• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.117-123
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• 1993

Food is an expression of social identity. The food we eat identifies us as members of a social group, distinguishes us from other groups, and binds us together through a process of self-categorization and social identification. This research extends the theory of collectivism versus individualism as basic dimensions of culture and personality to research on food and identity. We tested 2 hypotheses among 402 university students in Korea and the U.S. 1) Americans assume relatively individualistic orientation while Koreans relatively collectivistic in orientation. 2) Koreans and Americans differ in their orientation toward food, with Americans assuming an individualistic orientation and Koreans assuming a collectivistic approach. The level of collectivism versus individualism was measured by using Hui's INCOL Scale. We initially hypothesized that the Americans would be strongly individualistic and Koreans strongly collectivistic, however our results did not prove this. The two groups showed collectivistic social identity with the Americans being a bit more collectivistic, so little support was found. In order to test the second hypothesis, we devised a new set of questions based on a idea by Hui and Fischer. It was found that this hypothesis was strongly supported. In conclusion, it is difficult to find overall differences in collectivism versus individualism between the two groups. But in the area of attitude toward food, we found clear differences. For Koreans, food is an expression of collectivistic identity, whereas Americans assume a more individualistic approach.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.75-88
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• 2021

Purpose: This research aimed at exploring the functions of consumers' perceiving approach and avoidance roles and their feeling anger and disgust in the effect of the two types of self-discrepancy at social identity such as the ideal self-discrepancy and the ought self-discrepancy on within-self domain versus across-self domain consumption. Research design, data, and methodology - This study divided the self-discrepancy group into the ideal self-discrepancy and the ought self-discrepancy group as experimental groups for empirical study. Self-discrepancy type between-subjects design was used to develop two types of questionnaire according to the type of experimental groups. The platform, 'questionnaire stars' of 'WeChat' in China was used to collect 103 data from the ideal self-discrepancy group and 102 from the ought self-discrepancy group for empirical study. T-test and the structural equation model in Amos 21 were used to verify hypotheses developed through theoretical review. Results - First, ideal self-discrepancy positively affected the role-approaching goal and anger. Second, ought self-discrepancy positively affected the role-avoiding goal and disgust. Third, the role-approaching goal and anger positively influenced on the within- versus across- domain consumption. Fourth, the disgust negatively influenced on the within- versus across- domain consumption, however the role-avoiding goal did not influence on the consumption. Fifth, there was the mediation roles of anger (disgust) in the effects of ideal (ought) self-discrepancy on the consumption. Conclusions - When consumers feel anger at the ideal self- discrepancy induced by in-group, it is necessary for the marketers to promote their product brand used by the in-group. They should develop and advertise the messages priming the ideal self-discrepancy and the anger to increase the intent to purchase or use their product brand when the in-group members have used the brand by relating the brand to their social identity concerned with the ideal self-discrepancy. However, marketers should help consumers feel disgust by developing and advertising the messages expressing the ought self-discrepancy to lead the consumers to the place of purchasing or using their product brand when the members have used the brand based on keeping the consistence between the brand and other social identity not related to the ought self-discrepancy.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.39-47
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to clarify how sexual values and sexual knowledge may be related to ego-identity of adolescents. The subjects were 303 adolescents who attended middle or high school in Seoul and KeoungGi province. The survey was based on questionnaires completed by 146 boys and 157 girls. Statistical techniques were t-test, Pearson's correlation, simple regression, hierarchical regression. The results of this were as follows. (1) Boy and girl adolescents' sexual values was associated positively with ego -identity. (2) Boy and girl adolescents' sexual knowledge was associated positively with ego-identity. (3) Boy adolescents' sexual values and knowledge exerted direct effects on ego -identity. But girl adolescents' sexual knowledge exerted indirect effects on ego -identity mediated by sexual values.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.505-513
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• 2014

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify factors affecting the social distance between minority groups and nursing cadets. Methods: A cross-sectional survey design was used. A questionnaire was distributed to the entire Armed Forces Nursing Academy cadets. Data from 273 nursing cadets were analyzed using t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficients and Stepwise multiple regression. Results: Social distance had positive correlations with collective identity (r=.28) and multiculturalism (r=.37). A negative correlation was found between social distance and perceived threat (r=-.38). Perceived threat, multiculturalism, collective identity, and frequency of contact with minorities were identified as factors affecting the social distance. The model explained 24% of the variables. Conclusion: To effectively respond to the minority groups' nursing needs in the army, educational programs which help to reduce the perceived threat, to strengthen multiculturalism, and to establish a healthy collective identity of nursing cadets need to be developed.

• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.84-105
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• 2016

The instability of social norms on the Internet causes the diversity of social identification. Meanwhile, the anonymity of online social identity and the chaos of the role-playing among the interacting participants cause an ambiguity of identity recognition, which intensifies anxiety about interpersonal interaction. Methods that promote face-to-face interpersonal interaction through the reconstruction of the identification to the social system and intergroup trust is worth further research. Based on a telephone survey of urban residents in thirty-six cities in China (N=1080), the study focuses on the influence of Internet use on interpersonal interaction of urban residents and the mediation effect of social identification. The results show that Internet use has a negative effect on the interpersonal interactions of urban residents, and social identification plays a mediating effect between Internet use and interpersonal interaction. Implications of the results are discussed.

• Journal of Service Research and Studies
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.13-26
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• 2018

Most product consists of various national components, and brand strategy using nationality images is prevalent in marketing field. Country of origin is meaningful consideration for decision making. The purpose is that how consumer evaluate the global brand depending on two-sided dimension of country of origin. This research aims to examine the interaction effect of two-sided country of origin and moderating effect of global identity. In study 1, two-way interaction effect of origin of brand and origin of production was significant with social prestige. In study 2, there-way ANOVA provided marginally significant main effect of origin of brand and global identity. Two-way interaction effect of origin of brand and production was significant with social prestige. Also two-way interaction effect origin of brand and global identity was significant with innovation and social responsibility. Three-way interaction of origin of brand, origin of production, and global identity was significant with social responsibility, this approved moderating effect of global identity. Results contribute to understanding global brands strategy using country of origin effect, and to adding new knowledge to the country of origin literature. Academic and practical implications, limitations, and future research directions were discussed.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.18
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• pp.53-79
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• 2004

This paper explores the relationship between Korean immigrants to the United States and their religious identity from the cultural point of view. Most scholarly studies on Korean immigrants in the United States have been dominated by sociological approach and ethnic studies in examining the social dimension of the Korean immigrant communities while neglecting issues concerning their religious identity and cultural heritage. Most Korean immigrants to America attend Korean churches regardless their religious affiliation before they came to America. One of the reasons for this phenomenon is the fact that Korean church has provided a necessary social service for the newly arrived immigrants. Korean churches have been able to play a key role in the life of Korean immigrants. Korean immigrants, however, have shown a unique aspect regarding their religious identity compared to other immigrants communities in the United States. America is a nation of immigrants, coming from different parts of the world. Each immigrant community has brought their unique cultural heritage and religious persuasion. Asian immigrants, for example, brought their own traditional religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism. People from the Middle Eastern countries brought Islamic faith while European Jews brought the Jewish tradition. In these immigrant communities, religious identity and cultural heritage were homo genously harmonized. Jewish people built synagogue and taught Hebrew, Jewish history, culture, and faith. In this case, synagogue was not only the house of worship for Jews but also the center for learning Jewish history, culture, faith, and language. In short, Jewish cultural history was intimately related to Jewish religious history; for Jewish immigrants, learning their social and political history was indeed identical with leaning of their religious history. The same can be said about the relationship between Indian community and Hinduism. Hindu temples serve as the center of Indian immigrantsin providing the social, cultural, and spiritual functions. Buddhist temples, for that matter, serve the same function to the people from the Asian countries. Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Tibetans, and Thais have brought their respective Buddhist traditions to America and practice and maintain both their religious faith and cultural heritage. Middle Eastern people, for example, have brought Islamic faith to the United States, and Mosques have become the center for learning their language, practicing their faith, and maintaining their cultural heritage. Korean immigrants, unlike any other immigrant group, have brought Christianity, which is not a Korean traditional religion but a Western religion they received in 18th and 19th centuries from the West and America, back to the United States, and church has become the center of their lives in America. In this context, Koreans and Korean-Americans have a unique situation in which they practice Christianity as their religion but try to maintain their non-Christian cultural heritage. For the Korean immigrants, their religious identity and cultural identity are not the same. Although Korean church so far has provides the social and religious functions to fill the need of Korean immigrants, but it may not be able to become the most effective institution to provide and maintain Korean cultural heritage. In this respect, Korean churches must be able to open to traditional Korean religions or the religions of Korean origin to cultivate and nurture Korean cultural heritage.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.53-74
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• 2012

A challenge in fostering virtual communities is the continuous supply of knowledge, namely members' willingness to contribute knowledge to their communities. Previous research argues that giving away knowledge eventually causes the possessors of that knowledge to lose their unique value to others, benefiting all except the contributor. Furthermore, communication within virtual communities involves a large number of participants with different social backgrounds and perspectives. The establishment of mutual understanding to comprehend conversations and foster knowledge contribution in virtual communities is inevitably more difficult than face-to-face communication in a small group. In spite of these arguments, evidence suggests that individuals in virtual communities do engage in social behaviors such as knowledge contribution. It is important to understand why individuals provide their valuable knowledge to other community members without a guarantee of returns. In virtual communities, knowledge is inherently rooted in individual members' experiences and expertise. This personal nature of knowledge requires social interactions between virtual community members for knowledge transfer. This study employs the social capital theory in order to account for interpersonal relationship factors and identity theory for individual and group factors that may affect knowledge contribution. First, social capital is the relationship capital which is embedded within the relationships among the participants in a network and available for use when it is needed. Social capital is a productive resource, facilitating individuals' actions for attainment. Nahapiet and Ghoshal (1997) identify three dimensions of social capital and explain theoretically how these dimensions affect the exchange of knowledge. Thus, social capital would be relevant to knowledge contribution in virtual communities. Second, existing research has addressed the importance of identity in facilitating knowledge contribution in a virtual context. Identity in virtual communities has been described as playing a vital role in the establishment of personal reputations and in the recognition of others. For instance, reputation systems that rate participants in terms of the quality of their contributions provide a readily available inventory of experts to knowledge seekers. Despite the growing interest in identities, however, there is little empirical research about how identities in the communities influence knowledge contribution. Therefore, the goal of this study is to better understand knowledge contribution by examining the roles of social capital and identity in virtual communities. Based on a theoretical framework of social capital and identity theory, we develop and test a theoretical model and evaluate our hypotheses. Specifically, we propose three variables such as cohesiveness, reciprocity, and commitment, referring to the social capital theory, as antecedents of knowledge contribution in virtual communities. We further posit that members with a strong identity (self-presentation and group identification) contribute more knowledge to virtual communities. We conducted a field study in order to validate our research model. We collected data from 192 members of virtual communities and used the PLS method to analyse the data. The tests of the measurement model confirm that our data set has appropriate discriminant and convergent validity. The results of testing the structural model show that cohesion, reciprocity, and self-presentation significantly influence knowledge contribution, while commitment and group identification do not significantly influence knowledge contribution. Our findings on cohesion and reciprocity are consistent with the previous literature. Contrary to our expectations, commitment did not significantly affect knowledge contribution in virtual communities. This result may be due to the fact that knowledge contribution was voluntary in the virtual communities in our sample. Another plausible explanation for this result may be the self-selection bias for the survey respondents, who are more likely to contribute their knowledge to virtual communities. The relationship between self-presentation and knowledge contribution was found to be significant in virtual communities, supporting the results of prior literature. Group identification did not significantly affect knowledge contribution in this study, inconsistent with the wealth of research that identifies group identification as an important factor for knowledge sharing. This conflicting result calls for future research that examines the role of group identification in knowledge contribution in virtual communities. This study makes a contribution to theory development in the area of knowledge management in general and virtual communities in particular. For practice, the results of this study identify the circumstances under which individual factors would be effective for motivating knowledge contribution to virtual communities.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.45 no.8
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• pp.91-104
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• 2007

The purpose of this study is to provide a qualitative investigation of the possibility that Waldorf education may help children in multicultural families to acclimate themselves to new surroundings in Korea. An educare institution that had adopted the Waldorf Program since 2005 was selected. The parents and teachers of 13 children with a multicultural background who had attended the educare institution were interviewed. The questions were focused on linguistic development, social relationships, and cultural identity in order to determine the differences and changes in the children before and after adaptation to the Waldorf Program. The summary of the results of this study is as follows. The Waldorf Program exerts a positive influence on linguistic development, the formulation of social relationships, and on the cultural identity of children from multicultural families.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.89-112
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• 2019

To investigate the interplay between individual and collective self-regulations, the authors propose a dialectic process that describes the changes in the locus of self-regulations between individual self and collective self. The results from three studies display a strong support for the two sets of hypotheses drawn from the proposed process. Our findings demonstrate that consumers can move the locus of self-regulation from individual-self to collective-self when a social identity is activated (preliminary study and study1). Further examination of regulatory swing between individual and collective regulatory orientations revealed group identification as a key variable in determining the locus of self-regulation (study2). While a consumer with a high level of group identification changes her locus of self-regulation from an individual to a collective (a regulatory shift) and evaluated messages and products framed consistent with their group orientation, a consumer with low level of group identification maintains her locus of self-regulation in her personal level of self (a regulatory preservation) and evaluated messages and products framed consistent with their personal regulatory focus.