• Korean Journal of Labor Studies
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.297-323
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• 2011

Part-time jobs in Sweden are highly feminized yet are in fair conditions in terms of job security, earnings, and collective representation. Three points are considered to be important to understand why part-time work in Sweden carries such positive characteristics. First, the part-time work in Sweden is widely spread not as a result of employers' need for labor flexibilization but as means to enhance the work-life balance, a value pursued within a broader social policy package to change the breadwinner model. Second, discrimination against part-time workers is restrained in Sweden because the boundary between part-time and full-time is not conspicuous. Most of part-time jobs are occupied by regular workers who exert the right to part-time work, hence may go back to the full-time status any time. Third, the regulation on overtime work of part-time workers as well as full-time workers is strong. It is largely agreed among researchers that part-time work contributed greatly to an increase of female employment rate in Sweden. Since the 1970s, the increased availability of part-time jobs induced married women who used to be economically inactive to the labor market and maintained them to be economically active throughout the child rearing period. From the gender perspective, one may still raise issues regarding part-time work in Sweden such as persistent feminization and strong occupational sex segregation. However, the observed trend shows that the part-time work in Sweden has functioned more as a stepping stone to the full-time work for women than as a women's trap.

• 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.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.515-551
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• 2014

Recently, there has been a debate as to whether bioethanol should replace some portion of gasoline for fuels in South Korea, as energy security as well as climate change issues are rising as a significant national agenda. However, a considerable amount of subsidy will be required to compensate for the higher price of bioethanol-blended gasoline. In this context, government subsidy will obtain justification only when the positive social gains from consuming bioethanol for fuels can exceed the negative social costs. Through a nation-wide choice experimental survey, we examine if South Koreans have a positive value as well as non-linear preferences on substituting bioethanol for gasoline. The results reveal that the willingness to pay for purely domestic bioethanol-blended gasoline within 10% is about 52 KRW; Koreans have concave preferences on the blending ratio of bioethanol to gasoline. The turning point of the blending ratio of bioethanol was 6.5%. Also, we found inverse U-shaped curve between income and bioethanol choice probability and the turning point of the income was calculated as 250~299million KRW. Politically conservative propensity advocates uses of bioethanol blended gasoline, but awareness on bioethanol or more weights on environmental conservation have significantly negative effects on the choice of bioethanol. However, the design of the survey questionnaire is incompatible with the RFS of Korea and assumes orthogonality among the following four interrelated attributes: (i) domestic or offshore procurement of feedstocks in the case of domestic production, (ii) domestic production or import of bioethanol, (iii) the blending ratios, and (iv) the retail price increases. In addition, the results of model estimation and of model selection test are not definite. Hence, the results in this study should not be directly applied to the design of the specifics of the Korean RFS. Hence, the results in this study require cautions in applying to the design of the Korean RFS policy.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.71-82
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• 2017

Most banks in Myanmar have begun to provide their services via mobile phones. However, few studies investigated the factors that may help to set mobile services from a customer perspective. So, this study aims to propose and test a conceptual research model to predict the user's intention to use and actual use level of mobile banking service by combining UTAUT and DeLone-Mclean IS model. Data were collected from 206 citizens who had experienced mobile banking in various regions of Myanmar. The study found that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, information quality and service quality influence the user 's intention to adopt mobile banking services which directly affects the user's actual use of them. However, social influence, facilitating condition and system quality don't influence the user's intention. The study results contribute to meeting customer's needs and reducing customer risk in Myanmar's mobile banking industry, suggesting to seamlessly provide the necessary resources like technology improvements, organizational infrastructure and service centers. Another future study are required to include service's security and trust factors so that the service providers could gain their customers' reliability and trust.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.63-76
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• 2012

The possibility of successful commercialization of technologically innovative products depends on the degree to which consumers select and utilize the product. Therefore, the research that endeavors to find the usage behavior and the acceptance intention of users of technologically innovative products is a very important quest. This study empirically analyzes the factors that influence commercialization of a technologically innovative product: cloud computing. Existing studies examined acceptance intentions by expanding the TAM model and excluded attitude and usage behavior. This study determined attitude, usage behavior and personal characteristics of consumers to be important influencing factors. The results of the empirical analysis are as follows: First, the self-efficacy of personal characteristics had a significant effect on ease of use and acceptance intention and perceived costs had a significant influence on the factors of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Second, research on the systematic characteristics of cloud computing confirmed that security was an important factor affecting acceptance intention while innovativeness was critical to ease of use. Third, of the usage characteristics among users of technologically innovative products, perceived usefulness had an effect on the acceptance and usage behavior of cloud computing, and perceived ease of use had an important influence on perceived usefulness. Currently, when cloud computing services have not yet become widespread to the public, this study proposed meaningful results for policy direction and commercialization strategies by revealing variables that influence acceptance and usage behavior.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.101-124
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• 2007

The legal systems and open-door policies to foreign affairs in North Korea have been followed by those of China. Whereas an arbitration system of South Korea accepted most parts of UNCITRAL Model Law, North Korea has succeeded to an arbitration system of a socialist country. China, under the arbitration system of socialist country, enacted an arbitration act reflected from UNCITRAL Model Law for keeping face with international trends. We have used these three arbitration system as a tool for analyzing an arbitration system in North Korea. With an open-door policy, North Korea and China enacted an arbitration act to provide a legal security. Therefore, the core parts of arbitration system in North Korea and China are based on a socialist system while those of South Korea is on liberalism. So, North Korea and China enacted an arbitration act on the basis of institutional arbitration, on the other side, South Korea is based on ad-hoc arbitration. Because of these characters, in terms of party autonomy, it is recognized with the order as South Korea, China and North Korea. Also North Korea enacted separate 'Foreign Economic Arbitration Act' to resolve disputes arising out of foreign economies including commercial things and investments. There are differences in arbitration procedures and appointment of arbitrators : South Korea recognizes parties' autonomy, however parties should follow the arbitration rules of arbitration institutes in North Korea and China. According to an appointment of arbitrators, if parties fail to appoint co-arbitrators or chief arbitrators by a mutual agreement, the court has the right to appoint them. In case of following KCAB's rules, KCAB secretariats take a scoring system by providing a list of candidates. A party has to appoint arbitrators out of the lists provided by arbitration board(or committee) in North Korea. If a party may fail to appoint a chief arbitrator, President of International Trade Arbitration Board(or Committee) may appoint it. In China, if parties fail to appoint a co-arbitrator or a chief arbitrator by a mutual agreement, Secretary general will decide it. If a arbitral tribunal fails to give a final award by a majority decision, a chief arbitrator has the right for a final decision making. These arbitration systems in North Korea and China are one of concerns that our companies take into account in conducting arbitration procedures inside China. It is only possible for a party to enforce a final arbitral award when he applies an arbitration inside North Korea according to International Trade Arbitration Act because North Korea has not joined the New York Convention. It's doubtful that a party might be treated very fairly in arbitration procedures in North Korea because International Trade Promotion Commission controls(or exercises its rights against) International Trade Arbitration Commission(or Board).

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.19-24
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• 2024

The future military combat environment is rapidly expanding the role and importance of artificial intelligence (AI) in defense, aligning with the current trends of declining military populations and evolving dynamics. Particularly, in the civilian sector, AI development has surged into new domains based on foundation models, such as OpenAI's Chat-GPT, categorized as Super-Giant AI or Hyperscale AI. The U.S. Department of Defense has organized Task Force Lima under the Chief Digital and AI Office (CDAO) to conduct research on the application of Large Language Models (LLM) and generative AI. Advanced military nations like China and Israel are also actively researching the integration of Super-Giant AI into their military capabilities. Consequently, there is a growing need for research within our military regarding the potential applications and fields of application for Super-Giant AI in weapon systems. In this paper, we compare the characteristics and pros and cons of specialized AI and Super-Giant AI (Foundation Models) and explore new application areas for Super-Giant AI in weapon systems. Anticipating future application areas and potential challenges, this research aims to provide insights into effectively integrating Super-Giant Artificial Intelligence into defense operations. It is expected to contribute to the development of military capabilities, policy formulation, and international security strategies in the era of advanced artificial intelligence.

• Korean Security Journal
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• no.62
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• pp.35-63
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• 2020

As the frequency and intensity of catastrophic disasters increase, there is widespread public sentiment that government capacity for disaster response and recovery is fundamentally limited, and that the involvement of civil society and the private sector is ever more vital. That is, in order to strengthen national disaster response capacity, governments need to build disaster systems that are more participatory and function through the channels of civil society, rather than continuing themselves to bear sole responsibility for these "wicked problems." With the advancement of smart mobile technology and social media, government and society as a whole have been called upon to apply these new information and communication technologies to address the current shortcomings of government-led disaster management. As illustrated in such catastrophic disasters as the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the 2010 Haitian earthquake, and Hurricane Katrina in the United States in 2005, the realization of participatory potential of smart technologies for better disaster response has enabled citizen participation via new smart technologies during disasters and resulted in positive impact on the management of such disasters. In this context, this study focuses on the South Korean context, and aims to analyze Korean government officials' readiness for public participation using smart technologies. On this basis, it aims to offer policy suggestions aimed at promoting smart technology-enabled citizen participation. For this purpose, it proposes a particular model, termed SMART (System, Motivation, Ability, Response, and Technology).

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.27-55
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• 2008

Due to the increasing and intensifying competition in the Internet shopping market, it has been recognized as very important to develop an effective policy and strategy for acquiring loyal customers. For this reason, web site designers need to know if a new Internet shopping mall(ISM) will be accepted. Researchers have been working on identifying factors for explaining and predicting user acceptance of an ISM. Some studies, however, revealed inconsistent findings on the antecedents of user acceptance of a website. Lack of consideration for individual differences in user ability is believed to be one of the key reasons for the mixed findings. The elaboration likelihood model (ELM) and several studies have suggested that individual differences in ability plays an moderating role on the relationship between the antecedents and user acceptance. Despite the critical role of user ability, little research has examined the role of user ability in the Internet shopping mall context. The purpose of this study is to develop a user acceptance model that consider the moderating role of user ability in the context of Internet shopping. This study was initiated to see the ability of the technology acceptance model(TAM) to explain the acceptance of a specific ISM. According to TAM. which is one of the most influential models for explaining user acceptance of IT, an intention to use IT is determined by usefulness and ease of use. Given that interaction between user and website takes place through web interface, the decisions to accept and continue using an ISM depend on these beliefs. However, TAM neglects to consider the fact that many users would not stick to an ISM until they trust it although they may think it useful and easy to use. The importance of trust for user acceptance of ISM has been raised by the relational views. The relational view emphasizes the trust-building process between the user and ISM, and user's trust on the website is a major determinant of user acceptance. The proposed model extends and integrates the TAM and relational views on user acceptance of ISM by incorporating usefulness, ease of use, and trust. User acceptance is defined as a user's intention to reuse a specific ISM. And user ability is introduced into the model as moderating variable. Here, the user ability is defined as a degree of experiences, knowledge and skills regarding Internet shopping sites. The research model proposes that the ease of use, usefulness and trust of ISM are key determinants of user acceptance. In addition, this paper hypothesizes that the effects of the antecedents(i.e., ease of use, usefulness, and trust) on user acceptance may differ among users. In particular, this paper proposes a moderating effect of a user's ability on the relationship between antecedents with user's intention to reuse. The research model with eleven hypotheses was derived and tested through a survey that involved 470 university students. For each research variable, this paper used measurement items recognized for reliability and widely used in previous research. We slightly modified some items proper to the research context. The reliability and validity of the research variables were tested using the Crobnach's alpha and internal consistency reliability (ICR) values, standard factor loadings of the confirmative factor analysis, and average variance extracted (AVE) values. A LISREL method was used to test the suitability of the research model and its relating six hypotheses. Key findings of the results are summarized in the following. First, TAM's two constructs, ease of use and usefulness directly affect user acceptance. In addition, ease of use indirectly influences user acceptance by affecting trust. This implies that users tend to trust a shopping site and visit repeatedly when they perceive a specific ISM easy to use. Accordingly, designing a shopping site that allows users to navigate with heuristic and minimal clicks for finding information and products within the site is important for improving the site's trust and acceptance. Usefulness, however, was not found to influence trust. Second, among the three belief constructs(ease of use, usefulness, and trust), trust was empirically supported as the most important determinants of user acceptance. This implies that users require trustworthiness from an Internet shopping site to be repeat visitors of an ISM. Providing a sense of safety and eliminating the anxiety of online shoppers in relation to privacy, security, delivery, and product returns are critically important conditions for acquiring repeat visitors. Hence, in addition to usefulness and ease of use as in TAM, trust should be a fundamental determinants of user acceptance in the context of internet shopping. Third, the user's ability on using an Internet shopping site played a moderating role. For users with low ability, ease of use was found to be a more important factors in deciding to reuse the shopping mall, whereas usefulness and trust had more effects on users with high ability. Applying the EML theory to these findings, we can suggest that experienced and knowledgeable ISM users tend to elaborate on such usefulness aspects as efficient and effective shopping performance and trust factors as ability, benevolence, integrity, and predictability of a shopping site before they become repeat visitors of the site. In contrast, novice users tend to rely on the low elaborating features, such as the perceived ease of use. The existence of moderating effects suggests the fact that different individuals evaluate an ISM from different perspectives. The expert users are more interested in the outcome of the visit(usefulness) and trustworthiness(trust) than those novice visitors. The latter evaluate the ISM in a more superficial manner focusing on the novelty of the site and on other instrumental beliefs(ease of use). This is consistent with the insights proposed by the Heuristic-Systematic model. According to the Heuristic-Systematic model. a users act on the principle of minimum effort. Thus, the user considers an ISM heuristically, focusing on those aspects that are easy to process and evaluate(ease of use). When the user has sufficient experience and skills, the user will change to systematic processing, where they will evaluate more complex aspects of the site(its usefulness and trustworthiness). This implies that an ISM has to provide a minimum level of ease of use to make it possible for a user to evaluate its usefulness and trustworthiness. Ease of use is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the acceptance and use of an ISM. Overall, the empirical results generally support the proposed model and identify the moderating effect of the effects of user ability. More detailed interpretations and implications of the findings are discussed. The limitations of this study are also discussed to provide directions for future research.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.10
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• pp.4543-4550
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• 2012

The purpose of this paper is to suggest the improvement method to achieve the interactive development effect between high-tech industrial complex and its surrounding areas. For this reason, this paper has conducted an empirical analysis to find out relevant comprehensive factors, affecting nearby housing prices from such plans, especially by reviewing 'Seoul Digital Industrial Complex.' This paper is truly differentiated from previous research by adding a new perspective 'diverse location characteristics', as it focuses not only on 'high-tech facility' characteristics, but also on 'urban function facilities', including 'transportation facilities', 'amenity facilities', 'security facilities', etc. Then, SPSS Version 18.0 was utilized to conduct the multiple regression analysis with the accumulated relevant data and several results were drawn out as following: Firstly, 'deterioration level', 'brand of apartment', etc. are found to be major influencing factors. Secondly, 'educational facilities', 'transportation facilities', 'Cultural & Sports facilities', 'Amenity facilities', etc. are found in the sector of 'location characteristic'. Lastly, 'leading companies within the industrial complex', were also found, affecting nearby housing prices. Therefore, when a housing development project is planned to grant the interactive development effect to high-tech industrial complex and its surrounding housing areas, it is necessary to consider variety factors, such as comprehensive location characteristics and housing complex characteristics, and also proper housing policy measures should be devised in accordance with the actual demand of employees and their dependant family members.