recently introduced a new national value called "ecosystemic development." As the terms in such policy agenda are similar, however, the conceptual differences among such terms must first be fully understood. Therefore, in this study, the concepts of win-win growth policy and ecosystemic development, and the need for them, were surveyed, and their differences from and similarities with other policy concepts like win-win cooperation and symbiotic development were examined. Based on the results of the survey and examination, the study introduced a South Korean model of win-win growth, targeting the promotion of a sound balance between large enterprises and SMEs and an innovative ecosystem, and finally, proposing future policy tasks. Win-win growth is not an academic term but a policy term. Thus, it is less advisable to give a theoretical definition of it than to understand its concept based on its objective and method as a policy. The core of the MB administration's win-win growth policy is the creation of a partnership between key economic subjects such as large enterprises and SMEs based on each subject's differentiated capacity, and such economic subjects' joint promotion of growth opportunities. Its objective is to contribute to the establishment of an advanced capitalistic system by securing the sustainability of the South Korean economy. Such win-win growth policy includes three core concepts. The first concept, ecosystem, is that win-win growth should be understood from the viewpoint of an industrial ecosystem and should be pursued by overcoming the issues of specific enterprises. An enterprise is not an independent entity but a social entity, meaning it exists in relationship with the society (Drucker, 2011). The second concept, balance, points to the fact that an effort should be made to establish a systemic and social infrastructure for a healthy balance in the industry. The social system and infrastructure should be established in such a way as to create a balance between short- term needs and long-term sustainability, between freedom and responsibility, and between profitability and social obligations. Finally, the third concept is the behavioral change of economic entities. The win-win growth policy is not merely about simple transactional relationships or determining reasonable prices but more about the need for a behavior change on the part of economic entities, without which the objectives of the policy cannot be achieved. Various advanced countries have developed different win-win growth models based on their respective cultures and economic-development stages. Japan, whose culture is characterized by a relatively high level of group-centered trust, has developed a productivity improvement model based on such culture, whereas the U.S., which has a highly developed system of market capitalism, has developed a system that instigates or promotes market-oriented technological innovation. Unlike Japan or the U.S., Europe, a late starter, has not fully developed a trust-based culture or market capitalism and thus often uses a policy-led model based on which the government leads the improvement of productivity and promotes technological innovation. By modeling successful cases from these advanced countries, South Korea can establish its unique win-win growth system. For this, it needs to determine the method and tasks that suit its circumstances by examining the prerequisites for its success as well as the strengths and weaknesses of each advanced country. This paper proposes a South Korean model of win-win growth, whose objective is to upgrade the country's low-trust-level-based industrial structure, in which large enterprises and SMEs depend only on independent survival strategies, to a high-trust-level-based social ecosystem, in which large enterprises and SMEs develop a cooperative relationship as partners. Based on this objective, the model proposes the establishment of a sound balance of systems and infrastructure between large enterprises and SMEs, and to form a crenovative social ecosystem. The South Korean model of win-win growth consists of three axes: utilization of the South Koreans' potential, which creates community-oriented energy; fusion-style improvement of various control and self-regulated systems for establishing a high-trust-level-oriented social infrastructure; and behavioral change on the part of enterprises in terms of putting an end to their unfair business activities and promoting future-oriented cooperative relationships. This system will establish a dynamic industrial ecosystem that will generate creative energy and will thus contribute to the realization of a sustainable economy in the 21st century. The South Korean model of win-win growth should pursue community-based self-regulation, which promotes the power of efficiency and competition that is fundamentally being pursued by capitalism while at the same time seeking the value of society and community. Already existing in Korea's traditional roots, such objectives have become the bases of the Shinbaram culture, characterized by the South Koreans' spontaneity, creativity, and optimism. In the process of a community's gradual improvement of its rules and procedures, the trust among the community members increases, and the "social capital" that guarantees the successful control of shared resources can be established (Ostrom, 2010). This basic ideal can help reduce the gap between large enterprises and SMEs, alleviating the South Koreans' victim mentality in the face of competition and the open-door policy, and creating crenovative corporate competitiveness. The win-win growth policy emerged for the purpose of addressing the polarization and imbalance structure resulting from the evolution of 21st-century capitalism. It simultaneously pursues efficiency and fairness on one hand and economic and community values on the other, and aims to foster efficient interaction between the market and the government. This policy, however, is also evolving. The win-win growth policy can be considered an extension of the win-win cooperation that the past 'Participatory Government' promoted at the enterprise management level to the level of systems and culture. Also, the ecosystemic development agendum that has recently emerged is a further extension that has been presented as a national ideal of "a new development model that promotes the co-advancement of environmental conservation, growth, economic development, social integration, and national and individual development."

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.141-177
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• 2011

I. Research Objectives: Most of the previous studies on diffusion have concentrated on efficacy of WOM communication with the use of variables at individual level (Iacobucci 1996; Midgley et al. 1992). However, there is a paucity of studies which investigated network's structural properties as antecedents of WOM from the perspective of consumers' sociocultural propensities. Against this research backbone, this study attempted to link the network's structural properties and consumer' WOM behavior on cross-national basis. The major research objective of this study was to examine the relationship between network properties and WOM by comparing Korean and Chinese consumers. Specific objectives of this research are threefold; firstly, it sought to examine whether network properties (i.e., tie strength, centrality, range) affect WOM (WOM intention and quality of WOM). Secondly, it aimed to explore the moderating effects of cutural orientation (uncertainty avoidance and individuality) on the relationship between network properties and WOM. Thirdly, it substantiates the role of innovativeness as antecedents to both network properties and WOM. II. Research Hypotheses: Based on the above research objectives, the study put forth the following research hypotheses to validate. ${\cdot}$ H 1-1 : The Strength of tie between two counterparts within network will positively influence WOM effectivenes ${\cdot}$ H 1-2 : The network centrality will positively influence the WOM effectiveness ${\cdot}$ H 1-3 : The network range will positively influence the WOM effectiveness ${\cdot}$ H 2-1 : The consumer's uncertainty avoidance tendency will moderate the relationship between network properties and WOM effectiveness ${\cdot}$ H 2-2 : The consumer's individualism tendency will moderate the relationship between network properties and WOM effectiveness ${\cdot}$ H 3-1 : The consumer's innovativeness will positively influence the social network properties ${\cdot}$ H 3-2 : The consumer's innovativeness will positively influence WOM effectiveness III. Methodology: Through a pilot study and back-translation, two versions of questionnaire were prepared, one in Korean and the other in Chinese. The chinese data were collected from the chinese students enrolled in language schools in Suwon city in Korea, while Korean data were collected from students taking classes in a major university in Seoul. A total of 277 questionnaire were used for analysis of Korean data and 212 for Chinese data. The reason why Chinese students living in Korea rather than in China were selected was based on two factors: one was to neutralize the differences (ie, retail channel availability) that may arise from living in separate countries and the second was to minimize the difference in communication venues such as internet accessibility and cell phone usability. SPSS 12.0 and AMOS 7.0 were used for analysis. IV. Results: Prior to hypothesis verification, mean differences between the two countries in terms of major constructs were performed with the following result; As for network properties (tie strength, centrality and range), Koreans showed higher scores in all three constructs. For cultural orientation traits, Koreans scored higher only on uncertainty avoidance trait than Chinese. As a result of verifying the first research objective, confirming the relationship between network properties and WOM effectiveness, on Korean side, tie strength(Beta=.116; t=1.785) and centrality (Beta=.499; t=6.776) significantly influenced on WOM intention, and similar finding was obtained for Chinese side, with tie strength (Beta=.246; t=3.544) and centrality (Beta=.247; t=3.538) being significant. However, with regard to WOM argument quality, Korean data yielded only centrality (Beta=.82; t=7.600) having a significant impact on WOM, whereas China showed both tie strength(Beat=.142; t=2.052) and centrality(Beta=.348; t=5.031) being influential. To answer for the second research objective addressing the moderating role of cultural orientation, moderated regression anaylsis was performed and the result showed that uncertainty avoidance moderated between network range and WOM intention for both Korea and China, But for Korea, the uncertainty avoidance moderated between tie strength and WOM quality, while for China it moderated between network range and WOM intention. And innovativeness moderated between tie strength and WOM intention for Korea but it moderated between network range and WOM intention for China. As a result of analysing for third research objective, we found that for Korea, innovativeness positively influenced centrality only (Beta=.546; t=10.808), while for China it influenced both tie strength (Beta=.203; t=2.998) and centrality(Beta=.518; t=8.782). But for both countries alike, the innovativeness influenced positively on WOM (WOM intention and WOM quality). V. Implications: The study yields the two practical implications. Firstly, the result suggests that companies targeting multinational customers need to identify segments which are susceptible to the positive WOM and WOM information based on individual traits such as uncertainty avoidance and individualism and based on that, develop marketing communication strategy. Secondly, the companies need to divide the market on Roger's five innovation stages and based on this information, enforce marketing strategy which utilizes social networking tools such as public media and WOM. For instance, innovator and early adopters, if provided with new product information, will be able to capitalize upon the network advantages and thus add informational value to network operations using SNS or corporate blog.