• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.65-93
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• 2011

As relationship between buyer and seller has been brought closer and long-term relationship has been more important in B2B markets, the importance of service and service convenience increases as well as product. In homogeneous markets, where service offerings are similar and therefore not key competitive differentiator, providing greater convenience may enable a competitive advantage. Service convenience, as conceptualized by Berry et al. (2002), is defined as the consumers' time and effort perceptions related to buying or using a service. For this reason, B2B customers are interested in how fast the service is provided and how much save non-monetary cost like time or effort by the service convenience along with service quality. Therefore, this study attempts to investigate the impact of service convenience on relationship factors such as relationship satisfaction, relationship commitment, and relationship performance. The purpose of this study is to find out whether service convenience can be a new antecedent of relationship quality and relationship performance. In addition, this study tries to examine how five-dimensional service convenience constructs (decision convenience, access convenience, transaction convenience, benefit convenience, post-benefit convenience) affect customers' relationship satisfaction, relationship commitment, and relationship performance. The service convenience comprises five fundamental components - decision convenience (the perceived time and effort costs associated with service purchase or use decisions), access convenience(the perceived time and effort costs associated with initiating service delivery), transaction convenience(the perceived time and effort costs associated with finalizing the transaction), benefit convenience(the perceived time and effort costs associated with experiencing the core benefits of the offering) and post-benefit convenience (the perceived time and effort costs associated with reestablishing subsequent contact with the firm). Earlier studies of perceived service convenience in the industrial market are none. The conventional studies that have dealt with service convenience have usually been made in the consumer market, or they have dealt with convenience aspects in the service process. This service convenience measure for consumer market can be useful tool to estimate service quality in B2B market. The conceptualization developed by Berry et al. (2002) reflects a multistage, experiential consumption process in which evaluations of convenience vary at each stage. For this reason, the service convenience measure is good for B2B service environment which has complex processes and various types. Especially when categorizing B2B service as sequential stage of service delivery like Kumar and Kumar (2004), the Berry's service convenience measure which reflect sequential flow of service deliveries suitable to establish B2B service convenience. For this study, data were gathered from respondents who often buy business service and analyzed by structural equation modeling. The sample size in the present study is 119. Composite reliability values and average variance extracted values were examined for each variable to have reliability. We determine whether the measurement model supports the convergent validity by CFA, and discriminant validity was assessed by examining the correlation matrix of the constructs. For each pair of constructs, the square root of the average variance extracted exceeded their correlations, thus supporting the discriminant validity of the constructs. Hypotheses were tested using the Smart PLS 2.0 and we calculated the PLS path values and followed with a bootstrap re-sampling method to test the hypotheses. Among the five dimensional service convenience constructs, four constructs (decision convenience, transaction convenience, benefit convenience, post-benefit convenience) affected customers' positive relationship satisfaction, relationship commitment, and relationship performance. This result means that service convenience is important cue to improve relationship between buyer and seller. One of the five service convenience dimensions, access convenience, does not affect relationship quality and performance, which implies that the dimension of service convenience is not important factor of cumulative satisfaction. The Cumulative satisfaction can be distinguished from transaction-specific customer satisfaction, which is an immediate post-purchase evaluative judgment or an affective reaction to the most recent transactional experience with the firm. Because access convenience minimizes the physical effort associated with initiating an exchange, the effect on relationship satisfaction similar to cumulative satisfaction may be relatively low in terms of importance than transaction-specific customer satisfaction. Also, B2B firms focus on service quality, price, benefit, follow-up service and so on than convenience of time or place in service because it is relatively difficult to change existing transaction partners in B2B market compared to consumer market. In addition, this study using partial least squares methods reveals that customers' satisfaction and commitment toward relationship has mediating role between the service convenience and relationship performance. The result shows that management and investment to improve service convenience make customers' positive relationship satisfaction, and then the positive relationship satisfaction can enhance the relationship commitment and relationship performance. And to conclude, service convenience management is an important part of successful relationship performance management, and the service convenience is an important antecedent of relationship between buyer and seller such as the relationship commitment and relationship performance. Therefore, it has more important to improve relationship performance that service providers enhance service convenience although competitive service development or service quality improvement is important. Given the pressure to provide increased convenience, it is not surprising that organizations have made significant investments in enhancing the convenience aspect of their product and service offering.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.269-277
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• 2010

Previous studies have shown that the most important factor affecting customer loyalty in the service industry is service quality. However, on the subject of whether service quality has a direct or indirect effect on customer loyalty, scholars' views apparently vary. Some studies suggest that service quality has a direct and fundamental influence on customer loyalty (Bai and Liu, 2002). However, others have shown that service quality not only directly affects customer loyalty, it also has an indirect impact on customer loyalty by influencing customer satisfaction and perceived value (Cronin, Brady, and Hult, 2000). Currently, there are few domestic articles that specifically address the relationship between service quality and customer loyalty in the mobile communication industry. Moreover, research has studied customer loyalty as a whole variable, rather than breaking it down further into multiple dimensions. Based on this analysis, this paper summarizes previous study results, establishes an effect mechanism model among service quality, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty in the mobile communication industry, and presents a statistical test on model assumptions by using customer investigation data from Heilongjiang Mobile Company. It provides theoretical guidance for mobile service management based on the discussion of the hypothesis test results. For data collection, the sample comprised mobile users in Harbin city, and the survey was taken by random sampling. Out of a total of 300 questionnaires, 276 (92.9%) were recovered. After excluding invalid questionnaires, 249 remained, for an effective rate of 82.6 percent for the study. Cronbach's ${\alpha}$ coefficient was adapted to assess the scale reliability, and validity testing was conducted on the questionnaire from three aspects: content validity, construct validity. and convergent validity. The study tested for goodness of fit mainly from the absolute and relative fit indexes. From the hypothesis testing results, overall, four assumptions have not been supported. The ultimate affective relationship of service quality, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty is demonstrated in Figure 2. On the whole, the service quality of the communication industry not only has a direct positive significant effect on customer loyalty, it also has an indirect positive significant effect on customer loyalty through service quality; the affective mechanism and extent of customer loyalty are different, and are influenced by each dimension of service quality. This study used the questionnaires of existing literature from home and abroad and tested them in empirical research, with all questions adapted to seven-point Likert scales. With the SERVQUAL scale of Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1988), or PZB, as a reference point, service quality was divided into five dimensions-tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy-and the questions were simplified down to nineteen. The measurement of customer satisfaction was based mainly on Fornell (1992) and Wang and Han (2003), ending up with four questions. Based on the study’s three indicators of price tolerance, first choice, and complaint reaction were used to measure attitudinal loyalty, while repurchase intention, recommendation, and reputation measured behavioral loyalty. The collection and collation of literature data produced a model of the relationship among service quality, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty in mobile communications, and China Mobile in the city of Harbin in Heilongjiang province was used for conducting an empirical test of the model and obtaining some useful conclusions. First, service quality in mobile communication is formed by the five factors mentioned earlier: tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. On the basis of PZB SERVQUAL, the study designed a measurement scale of service quality for the mobile communications industry, and obtained these five factors through exploratory factor analysis. The factors fit basically with the five elements, indicating the concept of five elements of service quality for the mobile communications industry. Second, service quality in mobile communications has both direct and indirect positive effects on attitudinal loyalty, with the indirect effect being produced through the intermediary variable, customer satisfaction. There are also both direct and indirect positive effects on behavioral loyalty, with the indirect effect produced through two intermediary variables: customer satisfaction and attitudinal loyalty. This shows that better service quality and higher customer satisfaction will activate the attitudinal to service providers more active and show loyalty to service providers much easier. In addition, the effect mechanism of all dimensions of service quality on all dimensions of customer loyalty is different. Third, customer satisfaction plays a significant intermediary role among service quality and attitudinal and behavioral loyalty, indicating that improving service quality can boost customer satisfaction and make it easier for satisfied customers to become loyal customers. Moreover, attitudinal loyalty plays a significant intermediary role between service quality and behavioral loyalty, indicating that only attitudinally and behaviorally loyal customers are truly loyal customers. The research conclusions have some indications for Chinese telecom operators and others to upgrade their service quality. Two limitations to the study are also mentioned. First, all data were collected in the Heilongjiang area, so there might be a common method bias that skews the results. Second, the discussion addresses the relationship between service quality and customer loyalty, setting customer satisfaction as mediator, but does not consider other factors, like customer value and consumer features, This research will be continued in the future.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.83-110
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• 2010

Dissatisfied customers may express their dissatisfaction behaviorally. These behavioral responses may impact the firms' profitability. How do we model the impact of self regulatory orientation on emotions and subsequent customer behaviors? Obviously, the positive and negative emotions experienced in these situations will influence the overall degree of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the service(Zeelenberg and Pieters 1999). Most likely, these specific emotions will also partly determine the subsequent behavior in relation to the service and service provider, such as the likelihood of complaining, the degree to which customers will switch or repurchase, and the extent of word of mouth communication they will engage in(Zeelenberg and Pieters 2004). This study investigates the antecedents, consequences of negative consumption emotion and the moderate effect of attribution processing in an integrated model(self regulatory mode → specific emotions → behavioral responses). We focused on the fact that regret and disappointment have effects on consumer behavior. Especially, There are essentially two approaches in this research: the valence based approach and the specific emotions approach. The authors indicate theoretically and show empirically that it matters to distinguish these approaches in services research. and The present studies examined the influence of two regulatory mode concerns(Locomotion orientation and Assessment orientation) with making comparisons on experiencing post decisional regret and disappointment(Pierro, Kruglanski, and Higgins 2006; Pierro et al. 2008). When contemplating a decision with a negative outcome, it was predicted that high (vs low) locomotion would induce more disappointment than regret, whereas high (vs low) assessment would induce more regret than disappointment. The validity of the measurement scales was also confirmed by evaluations provided by the participating respondents and an independent advisory panel; samples provided recommendations throughout the primary, exploratory phases of the study. The resulting goodness of fit statistics were RMR or RMSEA of 0.05, GFI and AGFI greater than 0.9, and a chi-square with a 175.11. The indicators of the each constructs were very good measures of variables and had high convergent validity as evidenced by the reliability with a more than 0.9. Some items were deleted leaving those that reflected the cognitive dimension of importance rather than the dimension. The indicators were very good measures and had convergent validity as evidenced by the reliability of 0.9. These results for all constructs indicate the measurement fits the sample data well and is adequate for use. The scale for each factor was set by fixing the factor loading to one of its indicator variables and then applying the maximum likelihood estimation method. The results of the analysis showed that directions of the effects in the model are ultimately supported by the theory underpinning the causal linkages of the model. This research proposed 6 hypotheses on 6 latent variables and tested through structural equation modeling. 6 alternative measurements were compared through statistical significance test of the paths of research model and the overall fitting level of structural equation model and the result was successful. Also, Locomotion orientation more positively influences disappointment when internal attribution is high than low and Assessment orientation more positively influences regret when external attribution is high than low. In sum, The results of our studies suggest that assessment and locomotion concerns, both as chronic individual predispositions and as situationally induced states, influence the amount of people's experienced regret and disappointment. These findings contribute to our understanding of regulatory mode, regret, and disappointment. In previous studies of regulatory mode, relatively little attention has been paid to the post actional evaluative phase of self regulation. The present findings indicate that assessment concerns and locomotion concerns are clearly distinct in this phase, with individuals higher in assessment delving more into possible alternatives to past actions and individuals higher in locomotion engaging less in such reflective thought. What this suggests is that, separate from decreasing the amount of counterfactual thinking per se, individuals with locomotion concerns want to move on, to get on with it. Regret is about the past and not the future. Thus, individuals with locomotion concerns are less likely to experience regret. The results supported our predictions. We discuss the implications of these findings for the nature of regret and disappointment from the perspective of their relation to regulatory mode. Also, self regulatory mode and the specific emotions(disappointment and regret) were assessed and their influence on customers' behavioral responses(inaction, word of mouth) was examined, using a sample of 275 customers. It was found that emotions have a direct impact on behavior over and above the effects of negative emotions and customer behavior. Hence, We argue against incorporating emotions such as regret and disappointment into a specific response measure and in favor of a specific emotions approach on self regulation. Implications for services marketing practice and theory are discussed.

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.67-95
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• 2009

The purpose of this study is to empirically examine the transference of trust process, an important factor to consumer's purchase decision-making. Even though several researchers have discussed the trust transference process, there is no research related to this concept. Specifically we have focused on the transference of trust from the retailer to low involvement private label (PL) products. PL products were chosen as transference of trust occurs under ambiguity due to lack of information about the product and their manufacturer. PL products provide relatively less information than national brand (NB) products. In addition, retailers have been rapidly expanding their PL product categories. To identify the theoretical and empirical limitations of prior studies, we discuss several theories explaining the transference of trust: 'Balance theory' and 'availability heuristic' in transference of cognitive trust; 'affective transference' and 'affect as information' in transference of affective trust. An empirical test was performed. A self completion questionnaire was developed and administered to a convenience sample of PL users. 206 usable questionnaire were received. The results show that the transference of trust plays a mediating role linking the retailer to the manufacturer and to the product. Although our model, which included the transference process of trust as a mediating effect, did not improve the competitive model, the coefficients of the respective paths were found to be better. This study confirms the transference of cognitive trust from the retailer to both the manufacturer and the product, but not for affective trust. We offer the explanation that PL products may tend to have affective trust resulting from brand familiarity but not to their PL manufacturers.

• Journal of Venture Innovation
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.47-59
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• 2018

With the recent, rapid changes in the socio-economic environment, organizations of today are now required to present a framework of realistic consumer behaviors based on psychology, economy, and finance, in order to understand their investing customers. Stock investors show differences in terms of their decisions or evaluations in the process of investing. This is due to what is called the 'framing effect.' The decision frames of the investors are defined differently, and, as a result, this affects the decisions made by the investors. Preceding studies on stock investment rarely touched the topic of the effect of message framing on market participants in their stock investment, especially regarding the differences in terms of their risk management behaviors based on the message framing in stock investment. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the influence of stock investment message framing on market participants in their investment decision making and empirically validate whether this message framing effect has a moderating effect on the factors of investment satisfaction. For this, 494 participants with stock investment experiences were interviewed from May 1 to 26, 2018, and the results were used as the data for the empirical analysis. The analysis of the data was conducted using SPSS 22.0 statistical analysis software. The results of this study were as follows; First, of the stock investment behavioral factors, the stock comprehension, recommendation by others for a stock, and the degree of risks of a stock affected stock investment satisfaction in a positive manner. And, of the behavioral factors of stock investment, stock comprehension, stock brand, recommendation on the stocks from others, past performances, and risk levels of stocks affected the intent of continued stock investment in a positive manner. Second, message framing turned out to affect stock investment satisfaction in a positive manner, and it also had a significant moderating effect to the relationship between the stock investment behavior and stock investment satisfaction. Third, message framing was found to affect continued stock investment intent significantly, with a significant moderating effect in the relationship between stock investment behavioral factor and continued stock investment intent.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.8
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• pp.233-267
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• 2001

The management environment in Korea today is undergoing rapid changes; in particular, domestic corporations and businesses are confronting formidable adversity with IMF crisis and WTO. Though cost cutback, higher quality, rapid production, and diversification of products were accepted as important requirements for competitiveness in the past, they have been replaced by brand power. Consumption patterns have changed their focus from function to image orientation. This is why managers in corporations have invested enormous amounts of resources into producing powerful brands, which can attract consumers' attention greatly enough to improve the image of their products. Brands are regarded as a vital vehicle for marketing strategies and thus as a legal asset. Brands with remarkable and favorable image can secure a loyal consumer groups stable revenues. M & A, currently active between corporations, makes brand equity all the more important. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of internal marketing and increased brand diversification on brand equity by combining them as influential factors with marketing mix factor. For this purpose, literature review was make on previous fragmented studies of influential factors on brand equity build-up. Based on the findings of this study, some operational implications were suggested for marketing managers. The findings and implications of the present study are as follows; First, efficient communication among organization members was found to have a significant effect on product quality. Second, job satisfaction and efficient communication among members was shown to significantly influence price policies. Thirdly, efficient communication among organization workers proved to have a significant effect on distribution strategies. Forth, efficient communication among members was demonstrated to significantly influence advertisement and other public-relations activities. Fifth, opacity of market environment appeared to have a significant effect on product quality, prior market entrance as perceived by organization members turned to be of negative influence on product quality. Sixth, opacity of market environment was found to have a significant effect on price policies. Seventh, opacity of market environment was shown to be of significant effect on distribution strategies. Eighth, grater opacity of market environment proved to improve advertisement and other public-relations activities. Ninth, price policies, distribution strategies, advertisement and public-relations activities were found to have a significant effect on brand equity value. To sum up these findings, in order for corporations and businesses to cope with consumers' needs that are increasingly segmented, internal marketing strategies and brand diversification should be implemented so as to generate greater synergy effect. It is also important to stress that differentiated, higher competitiveness should be secured for Korean corporations and businesses to survive in the drastically changing, globalized market environment. In this regard, continuous and long-term management strategies for brand equity build-up should be ensured and is essential in the present unlimited competition. The last but not least important point to notice is that to increase brand equity value, intensive investment and constant emphasis should be made on internal marketing management on intra-organizational members before strengthening external marketing.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.19-28
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• 2012

Rapidly growing sales amount and the number of discount stores caused many side effects and sensitive issues in Korea. Because these severe competition due to more expensive cost just like excessive increase in advertising and location selection, and these caused completely ruined small merchants as well as passed on to the consumer. This Study focused on competitiveness of discount store in Korea to the perspective of college students, as explored the relationships between marketing communication and store loyalty. And, examined for two moderating effect, 1) consumers' value separated by hedonic value and utilitarian value between marketing communication and store loyalty, and 2) consumers' value separated by hedonic value and utilitarian value between marketing communication and consumption emotion. Finally, this study examined for mediating effect of consumption emotion between marketing communication and store loyalty. In order to verify the relationship, moderating and mediating effects, data were collected from 130 college students in Whasung, Gyeonggi Province to test theoretical model and its hypotheses. Findings are as followed : First, analysis showed that factors such as advertisement(β =.221, p<.05), publicity(β =.513, p<.01), sales promotion(β =.234, p<.01), word of mouth(β =.627, p<.01) and physical environment(β =.339, p<.01) for marketing communication in the discount store have statistically significant positive effect on store loyalty. But the result of regression analysis for which factors are more impact in marketing communication between store loyalty showed that word of mouth(β =.53, p<.01) is only statistically significant. Second, publicity(β =-.895, p<.05), the sub-dimension of marketing communication shows only statistically significant negative moderating effect on store loyalty. But, the results of the moderating effect of value between marketing communication and consumption emotion verified that utilitarian value show statistically significant, specifically advertisement(β =.294, p<.01), physical environment(β =.418, p<.01), sales promotion(β =.245, p<.01), word of mouth(β =.414, p<.01) and publicity(β =1.137, p<.05), respectively. And hedonic value show statistically significant, specifically advertisement(β =.286, p<.01), physical environment (β =.418, p<.01), sales promotion(β =.236, p<.01) and word of mouth(β =.420, p<.01), respectively. But publicity(β =.145, p=.119) is not statistically significant. Finally, the results verified mediating effect for consumption emotion between all factors for marketing communication and store loyalty showed that factors such as advertisement, publicity, word of mouth and physical environment for marketing communication except sales promotion were statistically significant fully mediated in advertisement, and partially mediated in publicity, word of mouth and physical environment. This testified that the consumption emotion had the most important factor to enhance store loyalty to the perspective of College students. These results can provide important implications and invaluable tips for planning marketing strategies and gaining access to new potential customers. Implications and future research directions are also discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.37 no.8
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• pp.1069-1078
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• 2008

The purposes of this study were to identify the consumer behavior using in campus specialty coffee shop and to establish the marketing strategies through Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) of service quality. Questionnaires were distributed to 725 students at K University located in Masan, from April 23 to May 3, 2007. Finally, 621 questionnaires were included in the final analysis (response rate: 85.7%). For statistical analysis, SPSS (12.0) was used to conduct the descriptive analysis, t-test, factor analysis and reliability test. The results of this study were as follows. The average cost of using specialty coffee shop in campus was \ 2,096, the average staying time was 25.92 min and the average number of visits per month was 2.17 times. The importance level of 'employee's attitude', 'physical environment', 'sensory quality of coffee', 'beverage features', 'representativeness' were 3.88, 3.79, 3.73, 3.67, 3.28 points, respectively. Also, the performance level of 'sensory quality of coffee', 'beverage features', 'employee's attitude', 'physical environment', 'representativeness' were 3.13, 3.06, 3.05, 2.77, 2.61, respectively. The importance and performance levels of service quality of specialty coffee shop in campus were significantly different (p<.001). Establishment of marketing strategies for in campus speciality coffee shop was possible through the IPA of service quality. Strategies for improving customer satisfaction were to secure enough chairs/ tables, to procure comfortable chairs for customer and to ensure the quality of coffee bean and service of employee.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.65-72
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• 2016

Black tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum) is known to have more ${\beta}-carotene$, lycopene, and vitamin C than general red-colored tomatoes. In this study, we evaluated the quality properties, antioxidant activities and sensory characteristics of black tomato cookies. Cookies were prepared by replacing 0, 1, 3, 5, and 7% of flour with black tomato powder. Density of black tomato cookies tended to be decreased between control (1.20) and 3% added groups (1.12). pH value was decreased from control (6.66) to 7% added group (5.16). Spread factor and loss rate were increased with increasing amounts of black tomato powder. Hardness was gradually increased from $107.77g/cm^2$ in control to $170.50g/cm^2$ in 7% added group. Color measurement indicated that L-value (brightness) was highest in control (70.46) and lowest in 7% added group (45.23); whereas, a-value (redness) increased while b-value (yellowness) tended to decrease with increasing amounts of black tomato powder. Total polyphenol contents and DPPH radical scavenging activities were directly proportional to the amount of black tomato powder. Consumer preference scores in color and flavor of black tomato powder added group were higher than those of control. Characteristic strength test was not significantly different among the groups. Overall, the results indicated that adding 5% black tomato powder is desirable for making black tomato cookies.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.105-119
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• 2017

Smartphone users hit over eighty-five percentage of Korean populations and personal private items and various information are stored in each user's smartphone. There are so many cases to propagate malicious codes or spywares for the purpose of catching illegally these kinds of information and earning pecuniary gains. Thus, need of information security is outstanding for using smartphone but also user's security perception is important. In this paper, we investigate about how information security affects smartphone operating system choices by users. For statistical analysis, the online survey with questionnaires for users of smartphones is conducted and effective 218 subjects are collected. We test hypotheses via communalities analysis using factor analysis, reliability analysis, independent sample t-test, and linear regression analysis by IBM SPSS statistical package. As a result, it is found that hardware environment influences on perceived ease of use. Brand power affects both perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use and degree of personal risk-accepting influences on perception of smartphone spy-ware risk. In addition, it is found that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, degree of personal risk-accepting, and spy-ware risk of smartphone influence significantly on intention to purchase smartphone. However, results of independent sample t-test for each operating system users of Android or iOS do not present statistically significant differences among two OS user groups. In addition, each result of OS user group testing for hypotheses is different from the results of total sample testing. These results can give important suggestions to organizations and managers related to smartphone ecology and contribute to the sphere of information systems (IS) study through a new perspective.