This study aimed to examine the operation of the Home Economics education courses in the graduate schools of education, and to find out how graduate students perceive them. Data were collected with the use of handbooks issued by 11 graduate schools of education located in Seoul, and through telephone conversations with the administrative staff. To determine how graduate students majoring in Home Economics perceive their Home Economics courses, a survey was conducted among the graduate students in 10 graduate schools of education, and a total of 131 accomplished questionnaires were used for data analysis. The results of the study are as follows. First, all 11 graduate schools aimed to retrain their teachers, enhance their professionalism, and produce home economics education experts. The Home Economics Education courses come in two strands; a teacher's course and a major course. Most of the schools require a total of 30 credits. All Schools lack professors. Only 3 graduate schools have a home Economics Department in the College of Education. All graduate schools are offering a teacher's course based on a teacher's certification system. In a major course, Home Economics education has the largest number of subjects, with Clothing and Textiles and Food and Nutrition being given greater emphasis, and Consumer Economics, Home Economics Management, Child Care, and Family and Housing Studies being given less emphasis. Second, they mostly regard the graduate school of education as producer of experts, followed by producers of teachers and teacher re-trainers. Those who were majoring in Home Economics Education in college, and the teachers, are more interested in teacher re-training, while the non-teachers and those who were not majoring in Home Economics Education are more interested in producing teachers. They are less satisfied with the operation of the graduate school of education. But they are generally satisfied with the Home Economics Education course. Graduate students registered the lowest satisfaction with a major course, especially experimental subjects. For a teacher's course, the graduate students who are not teachers exhibited higher satisfaction, whereas the teachers showed lower satisfaction. But teachers registered more satisfaction with the practical use of major subjects in the educational field, thinking that their major was a big help in their work at a school. As for what has to be improved with regard to the Home Economics Education course, many cited the necessity of securing a good faculty and expanding the major subjects.
This study analyzes the external forms of the household textbooks and also the contents of them used at girls' middleㆍhigh schools during the period of Japanese ruling over Korea. To this end, 8 household textbooks published from 1928 to 1937 were analyzed. The results of the study are summarized as follows. 1. The household subject had become the one of the most important subjects to girl students as the practical uses were emphasized in educational area during the period. As a result. the classes of the household were the second in hours, following the class of Japanese (the national language) to girl students. 2. The contents of the household textbooks were intended to contain 'the modern' and 'the newest'. The students were also suggested to apply the contents of the textbooks to real home life. Many pictures, photos and illustrations were included in household textbooks to help students to understand the contents of the subject. 3. The purposes of the household class were the reformation of the living conditions and home economics. 4. The external characteristics of the household textbooks during the period were as follows. - Written in Japanese vertically and the size of the textbook was A5 (150/210) with pulp paper of good quality - The type style of the body of the textbooks was Ming-style type- The sequent order of the textbooks was the outer cover, the title page, pictorial, introduction, table of contents, the body, appendix and the back cover. 5. The household textbooks consisted of the first volume and the second volume. The first volume contained clothing and textiles, food and nutrition and housing. Taking care of the aged. nursing. child care, household economy and home management were included in the second volume. 6. The household textbooks were designed to make women the housewives.
A lot of interest in the baby-boomer generation, those who were born after World War II, has emerged since their retirement has been accelerated. The retirement of baby-boomers has caused many health, public welfare, social policy and family relationship problems. However, their increased purchasing power has made them more attractive consumers than any other generation, and they have become a fascinating niche market in the depressed economy. This research selected middle-class women of the baby-boomer generation who have had powerful effects on society and have emerged as an attractive niche market, and attempted to understand their lives intensively. Based on research activities, the purpose of this research is to identify baby-boomer generation middle-aged women's life values. Qualitative research methodology was used to achieve research objectives, and this research aimed to suggest marketing implications to connected industries based on the research results. The research objectives are as follows. 1. understanding the lives of baby-boomer middle-class women who have powerful effects on socio-economic phenomena 2. identifying the life values of baby-boomer middle-class women 3. generating marketing implications based on an understanding of baby-boomer middle-class women's lives and life values This research conducted FGIs(focus group interviews), one of the qualitative research methodologies, to figure out baby-boomer middle-class women's life values intensively and selected 10 women living in Seoul for data collection. The qualitative data of collected FGIs were analyzed with spiral data analysis methodology proposed by Creswell(2007). The most effective factors to influence these middle-class women's lives powerfully were 'time' and 'independence'. Their consciousness of the importance of using time affects their life pattern generally, and their independence also impacts greatly on the way they exploit time and on their diverse relationships. They maximized their self-realization and showed long-term partnership with their surrounding circumstances because of those effective factors. Baby-boomer middle-class women's self-realization was divided into two areas. One was their outside activities and another was perfect management of their physical appearance and home interior. Like the results of this research, their need for social entrance will be reinforced more strongly since their internal and external activities aim for the achievement of self-realization. In addition, this research suggests that baby-boomer middle-class women's activities are connected with their management of their physical appearance and home interior decorations, and that such management is caused not only by a simple interest in fashion and beauty but also a profound desire for self-realization. On account of their consciousness, which is different from other generations, Korean baby-boomer middle-class women are able to maintain positive partnerships with their surrounding circumstances; however, they also show ambivalent emotions to retain effective partnerships. To overcome those stressful situations, they make greater efforts to keep up their health and youth, and also engage in diverse activities to maintain their mental health. Finally, they generate positive attitudes toward their economic situation and extra time to develop self-realization and pursue happy, youthful and healthy lives. Based on those results, this study suggests the following implications. First, industries targeting the baby-boomer generation should develop innovative products and services which help the baby-boomer generation maximize their efficiency of time since time is one of the most important factors powerfully impacting the baby-boomer generation. They will engage in various activities to fill up their extra time and consume helpful products and services. Second, such industries should supply the baby-boomer generation with opportunities which propose new ways of self-realization since this generation shows a great desire for self-realization because of their self-efficacy. With customized strategies of satisfying their needs, the baby-boomer generation would discover opportunities to utilize their abilities, relationships and aesthetic senses, and industries would develop a niche market. Third, market segmentations which target the baby-boomer generation's desire to maintain their physical appearance and home interior should be executed since such activities are the main strategies to develop this generation's self-realization. The baby-boomer generation's desire to study those areas would be expanded, and those education systems should produce innovative products and services targeting the baby-boomer generation. This implication also offers to government officials new policies related with the baby-boomer generation. This exploratory study utilized qualitative research methodology to understand baby-boomer middle-class women's lives, and proposed propositions and limitations for further researches. As for the limitations, first, it is hard to generalize the research results so that they may apply to all areas and economic classes of the baby-boomer generation since this research selected only 10 women living in Seoul for the data collection process. To overcome this limitation, extended data collections of subjects from diverse regions and economic classes should be designed. Second, quantitative research should be conducted to supplement the findings with validities. Third, this research focused on only general ideas of the baby-boomer generation's lives since the range of this study was focused on their overall lives. Therefore, intensive research related to specific areas of their lives should be conducted.
INTRODUCTION Due to the high broadband internet penetration rate and its group-oriented culture, various types of online communities operate in Korea. This study use 'Uses and Gratification Approach, and argue that members' usage-needs satisfaction with brand community is an important factor for promoting community commitment. Based on previous studies identifying the effect of brand image on consumers' responses to various marketing stimuli, this study hypothesizes that brand image can be a moderate variable affecting the relationship between usage-needs satisfaction with brand community and members' commitment to brand community. This study analyzes the influence of usage-needs satisfaction on brand community commitment and how apparel brand image affects the relationships between usage-needs satisfactions and community commitments. The hypotheses of this study are proposed as follows. H1-3: The usage-needs satisfaction of apparel brand community (interest, transaction, relationship needs) influences emotional (H1), continuous (H2), and normative (H3) commitments to apparel brand communities. H4-6: Apparel brand image has a moderating effect on the relationship between usage-needs satisfaction and emotional (H4), continuous (H5), and normative (H6) commitments to apparel brand communities. METHODS Brand communities founded by non-company affiliates were excluded and emphasis was placed instead on communities created by apparel brand companies. Among casual apparel brands registered in 6 Korean portal sites in August 2003, a total of 9 casual apparel brand online communities were chosen, depending on the level of community activity and apparel brand image. Data from 317 community members were analyzed by exploratory factor analysis, moderated regression analysis, ANOVA, and scheffe test. Among 317 respondents answered an online html-type questionnaire, 80.5% were between 16 to 25 years old. There were a total of 150 respondents from apparel brand communities(n=3) recording higher-than-average brand image scores (Mean > 3.75) and a total of 162 respondents from apparel brand communities(n=6) recording lower-than-average brand image scores(Mean < 3.75). In this study, brand community commitment was measured by a 5-point Likert scale: emotional, continuous and normative commitment. The degree of usage-needs satisfaction (interest, transaction, relationship needs) was measured on a 5-point Likert scale. The level of brand image was measured by a 5-point Likert scale: strength, favorability, and uniqueness of brand associations. RESULTS In the results of exploratory factor analysis, the three usage-needs satisfactions with brand community were classified as interest, transaction, and relationship needs. Brand community commitment was also divided into the multi-dimensional factors: emotional, continuous, and normative commitments. The regression analysis (using a stepwise method) was used to test the influence of 3 independent variables (interest-needs satisfaction, transaction-needs, and relationship-needs satisfactions) on the 3 dependent variables (emotional, continuous and normative commitments). The three types of usage-needs satisfactions are positively associated with the three types of commitments to apparel brand communities. Therefore, hypothesis 1, 2, and 3 were significantly supported. Moderating effects of apparel brand image on the relationship between usage-needs satisfaction and brand community commitments were tested by moderated regression analysis. The statistics result showed that the influence of transaction-needs on emotional commitment was significantly moderated by apparel brand image. In addition, apparel brand image had moderating effects on the relationship between relationship-needs satisfaction and emotional, continuous and normative commitments to apparel brand communities. However, there were not significant moderate effects of apparel brand image on the relationships between interest-needs satisfaction and 3 types of commitments (emotional, continuous and normative commitments) to apparel brand communities. In addition, the influences of transaction-needs satisfaction on 2 types of commitments (continuous and normative commitments) were not significantly moderated by apparel brand image. Therefore, hypothesis 4, 5 and 6 were partially supported. To explain the moderating effects of apparel brand image, four cross-tabulated groups were made by averages of usage-needs satisfaction (interest-needs satisfaction avg. M=3.09, transaction-needs satisfaction avg. M=3.46, relationship-needs satisfaction M=1.62) and the average apparel brand image (M=3.75). The average scores of commitments in each classified group are presented in Tables and Figures. There were significant differences among four groups. As can be seen from the results of scheffe test on the tables, emotional commitment in community group with high brand image was higher than one in community group with low brand image when transaction-needs satisfaction was high. However, when transaction-needs satisfaction was low, there was not any difference between the community group with high brand image and community group with low brand image regarding emotional commitment to apparel brand communities. It means that emotional commitment didn't increase significantly without high satisfaction of transaction-needs, despite the high apparel brand image. In addition, when apparel brand image was low, increase in transaction-needs did not lead to the increase in emotional commitment. Therefore, the significant relationship between transaction-needs satisfaction and emotional commitment was found in only brand communities with high apparel brand image, and the moderating effect of apparel brand image on this relationship between two variables was found in the communities with high satisfaction of transaction-needs only. Statistics results showed that the level of emotional commitment is related to the satisfaction level of transaction-needs, while overall response is related to the level of apparel brand image. We also found that the role of apparel brand image as a moderating factor was limited by the level of transaction-needs satisfaction. In addition, relationship-needs satisfaction brought significant increase in emotional commitment in both community groups (high and low levels of brand image), and the effect of apparel brand image on emotional commitment was significant in both community groups (high and low levels of relationship-needs satisfaction). Especially, the effect of brand image was greater when the level of relationship-needs satisfaction was high. in contrast, increase in emotional commitment responding to increase in relationship-needs satisfaction was greater when apparel brand image is high. The significant influences of relationship-needs satisfaction on community commitments (continuous and normative commitments) were found regardless of apparel brand image(in both community groups with low and high brand image). However, the effects of apparel brand image on continuous and normative commitments were found in only community group with high satisfaction level of relationship-needs. In the case of communities with low satisfaction levels of relationship needs, apparel brand image marginally increases continuous and normative commitments. Therefore, we could not find the moderating effect of apparel brand image on the relationship between relationship-needs satisfaction and continuous and normative commitments in community groups with low satisfaction levels of relationship needs, CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS From the results of this study, we draw several conclusions; First, the increases in usage-needs satisfactions through apparel brand communities result in the increases in commitments to apparel brand communities, wheres the degrees of such relationship depends on the level of apparel brand image. That is, apparel brand image is a moderating factor strengthening the relationship between usage-needs satisfaction and commitment to apparel brand communities. In addition, the effect of apparel brand image differs, depending on the level and types of community usage-needs satisfactions. Therefore, marketers of apparel brand companies must determine the appropriate usage-needs, depending on the type of commitment they wish to increase and the level of their apparel brand image, to promote member's commitments to apparel brand communities. Especially, relationship-needs satisfaction was very important factor for increasing emotional, continuous and normative commitments to communities. However the level of relationship-needs satisfaction was lower than interest-needs and transaction-needs. satisfaction. According to previous study on apparel brand communities, relationship-need satisfaction was strongly related to member's intention of participation in their communities. Therefore, marketers need to develope various strategies in order to increase the relationship- needs as well as interest and transaction needs. In addition, despite continuous commitment was higher than emotional and normative commitments, all types of commitments to apparel brand communities had scores lower than 3.0 that was mid point in 5-point scale. A Korean study reported that the level of members' commitment to apparel brand community influenced customers' identification with a brand and brand purchasing behavior. Therefore, marketers should try to increase members' usage-needs satisfaction and apparel brand image as the necessary conditions for bringing about community commitments. Second, marketers should understand that they should keep in mind that increasing the level of community usage needs (transaction and relationship) is most effective in raising commitment when the level of apparel brand image is high, and that increasing usage needs (transaction needs) satisfaction in communities with low brand image might not be as effective as anticipated. Therefore, apparel companies with desirable brand image such as luxury designer goods firms need to create formal online brand communities (as opposed to informal communities with rudimentary online contents) to satisfy transaction and relationship needs systematically. It will create brand equity through consumers' increased emotional, continuous and normative commitments. Even though apparel brand is very famous, emotional commitment to apparel brand communities cannot be easily increased without transaction-needs satisfaction. Therefore famous fashion brand companies should focus on developing various marketing strategies to increase transaction-needs satisfaction.