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The psychological factors of creation of virtue women based on the relationship between Mrs. Park in and Samganghaengsildo's the virtuous women volume (<열녀함양박씨전>의 박씨와 『삼강행실도: 열녀편』의 관계를 통해 본 열녀제작의 심리적 요인)

  • Seo, Eun-A
    • Journal of Korean Classical Literature and Education
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    • no.16
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    • pp.273-296
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    • 2008
  • The author analyzed the psychological factors which affected on the way of Mrs. Park in the became a virtuous woman and compared these psychological factors with a virtuous women in Samganghaengsildo based on the relationship between Mrs. Park in and Samganghaengsildo's the virtuous women volume. First of all, it's about the power of authority on women. The volume of Samganghaengsildo's virtuous women was about the group of women who were recognized as virtuous women by the king who had absolute power at the time period. The volume of Samganghaengsildo's virtuous women was very well known for women. This book had a huge impact on women since the government authority educated the women using this book. In addition, the incredible events which were written in Samganghaengsildo indicated that the behavior of virtue was the right thing to follow since even super power recognized it as a good thing to do and the woman might be punished when she didn't follow the behavior of virtue. Second, it was based on the similarity of circumstance and uncertainty for the future. Mrs. Park in showed similar behavioral patterns with a virtuous woman in Samganghaengsildo since she took her role model from the virtuous woman. When Mrs. Park lost her husband, she was not sure about her future and the volume of Samganghaengsildo pointed out that there was another world after the death and she would meet her husband again after the death. In addition, the incorrect information that she would feel better psychologically when she followed her dead husband instead of living herself. Third, it is about the resemblance of obsessive mind and self internalization. The examination of the record of Mrs. Park showed that Mrs. Park tried to internalize integrity, loyalty, and virtue of virtuous women in Samganghaengsildo and became herself like virtuous women. In addition, the woman's obsessive mindset remarkly reflected in Samganghaengsildo. For instance, Mrs. Park in held to the time of death of her husband and the writer who wrote about the behavior of Mrs. Park also emphasized that the time of death of Mrs. Park was closed to the time of the death of her husband. This explained that the obsessive mindset of women in the epic of virtue women could have influence on the women's mind who tried to show the similar behavior with a virtue woman and internalize it. Finally, the people of the day also were not free from it.

Establishment of Crowd Management Safety Measures Based on Crowd Density Risk Simulation (군중 밀집 위험도 시뮬레이션 기반의 인파 관리 안전대책 수립)

  • Hyuncheol Kim;Hyungjun Im;Seunghyun Lee;Youngbeom Ju;Soonjo Kwon
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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    • v.38 no.2
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    • pp.96-103
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    • 2023
  • Generally, human stampedes and crowd collapses occur when people press against each other, causing falls that may result in death or injury. Particularly, crowd accidents have become increasingly common since the 1990s, with an average of 380 deaths annually. For instance, in Korea, a stampede occurred during the Itaewon Halloween festival on October 29, 2022, when several people crowded onto a narrow, downhill road, which was 45 meters long and between 3.2 and 4 meters wide. Precisely, this stampede was primarily due to the excessive number of people relative to the road size. Essentially, stampedes can occur anywhere and at any time, not just at events, but also in other places where large crowds gather. More specifically, the likelihood of accidents increases when the crowd density exceeds a turbulence threshold of 5-6 /m2. Meanwhile, festivals and events, which have become more frequent and are promoted through social media, garner people from near and far to a specific location. Besides, as cities grow, the number of people gathering in one place increases. While stampedes are rare, their impact is significant, and the uncertainty associated with them is high. Currently, there is no scientific system to analyze the risk of stampedes due to crowd concentration. Consequently, to prevent such accidents, it is essential to prepare for crowd disasters that reflect social changes and regional characteristics. Hence, this study proposes using digital topographic maps and crowd-density risk simulations to develop a 3D model of the region. Specifically, the crowd density simulation allows for an analysis of the density of people walking along specific paths, which enables the prediction of danger areas and the risk of crowding. By using the simulation method in this study, it is anticipated that safety measures can be rationally established for specific situations, such as local festivals, and preparations may be made for crowd accidents in downtown areas.

An Improvement of Kubernetes Auto-Scaling Based on Multivariate Time Series Analysis (다변량 시계열 분석에 기반한 쿠버네티스 오토-스케일링 개선)

  • Kim, Yong Hae;Kim, Young Han
    • KIPS Transactions on Computer and Communication Systems
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    • v.11 no.3
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    • pp.73-82
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    • 2022
  • Auto-scaling is one of the most important functions for cloud computing technology. Even if the number of users or service requests is explosively increased or decreased, system resources and service instances can be appropriately expanded or reduced to provide services suitable for the situation and it can improves stability and cost-effectiveness. However, since the policy is performed based on a single metric data at the time of monitoring a specific system resource, there is a problem that the service is already affected or the service instance that is actually needed cannot be managed in detail. To solve this problem, in this paper, we propose a method to predict system resource and service response time using a multivariate time series analysis model and establish an auto-scaling policy based on this. To verify this, implement it as a custom scheduler in the Kubernetes environment and compare it with the Kubernetes default auto-scaling method through experiments. The proposed method utilizes predictive data based on the impact between system resources and response time to preemptively execute auto-scaling for expected situations, thereby securing system stability and providing as much as necessary within the scope of not degrading service quality. It shows results that allow you to manage instances in detail.

Reduction of Stress Caused by Drought and Salt in Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Crops through Applications of Selected Plant Extracts and the Physiological Response Mechanisms of Rice

  • Hyun Hwa Park;Young Seon Lee;Yong In Kuk
    • Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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    • 2022.10a
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    • pp.57-57
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    • 2022
  • In many areas of the world, salt damage and drought have had a negative impact on human survival due to a decrease in agricultural productivity. For instance, about 50% of agricultural land will be affected by salt damage by 2050. Biostimulants such as plant extracts can not only increase the nutrient utilization efficiency of plants, but also promote plant growth and increase resistance to abiotic or biotic stress. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine how selected plant extracts might reduce levels of stress caused by drought and salt and to better understand the physiological response mechanisms of rice plants. In this study, we used Soybean leaves, Soybean stems and Allium tuberosum, Allium cepa, Hizikia fusiforme, and Gracilaria verrucosa extracts were used. These extracts had been used in previous studies and were found to be effective. The materials were dried in a dry oven at 50℃ for 5 days and ground using a blender. Each 50 g of materials was put in 1 L of distilled water, stirred for 24 hours, filtered using 4 layers of mirocloth, and then concentrated using a concentrator. Rice (cv. Hopumbyeo) seeds were immersed and germinated, and then sown in seedbeds filled with commercial soil. In drought experiments, three rice seedlings at 1 week after seeding was transplanted into 100 ml cups filled with commercial soils and grown until the 4-leaf stage. For this experiment, the soil weight in a cup was equalized, and water was allowed to become 100% saturated and then drained for 24 hours. Thereafter, plant extracts at 3% concentrations were applied to the soils. For NaCl treatments, rice plants at 17 days after seeding were treated with either 100 mM NaCl or plant extracts at 1%+ 100 mM NaCl combinations in the growth chamber. Leaf injury, relative water content, photosynthetic efficiency, and chlorophyll contents were measured at 3, 5, and 6 days after treatments. Shoot fresh weight of rice under drought conditions increased 28-37% in response to treatments of Soybean leaf, Soybean stem, Allium tuberosum, Allium cepa, Hizikia fusiforme, and Gracilaria verrucosa extracts at 3% when compared with control plants. Shoot fresh weight of rice subjected to 100 mM NaCl treatments also increased by 6-24% in response to Soybean leaf, Soybean stem, Allium tuberosum, Allium cepa, Hizikia fusiforme, and Gracilaria verrucosa extracts at 3% when compared with control plants. Compared to the control, rice plants treated with these six extracts and subjected to drought conditions had significantly higher relative water content, Fv/Fm, total chlorophyll and total carotenoids than control plants. With the exception of relative water contents, rice plants treated with the six extracts and subjected to salt stress (100 mM NaCl treatments) had significantly higher Fv/Fm, total chlorophyll and total carotenoids than control plants. However, the type of extract used did not produce significant difference in these parameters. Thus, all the plant extracts used in this study could mitigate drought and NaCl stresses and could also contribute substantially to sustainable crop production.

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Impact of Shortly Acquired IPO Firms on ICT Industry Concentration (ICT 산업분야 신생기업의 IPO 이후 인수합병과 산업 집중도에 관한 연구)

  • Chang, YoungBong;Kwon, YoungOk
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.26 no.3
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    • pp.51-69
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    • 2020
  • Now, it is a stylized fact that a small number of technology firms such as Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and a few others have become larger and dominant players in an industry. Coupled with the rise of these leading firms, we have also observed that a large number of young firms have become an acquisition target in their early IPO stages. This indeed results in a sharp decline in the number of new entries in public exchanges although a series of policy reforms have been promulgated to foster competition through an increase in new entries. Given the observed industry trend in recent decades, a number of studies have reported increased concentration in most developed countries. However, it is less understood as to what caused an increase in industry concentration. In this paper, we uncover the mechanisms by which industries have become concentrated over the last decades by tracing the changes in industry concentration associated with a firm's status change in its early IPO stages. To this end, we put emphasis on the case in which firms are acquired shortly after they went public. Especially, with the transition to digital-based economies, it is imperative for incumbent firms to adapt and keep pace with new ICT and related intelligent systems. For instance, after the acquisition of a young firm equipped with AI-based solutions, an incumbent firm may better respond to a change in customer taste and preference by integrating acquired AI solutions and analytics skills into multiple business processes. Accordingly, it is not unusual for young ICT firms become an attractive acquisition target. To examine the role of M&As involved with young firms in reshaping the level of industry concentration, we identify a firm's status in early post-IPO stages over the sample periods spanning from 1990 to 2016 as follows: i) being delisted, ii) being standalone firms and iii) being acquired. According to our analysis, firms that have conducted IPO since 2000s have been acquired by incumbent firms at a relatively quicker time than those that did IPO in previous generations. We also show a greater acquisition rate for IPO firms in the ICT sector compared with their counterparts in other sectors. Our results based on multinomial logit models suggest that a large number of IPO firms have been acquired in their early post-IPO lives despite their financial soundness. Specifically, we show that IPO firms are likely to be acquired rather than be delisted due to financial distress in early IPO stages when they are more profitable, more mature or less leveraged. For those IPO firms with venture capital backup have also become an acquisition target more frequently. As a larger number of firms are acquired shortly after their IPO, our results show increased concentration. While providing limited evidence on the impact of large incumbent firms in explaining the change in industry concentration, our results show that the large firms' effect on industry concentration are pronounced in the ICT sector. This result possibly captures the current trend that a few tech giants such as Alphabet, Apple and Facebook continue to increase their market share. In addition, compared with the acquisitions of non-ICT firms, the concentration impact of IPO firms in early stages becomes larger when ICT firms are acquired as a target. Our study makes new contributions. To our best knowledge, this is one of a few studies that link a firm's post-IPO status to associated changes in industry concentration. Although some studies have addressed concentration issues, their primary focus was on market power or proprietary software. Contrast to earlier studies, we are able to uncover the mechanism by which industries have become concentrated by placing emphasis on M&As involving young IPO firms. Interestingly, the concentration impact of IPO firm acquisitions are magnified when a large incumbent firms are involved as an acquirer. This leads us to infer the underlying reasons as to why industries have become more concentrated with a favor of large firms in recent decades. Overall, our study sheds new light on the literature by providing a plausible explanation as to why industries have become concentrated.

The Mediating Role of Brand Recall and Brand Attitude in Influencing Purchase Intention in Advergames

  • Abdul Adis, Azaze-Azizi;Kim, Hyung-Jun
    • Asia Marketing Journal
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    • v.15 no.3
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    • pp.117-139
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    • 2013
  • Research on purchase intention had showed remarkable progress in contributing to the theory of consumer behavior. Despite the popularity of academic discussions on various issues influencing purchase intention, the mediating role of brand recall and brand attitude on purchase intention, in particular advergames, has not yet been well explored, especially in developing economies such as Malaysia. Furthermore, the influence of self-brand congruity, entertainment and brand placement acceptance as antecedents to brand recall and brand attitude are expected to add value to the brand recall, brand attitude and purchase intention relationships. This paper aims to investigate the impact of the mediating role of brand recall and brand attitude on purchase intention in advergames among Malaysian gamers. The antecedents towards brand recall and brand attitude are also examined to measure their influence on purchase intention. A total of 350 Malaysian gamers were interviewed through online survey in this study. The results showed that brand recall and brand attitude mediate the relationship between self-brand congruity, entertainment and brand placement acceptance with purchase intention. Also, entertainment and brand placement acceptance were found to have a significant relationship with brand recall. As expected, brand recall and brand attitude showed a positive relationship with consumer purchase intention in advergames. It was found that self-brand congruity has a significant influence on brand attitude and purchase intention. When users see the brand which matches with them, they tend to act positively toward the brand exposed in the game. This is consistent with Escalas and Bettman (2005) who suggested that the greater the congruity, the more positive the consumer's attitude toward the brand in question. This leads to game usage and purchase (Davis and Lang, 2013). In the advergaming context, the entertainment value in advergames is very important to determine the level of enjoyment and pleasure experienced by gamers during game-playing. Therefore, the more entertaining the ads, the more it will be remembered and the greater the positive behavior of the consumer towards the advergames - this ultimately stimulates their intention to purchase the brand. This study shows the effect of brand placement on brand recall and brand attitude and also purchase intention. Brand placements might not work in games due to the interactivity involved in game-playing as people could be distracted from noticing the brand placements (Yang et al., 2006). However, the significant influence of brand placements found in this study may provide major promise for advertisers. Game players may or may not explicitly remember the brands they see in the games, but these placements may influence their brand recall and brand attitude and could therefore influence later decisions (Yang et al., 2006). In this study, it was found that self-brand congruity was not significantly related with brand recall. The reason for this could be attributed to the fact that this study examined gamers who are highly involved in the interactive medium of games which force them to focus on game play rather than advertisements; the level of recognition to remember the brand exposed in the game is low and contributes to the "mismatch" between the gamers and the said brand. The present study contributes to the existing literature of the antecedents of brand recall and brand attitude in advergames. This study contributes to the role of brand recall and brand attitude as mediators in purchase behavior theory. Academically, the relationship between brand recall and brand attitude is well known in advergaming research, but their impact as important mediators on purchase intention add new understanding in the interactive communication literature. Their mediating role may provide new insights on how they facilitate the effects of self-brand congruity, entertainment and brand placement on purchase intention. Besides that, the studies on the influence of self-brand congruity on brand recall and brand attitude and also consumer intention to purchase had not well-investigated in advergames. This study contributes to fill those gaps in advergames literature. For practitioners, this study could suggest the use of illustrative or demonstrative placements of new products to help customers remember new brands, and the use of associative placements for existing products to increase consumers' purchase intention (Ho et al., 2011). To advertisers, this study may provide useful information to improve their current advertising strategies in games, for instance, by considering game players' congruity, entertainment value and brand placement factors.

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Intelligent Optimal Route Planning Based on Context Awareness (상황인식 기반 지능형 최적 경로계획)

  • Lee, Hyun-Jung;Chang, Yong-Sik
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.19 no.2
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    • pp.117-137
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    • 2009
  • Recently, intelligent traffic information systems have enabled people to forecast traffic conditions before hitting the road. These convenient systems operate on the basis of data reflecting current road and traffic conditions as well as distance-based data between locations. Thanks to the rapid development of ubiquitous computing, tremendous context data have become readily available making vehicle route planning easier than ever. Previous research in relation to optimization of vehicle route planning merely focused on finding the optimal distance between locations. Contexts reflecting the road and traffic conditions were then not seriously treated as a way to resolve the optimal routing problems based on distance-based route planning, because this kind of information does not have much significant impact on traffic routing until a a complex traffic situation arises. Further, it was also not easy to take into full account the traffic contexts for resolving optimal routing problems because predicting the dynamic traffic situations was regarded a daunting task. However, with rapid increase in traffic complexity the importance of developing contexts reflecting data related to moving costs has emerged. Hence, this research proposes a framework designed to resolve an optimal route planning problem by taking full account of additional moving cost such as road traffic cost and weather cost, among others. Recent technological development particularly in the ubiquitous computing environment has facilitated the collection of such data. This framework is based on the contexts of time, traffic, and environment, which addresses the following issues. First, we clarify and classify the diverse contexts that affect a vehicle's velocity and estimates the optimization of moving cost based on dynamic programming that accounts for the context cost according to the variance of contexts. Second, the velocity reduction rate is applied to find the optimal route (shortest path) using the context data on the current traffic condition. The velocity reduction rate infers to the degree of possible velocity including moving vehicles' considerable road and traffic contexts, indicating the statistical or experimental data. Knowledge generated in this papercan be referenced by several organizations which deal with road and traffic data. Third, in experimentation, we evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed context-based optimal route (shortest path) between locations by comparing it to the previously used distance-based shortest path. A vehicles' optimal route might change due to its diverse velocity caused by unexpected but potential dynamic situations depending on the road condition. This study includes such context variables as 'road congestion', 'work', 'accident', and 'weather' which can alter the traffic condition. The contexts can affect moving vehicle's velocity on the road. Since these context variables except for 'weather' are related to road conditions, relevant data were provided by the Korea Expressway Corporation. The 'weather'-related data were attained from the Korea Meteorological Administration. The aware contexts are classified contexts causing reduction of vehicles' velocity which determines the velocity reduction rate. To find the optimal route (shortest path), we introduced the velocity reduction rate in the context for calculating a vehicle's velocity reflecting composite contexts when one event synchronizes with another. We then proposed a context-based optimal route (shortest path) algorithm based on the dynamic programming. The algorithm is composed of three steps. In the first initialization step, departure and destination locations are given, and the path step is initialized as 0. In the second step, moving costs including composite contexts into account between locations on path are estimated using the velocity reduction rate by context as increasing path steps. In the third step, the optimal route (shortest path) is retrieved through back-tracking. In the provided research model, we designed a framework to account for context awareness, moving cost estimation (taking both composite and single contexts into account), and optimal route (shortest path) algorithm (based on dynamic programming). Through illustrative experimentation using the Wilcoxon signed rank test, we proved that context-based route planning is much more effective than distance-based route planning., In addition, we found that the optimal solution (shortest paths) through the distance-based route planning might not be optimized in real situation because road condition is very dynamic and unpredictable while affecting most vehicles' moving costs. For further study, while more information is needed for a more accurate estimation of moving vehicles' costs, this study still stands viable in the applications to reduce moving costs by effective route planning. For instance, it could be applied to deliverers' decision making to enhance their decision satisfaction when they meet unpredictable dynamic situations in moving vehicles on the road. Overall, we conclude that taking into account the contexts as a part of costs is a meaningful and sensible approach to in resolving the optimal route problem.

The Impact of Price Discount on Perceived Value, Willingness to Buy, and Search Intentions according to the Level of Consumers' Involvement (구매자의 관여도 수준에 따라 가격할인이 지각가치, 구매의향, 탐색의도에 미치는 영향)

  • Yoon, Nam-Soo;Kim, Jae-Yeong;Park, Young-Kyun
    • Journal of Distribution Science
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    • v.9 no.1
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    • pp.39-48
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    • 2011
  • One of the major reasons for fierce competition among firms is that they strive to increase their own market shares in the same market with similar and apparently undifferentiated products in terms of quality and perceived benefit. Due to such changes in the marketing environment, differentiated after-sales service and diversified promotion strategies have become more important in the race to gain a competitive advantage. Price discount is one of the popular promotion strategies that most retailers use, especially to increase sales, but offering a price discount does not always lead to the expected result. If marketers apply an identical price-promotion strategy without considering the characteristic differences in products and consumer preferences, the discounted price itself may make people skeptical about the quality of the product. Moreover, the changes in perceived value may appear differently depending on factors such as consumer involvement. This implies that variables such as the level of consumer involvement, brand loyalty, and external reference prices, in reality, would have different effects on how consumers perceive the value of price discounts. The variables that affect consumers' perceived values and buying decisions are diverse and complicated. Several studies have examined the effects of such variables as external reference price, selling price, and brand on consumers' perceived value of products. Results have not shown consistent patterns. Therefore, we must note that the factors affecting consumers' value perceptions and buying behaviors are diverse and that the results of studies on the same dependent variable come out differently depending on what that variable is. This study focused on the level of consumer involvement as a salient variable that supposedly affects the perceived value of a product, willingness to buy, and search intentions. We tried to examine whether a price discount affects the perceived value-such as perceived acquisition value and perceived transaction value-in different ways depending on the level of consumer involvement. In addition, we proposed managerial implications that marketers need to consider as a whole, for instance, product attributes, brand loyalty, and involvement and then established a differentiated pricing strategy, case by case, in order to effectively enhance consumers' perceived values. As a result, we found that perceived transaction value positively affects perceived acquisition value and when discounting the price of a high-involvement product enhances the consumer's willingness to buy, but perceived acquisition value does not affect the search intentions significantly. In the case of discounting prices of low-involvement products, on the other hand, the perceived transaction value has a positive effect on the willingness to buy, but the negative effect of perceived acquisition value on the search intentions was not significant. We suppose that people doubt a product's quality because of a declined perceived quality derived from a price discount. Even though the price discount enhanced the transaction value, people eventually increased their level of searching for additional product information. From the results of this study, we suggest that marketers ought to establish an appropriate value-enhancing strategy based on the understanding of which perceived value consumers rely on more when they conduct purchasing behavior because consumers perceive the degree of importance of acquisition value or transaction value differently, depending on their level of involvement.

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Discourse Analysis of Business Chinese and the Comparison of Negotiation Culture between Korea and China - Focused on Business Emails Related to 'Napkin Holder' Imports - (무역 중국어 담화 고찰과 한중 협상문화 비교 - '냅킨꽂이' 수입 관련 비즈니스 이메일을 중심으로 -)

  • Choi, Tae-Hoon
    • Cross-Cultural Studies
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    • v.50
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    • pp.103-130
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    • 2018
  • This research aims to explore the associated linguistic features and functions of Chinese as used for business trading purposes, and which is based on a discourse analysis through a case in which a Korean buyer and a Chinese supplier have exchanged Internet based e-mails. The research questions include first, the linguistic functions and characteristics of Chinese shown as identified in this trade case through e-mails, second, the use of Chinese trade specific terms, and third, the apparent and dynamic negotiation strategies that are identified as followed by the cultural value systems which are used for resolving interest conflicts and issues between the buyer and supplier in the course of negotiating business contracts between two parties. The participants of this research pertain to a Korean buyer, James and a Chinese supplier, Sonya. The associated data consists of 74 e-mails exchanged between the two parties, initiated in an effort to begin and complete a trade item, in this case namely the product of napkin holders. The research for the study is based on the discourse analysis and empirically analyses models of Chinese linguistic functions and features. The findings are the following. First, as identified, the specific Chinese functions used and sequenced in this trade case are of a procedure, request, informing, negotiation and persuasion. Second, the essential trade terms used in this business interaction involve the relevant issues of 1) ordering and price negotiating, 2) marking the origin of the products, 3) the arrangement of the product examination and customs declaration for the anticipated import items, 4) preparation of the necessary legal documents, and 5) the package and transport of the product in the final instance. Third, the impact of the similarities and differences in the cultural value systems between Korea and China on the negotiations and conflict resolution during a negotiated contract between two parties are speculated in terms of the use of culturally based techniques such as face-saving and the utilization of uncertainty-avoiding strategies as meant to prevent misunderstandings from developing between the parties. The concluding part of the study discusses the implications for a practical Chinese language education utilizing the linguistic functions and features of the Chinese culture and language strategies as useful in business associations for trading purposes, and the importance of intercultural communication styles based on similar of different identified cultural values as noted between two parties.

Structural Properties of Social Network and Diffusion of Product WOM: A Sociocultural Approach (사회적 네트워크 구조특성과 제품구전의 확산: 사회문화적 접근)

  • Yoon, Sung-Joon;Han, Hee-Eun
    • Journal of Distribution Research
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    • v.16 no.1
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    • pp.141-177
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    • 2011
  • I. Research Objectives: Most of the previous studies on diffusion have concentrated on efficacy of WOM communication with the use of variables at individual level (Iacobucci 1996; Midgley et al. 1992). However, there is a paucity of studies which investigated network's structural properties as antecedents of WOM from the perspective of consumers' sociocultural propensities. Against this research backbone, this study attempted to link the network's structural properties and consumer' WOM behavior on cross-national basis. The major research objective of this study was to examine the relationship between network properties and WOM by comparing Korean and Chinese consumers. Specific objectives of this research are threefold; firstly, it sought to examine whether network properties (i.e., tie strength, centrality, range) affect WOM (WOM intention and quality of WOM). Secondly, it aimed to explore the moderating effects of cutural orientation (uncertainty avoidance and individuality) on the relationship between network properties and WOM. Thirdly, it substantiates the role of innovativeness as antecedents to both network properties and WOM. II. Research Hypotheses: Based on the above research objectives, the study put forth the following research hypotheses to validate. ${\cdot}$ H 1-1 : The Strength of tie between two counterparts within network will positively influence WOM effectivenes ${\cdot}$ H 1-2 : The network centrality will positively influence the WOM effectiveness ${\cdot}$ H 1-3 : The network range will positively influence the WOM effectiveness ${\cdot}$ H 2-1 : The consumer's uncertainty avoidance tendency will moderate the relationship between network properties and WOM effectiveness ${\cdot}$ H 2-2 : The consumer's individualism tendency will moderate the relationship between network properties and WOM effectiveness ${\cdot}$ H 3-1 : The consumer's innovativeness will positively influence the social network properties ${\cdot}$ H 3-2 : The consumer's innovativeness will positively influence WOM effectiveness III. Methodology: Through a pilot study and back-translation, two versions of questionnaire were prepared, one in Korean and the other in Chinese. The chinese data were collected from the chinese students enrolled in language schools in Suwon city in Korea, while Korean data were collected from students taking classes in a major university in Seoul. A total of 277 questionnaire were used for analysis of Korean data and 212 for Chinese data. The reason why Chinese students living in Korea rather than in China were selected was based on two factors: one was to neutralize the differences (ie, retail channel availability) that may arise from living in separate countries and the second was to minimize the difference in communication venues such as internet accessibility and cell phone usability. SPSS 12.0 and AMOS 7.0 were used for analysis. IV. Results: Prior to hypothesis verification, mean differences between the two countries in terms of major constructs were performed with the following result; As for network properties (tie strength, centrality and range), Koreans showed higher scores in all three constructs. For cultural orientation traits, Koreans scored higher only on uncertainty avoidance trait than Chinese. As a result of verifying the first research objective, confirming the relationship between network properties and WOM effectiveness, on Korean side, tie strength(Beta=.116; t=1.785) and centrality (Beta=.499; t=6.776) significantly influenced on WOM intention, and similar finding was obtained for Chinese side, with tie strength (Beta=.246; t=3.544) and centrality (Beta=.247; t=3.538) being significant. However, with regard to WOM argument quality, Korean data yielded only centrality (Beta=.82; t=7.600) having a significant impact on WOM, whereas China showed both tie strength(Beat=.142; t=2.052) and centrality(Beta=.348; t=5.031) being influential. To answer for the second research objective addressing the moderating role of cultural orientation, moderated regression anaylsis was performed and the result showed that uncertainty avoidance moderated between network range and WOM intention for both Korea and China, But for Korea, the uncertainty avoidance moderated between tie strength and WOM quality, while for China it moderated between network range and WOM intention. And innovativeness moderated between tie strength and WOM intention for Korea but it moderated between network range and WOM intention for China. As a result of analysing for third research objective, we found that for Korea, innovativeness positively influenced centrality only (Beta=.546; t=10.808), while for China it influenced both tie strength (Beta=.203; t=2.998) and centrality(Beta=.518; t=8.782). But for both countries alike, the innovativeness influenced positively on WOM (WOM intention and WOM quality). V. Implications: The study yields the two practical implications. Firstly, the result suggests that companies targeting multinational customers need to identify segments which are susceptible to the positive WOM and WOM information based on individual traits such as uncertainty avoidance and individualism and based on that, develop marketing communication strategy. Secondly, the companies need to divide the market on Roger's five innovation stages and based on this information, enforce marketing strategy which utilizes social networking tools such as public media and WOM. For instance, innovator and early adopters, if provided with new product information, will be able to capitalize upon the network advantages and thus add informational value to network operations using SNS or corporate blog.

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