• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.95-115
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• 2011

Food service is the major part of franchise business in Korea, accounting for 69.9% of the brands in the market. As the food service industry becomes mature, many franchisees have struggled to survive in the market. In general, consumers have higher levels of expectation toward service quality of franchised outlets compared that of (non-franchised) independent ones. They also tend to believe that franchisees deliver standardized service at the uniform food price, regardless of their locations. Such beliefs seem to be important reasons that consumers prefer franchised outlets to independent ones. Nevertheless, few studies examined the impact of qualify features of franchisees on customer satisfaction so far. To this end, this study examined the characteristics of various quality features of franchisees in the food service industry, regarding their relationship with customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction. The quality perception of heavy-users was also compared with that of light-users in order to find insights for developing differentiated marketing strategy for the two segments. Customer satisfaction has been understood as a one-dimensional construct while there are recent studies that insist two-dimensional nature of the construct. In this regard, Kano et al. (1984) suggested to categorize quality features of a product or service into five types, based on their relation to customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction: Must-be quality, Attractive quality, One-dimensional quality, Indifferent quality, and Reverse quality. According to the Kano model, customers are more dissatisfied when Must-be quality(M) are not fulfilled, but their satisfaction does not arise above neutral no matter how fully the quality fulfilled. In comparison, customers are more satisfied with a full provision of Attactive quality(A) but manage to accept its dysfunction. One-dimensional quality(O) results in satisfaction when fulfilled and dissatisfaction when not fulfilled. For Indifferent quality(I), its presence or absence influences neither customer satisfaction nor dissatisfaction. Lastly, Reverse quality(R) refers to the features whose high degree of achievement results in customer dissatisfaction rather than satisfaction. Meanwhile, the basic guidelines of the Kano model have a limitation in that the quality type of each feature is simply determined by calculating the mode statistics. In order to overcome such limitation, the relative importance of each feature on customer satisfaction (Better value; b) and dissatisfaction (Worse value; w) were calculated following the formulas below (Timko, 1993). The Better value indicates how much customer satisfaction is increased by providing the quality feature in question. In contrast, the Worse value indicates how much customer dissatisfaction is decreased by providing the quality feature. Better = (A + O)/(A+O+M+I) Worse = (O+M)/(A+O+M+I)(-1) An on-line survey was performed in order to understand the nature of quality features of franchisees in the food service industry by applying the Kano Model. A total of twenty quality features (refer to the Table 2) were identified as the result of literature review in franchise business and a pre-test with fifty college students in Seoul. The potential respondents of our main survey was limited to the customers who have visited more than two restaurants/stores of the same franchise brand. Survey invitation e-mails were sent out to the panels of a market research company and a total of 257 responses were used for analysis. Following the guidelines of Kano model, each of the twenty quality features was classified into one of the five types based on customers' responses to a set of questions: "(1) how do you feel if the following quality feature is fulfilled in the franchise restaurant that you visit," and "(2) how do you feel if the following quality feature is not fulfilled in the franchise restaurant that you visit." The analyses revealed that customers' dissatisfaction with franchisees is commonly associated with the poor level of cleanliness of the store (w=-0.872), kindness of the staffs(w=-0.890), conveniences such as parking lot and restroom(w=-0.669), and expertise of the staffs(w=-0.492). Such quality features were categorized as Must-be quality in this study. While standardization or uniformity across franchisees has been emphasized in franchise business, this study found that consumers are interested only in uniformity of price across franchisees(w=-0.608), but not interested in standardizations of menu items, interior designs, customer service procedures, and food tastes. Customers appeared to be more satisfied when the franchise brand has promotional events such as giveaways(b=0.767), good accessibility(b=0.699), customer loyalty programs(b=0.659), award winning history(b=0.641), and outlets in the overseas market(b=0.506). The results are summarized in a matrix form in Table 1. Better(b) and Worse(w) index indicate relative importance of each quality feature on customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction, respectively. Meanwhile, there were differences in perceiving the quality features between light users and heavy users of any specific franchise brand in the food service industry. Expertise of the staffs was labeled as Must-be quality for heavy users but Indifferent quality for light users. Light users seemed indifferent to overseas expansion of the brand and offering new menu items on a regular basis, while heavy users appeared to perceive them as Attractive quality. Such difference may come from their different levels of involvement when they eat out. The results are shown in Table 2. The findings of this study help practitioners understand the quality features they need to focus on to strengthen the competitive power in the food service market. Above all, removing the factors that cause customer dissatisfaction seems to be the most critical for franchisees. To retain loyal customers of the franchise brand, it is also recommended for franchisor to invest resources in the development of new menu items as well as training programs for the staffs. Lastly, if resources allow, promotional events, loyalty programs, overseas expansion, award-winning history can be considered as tools for attracting more customers to the business.

• 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.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.4296-4311
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• 1977

This study was conducted to derive an Instantaneous Unit Hydrograph for the accurate and reliable unitgraph which can be used to the estimation and control of flood for the development of agricultural water resources and rational design of hydraulic structures. Eight small watersheds were selected as studying basins from Han, Geum, Nakdong, Yeongsan and Inchon River systems which may be considered as a main river systems in Korea. The area of small watersheds are within the range of 85 to 470$\textrm{km}^2$. It is to derive an accurate Instantaneous Unit Hydrograph under the condition of having a short duration of heavy rain and uniform rainfall intensity with the basic and reliable data of rainfall records, pluviographs, records of river stages and of the main river systems mentioned above. Investigation was carried out for the relations between measurable unitgraph and watershed characteristics such as watershed area, A, river length L, and centroid distance of the watershed area, Lca. Especially, this study laid emphasis on the derivation and application of Instantaneous Unit Hydrograph (IUH) by applying Nash's conceptual model and by using an electronic computer. I U H by Nash's conceptual model and I U H by flood routing which can be applied to the ungaged small watersheds were derived and compared with each other to the observed unitgraph. 1 U H for each small watersheds can be solved by using an electronic computer. The results summarized for these studies are as follows; 1. Distribution of uniform rainfall intensity appears in the analysis for the temporal rainfall pattern of selected heavy rainfall event. 2. Mean value of recession constants, Kl, is 0.931 in all watersheds observed. 3. Time to peak discharge, Tp, occurs at the position of 0.02 Tb, base length of hlrdrograph with an indication of lower value than that in larger watersheds. 4. Peak discharge, Qp, in relation to the watershed area, A, and effective rainfall, R, is found to be {{{{ { Q}_{ p} = { 0.895} over { { A}^{0.145 } } }}}} AR having high significance of correlation coefficient, 0.927, between peak discharge, Qp, and effective rainfall, R. Design chart for the peak discharge (refer to Fig. 15) with watershed area and effective rainfall was established by the author. 5. The mean slopes of main streams within the range of 1.46 meters per kilometer to 13.6 meter per kilometer. These indicate higher slopes in the small watersheds than those in larger watersheds. Lengths of main streams are within the range of 9.4 kilometer to 41.75 kilometer, which can be regarded as a short distance. It is remarkable thing that the time of flood concentration was more rapid in the small watersheds than that in the other larger watersheds. 6. Length of main stream, L, in relation to the watershed area, A, is found to be L=2.044A0.48 having a high significance of correlation coefficient, 0.968. 7. Watershed lag, Lg, in hrs in relation to the watershed area, A, and length of main stream, L, was derived as Lg=3.228 A0.904 L-1.293 with a high significance. On the other hand, It was found that watershed lag, Lg, could also be expressed as {{{{Lg=0.247 { ( { LLca} over { SQRT { S} } )}^{ 0.604} }}}} in connection with the product of main stream length and the centroid length of the basin of the watershed area, LLca which could be expressed as a measure of the shape and the size of the watershed with the slopes except watershed area, A. But the latter showed a lower correlation than that of the former in the significance test. Therefore, it can be concluded that watershed lag, Lg, is more closely related with the such watersheds characteristics as watershed area and length of main stream in the small watersheds. Empirical formula for the peak discharge per unit area, qp, ㎥/sec/$\textrm{km}^2$, was derived as qp=10-0.389-0.0424Lg with a high significance, r=0.91. This indicates that the peak discharge per unit area of the unitgraph is in inverse proportion to the watershed lag time. 8. The base length of the unitgraph, Tb, in connection with the watershed lag, Lg, was extra.essed as {{{{ { T}_{ b} =1.14+0.564( { Lg} over {24 } )}}}} which has defined with a high significance. 9. For the derivation of IUH by applying linear conceptual model, the storage constant, K, with the length of main stream, L, and slopes, S, was adopted as {{{{K=0.1197( {L } over { SQRT {S } } )}}}} with a highly significant correlation coefficient, 0.90. Gamma function argument, N, derived with such watershed characteristics as watershed area, A, river length, L, centroid distance of the basin of the watershed area, Lca, and slopes, S, was found to be N=49.2 A1.481L-2.202 Lca-1.297 S-0.112 with a high significance having the F value, 4.83, through analysis of variance. 10. According to the linear conceptual model, Formular established in relation to the time distribution, Peak discharge and time to peak discharge for instantaneous Unit Hydrograph when unit effective rainfall of unitgraph and dimension of watershed area are applied as 10mm, and $\textrm{km}^2$ respectively are as follows; Time distribution of IUH {{{{u(0, t)= { 2.78A} over {K GAMMA (N) } { e}^{-t/k } { (t.K)}^{N-1 } }}}} (㎥/sec) Peak discharge of IUH {{{{ {u(0, t) }_{max } = { 2.78A} over {K GAMMA (N) } { e}^{-(N-1) } { (N-1)}^{N-1 } }}}} (㎥/sec) Time to peak discharge of IUH tp=(N-1)K (hrs) 11. Through mathematical analysis in the recession curve of Hydrograph, It was confirmed that empirical formula of Gamma function argument, N, had connection with recession constant, Kl, peak discharge, QP, and time to peak discharge, tp, as {{{{{ K'} over { { t}_{ p} } = { 1} over {N-1 } - { ln { t} over { { t}_{p } } } over {ln { Q} over { { Q}_{p } } } }}}} where {{{{K'= { 1} over { { lnK}_{1 } } }}}} 12. Linking the two, empirical formulars for storage constant, K, and Gamma function argument, N, into closer relations with each other, derivation of unit hydrograph for the ungaged small watersheds can be established by having formulars for the time distribution and peak discharge of IUH as follows. Time distribution of IUH u(0, t)=23.2 A L-1S1/2 F(N, K, t) (㎥/sec) where {{{{F(N, K, t)= { { e}^{-t/k } { (t/K)}^{N-1 } } over { GAMMA (N) } }}}} Peak discharge of IUH) u(0, t)max=23.2 A L-1S1/2 F(N) (㎥/sec) where {{{{F(N)= { { e}^{-(N-1) } { (N-1)}^{N-1 } } over { GAMMA (N) } }}}} 13. The base length of the Time-Area Diagram for the IUH was given by {{{{C=0.778 { ( { LLca} over { SQRT { S} } )}^{0.423 } }}}} with correlation coefficient, 0.85, which has an indication of the relations to the length of main stream, L, centroid distance of the basin of the watershed area, Lca, and slopes, S. 14. Relative errors in the peak discharge of the IUH by using linear conceptual model and IUH by routing showed to be 2.5 and 16.9 percent respectively to the peak of observed unitgraph. Therefore, it confirmed that the accuracy of IUH using linear conceptual model was approaching more closely to the observed unitgraph than that of the flood routing in the small watersheds.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.129-140
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• 2014

This study was performed to evaluate the effects of replacing basic total mixed ration (TMR) with fermented soybean curd, Artemisia princeps Pampanini cv. Sajabal, and spent coffee grounds by-product on rumen microbial fermentation in vitro. Soybean in the basic TMR diet (control) was replaced by the following 9 treatments (3 replicates): maximum amounts of soybean curd (SC); fermented SC (FSC); 3, 5, and 10% FSC + fermented A. princeps Pampanini cv. Sajabal (1:1, DM basis, FSCS); and 3, 5, 10% FSC + fermented coffee meal (1:1, DM basis, FSCC) of soybean. FSC, FSCS, and FSCC were fermented using Lactobacillus acidophilus ATCC 496, Lactobacillus fermentum ATCC 1493, Lactobacillus plantarum KCTC 1048, and Lactobacillus casei IFO 3533. Replacing dairy cow TMR with FSC treatment led to a pH value of 6 after 8 h of incubation-the lowest value measured (p<0.05), and FSCS and FSCC treatments were higher than SC and FSC treatment after 6 h (p<0.05). Gas production was higher in response to 3% FSC and FSCC treatments than the control after 4-10 h. Dry matter digestibility was increased 0-12 h after FSC treatment (p<0.05) and was the highest after 24 h of 10% FSCS treatment. $NH_3-N$ concentration was the lowest after 24 h of FSC treatment (p<0.05). Microbial protein content increased in response to treatments that had been fermented by the Lactobacillus spp. compared to control and SC treatments (p<0.05). The total concentration of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) was increased after 6-12 h of FSC treatment (p<0.05), while the highest acetate proportion was observed 24 h after 5% and 10% FSCS treatments. The FSC of propionate proportion was increased for 0-10 h compared with among treatments (p<0.05). The highest acetate in the propionate ration was observed after 12 h of SC treatment and the lowest with FSCS 3% treatment after 24 h. Methane ($CH_4$) emulsion was lower with A. princeps Pampanini cv. Sajabal and spent coffee grounds treatments than with the control, SC, and FSC treatments. These experiments were designed to replace the by-products of dairy cow TMR with SC, FSC, FSCS, and FSCC to improve TMR quality. Condensed tannins contained in FSCS and FSCC treatments, which reduced $CH_4$ emulsion in vitro, decreased rumen microbial fermentation during the early incubation time. Therefore, future experiments are required to develop a rumen continuous culture system and an in vivo test to optimize the percentages of FSC, FSCS, and FSCC in the TMR diet of the dairy cows.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.45-58
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• 2014

The Korean Culture Contents spread out to Worldwide, because the Korean wave is sweeping in the world. The contents stand in the middle of the Korean wave that we are used it. Each country is ongoing to keep their Culture industry improve the national brand and High added value. Performing contents is important factor of arousal in the enterprise industry. To improve high arousal confidence of product and positive attitude by populace is one of important factor by advertiser. Culture contents is the same situation. If culture contents have trusted by everyone, they will give information their around to spread word-of-mouth. So, many researcher study to measure for person's arousal analysis by statistical survey, physiological response, body movement and facial expression. First, Statistical survey has a problem that it is not possible to measure each person's arousal real time and we cannot get good survey result after they watched contents. Second, physiological response should be checked with surround because experimenter sets sensors up their chair or space by each of them. Additionally it is difficult to handle provided amount of information with real time from their sensor. Third, body movement is easy to get their movement from camera but it difficult to set up experimental condition, to measure their body language and to get the meaning. Lastly, many researcher study facial expression. They measures facial expression, eye tracking and face posed. Most of previous studies about arousal and interest are mostly limited to reaction of just one person and they have problems with application multi audiences. They have a particular method, for example they need room light surround, but set limits only one person and special environment condition in the laboratory. Also, we need to measure arousal in the contents, but is difficult to define also it is not easy to collect reaction by audiences immediately. Many audience in the theater watch performance. We suggest the system to measure multi-audience's reaction with real-time during performance. We use difference image analysis method for multi-audience but it weaks a dark field. To overcome dark environment during recoding IR camera can get the photo from dark area. In addition we present Multi-Audience Engagement Index (MAEI) to calculate algorithm which sources from sound, audience' movement and eye tracking value. Algorithm calculates audience arousal from the mobile survey, sound value, audience' reaction and audience eye's tracking. It improves accuracy of Multi-Audience Engagement Index, we compare Multi-Audience Engagement Index with mobile survey. And then it send the result to reporting system and proposal an interested persons. Mobile surveys are easy, fast, and visitors' discomfort can be minimized. Also additional information can be provided mobile advantage. Mobile application to communicate with the database, real-time information on visitors' attitudes focused on the content stored. Database can provide different survey every time based on provided information. The example shown in the survey are as follows: Impressive scene, Satisfied, Touched, Interested, Didn't pay attention and so on. The suggested system is combine as 3 parts. The system consist of three parts, External Device, Server and Internal Device. External Device can record multi-Audience in the dark field with IR camera and sound signal. Also we use survey with mobile application and send the data to ERD Server DB. The Server part's contain contents' data, such as each scene's weights value, group audience weights index, camera control program, algorithm and calculate Multi-Audience Engagement Index. Internal Device presents Multi-Audience Engagement Index with Web UI, print and display field monitor. Our system is test-operated by the Mogencelab in the DMC display exhibition hall which is located in the Sangam Dong, Mapo Gu, Seoul. We have still gotten from visitor daily. If we find this system audience arousal factor with this will be very useful to create contents.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.203-210
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• 2004

This study was conducted to assessment organic compound and bioassay (density of inhabited animal, fluctuation of predominant fungi, and survival ratio of earthworm) for finding damage on red pepper by heavily amount application of sludges in soil, which was treated with 3 pharmaceutical byproducts and a cosmetic industry wastewater sludge as raw materials of compost, and for establishing estimation method. HEM contents in the soil treated with pharmaceutical byproducts sludge2 (PS2) and cosmetic sludge (CS) were 0.51, 1.10 mg/kg respectively. PAHs content of PS2 treatment in the soil was 3406.8 ug/kg on July 8. In abundance of soil faunas, the pharmaceutical byproducts sludge2 treatment was the most highest. The next was decreased in the order of pig manure (PM) and the cosmetic sludge treatment. However the other pharmaceutical sludge treatments were remarkably reduced populations of soil inhabited animals. In upland soil treated with organic sludges, the numbers of bacteria and fungi of the pharmaceutical sludge treatment were 736, 909 cfu/g and those of the cosmetic sludge treatment were 440, 236 cfu/g, respectively. The pharmaceutical sludge treatments and the cosmetic sludge treatment in identification of predominant bacteria were not any tendency to compare with non fertilizer and pig manure treatments, but they had diverse bacteria than NPK treatment. In microcosm tests, the survival of the tiger earthworm in five soil samples was hardly affected against the soil of PSI (20%) after three months treated in the upland But after six months, survival of PS1 was 80%. At present, raw material of compost was authorized by contents of organic matter, heavy metal (8 elements), and product processing according to 'The specified gist on possible materials of using after analysis and investigation among raw materials of compost', however, for preparing to change regulation of raw material of compost and for considering to possibility of application, this study was conducted to investigate toxic organic compound and bioassay methods using inhabited animal, fungi, and earthworm without current regulation.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.141-170
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• 2010

User created content (UCC) is created and shared by common users on line. From the user's perspective, the increase of UCCs has led to an expansion of alternative means of communications, while from the business perspective UCCs have formed an environment in which an abundant amount of new contents can be produced. Despite outward quantitative growth, however, many aspects of UCCs do not meet the expectations of general users in terms of quality, and this can be observed through pirated contents and user-copied contents. The purpose of this research is to investigate effective methods for fostering production of creative user-generated content. This study proposes two core elements, namely, reward and motivation, which are believed to enhance content creativity as well as the mediating factor and users' committement, which will be effective for bridging the increasing motivation and content creativity. Based on this perspective, this research takes an in-depth look at issues related to constructing the dimensions of reward and motivation in UCC services for creative content product, which are identified in three phases. First, three dimensions of rewards have been proposed: task dimension, social dimension, and organizational dimention. The task dimension rewards are related to the inherent characteristics of a task such as writing blog articles and pasting photos. Four concrete ways of providing task-related rewards in UCC environments are suggested in this study, which include skill variety, task significance, task identity, and autonomy. The social dimensioni rewards are related to the connected relationships among users. The organizational dimension consists of monetary payoff and recognition from others. Second, the two types of motivations are suggested to be affected by the diverse rewards schemes: intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation occurs when people create new UCC contents for its' own sake, whereas extrinsic motivation occurs when people create new contents for other purposes such as fame and money. Third, commitments are suggested to work as important mediating variables between motivation and content creativity. We believe commitments are especially important in online environments because they have been found to exert stronger impacts on the Internet users than other relevant factors do. Two types of commitments are suggested in this study: emotional commitment and continuity commitment. Finally, content creativity is proposed as the final dependent variable in this study. We provide a systematic method to measure the creativity of UCC content based on the prior studies in creativity measurement. The method includes expert evaluation of blog pages posted by the Internet users. In order to test the theoretical model of our study, 133 active blog users were recruited to participate in a group discussion as well as a survey. They were asked to fill out a questionnaire on their commitment, motivation and rewards of creating UCC contents. At the same time, their creativity was measured by independent experts using Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. Finally, two independent users visited the study participants' blog pages and evaluated their content creativity using the Creative Products Semantic Scale. All the data were compiled and analyzed through structural equation modeling. We first conducted a confirmatory factor analysis to validate the measurement model of our research. It was found that measures used in our study satisfied the requirement of reliability, convergent validity as well as discriminant validity. Given the fact that our measurement model is valid and reliable, we proceeded to conduct a structural model analysis. The results indicated that all the variables in our model had higher than necessary explanatory powers in terms of R-square values. The study results identified several important reward shemes. First of all, skill variety, task importance, task identity, and automony were all found to have significant influences on the intrinsic motivation of creating UCC contents. Also, the relationship with other users was found to have strong influences upon both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Finally, the opportunity to get recognition for their UCC work was found to have a significant impact on the extrinsic motivation of UCC users. However, different from our expectation, monetary compensation was found not to have a significant impact on the extrinsic motivation. It was also found that commitment was an important mediating factor in UCC environment between motivation and content creativity. A more fully mediating model was found to have the highest explanation power compared to no-mediation or partially mediated models. This paper ends with implications of the study results. First, from the theoretical perspective this study proposes and empirically validates the commitment as an important mediating factor between motivation and content creativity. This result reflects the characteristics of online environment in which the UCC creation activities occur voluntarily. Second, from the practical perspective this study proposes several concrete reward factors that are germane to the UCC environment, and their effectiveness to the content creativity is estimated. In addition to the quantitive results of relative importance of the reward factrs, this study also proposes concrete ways to provide the rewards in the UCC environment based on the FGI data that are collected after our participants finish asnwering survey questions. Finally, from the methodological perspective, this study suggests and implements a way to measure the UCC content creativity independently from the content generators' creativity, which can be used later by future research on UCC creativity. In sum, this study proposes and validates important reward features and their relations to the motivation, commitment, and the content creativity in UCC environment, which is believed to be one of the most important factors for the success of UCC and Web 2.0. As such, this study can provide significant theoretical as well as practical bases for fostering creativity in UCC contents.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.137-164
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• 2011

In the past, retailers secured customer loyalty by offering convenient locations, unique assortments of goods, better services than competitors, and good credit policy. All this has changed. Goods assortments among stores have become more alike as national-brand manufacturers place their goods in more and more retail stores. Service differentiation also has eroded. Many department stores have trimmed services, and many discount stores have increased theirs. Customers have become smarter shoppers. They don't pay more for identical brands, especially when service differences have diminished. In the face of increased competition from discount storess and specialty stores, department stores are waging a comeback war. Growth of intertype competition, competition between store-based and non-store-based retailing and growing investment in technology are changing the way consumers shop and retailers sell. Different types of stores-discount stores, catalog showrooms, department stores-all compete for the same consumers by carrying the same type of merchandise. The biggest winners are retailers that have helped shoppers to be economically cautious, simplified their increasingly busy and complicated lives, and provided an emotional connection. The growth of e-retailers has forced traditional brick-and-mortar retailers to respond. Basically brick-and-mortar retailers utilize their natural advantages, such as products that shoppers can actually see, touch, and test, real-life customer service, and no delivery lag time for small-sized purchases. They also provide a shopping experience as a strong differentiator. They are adopting practices as calling each shopper a "guest". The store atmosphere should match the basic motivations of the shopper. If target consumers are more likely to be in a task-oriented and functional mindset, then a simpler, more restrained in-store environment may be better. Consistent with this reasoning, some retailers of experiential products are creating in-store entertainment to attract customers who want fun and excitement. The retail experience must deliver value to turn a one-time visitor into a loyal customer. Retailers need a tool that measures the full range of components that define experience-based value. This study uses an experiential value scale(EVS) developed by Mathwick, Malhotra and Rigdon(2001) which reflects the benefits derived from perceptions of playfulness, aesthetics, customer "return on investment" and service excellence. EVS is useful to predict differences in shopping preferences and patronage behavior of customers. EVS consists of items measuring efficiency, economic value, visual appeal, entertainment value, service excellence, escapism, and intrinsic enjoyment, which are subscales of experiencial value. Efficiency, economic value, service excellence are linked to the utilitarian shopping value. And visual appeal, entertainment value, escapism and intrinsic enjoyment are linked to hedonic shopping value. It has been found that consumers value hedonic experiences activated from escapism and attractiveness of shopping environment as much as the product quality, price, and the convenient location. As a result, many department stores, discount stores, and other retailers are introducing differential marketing strategy based on emotional/hedonic values. Many researches suggest that consumers go shopping not only for buying products but also for various shopping experiences. In other words, they seek the practical, rational value as well as social, recreational values in the shopping process(Babin et al, 1994; Bloch et al, 1994). Retailers may enhance buyer's loyalty to store by providing excellent emotional/hedonic value such as the excitement from shopping, not just the practical value of buying good products efficiently. We investigate the effect of perceived shopping values on the emotional experience and store loyalty based on the EVS(Experiential Value Scales) developed by Holbrook(1994), Mathwick, Malhotra and Rigdon(2001). This study assumes that the relative effect of shopping value dimensions on the responses of shoppers will differ according to types of stores and analyzes the moderating effect of store type(department store VS. discount store) on the causal relationship between shopping value dimensions and store loyalty. Emprical results show that utilitarian values of shopping experience and hedonic value of shipping experience give the positive effect on the emotional response of consumers and store loyalty. We also found the moderating effect of store types. The effect of utilitarian shopping values on the attitude toward discount store is higher than the effect of utilitarian shopping values on the attitude toword department store. And the effect of hedonic shopping value on the emotional response to discount store is higher than on the emotional response to department store. The empirical results reflect on the recent trend that discount stores try to fulfill the hedonic needs of consumers as well as utilitarian needs(i.e, low price) that discount stores traditionally have focused on

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.7
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• pp.105-117
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• 1966

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effet of phthalimido-methyl-O,O-dimethyl-phosphorodithioate (Imidan) known as an acaricide and its possible metabolic products on the growth of plant, when sprayed on the leaves of rice plant. The results are summarized as follows. 1) Possible metabolic products of Imidan, the following compounds were synthesized or recrystallized for the present experiment a) N-Hydroxymethyl phthalimidem b) Phthalimide c) Phthalamidic acid d) Phthalic acid e) Anthranilic acid f) p-Amino benzoic acid g) p-Hydroxy benzoic acid h) Benzoic acid 2) Among the above materials, a), c), d), e), and Imidan were dissolved in a buffer solution respectively to be 10 and 20 p.p.m. and tested with the wheat coleoptile straight growth method. According to the results, Imidan inhibited the growth of coleoptile in both 10 and 20 p.p.m., whereas the others showed much better growth than the control, especially phthalamidic acid in 10 p.p.m. It appears that Imidan itself inhibits the coleoptile growth, whereas the metabolites derived from Imidan through various metabolisms, including hydrolysis in plant tissues show growth-regulating activity. (refer: Table 1, Fig. 1) 3) 20, 100 and 200 p.p.m. solutions of Imidall emulsion in xylene f·ere prepared. The lengths of shoot and root of rice seeds germinated on the re-respective media were measured after 12 days. The data showed that root was much more elongated in Imidan 20 p.p.m., whereas shoot in Imidan 100 p.p.m., respectively, than in the xylene control. An interesting finding was that xylene used as solvent had a tendency to inhibit seriously the root growth of rice seed. (refer: Table 2,5). 4) The emulsions of concentrations in 10, 25, 50 and 100 p.p.m's of control, Imidan, N-hydroxy methyl phthalimide, anthranilic acid, and phthalmide, respectively, were sprayed twice on the rice plant on pot. After a certain period of time lengths of rice culms were measured, showing that plots treated with Imidan and N-hydroxy methyl phthalimide exhibited much more growth than those of control and the others. 5) Loaves and stems of rice plant were sampled and extracted with dried acetone at the intervals of 3-, 5-, 7-, and 14 days after treated with Imidan 250 p.p.m. emulsion. This sample extracted with acetone was purified by means of prechromatographic purification method with acetonitrile and paperchromatographed to detect the following metabolic products. Imidan (Rf: 0.97-0,98), N-hydroxy-methyl phthalimide (Rf: 0.87) phthalimide (Rf: 0.86-0.87), phthalamidic acid (Rf: 0.13-0.14), phthalic acid (Rf: 0.02-0.03), benzoic acid (Rf: 0.42-0.43), p-amino benzoic acid or p-hydroxy benzoic acid (Rf: 0.08-0.09), and unidentified compounds (Rf: 0.73, 0.59, 0.33, 0.23. 0.07). In addition, in the early stages, such as 3- and 5 days nonhydrolyzed Imidan and its first hydrolytic product, N-hydroxymethyl phthalimide were detected in relatively large amounts, whereas in the last stages of 7- and 14 days due to further decomposition, the afore-mentioned two materials were reduced in the amount and p-hthalic, phthalamidic, benzoic, and p-Hydroxy benzoic, or p-Amino benzoic acids were detected in a considerably large amount. It is, therefore, believed that most of Imidan applied to the leaves of rice plant may be decomposed within almost 14 days. In the light of above observations it is considered that Imidan itself is not involved in plant growth regulating activity, whereas various phthaloyl derivatives produced in the course of metabolism (namelr, enzymic action) in plant tissues may have such effect.

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.111-137
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• 2010

The basic purpose of this study is to investigate perceived quality and service personal value affecting the result of long-term relationship between service buyers and suppliers. This research presented a constructive model(perceived quality affecting the service personal value and the moderate effect of NFC) in the on off line and then propose the research model base on prior researches and studies about relationships among components of service. Data were gathered from respondents who visit at the education service market. For this study, Data were analyzed by AMOS 7.0. We integrate the literature on services marketing with researches on personal values and perceived quality. The SERPVAL scale presented here allows for the creation of a common ground for assessing service personal values, giving a clear understanding of the key value dimensions behind service choice and usage. It will lead to a focus of future research in services marketing, extending knowledge in the field and stimulating further empirical research on service personal values. At the managerial level, as a tool the SERPVAL scale should allow practitioners to evaluate and improve the value of a service, and consequently, to define strategies and actions to address services for customers based on their fundamental personal values. Through qualitative and empirical research, we find that the service quality construct conforms to the structure of a second-order factor model that ties service quality perceptions to distinct and actionable dimensions: outcome, interaction, and environmental quality. In turn, each has two subdimensions that define the basis of service quality perceptions. The authors further suggest that for each of these subdimensions to contribute to improved service quality perceptions, the quality received by consumers must be perceived to be reliable, responsive, and empathetic. Although the service personal value may be found in researches that explore individual values and their consequences for consumer behavior, there is no established operationalization of a SERPVAL scale. The inexistence of an established scale, duly adapted in order to understand and analyze personal values behind services usage, exposes the need of a measurement scale with such a purpose. This need has to be rooted, however, in a conceptualization of the construct being scaled. Service personal values can be defined as a customer's overall assessment of the use of a service based on the perception of what is achieved in terms of his own personal values. As consumer behaviors serve to show an individual's values, the use of a service can also be a way to fulfill and demonstrate consumers'personal values. In this sense, a service can provide more to the customer than its concrete and abstract attributes at both the attribute and the quality levels, and more than its functional consequences at the value level. Both values and services literatures agree, that personal value is the highest-level concept, followed by instrumental values, attitudes and finally by product attributes. Purchasing behaviors are agreed to be the end result of these concepts' interaction, with personal values taking a major role in the final decision process. From both consumers' and practitioners' perspectives, values are extremely relevant, as they are desirable goals that serve as guiding principles in people's lives. While building on previous research, we propose to assess service personal values through three broad groups of individual dimensions; at the self-oriented level, we use (1) service value to peaceful life (SVPL) and, at the social-oriented level, we use (2) service value to social recognition (SVSR), and (3) service value to social integration (SVSI). Service value to peaceful life is our first dimension. This dimension emerged as a combination of values coming from the RVS scale, a scale built specifically to assess general individual values. If a service promotes a pleasurable life, brings or improves tranquility, safety and harmony, then its user recognizes the value of this service. Generally, this service can improve the user's pleasure of life, since it protects or defends the consumer from threats to life or pressures on it. While building upon both the LOV scale, a scale built specifically to assess consumer values, and the RVS scale for individual values, we develop the other two dimensions: SVSR and SVSI. The roles of social recognition and social integration to improve service personal value have been seriously neglected. Social recognition derives its outcome utility from its predictive utility. When applying this underlying belief to our second dimension, SVSR, we assume that people use a service while taking into consideration the content of what is delivered. Individuals consider whether the service aids in gaining respect from others, social recognition and status, as well as whether it allows achieving a more fulfilled and stimulating life, which might then be revealed to others. People also tend to engage in behavior that receives social recognition and to avoid behavior that leads to social disapproval, and this contributes to an individual's social integration. This leads us to the third dimension, SVSI, which is based on the fact that if the consumer perceives that a service strengthens friendships, provides the possibility of becoming more integrated in the group, or promotes better relationships at the social, professional or family levels, then the service will contribute to social integration, and naturally the individual will recognize personal value in the service. Most of the research in business values deals with individual values. However, to our knowledge, no study has dealt with assessing overall personal values as well as their dimensions in a service context. Our final results show that the scales adapted from the Schwartz list were excluded. A possible explanation is that although Schwartz builds on Rokeach work in order to explore individual values, its dimensions might be especially focused on analyzing societal values. As we are looking for individual dimensions, this might explain why the values inspired by the Schwartz list were excluded from the model. The hierarchical structure of the final scale presented in this paper also presents theoretical implications. Although we cannot claim to definitively capture the dimensions of service personal values, we believe that we come close to capturing these overall evaluations because the second-order factor extracts the underlying commonality among dimensions. In addition to obtaining respondents' evaluations of the dimensions, the second-order factor model captures the common variance among these dimensions, reflecting the respondents' overall assessment of service personal values. Towards this fact, we expect that the service personal values conceptualization and measurement scale presented here contributes to both business values literature and the service marketing field, allowing for the delineation of strategies for adding value to services. This new scale also presents managerial implications. The SERPVAL dimensions give some guidance on how to better pursue a highly service-oriented business strategy. Indeed, the SERPVAL scale can be used for benchmarking purposes, as this scale can be used to identify whether or not a firms' marketing strategies are consistent with consumers' expectations. Managerial assessment of the personal values of a service might be extremely important because it allows managers to better understand what customers want or value. Thus, this scale allows us to identify what services are really valuable to the final consumer; providing knowledge for making choices regarding which services to include. Traditional approaches have focused their attention on service attributes (as quality) and service consequences(as service value), but personal values may be an important set of variables to be considered in understanding what attracts consumers to a certain service. By using the SERPVAL scale to assess the personal values associated with a services usage, managers may better understand the reasons behind services' usage, so that they may handle them more efficiently. While testing nomological validity, our empirical findings demonstrate that the three SERPVAL dimensions are positively and significantly associated with satisfaction. Additionally, while service value to social integration is related only with loyalty, service value to peaceful life is associated with both loyalty and repurchase intent. It is also interesting and surprising that service value to social recognition appears not to be significantly linked with loyalty and repurchase intent. A possible explanation is that no mobile service provider has yet emerged in the market as a luxury provider. All of the Portuguese providers are still trying to capture market share by means of low-end pricing. This research has implications for consumers as well. As more companies seek to build relationships with their customers, consumers are easily able to examine whether these relationships provide real value or not to their own lives. The selection of a strategy for a particular service depends on its customers' personal values. Being highly customer-oriented means having a strong commitment to customers, trying to create customer value and understanding customer needs. Enhancing service distinctiveness in order to provide a peaceful life, increase social recognition and gain a better social integration are all possible strategies that companies may pursue, but the one to pursue depends on the outstanding personal values held by the service customers. Data were gathered from 284 respondents in the korean discount store and online shopping mall market. This research proposed 3 hypotheses on 6 latent variables and tested through structural equation modeling. 6 alternative measurements were compared through statistical significance test of the 6 paths of research model and the overall fitting level of structural equation model. and the result was successful. and Perceived quality more positively influences service personal value when NFC is high than when no NFC is low in the off-line market. The results of the study indicate that service quality is properly modeled as an antecedent of service personal value. We consider the research and managerial implications of the study and its limitations. In sum, by knowing the dimensions a consumer takes into account when choosing a service, a better understanding of purchasing behaviors may be realized, guiding managers toward customers expectations. By defining strategies and actions that address potential problems with the service personal values, managers might ultimately influence their firm's performance. we expect to contribute to both business values and service marketing literatures through the development of the service personal value. At a time when marketing researchers are challenged to provide research with practical implications, it is also believed that this framework may be used by managers to pursue service-oriented business strategies while taking into consideration what customers value.