• International Commerce and Information Review
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.75-94
• /
• 2011

This study is designed to expand 'Q-Methodology' into the global marketing realm in attempt to find out how Canadian consumers will perceive Korean food. The ultimate aim of this thesis is to lay a basic foundation to globalize Korean food and heighten the potential and quality of Korean food. Korean food, well-known as slow diet, jumps on the bandwagon of the Korean Wave and spreads at a rapid pace. At this point, most Korean food becomes widespread under the influence of the boom of not just the Korean Wave but also the growing desire for health food. Hence, it is the most important to analyze consumers' types in order to learn how each individual nation perceives Korean Food. This can be used as the basic research and study to enhance the national competitiveness of Korean food. Q-methodology is adopted in this study to reveal the critical dimensions and characteristics of the target market and/or consumers for Korean Food using the Canadian respondents' subjective attributes. Three categories (pragmatic trend type, traditional culture seeking type, a beginner type) of Canadian consumer behavior regarding Korean Food are found and suggested in this study. The objective attributes of Korean food are not considered here, but the Canadian consumers' subjective behavioral attributes are.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.426-439
• /
• 2007

The purpose of this study was to investigate the awareness and practice on well-being life and well-being related behaviors, and the various factors affecting well-being related behaviors such as purchasing food materials, food habits, eating out and daily routine activities. A survey was conducted by questionnaire and on a 5-point Likert scale. The subjects of this study were composed of 221 students and their 102 parents who were over 40 years residing in the Ulsan area. The results of this study are summarized as follows: Almost half of the subjects (47.4%) responded that they have good health conditions; to keep a good health condition, 41.2% of the subjects were exercising regularly and 20.4% of them kept diet control. In regard to the meaning of well-being, 66.6% of the subjects thought it is the lifestyle for physical and mental richness (children: 70.6%, parents: 57.8%). 30.3% of the subjects answered that the most important part of well-being was food related. The importance order was mental richness, food related things, physical health for children, and for the parents, it was food related things, physical health, mental richness. Most of population (45.8%) answered that they have a willingness for the pursuit of a well-being life. Among the well-being related behaviors, 69.7% of subjects have purchased items (children: 61.5%, parents: 87.3%). 37.2% of the subjects have acquired information from TV. The average well-being practice score was $61.01{\pm}10.36$. Children's scores were significantly lower than the parent's scores (p < 0.001). And the average practice score of 'purchasing food materials,' 'eating out,' 'food habits,' 'daily routine activities' were $15.3{\pm}3.3,\;15.5{\pm}3.1,\;16.8{\pm}3.3$ and $13.4{\pm}3.5$, respectively. Among five types of purchasing food materials, 'purchasing domestic agricultural food' was greatest ($3.64{\pm}0.91$) and 'purchasing of organic or low agricultural chemical food products' was lowest ($3.15{\pm}0.91$). In regard to food habits, 'eating rice and bread made of mixed grains' was greatest ($3.46{\pm}1.12$) and 'eating uncooked food or zen food' was lowest ($2.46{\pm}0.99$). The practice scores were significantly affected by gender (p < 0.05), monthly income (p < 0.01), educational level (p < 0.01), presence of disease (p < 0.05), subjective health condition (p < 0.05), well-being awareness (p < 0.001) and concern with well-being (p < 0.001). Well-being awareness scores and well-being practice scores are related positively. Therefore various programs in well-being education should be necessary in order to boost the authentic perceptions of well-being and well-being oriented behaviors in any socioeconomic situation, such as different generations; industrial companies producing well-being goods for consumer's needs and satisfaction; and government and local community create various conditions for well-being oriented behavior.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.713-720
• /
• 2013

The objectives of this study are to identify whether the small area variation also exists in the oriental medicine and, if it exists, what causes, to expand our boundary of research interests on the small area variation observed at the western medicine toward the oriental medicine as one of the fundamental research foundations and to provide any fundamental findings from this study results to the healthcare politicians to promote consumer's rational behaviors for the use of healthcare. This study analyzed the health insurance claim data (2010, 2011) which were the patients of western medicine and the outpatients of the oriental medicine with the top 10 most frequent diseases and looked into the variation of healthcare utilization among the areas after grouping resident area into an 86-area category. The study result shows that the small area variation was also observed at the part of the oriental medicine in which the characteristics of patients critically affect the healthcare expenditure per visit day rather than those of providers and the characteristics of both patients and providers equally affect the healthcare expenditure per patient. Therefore, this study suggests that government set up healthcare policies on the standardization of oriental medicine to prevent its over-utilization and unmet need, enforcing the roles of oriental medicine in the markets, enhancing the appropriate health care utilization, and expanding provision and sharing the health care information to reduce unnecessary health care utilization.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.35-52
• /
• 2023

Recently, as the non-face-to-face environment has developed due to COVID-19 and environmental pollution, the importance of online digital healthcare is increasing, and venture start-ups and activities such as health care, telemedicine, and digital treatments are also actively underway. This study conducted the impact on the acceptability of digital healthcare smartwatches with an integrated approach of the expanded integrated technology acceptance model (UTAUT2) and the behavioral inference model (BRT). The most advanced integrated technology acceptance model for innovative technology acceptance research was used to identify major factors such as utility expectations, social effects, convenience, price barriers, lack of alternatives, and behavioral intentions. For the study, about 410 responses from ordinary people in their teens to 60s across the country were collected, and based on this, the hypothesis was verified using structural equations after testing reliability and validity of the data. SPSS 23 and AMOS 23 were used for research analysis. Studies have shown that personal innovation has a significant impact on the reasons for acceptance (use value, social impact, convenience of use), attitude, and non-use (price barriers, lack of alternatives, and barriers to use). These results are the same as the results of previous studies that confirmed the influence of the main value of innovative ICT on user acceptance intention. In addition, the reason for acceptance had a significant effect on attitude, but the effect of the reason for non-acceptance was not significant. It can be analyzed that consumers are interested in new ICT products and new services, but purchase them more carefully and selectively. This study has evolved from the acceptance analysis of general-purpose consumer innovation technology to the acceptance analysis of consumer value in smartwatch digital healthcare, which is a new and important area in the future. Industrially, it can contribute to the product's purchase and marketing. It is hoped that this study will contribute to increasing research in the digital healthcare sector, which will play an important role in our lives in the future, and that it will develop into in-depth factors that are more suitable for consumer value through integrated approach models and integrated analysis of consumer acceptance and non-acceptance.

• Journal of Distribution Science
• /
• v.13 no.12
• /
• pp.33-40
• /
• 2015

Purpose - Given an increase in the consumption of plums, prices have fluctuated in an unstable manner, making it difficult for farmhouses to sell the product. This study intends to provide information on the cultivation and sale of plums to consumers, thus enabling producers to utilize relevant information to analyze the types of plums that are preferred and consumed by users. Research design, data, and methodology - In this study, a survey was conducted on plum consumption by a consumer panel established and operated by the Rural Development Administration in December 2009. The objective was to identify the purchasing awareness of plums and to analyze panel data from 2010 to 2013 using a linear regression model, a Tobit model, and a panel regression model to derive the purchase characteristics. Results - The outcome of the survey on plums is as follows. Plums are purchased because they are good for the health (90.6%), which means that most customers purchase plums for their health benefits. When plums are in season, the purchase rate is 94.8%, indicating that most plums are purchased when they are in season and that selling plums when they are out of season is difficult. Therefore, we sell most plums in the correct season, and the rest of the plums need to be processed and then sent to markets. The strongest reason for not purchasing plums is that they are difficult to process for consumption (63.1%), followed by the reason that the fruit is unfamiliar (15.5%). Regarding solutions for increasing the consumption of plums, the answers were as follows: distribute a recipe for plums (36.9%), advertise its effect through TV or the press (31.1%), and develop various processed products (15.6%). When customers decide to pick out plums, the major considerations were freshness (4.43), safe to eat (4.16), price (3.96), size (3.87), brand (3.28), and discount event (2.62). Freshness is important for decision making and safe to eat was more important than price because plums are washed and processed into plum jam. According to the results of the linear regression model, a higher family income results in a higher purchasing amount. However, the amount of plums purchased by a person was reduced if his or her income increased. Compared with individuals who used other purchasing agents on weekdays, those who used the traditional market turned out to purchase a higher amount of plums on the weekdays. Conclusions - Considering that numerous people purchase plums for their health benefits, promoting the consumption of plums is anticipated as being successful if they can be produced safely for consumption and for inclusion in recipes and various processed foods, and to promote eco-friendly agricultural practices.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.42 no.10
• /
• pp.1701-1706
• /
• 2013

Domestic and overseas information with regard to harmful substances are analyzed. From the results, environmental-derived hazard chemicals, which show relatively low recognition, and hazard chemicals that occur unavoidably in food manufacturing process are selected as target harmful substances. Thus, educational leaflet contents were developed based on these substances. To find the effects of education with the above contents, this study surveyed 120 female college students living in Seoul. The purpose of the survey is to analyze the change in recognition, attitude and behavior on hazard chemicals in foods. The survey found that the recognition on harmful substance in foods increased; from 31.5~78.0% before education to 98.8% after education. It also indicates that vague anxiety in which the harmful substances may damage their health decreased by approx. 25.0%; from 77.8% before education to 52.8% after education. For the question of what they would do when government promotes to reduce harmful substances in foods, 12.3% of respondents said that they would actively follow the suggestions and 73.5% of them said that they would do their best before an education. However, 56.1% of them said that they would actively follow the suggestions after the education. It indicates that the ability to recognize harmful substances changed after the education. With regard to consumer behavior, when they knew about the harmful substances in foods, 49.6% of them said that they would select foods after investigating relevant information before the education, while 77.4% of them said that after the education; which is an increase of 27.8%. Further, 45.4% of them said that they would not purchase relevant foods before the education, while 20.9% of them said that after the education; which is a decrease of 24.5%. Therefore, it is considered that vague anxiety of consumers can be eliminated by providing persuasive information on harmful substances. To expand on the communication channel with consumers for food safety, contents development and educational promotion should be enhanced for providing food safety related information.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
• /
• v.11 no.8
• /
• pp.11-21
• /
• 2013

Integrated Social Welfare Management System is an information system that comprehensively manages information and services regarding diverse welfare benefits provided by the government. It is designed to improve efficiency of social welfare administration and the service delivery system. The system is found to have significantly contributed to efficiency of the welfare delivery system by reducing the workload of public officials who are responsible for welfare administration in local governments and changing the way they work for the better. This study analyzes the costs and benefits of the Integrated Social Welfare Management System and describes what it has achieved for the provider and recipients. The system has enhanced efficiency of the welfare delivery system and enabled case management, the function social welfare public officials are supposed to do. Ultimately, the system will play a key role in building a consumer-centered welfare administration environment in the future.

• Journal of Distribution Science
• /
• v.17 no.10
• /
• pp.107-114
• /
• 2019

Purpose - This is longitudinal research which aims to investigate the meaning of greenness to consumers' behavior. Consumers adopt green marketing as a new factor in product buying and consumption and more and more consumers prefer green product and services. Consumers' green buying behavior can be different from other purchasing experiences. There would be changes in the meaning of green as time passed and it can be different from countries to other countries. This study examines focus group studies with several groups. There is a ten-year gap between 2010 focus group and 2019 focus group interviews. With this ten-year gap, we can find the change of greenness to consumers. Research design, data, and methodology - The data were collected from Turkish, Korean, Kazakhstan people. This is a cross-sectional study and focus group interview was designed. We can gain information relevant to the research problem with using focus group study and get some insights into basic needs and attitudes of green marketing. The subjects for green purchase interviewee were confined to under 40 years old's shoppers regardless of gender. The first study was investigated with several groups in 2010 and the second interview were conducted in 2019. Results - Results show that the meaning of greenness for consumer has changed over time in accordance with the growing accordance of environmental sustainability. Basically, green marketing still means valuable, natural, recycle-able, good for health, clean, smart behavior, essential benefit. The concept of greenness significantly evolved since it was investigated in 2010. It moves away from focusing on specific environmental issues to considering global sustainability issues. Especially we found that greenness can be related with globalization, higher education, social status at the 2019 interview. Conclusions - This paper attempted to confirm the green marketing is essential and expands its meaning to various aspect. Usually, we can think green marketing is everywhere, therefore, people don't care about green issues in real. But consumers are adopting green marketing more and more, it can be a means to attract potential consumers. Therefore, companies should provide enough greenness information for people and they might apply greenness communication to attract potential customers.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
• /
• v.17 no.3
• /
• pp.55-65
• /
• 2006

Recent trends of global food production, processing, distribution and preparation under free trade circumstance are creating an increase in common' concerns about food safety. It is important that farmers improve agricultural products/food safety for satisfying consumer needs and health. Cognizant to the situation, this study was conducted to analyze how the Producers gather information, and determine their awareness about agricultural Products safety using a safety Questionnaire. The Questionnaire was given to 500 farmers who cultivate rice, fruit trees, vegetables, and other crops from September through October 2005. More than half of the producers felt concerns about the agricultural products/foods safety. Uneasiness of the producers was higher amongst those who were younger and earned a higher income. Pesticides and zoonosis (BSE AI, etc.) emerged as the main risk factors causing concerns among the greatest number of producers. Producers had a positive opinion of the effects and perception of food safety, but no opinion of the activity of government. The producers showed a high level of understanding of the Country of Origin Labeling System (88.2%), the quality certification system of agricultural and livestock products (71.9%), and the raising system of environment-friendly agriculture (72.7%). However, their level of understanding of the GAP (59.3%) and the Traceability System (22.8%) was still low. To effectively implement these policies, awareness of producers who are the beneficiaries of the above policies has to be enhanced. Therefore, the safety information should be provided at a more appropriate time and should be easier to understand.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
• /
• 2013.05a
• /
• pp.849-852
• /
• 2013

These fermented food has been increased interest to people's health in recent years. Factors which have taste, storability and trophism of fermented food is affected food of material, temperature, humidity and pH. But fermented food has yet not been established of model equation for the change in pH. If they that seller and consumer can know the status and quality, customer could increase credibility and consumption-oriented about fermented foods. In this paper, we obtain model equation through measured PH of fermented foods. So, model equation is offered platform about maturity of fermented foods. In order to confirm the usefulness of the proposed model equation, we tested the change in PH about a kimchi and a rice wine which is fermented food of Korea representative.