• The Journal of Society for e-Business Studies
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.29-48
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• 2019

Recently, product design innovation to improve user experience has been perceived as a core element of enterprise competitiveness due to the fierce market competition and decrease of the technological gap between companies, but there is insufficient services to support the product experience evaluation of small and medium-sized companies (SMCs). The aim of this study is to develop a web-based product user experience evaluation and certification system supporting product design practices for SMCs. For system interface design, we conducted systematic functional requirement elicitation methods such as user survey, workflow analysis, user task definition, and function definition. Then main functions, information structure, navigation method, and detailed graphic user interfaces were developed with consideration of user interactions and requirements. In particular, it provides the databases for evaluation efficiency to support the evaluation process above a certain level of performance and efficiency, and knowledge databases to utilize in the evaluation and product design improvement. With help of the developed service platform, It is expected that the service platform would enhance SMCs' product development capability with regard to the user experience evaluation by connecting the consulting firms with SMCs.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.265-274
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• 2011

The objective of this case study is to analyze how effectively KIA K5, which is a leading mid-size car brand, has positioned itself into the mid-size car market. Before KIA launched the K5, Sonata and SM5 were the leading brands in the mid-size car market. They had loyal customers who like their similar images. As many competitors keep launching new brands or new designs into the car industry, Sonata and SM5 were pressured to introduce new versions. But, the YF Sonata and the New SM5 failed to catch up with the new trends in the market. Whilst YF Sonata was perceived as too innovative, the New SM5 was treated as an old car by the target customers of the mid-size car. While the two leading brands struggled to attract customers, KIA K5 found a new market space by identifying and focusing on the lucrative replace and up-grade demand segment and filling the gap between the current product category values and the emerging mid-size car category values. The K5 found the right values that customers need and successfully articulated the values to the customers. This case study illustrates that a successful positioning strategy can be effectively employed to attract customers in the saturated car manufacturing industry. This case can be summarized as the successful positioning strategy of KIA K5 is comprised of four primary pillars: design innovation, market analysis, STP (segmentation, targeting, and positioning), and launch strategy. The KIA K5 case study provides valuable insights and implications for many other companies that are planning to find a proper positioning strategy for their own business.

• Journal of Service Research and Studies
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.206-223
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• 2023

The introduction of Smart technologies such as Artificial Intelligence(AI) systems are have a powerful impact in a variety of industry fields. Some experts predict that smart technology will completely change people's daily life and work styles, causing technological innovation, productivity improvement, and discovery and emergence of new fields. On the one hand, this vision cannot ignore negative views and concerns. Despite many social debates about employment, such as job loss and rising unemployment, there have not been many studies based on employee experience that provide a fundamental solution to the conflict between AI and employment. Therefore, this study finds out the effects and related factors of AI concierge robots for hotel employees, focusing on the hotel industry, and how employees' perceptions of AI concierge robots affect user resistance and turnover intention. This study, conducted a questionnaire survey of 322 hotel employees who had experience working with AI concierge robots in China, and used SPSS and SmartPLS statistical analysis programs to draw conclusions. We found that hotel employees' perceptions of AI concierge robots were significantly related to user resistance and turnover intention, and this association was related to employee self-efficacy, perceived organizational support, quality of AI services and new tasks. In addition, it was found that the quality of AI concierge robots directly or indirectly had the greatest influence on user resistance and turnover intention. The findings of this study provide theoretical implications for academia and practical implications for industry practitioners.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.1-22
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• 2019

Mindfulness is the process of actively noticing new things. Today, companies have introduced and run mindfulness programs because the mindfulness has possible applications of productivity and innovation in corporation. However, role of mindfulness has not been clearly investigated in behavior research of Information System. The purpose of this study is to confirm the effects of mindfulness on technology acceptance process. Based on UTAUT Model, we examined how mindfulness in technology acceptance process moderate antecedent factors of acceptance intentions and use behavior. For empirical research, we conducted a survey on acceptance of smart watch of internet of things for employees of companies applying the mindfulness programs. then, we analyzed survey sample in empirical methodologies. Based on the empirical analysis, cognizance of alternative technologies in mindfulness factors increased the impact of performance expectancy on acceptance intention. Novelty seeking in mindfulness factors increased the impact of effort expectancy on acceptance intention. Awareness of local context in mindfulness factors decreased the impact of social influence on acceptance intention. engagement with technology in mindfulness factors increased the impact of facilitating conditions on use behavior. This study suggests academic implications and practical implications based on the results of the research. The implications will help to support and extend the theory of technology acceptance model while providing practical insights for IT acceptance by suggesting ways to utilize mindfulness in corporation.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.233-244
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to improve awareness of network marketing business in South Korea, which takes a quite negative view of network marketing, to raise awareness of "starting up a business" as independent business owners, to assist them in building their own subjecthood in network business and entrepreneurial identity, and ultimately to give some suggestions on how to improve their self-directed entrepreneurial competency and the quality of their business management. To make an empirical analysis of 121 independent business owners of Korean native network marketing, the personal and background variables of the entrepreneurs were selected as independent variables, and entrepreneurship was selected as a mediator variable. The selected dependent variables were financial and non-financial business performances. A multiple regression analysis was conducted by inputting the variables. The findings of the study were as follows: It produced an effect of more financial performance when the innovation of the independent business owners of network marketing was better, and this innovation was possible to have only when they improved in entrepreneurial efficacy and locus of control. In contrast, only authenticity had an effect on boosting non-financial business performance among the factors of entrepreneurship. To have authenticity, it's necessary to strengthen achievement needs and awareness of locus of control among the personal characteristics of the independent business owners of network marketing. Among the factors of entrepreneurship, there was better authenticity when their personal networks were broader among their background characteristics. In addition, self-efficacy that was one of personal characteristics made a direct contribution to the enhancement of non-financial performance. As a result, independent business owners of network marketing are required to hold a strong belief in their own business, to be active in business activities and to have a high efficacy as spontaneous principal agents, and they also are required to have more adventurous, planned, active and propulsive achievement needs that enable them to attain the goals of their business and keep moving forward. Besides, they should foster their locus-of-control competency that is to control, endure and be responsible for a variety of phenomena or incidents that they face, and there will be better financial performance or non-financial performance only when they demonstrate their self-belief and confidence and when they have faith in and conviction about themselves. For independent business owners of network marketing, a consumer-centered thinking that entails authenticity and trustworthiness and touches the hearts of customers is a more effective marketing strategy than an egocentric thinking as sellers when they approach customers. And they are expected to make progress in terms of the quality of business management when their business attachment or enthusiasm is great enough to match their own efficacy with entrepreneurial identity or strike a balance between them.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.119-144
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• 2021

Recently, as competition in the market evolves from the competition among companies to the competition among their supply chains, companies are struggling to enhance their supply chain management (hereinafter SCM). In particular, as blockchain technology with various technical advantages is combined with SCM, a lot of domestic manufacturing and distribution companies are considering the adoption of blockchain-oriented SCM (BOSCM) services today. Thus, it is an important academic topic to examine the factors affecting the use of blockchain-oriented SCM. However, most prior studies on blockchain and SCMs have designed their research models based on Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) or the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), which are suitable for explaining individual's acceptance of information technology rather than companies'. Under this background, this study presents a novel model of blockchain-oriented SCM acceptance model based on the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework to consider companies as the unit of analysis. In addition, Value-based Adoption Model (VAM) is applied to the research model in order to consider the benefits and the sacrifices caused by a new information system comprehensively. To validate the proposed research model, a survey of 126 companies were collected. Among them, by applying PLS-SEM (Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling) with data of 122 companies, the research model was verified. As a result, 'business innovation', 'tracking and tracing', 'security enhancement' and 'cost' from technology viewpoint are found to significantly affect 'perceived value', which in turn affects 'intention to use blockchain-oriented SCM'. Also, 'organization readiness' is found to affect 'intention to use' with statistical significance. However, it is found that 'complexity' and 'regulation environment' have little impact on 'perceived value' and 'intention to use', respectively. It is expected that the findings of this study contribute to preparing practical and policy alternatives for facilitating blockchain-oriented SCM adoption in Korean firms.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.63-73
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• 2011

The relationship between buyers and sellers is changing into a long-term relationship. A number of distribution channel researchers have determined that the behavior of distribution channel members can be characterized by relational exchanges. The members of relational distribution channels may be perceived as strategic partners; however, even within these arrangements, member asymmetries may exist, which can create unequal distributions of power and dependence. Thus, as all distribution channel members may not be equal in power, it is possible that a less-dependent channel leader may emerge. Therefore, leadership in distribution channels is a very important variable. Distribution channel leadership can be defined as the activities undertaken by the distribution channel leader to influence the marketing programs and strategies of channel members. A distribution channel's performance is influenced by the leadership style of the channel leader. Although research on channel leadership styles can be broadly categorized, many researchers have dealt with analyzing distribution channel leadership by using the power-influence approach, which includes looking at variables, such as power, power base, and influence strategies. Moreover, they have examined the direct relationship between leadership styles and performance. Many distribution channel scholars have attempted to justify the application of leadership styles identified in alternative leadership theories to the inter-organizational context of distribution channels. They have made suggestions regarding how great the usefulness of leadership style as a strategy is to secure the compliance of distribution channel members and have conceptually and empirically linked it to channel-related phenomena, such as manifest conflict, cooperation, channel efficiency, and effectiveness. However, as few empirical studies have examined the antecedents and consequences of leadership styles, research on leadership style can be considered nascent. Thus, it is required to investigate the antecedents and consequences of the leadership style of a distribution channel leader. This study aims to empirically identify whether there are influences of the antecedents of leadership on two different leadership styles, and to reveal whether these leadership styles induce any consequences. The research subjects were 220 franchisees. Research findings are as follows: First, the results show a positive effect of technological capability on transformational relationships. However, it does not have a significant effect on transactional leadership. Second, innovation-oriented organizational culture has negatively influenced both leaderships. However, task-oriented organizational culture positively and significantly influenced both forms of leadership. Third, the ethics of leaders has influenced both leadership styles positively and significantly. Fourth, regarding consequences, transformational leadership strengthens financial performances, whereas it weakens relational citizenship behaviors. However, transactional leadership positively influences relational citizenship behavior whilst negatively affecting financial performance.

• Management & Information Systems Review
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.41-59
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• 2012

ERP is a new technique of process innovation. It indicates enterprise resource planning whose purpose is an integrated total management of enterprise resources. ERP can be also seen as one of the latest management systems that organically connects by using computers all business processes including marketing, production and delivery and control those processes on a real-time basis. Currently, however, it's not easy for local enterprises to have operators who will be in charge of ERP programs, even if they want to introduce the resource management system. This suggests that it's urgently needed to train such operators through ERP education at school. But in the field of education, actually, the lack of professional ERP instructors and less effective learning programs for industrial applications of ERP are obstacles to bringing up ERP workers who are competent as much as required by enterprises. In ERP, accounting is more important than any others. Accountants are assuming more and more roles in ERP. Thus, there's a rapidly increasing demand for experts in ERP accounting. This study examined previous researches and literature concerning ERP education, identified problems with current ERP education at college and proposed how to solve the problems. This study proposed the ways of improving ERP education at college as follows. First, a prerequisite learning of ERP, that is, educating the principle of accounting should be intensified to make students get a basic theoretical knowledge of ERP enough. Second, lots of different scenarios designed to try ERP programs in business should be created. In association, students should be educated to get a better understanding of incidents or events taken place in those scenarios and apply it to trying ERP for themselves. Third, as mentioned earlier, ERP is a system that integrates all enterprise resources such as marketing, procurement, personnel management, remuneration and production under the framework of accounting. It should be noted that under ERP, business activities are organically connected with accounting modules. More importantly, those modules should be recognized not individually, but as parts comprising a whole flow of accounting. This study has a limitation because it is a literature research that heavily relied on previous studies, publications and reports. This suggests the need to compare the efficiency of ERP education between before and after applying what this study proposed to improve that education. Also, it's needed to determine students' and professors' perceived effectiveness of current ERP education and compare and analyze the difference in that perception between the two groups.

• Management & Information Systems Review
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.273-302
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• 2015

This empirical study analyzed the influence of transformational leadership on knowledge management activities and organizational commitment, and examined the mediating effect of knowledge management in the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational commitment. A survey was employed as the research method. The survey targeted 635 participants working in the service, manufacturing, and IT industries. The results were used to compare and analyze the relationships among industry-specific variables. Transformational leadership is defined as the tendency to strive for change and innovation despite the achievement of objectives, develop the potential capabilities and strengths that each member of the organization possesses, amplify their self-esteem and passion, and lead them to surpass their expected objectives by stimulating positive strengths. Such type of leadership has been perceived as a precedent that enhances organizational effectiveness. In summary, this study has yielded the following results: First, the transformational leadership exhibited by organizational leaders was found to have a significant positive impact on knowledge management activities as well as organizational commitment. Second, knowledge management activities were found to have a significant positive influence on organizational commitment. Third, the transformational leadership exhibited by organizational leaders was found to have a partial mediating effect on the mediating role of knowledge management activities in the relationship with organizational commitment. Fourth, analyzing industry-wise, the influence of transformational leadership on knowledge management activities was the most significant in the service industry, which was also the case for the influence of knowledge management activities on organizational commitment. The influence of leaders' transformational leadership on organizational commitment was the most significant in the information technology industry. Finally, based on the aforementioned research results, suggestions were made regarding the meaning of the influence of transformational leadership on knowledge management activities and organizational commitment and the differences by industry thereof, while also suggesting the limitations of this work.

• 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.