• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.10
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• pp.129-138
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• 2021

Several studies have revealed that information on borrower characteristics plays an important factor in approving their credit requests. Though the extent to which such characteritics are also applicable to the case of fintech lending remain uncertain. The aim of this study is, thus, to investigate the determinant factors that influence MSEs in obtaining credit through fintech lending. Here, we emphasize virtual trust in fintech lending encompasing the dimension of social network, economic attributes, and risk perception based on several indicators that are used as proxies. Primary data used in the study was gathered from an online survey to the respondents of MSEs in Java. The result of the study indicates that determinants of MSEs in obtaining credit from lender through fintech lending are statistically influenced by internet usage activities, borrowing history, loan utilization, annuity payment system, completeness of credit requirement documents and compatibility of loan size with the business need. These factors have a significant effect on credit approval because they can generate virtual trust of fintech lender to MSEs as potential borrowers. It concludes that the probability of obtaining fintech loans in accordance with their expectations are influenced by the dimensions of social network, economic attributes and risk perception.

• The Journal of Economics, Marketing and Management
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.39-50
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• 2021

Purpose: This study is to analyze the changes of consumption patterns to diagnose the economic impacts on consumers' market during COVID-19, and to suggest implications to overcome the new social and economic crisis of Jeju Island. Research design, data, and methodology: We collected a set of credit card transaction records issued by BC Card Company from merchants in Jeju Special Self-Governing Province for past 4 years from 2017 to 2020 from the Jeju Data Hub run by Jeju Special Self-Governing Province. The big data contains details of approved credit card transactions including the approval numbers, amount, locations and types of merchants, time and age of users, etc. The researchers summed up amount in monthly basis, transforming big data to small data to analyze the changes of consumption before and after COVID-19. Results: Sales fell sharply in transportation industries including airlines, and overall consumption by age group decreased while the decrease in consumption among the seniors was relatively small. The sales of Yeon-dong and Yongdam-dong in Jeju City also fell significantly compared to other regions. As a result of the paired t-test of all 73 samples in Jeju City, the p-value of the mean consumption of the credit card in 2019 and 2020 is significant, statistically proven that the total consumption amount in the two years is different. Conclusions: We found there are sensitive spots that can be strategically approached based on the changes in consumption patterns by industry, region, and age although most of companies and small businesses have been hit by COVID-19. It is necessary for local companies and for the government to be focusing their support on upgrading services, in order to prevent declining sales and job instability for their employees, creating strategies to retain jobs and prevent customer churn in the face of the crisis. As Jeju Province is highly dependent on the tertiary industry, including tourism, it is suggested to create various strategies to overcome the crisis of the pandemic by constantly monitoring the sales trends of local companies.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.134-140
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• 2019

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Excessive sugar consumption may increase the risk for development of several diseases. Although average dietary sugar intake of Koreans is within the recommended level, an increasing trend has been found in all age groups. This study aimed to evaluate the population attributable fractions (PAF) to dietary sugar for disease and death in Korea, and to estimate the socioeconomic effects of a reduction in dietary sugar. MATERIALS/METHODS: The prevalence of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) overconsumption (${\geq}20g$ of sugar from beverages) was analyzed using the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2015. Disease-specific relative risks of excessive SSB consumption were obtained through reviewing previous studies. Using the prevalence of SSB overconsumption and each relative risk, PAFs for morbidity and mortality were calculated. Socioeconomic costs of diseases and death attributable to SSB overconsumption were estimated by using representative data on national medical expenditures, health insurance statistics, employment information, and previous reports. RESULTS: Disease-specific PAF to SSB consumption ranged from 3.11% for stroke to 9.05% for obesity and dental caries, respectively. Costs from disease caused by SSB overconsumption was estimated at 594 billion won in 2015. About 39 billion won was estimated to be from SSB consumption-related deaths, and a total of 633 billion won was predicted to have been saved through preventing SSB overconsumption. CONCLUSIONS: Sugars overconsumption causes considerable public burdens, although the cost estimates do not include any informal expenditure. Information on these socioeconomic effects helps both health professionals and policy makers to create and to implement programs for reducing sugar consumption.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.589-601
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• 2018

This study explored the internal world through sandplay therapy for an elementary school boy who had social and emotional difficulties of poor peer relations, anxiety and withdrawal. This study examined the changing processes of sandboxes, how a boy expressed his internal world by the content themes in sandplay according to Turner (2009) based on analytical psychology and sandplay theories. There were 72 sessions. The initial phase was 1-6 (The beginning of war) expressing confusing wars as the start of a long internal journey. The intermediate phase was 7-55 (Struggle), dividing by phase I 7-18 (Hero's fight I), phase II 19-36 (Hero's fight II), phase III 37-48 (Seeking for a male identity), and phase IV 49-55 (Centering). The client identified himself as a teenaged hero and expressed the conflict between good and bad, between death and rebirth and struggled for seeking treasures in the fight of heroes. He found identity as a male by finding a sense of existence, establishing order in the middle of confusion, and expressing strong and rational masculinity. The final phase was 56-72 (The winner of the struggle). In the fights repeating, he expressed an adventurous and positive male energy such as racing, speed contests and a union in the opposites of hero and heroine as well as the birth of a new conscious. This study provides a basic knowledge of educational guidance in school and counseling fields by expanding the understanding of a boy's unconsciousness.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.59-73
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to develop a business model that efficiently converts diesel power generation systems to renewable energy microgrids (MG) in large-scale islands. Most of the previous studies on the conversion of renewable energy MG in islands had limitations dealing with efficiency from the perspective of suppliers. However, the microgrid has the characteristic of getting benefits through the interaction between the consumer and the supplier. In addition, the efficient MG business model from the perspective of new institutional economics is a structure in which consumers and suppliers jointly participate. Therefore, this study assumed that the MG business model in which the supplier's MG and the consumer's community solar participated would benefit all participants, and verified the assumptions using domestic island data. In terms of supplier investment, the cost of power supply (LCOE) of assumed model was calculated to be 14.0% lower than that of the diesel model and 3.7% lower than that of the supplier-only MG model. From the perspective of consumer investment, electricity bills are expected to be reduced by more than 200,000 won per household per year through self-generation of solar power. Social benefits are expected to reduce external environmental costs. The CO₂ emissions of the assumed model were calculated to be 39.5% lower than the diesel model and 1.5% lower than the supplier-only MG model. Therefore, the MG business model with consumer participation proposed in this study is expected to be an efficient alternative to renewable energy MG conversion in domestic islands, and is meaningful as an energy plan that improves the benefits of local residents.

• The Journal of Korea Institute of Information, Electronics, and Communication Technology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.79-88
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• 2022

Social media big data includes a lot of information that can identify not only consumer consumption patterns but also local images. This paper was collected annually data including 'Samcheok' from 2015 to 2019 from Blog and Cafe of Naver and Daum in domestic portal site, and analyzed the regional image change after refining keyword which forms the regional image by performing text mining and network analysis. According to the research results, the regional image of 2015 was expressed with image cognitive elements of the nearby place name or place etc. such as 'Jangho Port', 'Donghae', and 'Beach'. However the regional image both 2016 and 2019 were changed with image cognitive elements of 'SamcheokSolbich' which is a special place within region. Therefore as the keywords related to the local image include 'Jangho Port' and Resort, which are the representative attractions of Samcheok, it can be seen that the infrastructure factor plays a big role in forming the local image. The significance test for the network data used the bootstrap technique, and the p-values in 2015, 2016, and 2019 were 0.0002, 0.0006, and 0.0002, respectively, which were found to be statistically significant at the significance level of 5%.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.1-20
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• 2021

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the welfare effects of standards harmonization between technologically asymmetric countries, and to determine optimal harmonization strategies for a country with mid-level technological advancement. Design/methodology - Following Salop's circular city model (Salop, 1979), this study constructs a simple, horizontally-differentiated oligopoly model in which three firms and three countries exist. Each country adopts different compatibility standards and each firm incurs conversion costs for foreign market access due to differences in standards. The conversion costs are related to technology; standards harmonization removes these costs between participating countries. The paper considers three cases: i) no harmonization; ii) harmonization with the more technologically-advanced country and iii) harmonization with the less technologically-advanced country. Findings - The paper first considers a scenario in which all three firms occupy some share of the market in each country. It shows that standards harmonization with both the technologically moreor less-advanced country always increases consumer surplus and social welfare. In addition, the producer surplus will increase if the harmonization partner has a higher technology level, whereas it may decrease if the partner has a lower technology level. It also shows that if most domestic export goods are in sectors with conversion costs above a certain level, harmonizing standards with a technologically more-advanced country should be prioritized. Such strategies, moreover, should be emphasized when there exists a large technology gap among countries. Lastly, the paper considers another scenario, in which harmonization leads to the foreclosure of the non-member firm from the member countries' markets. It shows that harmonization improves the social welfare of a mid-level technology country regardless of its partner's technology. It also shows that the country should prioritize harmonization with the technologically less-advanced country. Originality/value - Though some of the existing studies consider the welfare effects of harmonization, their main assumption is that firms have the same conversion technology. Since complying with standards often requires substantial technological advancement and technical expertise, harmonization of compatibility standards between countries with gaps in technological ability carries different implications. This paper investigates the welfare effects of this harmonization and determines an optimal harmonization strategy while considering technological asymmetry among countries in standards compliance.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.155-168
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• 2022

Purpose - Although the government and civic groups do not always confront each other over the Me Too movement, the two stakeholders are often conflicted. For example, the two interested parties may have different positions in the gender conflict and be often hostile due to debates over how to institutionalize and distinguish actual harm from innocence. In this situation, the strategies of the two stakeholders for their own ends are inevitably interdependent. This paper is a study on the strategic reciprocity of interested parties in relation to the Me Too Movement, which has recently raised a new discourses in our society. Design/methodology/approach - We derive equilibrium of the reciprocity between civic groups(collectively referred to as the Me Too Movement Headquarters) leading the Me Too Movement and government that must preemptively respond to new social issues, and analyze how changes in some external conditions affect the reactions of the two stakeholders. For this purpose we rely on economic methodology. Findings - In the reciprocity between the two forces, we derive an equilibrium composed of the pair of the government's optimal response level and the civic group's optimal strategy, and further derive the comparative static results according to changes in external conditions. Analysis results are mixed with intuitive results and non-intuitive ones. However, even if the result is not intuitive, rational reasoning is possible as long as it is derived through a rigorous model, and it has several implications. Research implications or Originality - Although this study is a positive approach, it is meaningful as a starting point to explore practical discussion directions and alternatives by adding another new perspective and approach to research in other social science fields with many normative studies.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.128-144
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• 2023

Objectives: The health system reform process is highly political and controversial, and in most cases, it fails to realize its intended goals. This study was conducted to synthesize factors underlying the failure of health system reforms. Methods: In this systematic review and meta-synthesis, we searched 9 international and regional databases to identify qualitative and mixed-methods studies published up to December 2019. Using thematic synthesis, we analyzed the data. We utilized the Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research checklist for quality assessment. Results: After application of the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 40 of 1837 articles were included in the content analysis. The identified factors were organized into 7 main themes and 32 sub-themes. The main themes included: (1) reforms initiators' attitudes and knowledge; (2) weakness of political support; (3) lack of interest group support; (4) insufficient comprehensiveness of the reform; (5) problems related to the implementation of the reform; (6) harmful consequences of reform implementation; and (7) the political, economic, cultural, and social conditions of the society in which the reform takes place. Conclusions: Health system reform is a deep and extensive process, and shortcomings and weaknesses in each step have overcome health reform attempts in many countries. Awareness of these failure factors and appropriate responses to these issues can help policymakers properly plan and implement future reform programs and achieve the ultimate goals of reform: to improve the quantity and quality of health services and the health of society.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.1-19
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• 2022

As the untact culture spreads, the digital divide, which is a problem of access to digital information for the vulnerable, can appear as information inequality in various fields, including the social and cultural field. This study identified the digital divide level for the vulnerable population and analyzed the effects of information accessibility, demographic and social characteristics, and physical and mental health characteristics on the information level. As a result, the higher the accessibility of information, the smaller the digital divide and the greater the digital utilization, so it is necessary to increase the accessibility of information devices and increase the ability to utilize them. In addition, the higher the age, the more women than men, and the lower the income level, the greater the digital divide, so it is necessary to increase digital capabilities through detailed class-specific programs for the vulnerable. Finally, it was found that the digital divide and the level of digital literacy had a significant effect on the life satisfaction and daily life satisfaction of the vulnerable. The expansion of competency-building education programs to enhance information utilization capabilities by changing the paradigm to a digital inclusion policy should be continuously operated.