• The Journal of Information Systems
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.53-72
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• 2019

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of tie strength in the network of industrial clustering on the knowledge acquisition, integration and innovation performance of small and medium sized enterprises. We test the positive relationship of weak tie and knowledge acquisition, strong tie and knowledge integration, and the interaction effect of two tie strengths on both processes of knowledge acquisition and integration. By identifying these relationships, we can better understand how to manage the attributes of social networks in terms of tie strength in order to improve the performance of innovation for the small and medium sized enterprises. Design/methodology/approach We collect 200 survey data from 2 industrial cluster respectively: Pankyo and Guroo. In Pankyo, the proportion of IT industry is the highest (35%) while the proportion of manufacturing is highest (35%) in Guroo. Pooling the data from two industrial cluster, we check the reliability and validity of our research model and test the hypotheses. Findings First, we find the positive relationship of weak tie and knowledge acquisition from both industrial clustering. Weak tie is composed of heterogeneous organizations with various background and expertise. The communication and information sharing of organizations in the weak tie network helps the idea generation for organization's innovation, which is the knowledge acquisition process. Second, the relationship of strong tie and knowledge integration is insignificant. Typically the strong tie from long-lasting partnership is expected to be beneficial in the action stage of innovation, which is the knowledge integration process. However it is not identified in our industry cluster. Finally, the interaction effect of weak and strong tie is identified to be effective on both knowledge acquisition and integration processes.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.1-12
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• 2015

This study attempted to verify the influence of strong and weak ties on the performance of project based organizations by examining various tie relationships in the Korean TV drama making industry. The extant literature has suggested that the impact of network ties depends not only on their strength but also the network contexts (i.e., project characteristics). Due to artistic and creative nature of TV drama making, it is hypothesized that weak tie networks among critical human resources would outperform strong tie networks. Empirical results support the hypothesis that weak tie networks indeed outperform strong tie networks in terms of viewing rate of drama.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.69-78
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• 2014

This study deals with the digital policy proposal through the path modeling study on the effect of the strength of weak ties & emotional perception leading to the user's satisfaction, WOM between game users, and the verification on the effect of the emotional real name SNS on the social network game's diffusion. Researcher confirmed that the effect of the strength of weak ties & emotional perception led to the user's satisfaction, WOM of SNG. Even though weak tie, researchers estimate that the users emotionally interact with the real name relation effect of SNS. And effective factors for WOM are not a tie relationship or emotional interactivity of weak tie antecedently but user's satisfaction. As a result, though antecedent factors (weak tie & interactivity) had a positive effect as real name SNS, eventually powerful factor of making buzz was the SNG user's satisfaction. Thus researchers expect the practical policy proposition for government & corporation, which means SNG service providers more carefully manage the service satisfaction for WOM with SNG user's experience.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.693-703
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• 2006

Keeping the balance between exploration of new possibilities and exploitation of existing certainties in organizational innovation is getting its significance as business environments become more turbulent This paper focused on the relationship between two different types of innovation and network configuration. For this purpose, we conducted the empirical studies of 168 IT SMEs located in Gyeongbuk. For this analysis, we defined two innovation types as exploratory innovation and exploitative innovation. Also, we considered network scope and strength of tie as network configuration. The results showed that the exploratory innovation had sparse network of network scope and weak tie of strength. On the contrary the exploitative innovation had dense network and strong tie.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.141-154
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• 2022

This study aims to investigate how tie strength in business networks affects successful knowledge sharing, as well as the impact of environmental uncertainty on the relationship between knowledge sharing and tie strength. We gathered data through a questionnaire-based survey of 310 employees affiliated with a high-technology industry in Korea. The results highlighted the positive influence of strong ties on tacit knowledge sharing and weak ties on explicit knowledge sharing. Additionally, in this study, we determine that strong ties are strengthened to share tacit knowledge with exchange parties when environmental uncertainty is high, whereas weak ties may remain unaffected by environmental uncertainty. This study contributes to the literature on tie strength and knowledge sharing by applying social capital theory to a high-technology industry. The findings suggest that firms must take advantage of strong and weak ties to facilitate knowledge sharing to enhance competency, create novel knowledge, and obtain a competitive advantage.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.228-237
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• 2018

The importance of eWOM (electronic word-of-mouth) communication through online communities is increasing on a daily basis. This study analyzed how the relationship between eWOM (electronic Word-Of-Mouth) factor and eWOM communication depends on the cultural orientation of users in the online community. The research model was developed based on four cultural orientations of individual affect Social tie and usefulness. The model consists of variables such as social tie and perceived usefulness as predecessors of eWOM, four dimensions of cultural orientation (Horizontal Individualism, Horizontal Collectivism, Vertical Individualism, Vertical Collectivism), and eWOM. The model was tested empirically using the PLS (partial least squares) structure equation model. Survey was conducted for online community users in South Korea. Data was statistically validated whether fits on research model. The study results reveal that Social Tie have a positive effect on Perceived Usefulness. Social Tie and Perceived Usefulness have a positive effect on eWOM. 3 of cultural orientations (HC, VI, VC) have a positive effect on Social Tie. Only one of cultural orientations (HC) have an negative effect on Perceived Usefulness. Especially, horizontal collectivism (HC) shows strong correlation with perceived usefulness, whereas vertical collectivism (VC) shows weak correlation with perceived usefulness andvertical individualism (VI) shows strongly correlation with social tie, whereas horizontal individualism (HI) shows weak correlation with social tie. Based on the study results, customized service strategy could be formulated according to the different vertical styles and various eWOM factors.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.163-183
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• 2009

Numerous studies in the field of buyer-supplier relationship research have focused on the buyer's performance. In contrast, supplier's performance has been paid relatively little attention by researchers, especially the research about the supplier's innovation in the relationship is still in its early stage. In this paper, we examine the relation between the attribute of buyer-supplier relationship and the attribute of supplier's innovation through case research. We define the attribute of buyer-supplier relationship as 'tie strength' (Granovetter, 1973), and the attribute of supplier's innovation as 'exploitation or exploration' (March, 1991). We selected the semiconductor equipment industry of U.S.A, Japan and Korea and firm (JUSUNG Engineering) as cases that examine the relation. We found that a strong tie relationship is positively associated with supplier's exploitation based innovation, and a weak tie relationship is positively related to it's exploration based innovation in this research also. In addition, we could verify reduction of strong tie relationship cause supplier's organizational change.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.159-189
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• 2012

What attracts consumers to bloggers' reviews? Consumers would be attracted both by the Bloggers' expertise (i.e., knowledge and experience) and by his/her unbiased manner of delivering information. Expertise and trustworthiness are both virtues of information sources, particularly when there is uncertainty in decision-making. Noting this point, we postulate that consumers' motives determine the relative weights they place on expertise and trustworthiness. In addition, our hypotheses assume that tie strength moderates consumers' expectation on bloggers' expertise and trustworthiness: with expectation on expertise enhanced for power-blog user-group (weak-ties), and an expectation on trustworthiness elevated for personal-blog user-group (strong-ties). Finally, we theorize that the effect of credibility on willingness to accept a review is moderated by tie strength; the predictive power of credibility is more prominent for the personal-blog user-groups than for the power-blog user groups. To support these assumptions, we conducted a field survey with blog users, collecting retrospective self-report data. The "gourmet shop" was chosen as a target product category, and obtained data analyzed by structural equations modeling. Findings from these data provide empirical support for our theoretical predictions. First, we found that the purposive motive aimed at satisfying instrumental information needs increases reliance on bloggers' expertise, but interpersonal connectivity value for alleviating loneliness elevates reliance on bloggers' trustworthiness. Second, expertise-based credibility is more prominent for power-blog user-groups than for personal-blog user-groups. While strong ties attract consumers with trustworthiness based on close emotional bonds, weak ties gain consumers' attention with new, non-redundant information (Levin & Cross, 2004). Thus, when the existing knowledge system, used in strong ties, does not work as smoothly for addressing an impending problem, the weak-tie source can be utilized as a handy reference. Thus, we can anticipate that power bloggers secure credibility by virtue of their expertise while personal bloggers trade off on their trustworthiness. Our analysis demonstrates that power bloggers appeal more strongly to consumers than do personal bloggers in the area of expertise-based credibility. Finally, the effect of review credibility on willingness to accept a review is higher for the personal-blog user-group than for the power-blog user-group. Actually, the inference that review credibility is a potent predictor of assessing willingness to accept a review is grounded on the analogy that attitude is an effective indicator of purchase intention. However, if memory about established attitudes is blocked, the predictive power of attitude on purchase intention is considerably diminished. Likewise, the effect of credibility on willingness to accept a review can be affected by certain moderators. Inspired by this analogy, we introduced tie strength as a possible moderator and demonstrated that tie strength moderated the effect of credibility on willingness to accept a review. Previously, Levin and Cross (2004) showed that credibility mediates strong-ties through receipt of knowledge, but this credibility mediation is not observed for weak-ties, where a direct path to it is activated. Thus, the predictive power of credibility on behavioral intention - that is, willingness to accept a review - is expected to be higher for strong-ties.

• International Journal of Contents
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.29-37
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• 2019

This study investigates how adolescents' smartphone attachment, social anxiety, and offline and smartphone network sizes are related to their friendship in regards to maintaining either a strong or weak bond. Based on an online survey involving 402 adolescent smartphone users in South Korea, this study found that smartphone attachment was positively related to a strong ties friendship maintenance and negatively related to weak ties friendships. Similarly, social anxiety was found to be negatively associated with friendship maintenance for both strong and weak - tie relationships. More importantly, this study revealed that the types and size of social networks moderated the relationships among adolescents with smartphone attachment, social anxiety, and friendship maintenance through smartphones.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.108-118
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• 2017

This study focuses on an effectiveness of socially recommended advertising on social network sites (SNSs) and investigates the impact of three critical factors on SNS advertising effectiveness - reward type for advertising recommenders' intention, product type on advertisements, and tie strength. A $2{\times}2$ factorial design was used to test the interaction effects between the two variables, reward type and product type on advertisements, moderated by tie strength. The results indicate that when participants observe socially recommended advertising, hedonic product ads with non-monetary reward shows the most effectiveness, and reward type and product type are also effective. In the combination of reward type and product type, we have confirmed the regulating factor influencing the effectiveness of social advertising according to the tie strength between the recommenders and the consumers. Strong-tie recommenders have more influence on the effectiveness of the social advertising than weak-tie recommenders. Based on these results, theoretical and practical implications were provided to refine marketing environments on SNSs.