• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.59-81
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• 2004

Store loyalty is increasingly being recognized as a path to long-term business profitability. Customer contact employees deliver a service firm's promises and create an important image for the firm. A major purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of customer service and product value on store loyalty. In order to test research hypotheses, data were collected through surveys administered to 300 apparel store customers. Two hundred thirty nine usable data were used for the analysis. The findings of this research are as follows: First, a employee's voluntary service(EVS) has a positive impact on interpersonal r elationship, which then affects switching barrier and store loyalty. Second, a employee's regular service(ERS) has an influence on store satisfaction, which in turn affect store loyalty. Third, product value is shown to be a significant antecedent to store satisfaction, which have a direct effect on store loyalty. The study concludes with implications, contributions, and limitations of the research and the empirical findings of this research should be beneficial to marketing practitioners and retailing businessmen in developing effective marketing strategies.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.14 no.1_spc
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• pp.299-317
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• 2008

The school drop-out among the youth has grown to become a serious social problem since about 2000 and calls for an attention to its seriousness. Therefore, this study reviewed the statitistical reports and the previous empirical findings on the school drop-out and integrated to establish a comprehensive understanding of this social phenomenon. The main concepts and terminologies on school drop-out, the current statistics, the possible causal factors and the usual trajectory the youth take after dropping-out of school were discussed to conceptualize the issue. Analyses indicated 12 characteristics of the students who dropped out of school. Those 12 characteristics were restructured according to the ecological conceptual model. The social instability and the financial crisis in the 1990's has eroded the stability of the primary environments of adolescents such as family and school. The family breakdowns from divorce and other reasons weakened psychological and financial support for adolescents. The diminished authority of teachers and school over students exposed conflicts between teacher and students, students' loss of purpose and interest in academic attainment. The adolescents showed emotional reponses like increased level of depression, helplessness, aggression, indicated cognitive reponses such as the loss of purpose and interest in studying, a heightened sense of uncertainty of the future, and behavioral responses like sexual acting out behaviors, and bullying. The unmet psychological needs of adolescents result in run-away and school drop-out behaviors, which in turn progress into juvenile delinquency as the society fails to provide adequate and appropriate guidance and interventions. The intervention strategies at the national level were proposed and the limitations of the study were discussed.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-41
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• 2007

This study examines factors that influence delinquent behavior among Korean adolescents using longitudinal analysis. A total of 1,012 students completed a questionnaire when they were Grade 6 and 739 students completed a follow-up questionnaire when they became Grade 9. Results of multiple regression analysis indicate that the following variables predicted delinquent behavior of Grade 9 students: Bullying, previous delinquency, experience of punishment, victimization, social efficacy, and moral disengagement. The above six variables have direct and mediating influence of delinquent behavior. Relational factors also influenced delinquent behavior. Social exclusion from friends reduce social efficacy, which increases victimization and which in turn increases bullying, leading to greater delinquency. Parental rejection, social exclusion from friends and hostility from teachers increase moral disengagement, which increases bullying, leading to delinquency. Low academic achievement increases the likelihood of being punished, which increases bullying, leading to delinquency. The results indicate that moral disengagement and social efficacy are mediating factors of delinquency and negative life-events (i.e., social exclusion from friends, rejection from teachers, hostility from parents and low academic achievement) increase the likelihood that Korean adolescents will engage in delinquent behavior. Implications of the results for future research are discussed.

• Analyses & Alternatives
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.85-114
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• 2023

The purpose of this study is to analyze Russia-Central Asia relations since the launch of the EAEU in 2015 and forecast the future from a structural realism perspective. Bilateral relations have both elements of close cooperation and elements of conflict. Russia and Central Asia, which have the characteristics of an authoritarian alliance, also have a symbiotic relationship in which they have no choice but to cooperate with each other to maintain the regime. Based on this, Russia has made various efforts to reunify Central Asia. Central Asia also has no choice but to cooperate with Russia for its survival, but at the same time, it has expanded its scope of cooperation in the international community to avoid being subjugated to Russia again. However, as China's power expands, Russia's relative weakness, and wariness toward Russia increases after the Ukraine War, the gap in bilateral relations is widening. In particular, as China's influence grows, Russia's nervousness also increases. This is why Putin visits Central Asia and holds active summit talks even during the war in Ukraine. If competition between Russia and China surfaces, there is a high possibility that the international order in Central Asia will become unstable. However, it is still unlikely that the power of Russia and China will reverse in Central Asia. Above all, the security, historical, and cultural connections between Russia and Central Asia are areas that are difficult for China to catch up with. Therefore, a weakening of Russia's influence compared to the past is inevitable, but its superiority is expected to continue. If Russia breaks away from belligerence and transforms into an attractive cooperative partner, there is a possibility that bilateral relations will take an upward turn again. However, it seems unlikely that such changes and innovations will occur under the Putin regime. Therefore, the biggest obstacle to realizing Putin's goal of reunifying Central Asia is Putin himself.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.113-136
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• 2023

Purpose - Global production chains and their impacts on economic growth have drawn extensive attention from researchers. Close relationships among global production chains, export and economic growth have been illuminated, as evidenced by the fast and stable economic growth of East Asian economies. These economies perform various roles within global production chains using offshoring, in which the impact of import on domestic gross output is as strong as that of export. The impact of import on economic growth would depend on whether imported inputs substitute or complement domestic inputs production, which is likely to vary according to individual countries' functions within global production chains. The economic growth of concerned countries would also be diverse. However, little attention has been paid to the impact brought by imports compared to its significance. Design/methodology - The principal methodology used in this paper is structural decomposition analysis (SDA), widely chosen to elucidate the impact of various factors on domestic gross output using input-output tables. This paper extracts trade data of six Asian economies from the World Input-Output Database (WIOD) 2016 release that covers 43 countries for the period 2000-2014. The extracted data is then categorised into 37 sectors. First, this paper calculates the Feenstra-Hanson Offshoring Index (OSI) of each country. It then applies SDA to measure the changes in each economy's gross output, export, import input coefficients, and domestic input coefficients. Finally, after taking the first difference from pooled time-series data, it estimates the correlations between imported input coefficients and OSI using the ordinary least square (OLS) method. Findings - The main findings of this paper can be summarised as follows. Firstly, all six countries have increasingly engaged in global production chains, as evidenced by the growing size of OSI. Secondly, there are negative correlations in five countries except Japan, with sectoral differences. Thirdly, changes in import input coefficients are not negative in all six countries, indicating that offshoring does not necessarily substitute for domestic inputs production but does complement it and, therefore, fosters their economic growth. This is observed in China, Indonesia, Korea and Taiwan. Offshoring has led to an increase in the use of imported inputs, which has, in turn, stimulated domestic inputs production in these countries. Originality/value - While existing studies focus on the role of export in evaluating the impact of participating global production chains, this paper explicitly examines the unexplored impact of import on domestic gross output by considering both the substitution and the complementary effect, using the WIOD. The findings of this paper suggest that Asian economies have achieved fast and stable economic growth not only through successful export management but also through effective import management within global production chains. This paper recommends that the Korean government and enterprises carefully choose offshoring strategies to minimise disruption to domestic production chains or foster them.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.233-248
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• 2023

The increasing integration of intelligent information technologies within organizational systems has amplified the risk to personal information security. This escalation, in turn, has fueled growing apprehension about an organization's capabilities in safeguarding user data. While Internet users adopt a multifaceted approach in assessing a company's information security, existing research on the multiple dimensions of information security is decidedly sparse. Moreover, there is a conspicuous gap in investigations exploring whether users' evaluations of organizational information security differ across industry types. With an aim to bridge these gaps, our study strives to identify which information security attributes users perceive as most critical and to delve deeper into potential variations in these attributes across different industry sectors. To this end, we conducted a structured survey involving 498 users and utilized the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to determine the relative significance of various information security attributes. Our results indicate that users place the greatest importance on the technological dimension of information security, followed closely by transparency. In the technological arena, banks and domestic portal providers earned high ratings, while for transparency, banks and governmental agencies stood out. Contrarily, social media providers received the lowest evaluations in both domains. By introducing a multidimensional model of information security attributes and highlighting the relative importance of each in the realm of information security research, this study provides a significant theoretical contribution. Moreover, the practical implications are noteworthy: our findings serve as a foundational resource for Internet service companies to discern the security attributes that demand their attention, thereby facilitating an enhancement of their information security measures.

• Journal of Venture Innovation
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.73-93
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• 2023

This study provides a prospect for the fast growing the smartwatch market by investigating the relationship between the satisfaction and the continuous use intention of Apple watch users, as well as the factors influencing their satisfaction. Based on the TAM, this study uses system quality, information quality, and self-efficacy as independent variables, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and satisfaction as mediators, and continuous use intention as the dependent variable. We analyze the data of 256 individuals who completed an online survey with SPSS 26.0 and AMOS 26.0 software. This study conducts several tests and analyses to empirically evaluate the data including reliability analysis, factor analysis, feasibility analysis, path analysis, hypothesis verification, and mediation analysis. Our results investigate which factors may influence consumers' intention to continuously using Apple Watch devices in the future. In summary, satisfaction has a positive effect on the intention to continuously use smartwatchs. Perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use have a positive effect on satisfaction. Among the three factors (system quality, information quality, and self-efficacy), only self-efficacy has no significant impact on perceived usefulness but had a positive effect on perceived ease of use. In addition, system quality and information quality positively affect perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, satisfaction, and continuous intention to use an Apple Watch. Taking the Apple Watch as the subject of our research topic, this study provides theoretical value by exploring the impact of user's satisfaction with their smartwatch on their continuous usage intention. This study further explains the influence of system quality, information quality, and self-efficacy on user satisfaction. Additionally, this research offers valuable insight to practitioners by confirming that information quality, system quality, and self-efficacy are important features for enhancing satisfactory user experiences which in turn may increase users' intention to continued using smartwatches.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.12
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• pp.1062-1073
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• 2023

Although depression is a common psychiatric disorder that negatively affects individuals and societies, its exact pathogenesis is not well understood. Stress is a major risk factor for depression and is known to increase susceptibility by triggering inflammation. Indeed, many preclinical and clinical studies have suggested a strong link between depression and inflammation. Depression is associated with increased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin (IL-)1β, IL-6, IL-12, tumor necrosis factor-α, and interferon-γ, and decreased levels of the anti-inflammatory IL-4, IL-10, and transforming growth factor-β. Administering pro-inflammatory cytokines causes depression-like behaviors in rodents. Conversely, administering anti-inflammatory drugs appears to ameliorate depressive symptoms. Although the importance of inflammation as a mediator of depression has been demonstrated, the mechanisms by which inflammation is activated in depression remain unclear. To address this issue, recent studies have focused on the importance of stress-induced sterile inflammation. Sterile inflammation refers to the activation of inflammatory processes due to physical and/or psychological stress in the absence of pathogens. Stress promotes the release of endogenous factors known as damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs), thereby triggering sterile inflammation. In turn, DAMPs are recognized by pattern recognition receptors, leading to the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Here, we review the role of DAMPs in depression based on preclinical and clinical evidence on the dysregulation of sterile inflammation.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.169-179
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• 2023

The purpose of this study is to suggest the direction of secondary school career education in a lifelong learning society. In that direction, first, it is necessary to strengthen teacher capacity and develop professionalism. Second, career education programs need to be improved and diversified. Third, it is necessary to strengthen collaboration and communication with career education experts as a way to strengthen cooperation and connection outside the school. Fourth, it is necessary to support online career education through improvement of career information network. Fifth, there are policy support and institutional improvement plans. Sixth, it is necessary to expand the subject of career education to the entire life. To this end, career education in secondary school is designed to flexibly cope with changes, overcome crises and turn them into opportunities, and provide experiences to solve problems. Comprehensive support for individually customized career education from a lifelong perspective that manages the degree is needed. Second, it is necessary to expand field-oriented career and job experience to provide sufficient job-related experience and support mentoring by field experts. Third, it is necessary to establish a career education network where schools, education offices, and local communities work together. Fourth, retraining of career counseling teachers is also necessary to support the strengthening of career education capacity of all teachers.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.115-128
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• 2023

This study examines the effects of a new app-based intervention program for conversational skills of children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Participants in this study comprised 26 children diagnosed with autism, Asperger's syndrome, or pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS). Participants were randomly assigned into a treatment group or a control group according to their ages, IQ, SCQ, and ASSQ scores. The treatment group met with teachers once a week for a single non-face-to-face class for nine weeks, along with conversation training at home using an app. The control group did not participate in any specific programs for conversational skills. Conversation data of all participants were collected before and after the intervention to compare the two groups based on changes in the conversational turn-taking and topic manipulation skills. When analyzed with respect to a Group X Period analysis of variance (ANOVA), the data indicated maintenance on the rate of appropriate listener's verbal responses in the treatment group, whereas the rate of inappropriate listener's verbal response significantly declined in the control group. In addition, the rate of conversation initiation and maintenance and the rate of appropriate initiation improved in the treatment group, whereas the rate of inappropriate initiation declined in this group. Overall, the study demonstrates promising effects of the novel App-based digital intervention on verbal conversational skills in children with high function ASD.