• Title/Summary/Keyword: Multidimensional analysis

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Analysis of Trophic Structure and Energy Flows in the Uljin Marine Ranching Area, Korean East Sea (울진 바다목장 생태계의 영양구조와 에너지 흐름)

  • Kim, Hyung Chul;Lee, Jae Kyung;Kim, Mi Hyang;Choi, Byoung-Mi;Seo, In-Soo;Na, Jong Hun
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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    • v.24 no.6
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    • pp.750-763
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    • 2018
  • This study conducted 10 sampling sites survey 4 times to determine the trophic structure and energy flow of marine ecosystems for Uljin marine ranching area, Korean East Sea from March to October 2013. Based on the ecological characteristics of biological species, one used the non-Metric Multidimensional Scaling method based on the similarity of species. A total of 19 classified species groups formed categories including, top predators, seabirds, large pelagic fishes, small pelagic fishes, rockfishes, pleuronectiformes, benthic fishes, semi-benthic fishes, cephalopods, benthic feeders, epifauna, bivalves, abalone, Cnidaria, zooplankton, benthic algae, microalgae, phytoplankton and detritus. The biomass, production/biomass, consumption/biomass, diet composition data of each species groups to input data used in Ecopath mode estimated the trophic structure and energy flow of marine ecosystems in the Uljin marine ranching area. One estimated each species groups on the trophic level from 1 to 5.687. The sum of all consumption was estimated at $229.7t/km^2/yr$ and the sum of all exports was as estimated $3,432.4t/km^2/yr$. Total system throughput was at $6,796.2t/km^2/yr$, and the sum of all production was estimated at $3,613.1t/km^2/yr$. Net system production according to these results was estimated at $3,490.3t/km^2/yr$ and total biomass (excluding detritus) was estimated at $167.3t/km^2/yr$ in the Uljin marine ranching area.

Understanding of Phytoplankton Community Dynamics Through Algae Bioassay Experiment During Winter Season of Jinhae bay, Korea (생물검정실험을 통한 동계 진해만 식물플랑크톤의 군집 변동 특성 파악)

  • Hyun, Bong-Gil;Shin, Kyoung-Soon;Kim, Dong-Sun;Kim, Young-Ok;Joo, Hae-Mi;Baek, Seung-Ho
    • The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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    • v.16 no.1
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    • pp.27-38
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    • 2011
  • The distributions of phytoplankton assemblages and environmental factors in Jinhae Bay and their relationships were investigated to estimate the potential limiting nutrient for phytoplankton growth and community structure. In situ algal bioassay experiments were also conducted to assess the species-specific characteristics in phytoplankton responses under different nutrient conditions (control, N(+) and P(+) treatment). During the study periods, bacillariophyceae and cryptophyceae occupied more than 90% of total phytoplankton assemblages. Phytoplankton standing crops in the inner part of Masan Bay were higher than that of Jinhae Bay. The DIN:DIP ratio, pH and transparency showed the significant positive correlation with phytoplankton biomass. According to cluster and multidimensiolnal scaling (MDS) analysis based on phytoplankton community data from each station, the bay was divided into three groups. The first group included stations from the south-western part of Jinhae bay where cryptophyta species were dominated. The second group was distinguished from inner stations in Masan Bay. These stations showed low transpancy and high DIN:DIP ratio. The other cluster included the stations from the eastern part and central part of Jinhae Bay, which was characterized by the high DSi:DIP ratio and dominant of diatom species. Phosphorous (P) was limited in Masan Bay due to significantly increases in the phytoplankton abundances. Based on stoichiometric limitation and algal bio-assay in Jinhae Bay, nitrogen (N) was a major limiting factor for phytoplankton production. However, silicate (Si) was not considered as limiting factor, since Si/DIN and Si/P ratio and absolute concentration of nutrient did not create any potential stoichiometric limitation in the bay. This implies that high Si availability in winter season contributes favorably to the maintenances of diatom species.

The application of photographs resources for constructive social studies (구성주의적 사회과 교육을 위한 사진자료 활용방안)

  • Lee, Ki-Bok;Hwang, Hong-Seop
    • Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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    • v.6 no.3
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    • pp.117-138
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    • 2000
  • This study is, from the view point of constructive social studies which is the foundation of the 7th curriculum, to explore whether there is any viable program and to investigate it by which students, using photo resources in social studies, can organize their knowledge in the way of self-directed thinking. The main results are as follows: If it is a principle of knowledge construction process of constructive social studies that individual construction (cognitive construction) develops into communal construction(social construction) and yet communal construction develops itself, interacting with individual construction, it will be meet the objectives of social studies. In social studies, photos are a powerful communication tool. communicating with photos enables to invoke not only the visual aspects but also invisible aspects of social phenomena from photos. It, therefore, can help develop thinking power through inquiry learning, which is one of the emphasis of the 7th curriculum. Having analyzed photo resources appeared on the regional textbooks in elementary social studies, they have been appeared that even though the importance and amount of space photo resources occupy per page is big with regard to total resources, most of the photos failed to lad to self-directed thinking but just assistant material in stead. Besides, there appeared some problems with the title, variety, size, position, tone of color, visibility of the photos, and further with the combination of the photos. Developing of photo resources for constructive social studies is to overcome some problems inherent in current text books and to reflect the theoretical background of the 7th curriculum. To develop the sort of photo that can realize the point just mentioned, it would be highly preferable to provide photo database to facilitate study with homepage through web-based interaction. To take advantage of constructive photo resources, the instruction is strategized in four stages, intuition, conflict, accommodation, and equilibration stage. With the advancement of the era of image culture, curriculum developers are required to develop dynamic, multidimensional digital photos rather than static photos when develop text books.

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Community Structure of Macrobenthic Invertebrates during Spring and Autumn around Ui Island, Sinan-gun, Jeollanam-do (우이도 주변해역 조하대에서 춘계와 추계에 서식하는 대형무척추동물의 군집구조)

  • Seo, In-Soo;Choi, Byoung-Mi;Yun, Jae-Seong;Kim, Dae-Ik;Lee, Jong-Uk;Hwang, Choul-Hee;Kang, Yang-Soon;Kang, Young-Shil;Son, Min-Ho
    • Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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    • v.28 no.3
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    • pp.133-142
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    • 2010
  • This study was performed to investigate the community structure of the macrobenthic invertebrates around Ui Island, Sinan-gun, Jeollanam-do, Korea. Benthic invertebrates were collected during May and September 2008 at seven stations. A total of 63 macrobenthic species was collected. The overall average macrobenthos density and biomass were 268 inds. $m^{-2}$ and 11.54 gWWt $m^{-2}$, respectively. Based on abundance data, there were 5 dominant species accounting for approximately 72.00% of total individuals. The polychaetes Notomastus latericeus, Scolelepis sagittaria, Amaeana occidentalis, Glycera chirori and the amphipoda Mandibulophoxus mai were found in high densities. The conventional multi-variate statistics (cluster analysis and non-metric multidimensional scaling) applied to assess spatial variation in macrobenthic assemblages. As a result, three communities could be distinguished: a sand dominated, a mixed sediment and a third community in the mud dominated station. The community in the sand dominated station was characterized by high abundance of the polychaetes S. sagittaria and the amphipods M. mai, Monoculodes sp. and Grandifoxus malipoensis. However, the most common species within the mixed sediment station were the polychaetes N. latericeus, A. occidentalis and amphipoda Urothoe sp.. Finally the mud dominated station was numerically dominated by the polychaetes Scolelepis sp., Heteromastus filiformis and Sigambra tentaculata. In conclusion, the sediment composition may be important factors controlling of the macrobenthic community structure in the study area.

Characteristics of Benthic Macroinvertebrates in Gihwa Stream, Tributary of Dong River, Korea (동강 지류 기화천의 저서성 대형무척추동물 군집특성)

  • Jeon, Hyoung-Joo;Hong, Cheol;Song, Mi-Young;Kim, Kyung-Hwan;Lee, Wan-Ok;Kwak, Ihn-Sil
    • Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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    • v.52 no.2
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    • pp.105-117
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    • 2019
  • In order to investigate the characteristics of benthic macroinvertebrate communities in the Gihwa stream, a tributary of the Dong River, we surveyed the community and environmental factors in April and November 2013 at 6 sites. The benthic macroinvertebrate taxa represented total 63 species belonging to 29 families, 12 orders, 5 classes and 4 phyla. Total 48 (10~28 in each site) species were collected in April and 44 (13~24 in each site) in November. The number of individuals increased slightly from $560{\sim}2,290m^{-2}$ in April to $806{\sim}3,674m^{-2}$ in November. Chironomidae spp. was dominant species in April and Stenopsyche bergeri was dominant species in November. In the Functional Feeding Groups, Gathering-collector(53.9%) was dominant in April, while Filtering-collector (44.3%) increased in November. Intolerant order category (i.e. EPT species richness) in St.1, St.5 and St.6 increased in November compared to April due to the increase of Trichoptera. St.2, St.3 and St.4, which were located near the fish farm, were low EPT as a whole, but Benthic macroinvertebrate index (BMI) was good state in November than April due to decrease of Chironomidae spp.. The environmental factors in the survey site showed similar tendency except for St.1 between both seasons, and electrical conductivity, salinity, and water width showed seasonal differences. Cluster analysis and Nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) based on benthic macroinvertebrate community data were divided into two groups according to season. Electrical conductivity, salinity and substrate composition were the most influential factors determining the distribution patterns of macroinvertebrate communities.

Fish Community Structure and Biodiversity of the Korean Peninsula Estuaries (한반도 하구의 어류군집 구조 및 다양성)

  • Park, Sang-Hyeon;Baek, Seung-Ho;Kim, Jeong-Hui;Kim, Dong-Hwan;Jang, Min-Ho;Won, Doo-Hee;Park, Bae-Kyung;Moon, Jeong-Suk
    • Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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    • v.55 no.1
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    • pp.35-48
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    • 2022
  • Fish assemblage of total 325 of Korean peninsula estuaries were surveyed to analyze the characteristics of community structure and diversity by sea areas for three years from 2016 to 2018. The scale (stream width) of Korean estuaries were various (14~3,356 m), and 68.9% of all estuaries showed salinity of less than 2 psu. Total 149 species classified into 52 families of fish were identified, and the dominant and sub-dominant species were Tribolodon hakonensis (relative abundance, RA, 12.5%) and Mugil cephalus (RA, 9.5%), respectively. The estuary of the Korean Peninsula had different physical and chemical habitat environments depending on the sea area, and accordingly, fish community structure also showed statistically significant differences (PERMANOVA, Pseudo-F=26.69, P=0.001). In addition, the NMDS (nonmetric multidimensional scaling) results showed the patterns that indicating fish community difference by sea areas, even though low community similarity within sea area (SIMPER, 21.79~26.39%). The estuaries of east sea areas were distinguished from the others in the aspects of which, the higher importance of migratory fishes and endangered species, and that of brackish species were characterized at south sea estuaries. However, the estuaries of west sea showed higher importance of species that have a relation with freshwater (primary freshwater species, exotic species), which is the result that associating with the lower salinity of west sea estuaries because of the high ratio of closed estuaries(78.2%). The SIMPER analysis, scoring the contribution rates of species to community similarity, also showed results corresponding to the tendency of different fish community structures according to each sea area. So far, In Korea, most studies on fish communities in estuaries have been conducted in a single estuary unit, which made it difficult to understand the characteristics of estuaries at the national level, which are prerequisite for policy establishment. In present study, we are providing fish community structure characteristics of Korean estuaries in a national scale, including diversity index, habitat salinity ranges of major species, distribution of migratory species. We are expecting that our results could be utilized as baseline information for establishing management policies or further study of Korean estuaries.

A Validating Academic Engagement as a Multidimensional Construct for Korean College Students: Academic Motivation, Engagement, and Satisfaction (대학생용 학업참여 척도(UWES-S)의 타당화: 학업동기, 참여 및 만족도의 구조적 관계)

  • Choo, Huntaek;Sohn, Wonsook
    • Korean Journal of School Psychology
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    • v.9 no.3
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    • pp.485-503
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    • 2012
  • Academic engagement has been known as a strong predictor of students' cognitive and affective outcomes in an educational context. Despite increasing interest and theoretical usefulness of this construct, a few researchers seem to be interested in the validation of instruments to measure academic engagement for Korean students. Thus, this study would like to introduce one of academic scales widely used, UWES-S(Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-Student) (Schaufeli et al., 2002a: 2002b) and to validate the UWES-S for Korean college students. To validate the Korean version of the UWES-S, 651 college students (285 for Field Trial, 366 for Main Study) were used. The procedure is as follows. First, we used an integrated adaptation procedure to produce a Korean version of the UWES-S. Second, EFA(exploratory factor analyses) was applied to explore the factor structure of the UWES-S on the field trial data. Third, the psychometric properties of the UWES-S items were examined by graded response model(GRM). Also CFA(confirmatory factor analysis) was used to examine its internal construct validity for the data from the main study. Finally, the external validity of the UWES-S was scrutinized with the related variables such as academic motivation and satisfaction. As a result, the Korean version of the UWES-S with 13 items was accepted that the four items were excluded from its original version. Second, the internal validity was supported that the 3 factor CFA model(vigor, dedication, absorption) fit the data well. Third, we supported the partial mediation model that academic engagement played as a mediating variable between academic motivation(internal/external) and academic satisfaction. Finally, the differences between a validation of UWES-S for Korean college and high school students, the necessity of construct equivalence testing, and direction for future research of scale validating were discussed.

Characteristics and Changes in Scientific Empathy during Students' Productive Disciplinary Engagement in Science (학생들의 생산적 과학 참여에서 발현되는 과학공감의 특성과 변화 분석)

  • Heesun, Yang;Seong-Joo, Kang
    • Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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    • v.44 no.1
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    • pp.11-27
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    • 2024
  • This study aimed to investigate the role of scientific empathy in influencing students' productive disciplinary engagement in scientific activities and analyze the key factors of scientific empathy that manifest during this process. Twelve fifth-grade students were divided into three subgroups based on their general empathic abilities. Lessons promoting productive disciplinary engagement, integrating design thinking processes, were conducted. Subgroup discourse analysis during idea generation and prototype stages, two of five problem-solving steps, enabled observation of scientific empathy and practice aspects. The results showed that applying scientific empathy effectively through design thinking facilitated students' productive disciplinary engagement in science. In the idea generation stage, we observed an initial increase followed by a decrease in scientific empathy and practice utterances, while during the prototyping stage, utterance frequency increased, particularly in the later part. However, subgroups with lower empathic abilities displayed decreased discourse frequency in scientific empathy and practice during the prototype stage due to a lack of collaborative communication. Across all empathic ability levels, the students articulated all five key factors of scientific empathy through their utterances in situations involving productive science engagement. In the high empathic ability subgroup, empathic understanding and concern were emphasized, whereas in the low empathic ability subgroup, sensitivity, scientific imagination, and situational interest, factors of empathizing with the research object, were prominent. These results indicate that experiences of scientific empathy with research objects, beyond general empathetic abilities, serve as a distinct and crucial factor in stimulating diverse participation and sustaining students' productive engagement in scientific activities during science classes. By suggesting the potential multidimensional impact of scientific empathy on productive disciplinary engagement, this study contributes to discussions on the theoretical structure and stability of scientific empathy in science education.

Perceptional Change of a New Product, DMB Phone

  • Kim, Ju-Young;Ko, Deok-Im
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.18 no.3
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    • pp.59-88
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    • 2008
  • Digital Convergence means integration between industry, technology, and contents, and in marketing, it usually comes with creation of new types of product and service under the base of digital technology as digitalization progress in electro-communication industries including telecommunication, home appliance, and computer industries. One can see digital convergence not only in instruments such as PC, AV appliances, cellular phone, but also in contents, network, service that are required in production, modification, distribution, re-production of information. Convergence in contents started around 1990. Convergence in network and service begins as broadcasting and telecommunication integrates and DMB(digital multimedia broadcasting), born in May, 2005 is the symbolic icon in this trend. There are some positive and negative expectations about DMB. The reason why two opposite expectations exist is that DMB does not come out from customer's need but from technology development. Therefore, customers might have hard time to interpret the real meaning of DMB. Time is quite critical to a high tech product, like DMB because another product with same function from different technology can replace the existing product within short period of time. If DMB does not positioning well to customer's mind quickly, another products like Wibro, IPTV, or HSPDA could replace it before it even spreads out. Therefore, positioning strategy is critical for success of DMB product. To make correct positioning strategy, one needs to understand how consumer interprets DMB and how consumer's interpretation can be changed via communication strategy. In this study, we try to investigate how consumer perceives a new product, like DMB and how AD strategy change consumer's perception. More specifically, the paper segment consumers into sub-groups based on their DMB perceptions and compare their characteristics in order to understand how they perceive DMB. And, expose them different printed ADs that have messages guiding consumer think DMB in specific ways, either cellular phone or personal TV. Research Question 1: Segment consumers according to perceptions about DMB and compare characteristics of segmentations. Research Question 2: Compare perceptions about DMB after AD that induces categorization of DMB in direction for each segment. If one understand and predict a direction in which consumer perceive a new product, firm can select target customers easily. We segment consumers according to their perception and analyze characteristics in order to find some variables that can influence perceptions, like prior experience, usage, or habit. And then, marketing people can use this variables to identify target customers and predict their perceptions. If one knows how customer's perception is changed via AD message, communication strategy could be constructed properly. Specially, information from segmented customers helps to develop efficient AD strategy for segment who has prior perception. Research framework consists of two measurements and one treatment, O1 X O2. First observation is for collecting information about consumer's perception and their characteristics. Based on first observation, the paper segment consumers into two groups, one group perceives DMB similar to Cellular phone and the other group perceives DMB similar to TV. And compare characteristics of two segments in order to find reason why they perceive DMB differently. Next, we expose two kinds of AD to subjects. One AD describes DMB as Cellular phone and the other Ad describes DMB as personal TV. When two ADs are exposed to subjects, consumers don't know their prior perception of DMB, in other words, which subject belongs 'similar-to-Cellular phone' segment or 'similar-to-TV' segment? However, we analyze the AD's effect differently for each segment. In research design, final observation is for investigating AD effect. Perception before AD is compared with perception after AD. Comparisons are made for each segment and for each AD. For the segment who perceives DMB similar to TV, AD that describes DMB as cellular phone could change the prior perception. And AD that describes DMB as personal TV, could enforce the prior perception. For data collection, subjects are selected from undergraduate students because they have basic knowledge about most digital equipments and have open attitude about a new product and media. Total number of subjects is 240. In order to measure perception about DMB, we use indirect measurement, comparison with other similar digital products. To select similar digital products, we pre-survey students and then finally select PDA, Car-TV, Cellular Phone, MP3 player, TV, and PSP. Quasi experiment is done at several classes under instructor's allowance. After brief introduction, prior knowledge, awareness, and usage about DMB as well as other digital instruments is asked and their similarities and perceived characteristics are measured. And then, two kinds of manipulated color-printed AD are distributed and similarities and perceived characteristics for DMB are re-measured. Finally purchase intension, AD attitude, manipulation check, and demographic variables are asked. Subjects are given small gift for participation. Stimuli are color-printed advertising. Their actual size is A4 and made after several pre-test from AD professionals and students. As results, consumers are segmented into two subgroups based on their perceptions of DMB. Similarity measure between DMB and cellular phone and similarity measure between DMB and TV are used to classify consumers. If subject whose first measure is less than the second measure, she is classified into segment A and segment A is characterized as they perceive DMB like TV. Otherwise, they are classified as segment B, who perceives DMB like cellular phone. Discriminant analysis on these groups with their characteristics of usage and attitude shows that Segment A knows much about DMB and uses a lot of digital instrument. Segment B, who thinks DMB as cellular phone doesn't know well about DMB and not familiar with other digital instruments. So, consumers with higher knowledge perceive DMB similar to TV because launching DMB advertising lead consumer think DMB as TV. Consumers with less interest on digital products don't know well about DMB AD and then think DMB as cellular phone. In order to investigate perceptions of DMB as well as other digital instruments, we apply Proxscal analysis, Multidimensional Scaling technique at SPSS statistical package. At first step, subjects are presented 21 pairs of 7 digital instruments and evaluate similarity judgments on 7 point scale. And for each segment, their similarity judgments are averaged and similarity matrix is made. Secondly, Proxscal analysis of segment A and B are done. At third stage, get similarity judgment between DMB and other digital instruments after AD exposure. Lastly, similarity judgments of group A-1, A-2, B-1, and B-2 are named as 'after DMB' and put them into matrix made at the first stage. Then apply Proxscal analysis on these matrixes and check the positional difference of DMB and after DMB. The results show that map of segment A, who perceives DMB similar as TV, shows that DMB position closer to TV than to Cellular phone as expected. Map of segment B, who perceive DMB similar as cellular phone shows that DMB position closer to Cellular phone than to TV as expected. Stress value and R-square is acceptable. And, change results after stimuli, manipulated Advertising show that AD makes DMB perception bent toward Cellular phone when Cellular phone-like AD is exposed, and that DMB positioning move towards Car-TV which is more personalized one when TV-like AD is exposed. It is true for both segment, A and B, consistently. Furthermore, the paper apply correspondence analysis to the same data and find almost the same results. The paper answers two main research questions. The first one is that perception about a new product is made mainly from prior experience. And the second one is that AD is effective in changing and enforcing perception. In addition to above, we extend perception change to purchase intention. Purchase intention is high when AD enforces original perception. AD that shows DMB like TV makes worst intention. This paper has limitations and issues to be pursed in near future. Methodologically, current methodology can't provide statistical test on the perceptual change, since classical MDS models, like Proxscal and correspondence analysis are not probability models. So, a new probability MDS model for testing hypothesis about configuration needs to be developed. Next, advertising message needs to be developed more rigorously from theoretical and managerial perspective. Also experimental procedure could be improved for more realistic data collection. For example, web-based experiment and real product stimuli and multimedia presentation could be employed. Or, one can display products together in simulated shop. In addition, demand and social desirability threats of internal validity could influence on the results. In order to handle the threats, results of the model-intended advertising and other "pseudo" advertising could be compared. Furthermore, one can try various level of innovativeness in order to check whether it make any different results (cf. Moon 2006). In addition, if one can create hypothetical product that is really innovative and new for research, it helps to make a vacant impression status and then to study how to form impression in more rigorous way.

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Brand Equity and Purchase Intention in Fashion Products: A Cross-Cultural Study in Asia and Europe (상표자산과 구매의도와의 관계에 관한 국제비교연구 - 아시아와 유럽의 의류시장을 중심으로 -)

  • Kim, Kyung-Hoon;Ko, Eun-Ju;Graham, Hooley;Lee, Nick;Lee, Dong-Hae;Jung, Hong-Seob;Jeon, Byung-Joo;Moon, Hak-Il
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.18 no.4
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    • pp.245-276
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    • 2008
  • Brand equity is one of the most important concepts in business practice as well as in academic research. Successful brands can allow marketers to gain competitive advantage (Lassar et al.,1995), including the opportunity for successful extensions, resilience against competitors' promotional pressures, and the ability to create barriers to competitive entry (Farquhar, 1989). Branding plays a special role in service firms because strong brands increase trust in intangible products (Berry, 2000), enabling customers to better visualize and understand them. They reduce customers' perceived monetary, social, and safety risks in buying services, which are obstacles to evaluating a service correctly before purchase. Also, a high level of brand equity increases consumer satisfaction, repurchasing intent, and degree of loyalty. Brand equity can be considered as a mixture that includes both financial assets and relationships. Actually, brand equity can be viewed as the value added to the product (Keller, 1993), or the perceived value of the product in consumers' minds. Mahajan et al. (1990) claim that customer-based brand equity can be measured by the level of consumers' perceptions. Several researchers discuss brand equity based on two dimensions: consumer perception and consumer behavior. Aaker (1991) suggests measuring brand equity through price premium, loyalty, perceived quality, and brand associations. Viewing brand equity as the consumer's behavior toward a brand, Keller (1993) proposes similar dimensions: brand awareness and brand knowledge. Thus, past studies tend to identify brand equity as a multidimensional construct consisted of brand loyalty, brand awareness, brand knowledge, customer satisfaction, perceived equity, brand associations, and other proprietary assets (Aaker, 1991, 1996; Blackston, 1995; Cobb-Walgren et al., 1995; Na, 1995). Other studies tend to regard brand equity and other brand assets, such as brand knowledge, brand awareness, brand image, brand loyalty, perceived quality, and so on, as independent but related constructs (Keller, 1993; Kirmani and Zeithaml, 1993). Walters(1978) defined information search as, "A psychological or physical action a consumer takes in order to acquire information about a product or store." But, each consumer has different methods for informationsearch. There are two methods of information search, internal and external search. Internal search is, "Search of information already saved in the memory of the individual consumer"(Engel, Blackwell, 1982) which is, "memory of a previous purchase experience or information from a previous search."(Beales, Mazis, Salop, and Staelin, 1981). External search is "A completely voluntary decision made in order to obtain new information"(Engel & Blackwell, 1982) which is, "Actions of a consumer to acquire necessary information by such methods as intentionally exposing oneself to advertisements, taking to friends or family or visiting a store."(Beales, Mazis, Salop, and Staelin, 1981). There are many sources for consumers' information search including advertisement sources such as the internet, radio, television, newspapers and magazines, information supplied by businesses such as sales people, packaging and in-store information, consumer sources such as family, friends and colleagues, and mass media sources such as consumer protection agencies, government agencies and mass media sources. Understanding consumers' purchasing behavior is a key factor of a firm to attract and retain customers and improving the firm's prospects for survival and growth, and enhancing shareholder's value. Therefore, marketers should understand consumer as individual and market segment. One theory of consumer behavior supports the belief that individuals are rational. Individuals think and move through stages when making a purchase decision. This means that rational thinkers have led to the identification of a consumer buying decision process. This decision process with its different levels of involvement and influencing factors has been widely accepted and is fundamental to the understanding purchase intention represent to what consumers think they will buy. Brand equity is not only companies but also very important asset more than product itself. This paper studies brand equity model and influencing factors including information process such as information searching and information resources in the fashion market in Asia and Europe. Information searching and information resources are influencing brand knowledge that influences consumers purchase decision. Nine research hypotheses are drawn to test the relationships among antecedents of brand equity and purchase intention and relationships among brand knowledge, brand value, brand attitude, and brand loyalty. H1. Information searching influences brand knowledge positively. H2. Information sources influence brand knowledge positively. H3. Brand knowledge influences brand attitude. H4. Brand knowledge influences brand value. H5. Brand attitude influences brand loyalty. H6. Brand attitude influences brand value. H7. Brand loyalty influences purchase intention. H8. Brand value influence purchase intention. H9. There will be the same research model in Asia and Europe. We performed structural equation model analysis in order to test hypotheses suggested in this study. The model fitting index of the research model in Asia was $X^2$=195.19(p=0.0), NFI=0.90, NNFI=0.87, CFI=0.90, GFI=0.90, RMR=0.083, AGFI=0.85, which means the model fitting of the model is good enough. In Europe, it was $X^2$=133.25(p=0.0), NFI=0.81, NNFI=0.85, CFI=0.89, GFI=0.90, RMR=0.073, AGFI=0.85, which means the model fitting of the model is good enough. From the test results, hypotheses were accepted. All of these hypotheses except one are supported. In Europe, information search is not an antecedent of brand knowledge. This means that sales of global fashion brands like jeans in Europe are not expanding as rapidly as in Asian markets such as China, Japan, and South Korea. Young consumers in European countries are not more brand and fashion conscious than their counter partners in Asia. The results have theoretical, practical meaning and contributions. In the fashion jeans industry, relatively few studies examining the viability of cross-national brand equity has been studied. This study provides insight on building global brand equity and suggests information process elements like information search and information resources are working differently in Asia and Europe for fashion jean market.

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