• Title/Summary/Keyword: Positive psychological

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Health Assessment of Shift Workers in a Automobile Manufacturing Plant (자동차공장 교대작업 근로자들의 건강상태평가)

  • Lee, Jung-Jeung;Chung, Jong-Hak
    • Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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    • v.28 no.1 s.49
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    • pp.103-121
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    • 1995
  • An investigation on psychophysiological health and social well-being of shift workers been carried out on workers of a automobile manufacturing plant in Ulsan, for 1 month from April, 1993. This cross-sectional survey compared shift workers(n=544) with day workers(n=115). Each subject completed a questionnaire about his personal habit, background, shift schedule, sleep and eating patterns, subjective digestive symptom and psychological well-being and distress using the General Well-Being Schedule(GWB) by self administrated questionnaire that was developed for the U.S. Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (HANES I). Chi-square analysis was used for discontinuous data and the t-test was used for continous data to determine whether differences noted between the two groups. In terms of sleep quality, a greater percentage of shift workers frequently had trouble getting back to sleep once awakend(p<0.01), and a greater percentage of shift workers awakend tired or sleepy frequently more often than day workers(p<0.05). In rating the quality of their sleep, more shift workers rated their sleep fair to poor than day workers, and greater percentage of shift workers felt tired or sleepy at work two or more times per week(p<0.01) and a much higher percentage of shift workers felt tired or sleepy after work every days(p<0.01). In terms of sleep patterns, a much higher percentage of day workers reported uninterrupted sleep per 24hours than shift workers. The shift workers reported different eating patterns from day workers but there were no statistically significant and rate of their appetite. Thirteen percent of day workers reported the best appetite but only 6.6% of shift workers had the best appetite. The gastric complaints is more frequent in shift workers than day workers(p<0.01). Among subscores in General Well-Being Schedule, anxiety, depression, positive well-being and vitality subscale of shift workers were lower than those of day workers(p<0.05) and general health and self control subscale of shift workers were lower than .those of day workers but there were no statistical significant difference. Based on these study result, it could be concluded that the shift work has significant effects on some psychophysiological conditions of the workers.

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Study on Features of Software Cyborg in the Virtual Game -PS4 ocusing Game- (가상게임에 나타나는 소프트웨어 사이보그특징에 대한 고찰 -PS4 <언틸던> 게임을 중심으로-)

  • Kim, Dae-Woo
    • Cartoon and Animation Studies
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    • s.41
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    • pp.279-306
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    • 2015
  • This paper is a study of the changing nature of software for virtual Cyborg self and the virtual body that occur in the game from a philosophical point of view. Looking broadly, the cyborg concept refers to the combination of man and machine. Specifically, there is a hardware cyborg organism to combine human and restoration of machine In addition, there is software cyborg by electronic the human brain of converting a virtual body. Virtual games are cases software-Cyborg applied. In the game , There seems to have characteristics of virtual body and ego that different from general cyborg meaning. To analyze the features, I applied the concept of software-cyborg of Hans morabek and the multiple selves in cyberspace properties of Kim Sun-Hee. generally, software cyborg cloning the brain type tended to invalidate the body due to the nature of the virtual world. But If you look at third-person's view and the game character that made from real actors, it is pursuing the realism of photographic images and it stressed the need for a virtual body in order to maintain the psychological identity of the player. And, The game player crosses the eight characters to choose while completing the mission. This is a big role in the reality ego leads to the desired final ending with the selection and experience to be experienced as self-replication to multiple. These cyber multi-ego looks for an active and positive features compared to the multi-ego in the real world and highlights the advantages of the software cyborg. Game The characteristics of the final result varies depending on the selection of the player. The life and death of a friend is determined by the relationship between the characters friendship. In this case, the virtual self is empirically through trial and error, moral, and try to select the desired setting the standard for intuitive and self own choice. Also It can be fused to the knowledge of multiple selves as one step is formed by a high spiritual introspection. This process is a positive interpretation of the world and their own forms of mental reflection through self-overcoming human, Nietzsche is said that the process is Wibeomenswi.

A study of pain perception related to IV therapy in hospitalized preschool children and their mothers (정맥주사와 채혈시 학령전기 아동과 어머니가 인지하는 동통)

  • 임지영
    • Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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    • v.22 no.1
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    • pp.49-67
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    • 1992
  • Most hospitalized children will experience physical pain as well as psychological distress. Preschool children's pain perception related to painful procedures can increase due to elevated anxiety and fear because they do not have understanding logical of their disease and hospitalization. In particular, they are distressed about needle - related procedures which are feared because they are seen to be a cause of bodily damage. This descriptive study attempted to identify pain perception levels in preschool children and their mothers. A self-reporting measurement and behavioral observation were used to collect the data. A total of 25 hospitalized preschool children and their mothers were investigated and data were collected about 60 painful procedures. Data collection was carried out by the researcher and two trained investigators from November first to December tenth. Three insruments were used to collect the data : Faces Pain Rating Scale(FPRS) developed by Beyer was used to measure the degree of preschool children's pain perception about painful procedures. The Visual Analogue Scale(VAS) devised by Huskisson was used to assess the degree of mothers' pain perception about their children's painful procedures. A Pain Behavioral Checklist based on the Procedure Behavior Check List by LeBaron and Zelter and modified by the researcher was used to observe behaviors of preschool children, their mothers, and nurses when the painful procedures took place. The data were analyzed by an SPSS program, and were tested using real numbers, percentages, Pearson correlation coefficient, t-test, and ANOVA. The results of this study are as follows : 1. Of all the painful procedures, the mean score for the FPRS for the preschool children's pain perception was 4.02 points, and the mean score for the VAS of mothers' pain perception was 10.92 points. 2. A Positive correlation which was statistically significant was found between the pain perception of preschool children and their mothers (r=.53, p<.01). that is, the higher the children's pain perception was, the higher their mothers' pain perception was. 3. The characteristics of the painful procedures related with children's pain perception as follows : The type of painful procedure was found to be statistically significant (F=23.44, p<.01), Among the three procedures Ⅳ starting was found to be perceived as the most painful procedures to the children. The greater the number of times that the procedure had been done, the higher the pain perception was (F=4.44, p<.01), and the longer the duration of the procedure, the higher the pain perception wa(r=.30, p<.05). Pain perception in the treatment room was higher than in the children's room(t=6.30, <.01), pain perception in the mother's presence was the higher than when the mother was not present (t=2.91, p<.01). 4. The characteristics of the painful procedures related with the mothers' pain perception as follows : The type of painful procedure was found to be statistically significant(F=6.01, p<.01). Among the three procedures Ⅳ sampling was found to be perceived as the most painful procedures to the mothers. The greater the number of times that the procedure had been done, the higher the pain perception was (F=5.95, p<.01), and the longer the duration of the procedure, the higher the pain perception was (r=.31, p<.05). Pain perception in the treatment room was higher than in the children's room (t=3.51, p<.01), but pain perception in the mother's presence showed statistically significant no difference. 5. Of all of the 19 children's behaviors during the painful procedures, the most frequent behaviors observed Were as follows in order of frequency “crying”, “screamirig”, “facial grimacing”, “physical resistance”, Of all of the nine methers' behaviors, the most frequent by observed in “console children”, “hold children”, “applaud children”, Of all of the 11 nurses' behaviors during the painful procedures, the mast frequent in order were “smiling”, “physical restraint”, “console children”, “praise children”. 6. A positive correlation between children's and mothers' pain perception and children's behaviors was found to be statistically significant (r=.65, p<.01, r=67, p<.01). Also the relationship between children's and mothers' pain percertion, and mothers' behavior was found to be statistically significant (r=.57, p<. 01, 4=.60, p<.01). The relationship between children's pain perception and nurses' behaviors was also found to be statistically significant (r=.46, p<.01), but there was difference between mothers' pain perception and nurses' behaviors.

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The Effects of CEO's Narcissism on Diversification Strategy and Performance in an Economic Downturn: The Moderating Role of Corporate Governance System (경기침체기의 다각화전략과 성과에 대한 최고경영자 나르시시즘의 영향과 기업지배구조의 조절효과에 대한 연구)

  • Yoo, Jae-Wook
    • Management & Information Systems Review
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    • v.35 no.4
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    • pp.1-19
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    • 2016
  • The researchers in strategic management have focused on identifying the effects of CEO's demographic characteristics and experience on the strategic choices and performance of firms. On the other hand, they have failed to identifying the effects of CEO's psychological characteristics on them because of the difficulties over data collection and measurement for variables. To overcome this limitation of prior researches, this study is designed to achieve two specific objectives. The first is to examine the effect of CEO narcissism on diversification strategy and performance of listed corporations on Korean securities market in an economic downturn. The other is to examine the moderating effects of various corporate governance systems that are related to board and/or ownership structures on those relationships. The empirical setting for this study was drawn from a multi-year(2011~2014) sample of large listed corporations in Korean securities market. To achieve the objectives, the hypotheses of research are analyzed by implementing multiple regression analyses in two separate models. The results of these analyses show that CEO narcissism is positively related to the diversification of listed large corporations in Korean securities market. Regrading the moderating effects, the stake of institutional investors weakens the positive relationship between CEO narcissism and firm's diversification. The findings of this research imply that CEO narcissism can intensify the tendency of Korean corporations to adopt high-risk and high return strategy in an economic downturn. Thus, firms might be able to use CEO narcissism to drastically restructure the business portfolio in an economic downturn. However, Korean corporations should be very cautions to maximize the positive effect of CEO narcissism. They might be use the institutional investors as their corporate governance system to monitor and control the opportunism of CEO in the decision for diversification in an economic downturn.

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Development and Effectiveness of the Primary Hospice Education Program for Nurses (간호사를 위한 호스피스 기초 교육 프로그램 및 효과)

  • In, Sook-Jin
    • 한국호스피스완화의료학회:학술대회논문집
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    • 2004.07a
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    • pp.100-102
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    • 2004
  • Under the current medical system, a terminal patient and his/her family who are neglected inevitably face various aspects of crises including not only physical, but also psychological, social, economic, spiritual and legal problems. Nurses often look after many terminal patents with these types of complicated problems. Therefore, educating the nurses who will take care of such patents would greatly reduce stress so the patents end could their lives in peace and without losing their dignity. This research is a quasi experimental study of nonequivalent control group. A pretest-posttest design where a basic education program is developed for nurses, who frequently treat terminal patents, to understand the importance of the role of hospice and to apply their understandings to treat terminal lancer patents. A sample of the nurses were taken from those who were working in general wards at two general hospitals in Seoul during October, 2003${\sim}$December 2003. The study was composed of 46 experimental group and 43 control group. A basic hospice education program was developed by taking emphasized and overlapping parts from advanced practice hospice nurses education course, short-term education course, an extensive literature survey and by consulting three professionals as well. With the group of 5 professors with vast experiences in oncolgy, 5 nursing administrator, 3 nursing practitioner, the tentative first version of the program was developed and reviewed. Afterwards, by utilizing person to person interviews with 2 head nurses experienced with terminal patients, 1 nurse in charge of hospice, 1 nurse on the contents of the program, and a person to person rating on the educating medium by a nurse were performed. The final version of a basic education program was developed after the second revision. The hospice basic education program consists of introduction to hospice, hospice and commucation, management of pain for terminal cancer patients, physical management for terminal cancer patients, socio-psycological caring of terminal cancer patients and management of death and separation. Total education time was four hours organized into 50 minutes of instruction and 10 minutes of break. $Powerpoint^{(R)}$ software was used as the education medium. As research tools, "Knowledge on Hospice" was developed by the author after receiving a review from one expert. "Attitude of Hospice Nursing" was revised Kim(2001)'s attitude measuring tool which was based on Wang(1998), Kwon(1989), Park and Sung(1991)'s tool. "Liability on nursing terminal patients" was used as developed by Zarits(1980) and Mongomory(1985) translated by Lee(1985). For collecting data, preliminary investigation prior to 1 week of the hospice basic education program and post-investigations after 1 week and 4 weeks of the education were carried out for the nurses at a general ward who understood and agreed on the purpose of the program. Collected data were analyzed throughout t-test, $x^2-test$, Manova test and Bonferroni correction in $SAS^{(R)}$ program. The summary of the investigation is as follows: Hypothesis 1: "Educated experimental group would possess more knowledge on hospice compared to the un-educated control group" was supported after 1 (F=12.14, p=.00) and 4 (F=5.3, p=.02) weeks of education. Hypothesis 2: "Educated experimental group would take a positive attitude toward hospice nursing compared to the un-educated control group" was supported after 1(F=3.92, p=.05) and 4(F=5.05, p=.02) weeks of education. Hypothesis 3: "Educated experimental poop would feel less liability compared to the un-educated control group in nursing terminal cancer patients' was rejected. In this study, it was found that knowledge on hospice was significantly important. By applying hospice basic education programs to nurses, the education program helped nurses to take a positive attitude toward terminal patients. It was, however, seen that the education program had no effect on alleviating liability in nursing terminal patients. Therefore, it is expected that this educational program would help hospices and nurses at general wards to understand the concept and the role of hospice so that terminal patents, now neglected under current medical system, would be able to end their lives in peace.

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The Effect of Internalized Shame and Self-Control on Interpersonal Relationships in Stroke Patients (내면화된 수치심과 자기통제력이 뇌졸중 환자의 대인관계에 미치는 영향)

  • Hwang, Jung-Ha;Lim, Jae-Ho
    • The Journal of Korean society of community based occupational therapy
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    • v.10 no.3
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    • pp.63-74
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    • 2020
  • Objective : The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of internal shame and self-control on interpersonal relationships in stroke patients, and to provide evidence and information necessary for clinical trials by analyzing the relationship. Methods : For this study, 150 stroke patients receiving occupational therapy services at institutions where occupational therapists work in Jeollanam-do and Chungnam regions were targeted through email and mail from March 1, 2019 to April 30, 2019. The questionnaire was conducted using general characteristics, Relationship Change Scales(RCS), Self-Control Scales(SCS), and Internalized Shame Scale(ISS) questionnaire. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed for the general characteristics of the study subjects, and t-test and one-way batch variance analysis (ANOVA) were used to compare interpersonal relationships according to general characteristics. The relationship between internalized shame, self-control, and interpersonal competence was analyzed by Pearson's correlation coefficient, and multiple regression analysis was performed to determine the factors affecting interpersonal relationships of stroke patients. Results : As a result of comparing interpersonal competence according to general characteristics, significant differences were found in terms of age and education level. Interpersonal relationships and internalized shame, internalized shame and self-control showed a negative correlation, and self-control and interpersonal relationships had a positive correlation, but self-control was the sub-factors of interpersonal relationships such as openness, sensitivity, intimacy, It was not statistically significant with the communication item. In addition, the items of inadequacy (β =-0.32) and adventure seeking (β =-0.23), which are sub-areas of internalized shame, affect the negative direction, and physical activity (β =0.22), which is the sub-area of self-control and the self-centered (β =0.24) item was found to have an effect on the positive direction. Conclusion : Therefore, additional research is needed that can operate a rehabilitation treatment program that applies various psychological factors for the formation of interpersonal relationships among stroke patients.

Are you a Machine or Human?: The Effects of Human-likeness on Consumer Anthropomorphism Depending on Construal Level (Are you a Machine or Human?: 소셜 로봇의 인간 유사성과 소비자 해석수준이 의인화에 미치는 영향)

  • Lee, Junsik;Park, Do-Hyung
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.27 no.1
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    • pp.129-149
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    • 2021
  • Recently, interest in social robots that can socially interact with humans is increasing. Thanks to the development of ICT technology, social robots have become easier to provide personalized services and emotional connection to individuals, and the role of social robots is drawing attention as a means to solve modern social problems and the resulting decline in the quality of individual lives. Along with the interest in social robots, the spread of social robots is also increasing significantly. Many companies are introducing robot products to the market to target various target markets, but so far there is no clear trend leading the market. Accordingly, there are more and more attempts to differentiate robots through the design of social robots. In particular, anthropomorphism has been studied importantly in social robot design, and many approaches have been attempted to anthropomorphize social robots to produce positive effects. However, there is a lack of research that systematically describes the mechanism by which anthropomorphism for social robots is formed. Most of the existing studies have focused on verifying the positive effects of the anthropomorphism of social robots on consumers. In addition, the formation of anthropomorphism of social robots may vary depending on the individual's motivation or temperament, but there are not many studies examining this. A vague understanding of anthropomorphism makes it difficult to derive design optimal points for shaping the anthropomorphism of social robots. The purpose of this study is to verify the mechanism by which the anthropomorphism of social robots is formed. This study confirmed the effect of the human-likeness of social robots(Within-subjects) and the construal level of consumers(Between-subjects) on the formation of anthropomorphism through an experimental study of 3×2 mixed design. Research hypotheses on the mechanism by which anthropomorphism is formed were presented, and the hypotheses were verified by analyzing data from a sample of 206 people. The first hypothesis in this study is that the higher the human-likeness of the robot, the higher the level of anthropomorphism for the robot. Hypothesis 1 was supported by a one-way repeated measures ANOVA and a post hoc test. The second hypothesis in this study is that depending on the construal level of consumers, the effect of human-likeness on the level of anthropomorphism will be different. First, this study predicts that the difference in the level of anthropomorphism as human-likeness increases will be greater under high construal condition than under low construal condition.Second, If the robot has no human-likeness, there will be no difference in the level of anthropomorphism according to the construal level. Thirdly,If the robot has low human-likeness, the low construal level condition will make the robot more anthropomorphic than the high construal level condition. Finally, If the robot has high human-likeness, the high construal levelcondition will make the robot more anthropomorphic than the low construal level condition. We performed two-way repeated measures ANOVA to test these hypotheses, and confirmed that the interaction effect of human-likeness and construal level was significant. Further analysis to specifically confirm interaction effect has also provided results in support of our hypotheses. The analysis shows that the human-likeness of the robot increases the level of anthropomorphism of social robots, and the effect of human-likeness on anthropomorphism varies depending on the construal level of consumers. This study has implications in that it explains the mechanism by which anthropomorphism is formed by considering the human-likeness, which is the design attribute of social robots, and the construal level of consumers, which is the way of thinking of individuals. We expect to use the findings of this study as the basis for design optimization for the formation of anthropomorphism in social robots.

Tourism Industry and the Multidimensionality of Emotional Labor in Mexico (멕시코의 관광산업과 감정노동의 다차원성)

  • Joo, Jong-Taick
    • Iberoamérica
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    • v.22 no.1
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    • pp.73-109
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    • 2020
  • In the tourism industry, emotional labor-related problems are highly likely because workers cannot avoid frequent face-to-face contacts with customers. Emotional labor, however, is not always recognized in the same pattern by every worker in similar situations. As can be see in this research, emotional labor appears to vary depending on individual characteristics and sociocultural and economic conditions. In fact, there are so many factors affecting emotional labor, and the level of influence concerning these factors can vary depending on when and where they are. Psychological and mental pains and stress from emotional labor depend on a number of factors. The expression of emotional labor, depending on age, length of employment and gender, shows a clear difference. In particular, for those who are planning to participate in international labor migration to the United States in the future, emotional labor was often not recognized as a serious problem or rather a positive social and cultural experience. In fact, there are various types of tourism workers in Oaxaca, and their experiences vary greatly depending on individual and economic and sociocultural environments. The emotional labor of the workers in the tourism sector of Oaxaca also has various forms depending on various conditions. Positive or negative perceptions and consequences of emotional labor vary depending on the circumstances of the individual and working conditions. In other words, socioeconomic conditions, individual personality or experiences, sociocultural characteristics, and autonomy in the workplace, have a significant impact. As a result, the forms and effects of emotional labor expressed and understood by tourism workers vary considerably and may vary depending on the situations. Considering these problems, the way emotional labor emerges is greatly influenced by sociocultural or personal factors as well as economic factors. In addition, rather than considering the existence and seriousness of emotional labor as given depending on the nature of a particular industry or work, it should also be recognized that the expression of emotional labor differ considerably from individual to individual. Also, the seriousness of problems caused by emotional labor can be diversified. In this sense, it is necessary to clearly understand the meanings of the dynamism, diversity and multidimensionality of emotional labor from a new perspective.

The Relationship between Subjective Socioeconomic Status, Age and Perception of Justice: Focusing on the Moderation Effect of Age (주관적 사회경제적 지위, 연령, 공정성 인식 간의 관계: 연령의 조절효과를 중심으로)

  • Joeng, Ju-Ri;Lee, Ji Hae
    • Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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    • v.28 no.2
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    • pp.219-239
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    • 2022
  • The study investigated the relationship between subjective socioeconomic status (SES) of 508 Korean adults and their perception of justice (distributive and procedural justice for self and general others), and verified whether there is a moderating effect of age (20s versus 30s and over). A self-report survey on SES and perception of justice was conducted. Then, using the SPSS 27 and PROCESS Macro 4.0 program, a correlation analysis looking into the relationship among the study variables was performed along with the ANOVAs comparing the mean differences of study across age-groups to support the group division criteria. Next, a moderation analysis was conducted. The main results of this study are as follows. First, the participants' SES showed a positive relationship with all sub-factors of justice perception and a negative relationship with age. Second, age had a inverse relationship on distributive justice for self and general others, and procedural justice for self, but a non significant relationship on procedural justice for general others. Third, when looking into the mean differences of the research variables according to age, the 20s had different characteristics compared to the 30s and over. In comparison, there were no significant differences within the 30s and over group. Fourth, the moderating effect of age in the relationship between subjective SES and perception of justice was positively significant in the case of distributive justice for self and procedural justice for general others. In the case of distributive justice for self, the positive slope of the graph in which subjective SES predicts distributive fairness for self was steeper in the 30s and older group compared to the 20s. Regarding the procedural justice for general others, subjective SES was not a significant predictor in the 20s group. However, SES positively predicted procedural justice in the 30s and older group. This study is meaningful since it suggested age differences in subjective SES and perceptions of justice by revealing the different relationship patterns of subjective SES and perception of justice according to age.

Exploring the Role of Preference Heterogeneity and Causal Attribution in Online Ratings Dynamics

  • Chu, Wujin;Roh, Minjung
    • Asia Marketing Journal
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    • v.15 no.4
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    • pp.61-101
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    • 2014
  • This study investigates when and how disagreements in online customer ratings prompt more favorable product evaluations. Among the three metrics of volume, valence, and variance that feature in the research on online customer ratings, volume and valence have exhibited consistently positive patterns in their effects on product sales or evaluations (e.g., Dellarocas, Zhang, and Awad 2007; Liu 2006). Ratings variance, or the degree of disagreement among reviewers, however, has shown rather mixed results, with some studies reporting positive effects on product sales (e.g., Clement, Proppe, and Rott 2007) while others finding negative effects on product evaluations (e.g., Zhu and Zhang 2010). This study aims to resolve these contradictory findings by introducing preference heterogeneity as a possible moderator and causal attribution as a mediator to account for the moderating effect. The main proposition of this study is that when preference heterogeneity is perceived as high, a disagreement in ratings is attributed more to reviewers' different preferences than to unreliable product quality, which in turn prompts better quality evaluations of a product. Because disagreements mostly result from differences in reviewers' tastes or the low reliability of a product's quality (Mizerski 1982; Sen and Lerman 2007), a greater level of attribution to reviewer tastes can mitigate the negative effect of disagreement on product evaluations. Specifically, if consumers infer that reviewers' heterogeneous preferences result in subjectively different experiences and thereby highly diverse ratings, they would not disregard the overall quality of a product. However, if consumers infer that reviewers' preferences are quite homogeneous and thus the low reliability of the product quality contributes to such disagreements, they would discount the overall product quality. Therefore, consumers would respond more favorably to disagreements in ratings when preference heterogeneity is perceived as high rather than low. This study furthermore extends this prediction to the various levels of average ratings. The heuristicsystematic processing model so far indicates that the engagement in effortful systematic processing occurs only when sufficient motivation is present (Hann et al. 2007; Maheswaran and Chaiken 1991; Martin and Davies 1998). One of the key factors affecting this motivation is the aspiration level of the decision maker. Only under conditions that meet or exceed his aspiration level does he tend to engage in systematic processing (Patzelt and Shepherd 2008; Stephanous and Sage 1987). Therefore, systematic causal attribution processing regarding ratings variance is likely more activated when the average rating is high enough to meet the aspiration level than when it is too low to meet it. Considering that the interaction between ratings variance and preference heterogeneity occurs through the mediation of causal attribution, this greater activation of causal attribution in high versus low average ratings would lead to more pronounced interaction between ratings variance and preference heterogeneity in high versus low average ratings. Overall, this study proposes that the interaction between ratings variance and preference heterogeneity is more pronounced when the average rating is high as compared to when it is low. Two laboratory studies lend support to these predictions. Study 1 reveals that participants exposed to a high-preference heterogeneity book title (i.e., a novel) attributed disagreement in ratings more to reviewers' tastes, and thereby more favorably evaluated books with such ratings, compared to those exposed to a low-preference heterogeneity title (i.e., an English listening practice book). Study 2 then extended these findings to the various levels of average ratings and found that this greater preference for disagreement options under high preference heterogeneity is more pronounced when the average rating is high compared to when it is low. This study makes an important theoretical contribution to the online customer ratings literature by showing that preference heterogeneity serves as a key moderator of the effect of ratings variance on product evaluations and that causal attribution acts as a mediator of this moderation effect. A more comprehensive picture of the interplay among ratings variance, preference heterogeneity, and average ratings is also provided by revealing that the interaction between ratings variance and preference heterogeneity varies as a function of the average rating. In addition, this work provides some significant managerial implications for marketers in terms of how they manage word of mouth. Because a lack of consensus creates some uncertainty and anxiety over the given information, consumers experience a psychological burden regarding their choice of a product when ratings show disagreement. The results of this study offer a way to address this problem. By explicitly clarifying that there are many more differences in tastes among reviewers than expected, marketers can allow consumers to speculate that differing tastes of reviewers rather than an uncertain or poor product quality contribute to such conflicts in ratings. Thus, when fierce disagreements are observed in the WOM arena, marketers are advised to communicate to consumers that diverse, rather than uniform, tastes govern reviews and evaluations of products.

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