• Title/Summary/Keyword: Support for Innovation

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A Study of the Influence of Start-up New Product Preannouncing Information Attributes on Purchase Intention: Focused on UTAUT2 (프리어나운싱 정보속성이 스타트업 신제품 구매의도에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구: 확장된 통합기술수용이론(UTAUT2)을 중심으로)

  • Byung-chul Han;Jae-Hyun You
    • Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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    • v.18 no.5
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    • pp.1-16
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    • 2023
  • Due to imbalances in supply and demand within the labor market, start-ups have emerged as crucial players in the generation of high-quality employment opportunities, particularly in stagnant job markets. In response to this trend, governments are allocating substantial financial and human resources to initiatives that support start-up development. This has led to an increasing rate of engagement in start-up ventures across diverse age groups, not limited to younger individuals. Start-ups are enterprises focused on the commercialization of innovative ideas with the aim of achieving profitability in the marketplace. Research concerning the successful market integration of new products and the attainment of sustainable growth is pivotal. Such research is instrumental not only for the success of start-ups but also for realizing the broader social functions and contributions that these enterprises can offer. Previous research has often examined new product market-entry strategies, often referred to as new product marketing, particularly for large companies and SMEs. However, there is a gap in studies focusing on prototype marketing strategies specific to start-ups. Thus, this study aims to examine the impact of Pre-announcing marketing strategies on the market attention garnered by start-ups with low recognition and limited infrastructure, and how such attention contributes to their sustainable growth. Specifically, the study aims to uncover the causal relationship between information attributes like relevance, vividness, and novelty in building customer relationships, and their impact on purchase intentions influenced by performance expectations and hedonic motivations. In terms of Pre-announcing information attributes, relevance, vividness, and novelty positively influence performance expectations and hedonic motivations as outlined in the extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2). These factors, in turn, positively impact the purchase intention for pre-announced new products from start-ups. These findings are expected to provide both theory and practical insights into the factors influencing market entry through the use of Pre-announcing marketing strategies for start-up new products.

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An Empirical Study on Classification, Business Type, Organizational Culture on Performance of Korean IT SMEs·Venture (중소·벤처기업의 업종, 영업형태, 조직문화가 기업성과에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구: 삼원분산분석(3-way ANOVA)을 중심으로)

  • Roh, Doo-Hwan;Hwang, Kyung-Ho
    • Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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    • v.14 no.2
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    • pp.221-233
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    • 2019
  • In Korea, small and medium sized domestic enterprises(SMEs) play an pivotal role in the national economy, accounting for 99.9% of all enterprises, 87.9% of total employment, and 48.3% of production. and SMEs was driving a real force of the development of national economy in many respects such as innovation, job creation, industrial diversity, balanced regional development. Despite their crucial role in the national development, most of SMEs suffer from a lack of R&D capabilities and equipments as well as funding capacity. Public R&D institutes can provide SMEs with valuable supplementary technological knowledge and help them build technological capacity. so, In order to effectively support SMEs, government and public R&D institutes must be a priority to know about the factors influencing the performance related to technology transfer and technological collaborations. In particular, SMEs are not only taking up a large portion of the national economy, but also their influence in politics and economy so strong that raising the competitiveness of small and medium-sized companies is a national policy goal that must be achieved in order to achieve sustained economic growth. For this reason, it is necessary to look specifically at the relationship between concepts such as the environment, strategy, and organizational culture surrounding the enterprise to enhance the competitiveness of SMEs. The paper analyzes 665 companies to find out which organizational culture affects their performance by classification and type of business of SMEs. This study demonstrated that when SMEs seek consistency in their external environment, strategies, and organizational structure to maintain their continued competitiveness. According to three-way analysis of variance (3-way ANOVA) indicates that classification of industries in SMEs has statistically significant main effects, but the type of business and organizational culture do not have significant effects. However, the company's organizational performance (operating profit) of SMES were found to differ significantly in comparison between groups according to classification standards of industries, and therefore adopted some parts. In addition, an analysis of the effect of interaction between the three independent variables of small and medium-sized enterprises has shown that there are statistically significant interaction effects among classification, types of business, and organizational cultures. The results shows that there is an organizational culture suitable for each industry classification and type of business of an entity, and is expected to be used as a basis for establishing promotion policies related to the incubation and commerciality of small and medium-sized venture companies in the future.

A Study on the Decision Factors for AI-based SaMD Adoption Using Delphi Surveys and AHP Analysis (델파이 조사와 AHP 분석을 활용한 인공지능 기반 SaMD 도입 의사결정 요인에 관한 연구)

  • Byung-Oh Woo;Jay In Oh
    • The Journal of Bigdata
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    • v.8 no.1
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    • pp.111-129
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    • 2023
  • With the diffusion of digital innovation, the adoption of innovative medical technologies based on artificial intelligence is increasing in the medical field. This is driving the launch and adoption of AI-based SaMD(Software as a Medical Device), but there is a lack of research on the factors that influence the adoption of SaMD by medical institutions. The purpose of this study is to identify key factors that influence medical institutions' decisions to adopt AI-based SaMDs, and to analyze the weights and priorities of these factors. For this purpose, we conducted Delphi surveys based on the results of literature studies on technology acceptance models in healthcare industry, medical AI and SaMD, and developed a research model by combining HOTE(Human, Organization, Technology and Environment) framework and HABIO(Holistic Approach {Business, Information, Organizational}) framework. Based on the research model with 5 main criteria and 22 sub-criteria, we conducted an AHP(Analytical Hierarchy Process) analysis among the experts from domestic medical institutions and SaMD providers to empirically analyze SaMD adoption factors. The results of this study showed that the priority of the main criteria for determining the adoption of AI-based SaMD was in the order of technical factors, economic factors, human factors, organizational factors, and environmental factors. The priority of sub-criteria was in the order of reliability, cost reduction, medical staff's acceptance, safety, top management's support, security, and licensing & regulatory levels. Specifically, technical factors such as reliability, safety, and security were found to be the most important factors for SaMD adoption. In addition, the comparisons and analyses of the weights and priorities of each group showed that the weights and priorities of SaMD adoption factors varied by type of institution, type of medical institution, and type of job in the medical institution.

The Promotion State and Measures to Improve the Record Information Disclosure System (기록정보공개 제도 개선 추진 현황과 방안)

  • Zoh, Young-Sam
    • The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
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    • no.22
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    • pp.77-114
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    • 2009
  • The right to know is not satisfied merely by making or improving laws or systems. The right to know is a matter of culture rather than system. Nevertheless, consistent system improvement measures are required. There are many laws relating to the right to know. In particular, at the core are the Official Information Disclosure Act, the Record and Archives Management Act, and the Presidential Record Management Act. The fact that systems relating to official record management and presidential record management are related to the right to know is understood by the promotion of records and archives management reform after the year 2004, as a result of which the national archives management innovation road map was established. Reflecting the many opinions of the "Information Disclosure System Improvement Task Force" composed with participation of the government and the press after the participatory government's announcement of "Measures to Advance the Support System for News Coverage," amendments to the Information Disclosure Act have come forward with system improvement measures in connection with issues that had arisen until then. Such improvement measures have not resulted in actual improvements. This thesis proposes several system improvement measures, focusing on those that have arisen until now but have not been reflected in discussion, such as converting the concept of information non-disclosure into disclosure postponement, preparing and disclosing particular information disclosure standards, specifying personal information for non-disclosure, specifying and strictly applying any information that has not been disclosed for purposes of internal review, deleting non-disclosure items in stenographic records that do not have a reason to exist, and establishing limits and terms of non-disclosure. Of the most remarkable system improvement measures that have been made until now is our recognition that the right to know is not limited to the information disclosure system but that the "cause" of archive management should be systematic and scientific. In other words, the right to know is understood to establish not just accidential factors, such as with a whistle-blower, but the inevitable factors of systemization of production, distribution, preservation, and use of archives. Much more study should be pursued regarding disclosure of archives information. In particular, difficult issues to be resolved regarding reading records at permanent archives management institutions, such as the National Archives of Korea, or copyrights that arise in the process, require constant study from academia and relevant institutions.

Earnings Quality of Firms Selected as the Global Champ Project (글로벌 전문사업 선정기업의 이익의 질)

  • Gong, Kyung-Tae
    • Management & Information Systems Review
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    • v.37 no.4
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    • pp.1-20
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    • 2018
  • This study aimed to examine earnings quality of firms selected as Global Champs project which has been promoted by the government since 2013 to support small and medium sized enterprises, for the screening year(t-1) and selected year(t). Earing quality is measured as the value of discretionary accruals estimated by Dechow et al.(1995) adjusted Jones model and Kothari et al.(2005) model, respectively. I analyze the differences of earning quality between the Global Champ firms and the paired firms selected through criteria of the similar total assets and the same industry in the screening year and the selected year. This study is motivated by the needs of measurement of the performance of the Project from the accounting transparent point of view. As the results of this study, major findings are summarized as follows. Firstly the earnings quality of the selected firms was lower than that of the paired firms. This can be explained as a result of motivation of earnings management by companies eager to meet the requirements to be selected for the Project. Secondly, in the selected year, the earnings quality was proved to improve, comparing to the screening year. This can be explained by the efforts of companies to reinforce management innovation and transparent management, which in turn led to positive effects on the earnings quality. These findings were found to be consistent in the additional analyses, where the earning quality of the reconstructed sample with only selected companies was compared for the screening year and the selected year, based on the year before the screening year(t-2).

Home Economics teachers' concern on creativity and personality education in Home Economics classes: Based on the concerns based adoption model(CBAM) (가정과 교사의 창의.인성 교육에 대한 관심과 실행에 대한 인식 - CBAM 모형에 기초하여-)

  • Lee, In-Sook;Park, Mi-Jeong;Chae, Jung-Hyun
    • Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
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    • v.24 no.2
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    • pp.117-134
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    • 2012
  • The purpose of this study was to identify the stage of concern, the level of use, and the innovation configuration of Home Economics teachers regarding creativity and personality education in Home Economics(HE) classes. The survey questionnaires were sent through mails and e-mails to middle-school HE teachers in the whole country selected by systematic sampling and convenience sampling. Questionnaires of the stages of concern and the levels of use developed by Hall(1987) were used in this study. 187 data were used for the final analysis by using SPSS/window(12.0) program. The results of the study were as following: First, for the stage of concerns of HE teachers on creativity and personality education, the information stage of concerns(85.51) was the one with the highest response rate and the next high in the following order: the management stage of concerns(81.88), the awareness stage of concerns(82.15), the refocusing stage of concerns(68.80), the collaboration stage of concerns(61.97), and the consequence stage of concerns(59.76). Second, the levels of use of HE teachers on creativity and personality education was highest with the mechanical levels(level 3; 21.4%) and the next high in the following order: the orientation levels of use(level 1; 20.9%), the refinement levels(level 5; 17.1%), the non-use levels(level 0; 15.0%), the preparation levels(level 2; 10.2%), the integration levels(level 6; 5.9%), the renewal levels(level 7; 4.8%), the routine levels(level 4; 4.8%). Third, for the innovation configuration of HE teachers on creativity and personality education, more than half of the HE teachers(56.1%) mainly focused on personality education in their HE classes; 31.0% of the HE teachers performed both creativity and personality education; a small number of teachers(6.4%) focused on creativity education; the same number of teachers(6.4%) responded that they do not focus on neither of the two. Examining the level and type of performance HE teachers applied, the average score on the performance of creativity and personality education was 3.76 out of 5.00 and the mean of creativity component was 3.59 and of personality component was 3.94, higher than standard. For the creativity education, openness/sensitivity(3.97) education was performed most and the next most in the following order: problem-solving skill(3.79), curiosity/interest(3.73), critical thinking(3.63), problem-finding skill(3.61), originality(3.57), analogy(3.47), fluency/adaptability(3.46), precision(3.46), imagination(3.37), and focus/sympathy(3.37). For the personality education, the following components were performed in order from most to least: power of execution(4.07), cooperation/consideration/just(4.06), self-management skill(4.04), civic consciousness(4.04), career development ability(4.03), environment adaptability(3.95), responsibility/ownership(3.94), decision making(3.89), trust/honesty/promise(3.88), autonomy(3.86), and global competency(3.55). Regarding what makes performing creativity and personality education difficult, most HE teachers(64.71%) chose the lack of instructional materials and 40.11% of participants chose the lack of seminar and workshop opportunity. 38.5% chose the difficulty of developing an evaluation criteria or an evaluation tool while 25.67% responded that they do not know any means of performing creativity and personality education. Regarding the better way to support for creativity and personality education, the HE teachers chose in order from most to least: 'expansion of hands-on activities for students related to education on creativity and personality'(4.34), 'development of HE classroom culture putting emphasis on creativity and personality'(4.29), 'a proper curriculum on creativity and personality education that goes along with students' developmental stages'(4.27), 'securing enough human resource and number of professors who will conduct creativity and personality education'(4.21), 'establishment of the concept and value of the education on creativity and personality'(4.09), and 'educational promotion on creativity and personality education supported by local communities and companies'(3.94).

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An Analysis of Middle school Technology Teachers' Stage of Concerns about Maker Education By Concerns-Based Adoption Model (관심기반수용모형(CBAM)에 의한 중학교 기술교사의 메이커 교육 관심도 분석)

  • Kang, Sang-Hyun;Kim, Jinsoo
    • 대한공업교육학회지
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    • v.44 no.2
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    • pp.104-122
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    • 2019
  • In the era of the fourth industrial revolution, maker education is drawing attention as a method of student-led education. At a time when interest in maker education is also growing in technology education, figuring out what stage of concern(SoC) a middle school technology teacher is critical to effective implementation. This study analyzed SoC in maker education by layer sampling among 400 middle school technology teachers using Concerns-based adoption model. SoC was then obtained by measuring the origin using the SoCQ and then presenting it as a SOCQ profile. Gender, training experience with two lower variables were analyzed using t verification, working cities, teaching experience with more than three lower variables were analyzed using one-way ANOVA. Studies showed that SoC in maker education of middle school technology teachers showed the most similar characteristics to that of non-users. The difference in concern depending on gender was that male teachers were more concerned in maker education than female teachers. The difference in concern depending on the working city was that teachers working in the township were more concerned in the maker education than teachers working in the large city, and the difference in concern depending on the teaching career was higher among teachers with middle experience than those with low and high experience. There was also a higher stage of concern in maker education than in teachers without training experience. Therefore, it is necessary to provide middle school technology teachers with an introduction to the maker education and various information, teaching, learning and evaluation data to enhance overall concern and to support the use and evaluation of the maker education in the classroom by providing various teacher training and consulting on the maker education in the future. Further, through further study, we should conduct study that analyzes both Stage of Concern, Level of Use and Innovation Configuration, to put in the effort for effective settlement of maker education.

GenAI(Generative Artificial Intelligence) Technology Trend Analysis Using Bigkinds: ChatGPT Emergence and Startup Impact Assessment (빅카인즈를 활용한 GenAI(생성형 인공지능) 기술 동향 분석: ChatGPT 등장과 스타트업 영향 평가)

  • Lee, Hyun Ju;Sung, Chang Soo;Jeon, Byung Hoon
    • Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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    • v.18 no.4
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    • pp.65-76
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    • 2023
  • In the field of technology entrepreneurship and startups, the development of Artificial Intelligence(AI) has emerged as a key topic for business model innovation. As a result, venture firms are making various efforts centered on AI to secure competitiveness(Kim & Geum, 2023). The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between the development of GenAI technology and the startup ecosystem by analyzing domestic news articles to identify trends in the technology startup field. Using BIG Kinds, this study examined the changes in GenAI-related news articles, major issues, and trends in Korean news articles from 1990 to August 10, 2023, focusing on the emergence of ChatGPT before and after, and visualized the relevance through network analysis and keyword visualization. The results of the study showed that the mention of GenAI gradually increased in the articles from 2017 to 2023. In particular, OpenAI's ChatGPT service based on GPT-3.5 was highlighted as a major issue, indicating the popularization of language model-based GenAI technologies such as OpenAI's DALL-E, Google's MusicLM, and VoyagerX's Vrew. This proves the usefulness of GenAI in various fields, and since the launch of ChatGPT, Korean companies have been actively developing Korean language models. Startups such as Ritten Technologies are also utilizing GenAI to expand their scope in the technology startup field. This study confirms the connection between GenAI technology and startup entrepreneurship activities, which suggests that it can support the construction of innovative business strategies, and is expected to continue to shape the development of GenAI technology and the growth of the startup ecosystem. Further research is needed to explore international trends, the utilization of various analysis methods, and the possibility of applying GenAI in the real world. These efforts are expected to contribute to the development of GenAI technology and the growth of the startup ecosystem.

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A Study on the Influence of IT Education Service Quality on Educational Satisfaction, Work Application Intention, and Recommendation Intention: Focusing on the Moderating Effects of Learner Position and Participation Motivation (IT교육 서비스품질이 교육만족도, 현업적용의도 및 추천의도에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구: 학습자 직위 및 참여동기의 조절효과를 중심으로)

  • Kang, Ryeo-Eun;Yang, Sung-Byung
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.23 no.4
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    • pp.169-196
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    • 2017
  • The fourth industrial revolution represents a revolutionary change in the business environment and its ecosystem, which is a fusion of Information Technology (IT) and other industries. In line with these recent changes, the Ministry of Employment and Labor of South Korea announced 'the Fourth Industrial Revolution Leader Training Program,' which includes five key support areas such as (1) smart manufacturing, (2) Internet of Things (IoT), (3) big data including Artificial Intelligence (AI), (4) information security, and (5) bio innovation. Based on this program, we can get a glimpse of the South Korean government's efforts and willingness to emit leading human resource with advanced IT knowledge in various fusion technology-related and newly emerging industries. On the other hand, in order to nurture excellent IT manpower in preparation for the fourth industrial revolution, the role of educational institutions capable of providing high quality IT education services is most of importance. However, these days, most IT educational institutions have had difficulties in providing customized IT education services that meet the needs of consumers (i.e., learners), without breaking away from the traditional framework of providing supplier-oriented education services. From previous studies, it has been found that the provision of customized education services centered on learners leads to high satisfaction of learners, and that higher satisfaction increases not only task performance and the possibility of business application but also learners' recommendation intention. However, since research has not yet been conducted in a comprehensive way that consider both antecedent and consequent factors of the learner's satisfaction, more empirical research on this is highly desirable. With the advent of the fourth industrial revolution, a rising interest in various convergence technologies utilizing information technology (IT) has brought with the growing realization of the important role played by IT-related education services. However, research on the role of IT education service quality in the context of IT education is relatively scarce in spite of the fact that research on general education service quality and satisfaction has been actively conducted in various contexts. In this study, therefore, the five dimensions of IT education service quality (i.e., tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy) are derived from the context of IT education, based on the SERVPERF model and related previous studies. In addition, the effects of these detailed IT education service quality factors on learners' educational satisfaction and their work application/recommendation intentions are examined. Furthermore, the moderating roles of learner position (i.e., practitioner group vs. manager group) and participation motivation (i.e., voluntary participation vs. involuntary participation) in relationships between IT education service quality factors and learners' educational satisfaction, work application intention, and recommendation intention are also investigated. In an analysis using the structural equation model (SEM) technique based on a questionnaire given to 203 participants of IT education programs in an 'M' IT educational institution in Seoul, South Korea, tangibles, reliability, and assurance were found to have a significant effect on educational satisfaction. This educational satisfaction was found to have a significant effect on both work application intention and recommendation intention. Moreover, it was discovered that learner position and participation motivation have a partial moderating impact on the relationship between IT education service quality factors and educational satisfaction. This study holds academic implications in that it is one of the first studies to apply the SERVPERF model (rather than the SERVQUAL model, which has been widely adopted by prior studies) is to demonstrate the influence of IT education service quality on learners' educational satisfaction, work application intention, and recommendation intention in an IT education environment. The results of this study are expected to provide practical guidance for IT education service providers who wish to enhance learners' educational satisfaction and service management efficiency.

An Empirical Study in Relationship between Franchisor's Leadership Behavior Style and Commitment by Focusing Moderating Effect of Franchisee's Self-efficacy (가맹본부의 리더십 행동유형과 가맹사업자의 관계결속에 관한 실증적 연구 - 가맹사업자의 자기효능감의 조절효과를 중심으로 -)

  • Yang, Hoe-Chang;Lee, Young-Chul
    • 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.

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