• Title/Summary/Keyword: testing hypotheses

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Effects on Users' Evaluation of Game Company's CSR Activities, Game Program Quality, and Brand Assets toward the Intention to Game Use: Focusing on NEXON (게임 기업 CSR 활동, 게임 프로그램 품질, 브랜드 자산에 대한 이용자 평가가 게임 지속 이용의도에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구: 넥슨을 중심으로)

  • Suh, Su Jeong;Woo, Hyung Jin
    • The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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    • v.21 no.6
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    • pp.94-103
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    • 2021
  • The purpose of this study investigates how game users' evaluation on a game company's CSR activities, perceived quality of game programs, and its brand assets affect the intention to game use. Specifically, this study tries to find out the causal relations among variables as testing the hypotheses. Firstly, the effect of users' evaluation on a game company's CSR activities and its qualities of game programs on the brand assets. Secondly, the effect of users' evaluation on a game company's CSR activities and its qualities of game programs on the intention to game use. Thirdly, the effect of users' evaluation on a game company's CSR activities, the qualities of game programs, and the brand assets on the intention to game use. 367 college students were administrated to the survey. The results indicate that game users' evaluation on economic, ethical, and philanthropic responsibilities, except legal one have an effect on brand assets and intention to game use. Specially, on effects of the three independent variables(CSR activities, perceived quality, and brand assets) toward intention to game use, ethical responsibility and brand loyalty have statistically significant. This result confirms that game company's board of directors should consider ethical company management as well as CSR activities not as cost but as investment for increasing company's business profit.

A study on the measurement and processing of medical service experience data - From the perspective of realizing patient-centeredness - (의료서비스 경험데이터의 측정 및 가공에 관한 연구 -환자중심성 실현 관점에서-)

  • Jinho, Ahn;Jungmin, Choi
    • Journal of Service Research and Studies
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    • v.13 no.3
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    • pp.147-159
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    • 2023
  • This study is a study to develop a model for measurement and processing of experience data, which is emerging as a core value in quality management of medical services. In the theoretical background, a literature study was conducted on the importance of experience in medical service, measurement and processing of experience data, and realization of patient-centeredness. Based on these literature and theoretical background research results, operational definitions were performed for the following four research variables, and statistical tests were conducted. Hypothesis 1 is the effect of measuring experience data from the perspective of three factors on persona modeling, Hypothesis 2 is the effect of persona modeling on service blueprint visualization, Hypothesis 3 is the effect of service blueprint visualization on realization of patient-centeredness, and Hypothesis 4 is persona modeling This is the effect that modeling has on the realization of patient-centeredness. After data-based testing of factor analysis, reliability analysis, and correlation analysis, all four hypotheses were adopted as a result of verification using regression analysis. In conclusion, in an era where it is difficult to recognize the value of having only good medical staff and medical equipment in hospitals, it was possible to grasp the meaning that what kind of medical service experience is continuously obtained is more important to patients than the effectiveness of medical staff and medical equipment. In the era of the service economy, the core of hospital service competitiveness is providing attractive experiences, which is the real strength of hospitals, so the measurement and processing of experience data, which is the subject of this study, will have an important meaning in realizing patient-centeredness and realizing smart hospitals.

Exploring the relationship between Transformational Leadership and Innovative Behavior: Testing the Moderated Mediation Effect of Psychological Safety (변혁적 리더십이 혁신행위에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구: 자기효능감의 매개효과와 심리적 안정성의 조절된 매개효과)

  • Yu Wang;Xiu Jin
    • Journal of Industrial Convergence
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    • v.21 no.4
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    • pp.23-40
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    • 2023
  • The style of leadership and leader's competence are expected to be an important role in the rapidly changing and uncertain circumstances of the business environment. In particular, rapid change of business environment requires organizations to innovate, and appropriate innovation can have a direct impact on an organization's competitive advantage and sustainability. In this regard, this study focused on transformational leadership as a factor that improves innovative behavior. In addition, the mediating effect of self-efficacy was verified in the process of transformational leadership leading to innovative behavior. Furthermore, the moderated mediating effect of psychological safety was also verified. To verify hypotheses, this study conducted a survey on 307 public officials who work in Chinese public institutions. The result was found that transformational leadership had a positive effect on innovative behavior by mediating effect of self-efficacy. However, contrary to the expectations of this study, the moderated mediation effect of psychological safety was found to be insignificant. The moderating effect of psychological safety showed an insignificant effect. It showed showed the different results from previous studies. In relation to these results, theoretical and practical implications were presented in this study. Overall, this study presented a plan to increase innovative behavior and verified the research model. In addition, the directions of future research for innovative behavior were presented.

The Effect of Mobile App Contents Characteristics on the Continuous Use Intention: Focused on Using KakaoTalk (모바일 앱 콘텐츠 특성이 지속사용의도에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구: 카카오톡의 사용을 중심으로)

  • Sou-Bin Yun;Byung-June Kim;Chae-Hyun Lee
    • Industry Promotion Research
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    • v.8 no.1
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    • pp.103-110
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    • 2023
  • This study targeted KakaoTalk app users, mainly in Seoul and the metropolitan area, and verified the factors that had a significant impact on the intention to continuously use the app through KakaoTalk contents. Among various content characteristics, five variables were used to verify the variables that had the greatest influence on the intention to continue using, and the ones that did not. As a result of testing the five hypotheses, it was found that convenience, enjoyment, informativeness, and perceived usefulness had a significant positive(+) effect on the intention to continue using, but intimacy did not. From this, it can be determined that the majority of users use the app content because it is useful and informative, rather than because they have a sense of familiarity. In this way, the purpose of this study is to provide empirical help to factors closely related to the intention of continuous use in deriving priorities to be considered in the service planning stage as well as in terms of technical design of contents when developing mobile apps in the mobile app industry as a whole and in the field in the future. I want to provide it, but there is a meaning.

The Effects of Internal Market Orientation on Service Providers' adaptive service behavior : Serial Multiple Mediation Effects of Person-Environment Fit and Work Engagement (내부시장 지향성이 서비스 제공자의 적응적 서비스 행동에 미치는 영향: 개인-환경 적합성과 직무열의의 연속다중매개효과)

  • Lee, Myoung-Soung;Kim, Gi-Dae
    • Journal of Service Research and Studies
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    • v.13 no.4
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    • pp.24-46
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    • 2023
  • This study sought to examine how internal market orientation of service organizations affects the service providers' adaptive service behavior and to determine what psychological processes go through for this purpose. To achieve this purpose, based on previous research, a research model was set up to predict that internal market orientation of service organizations will increase service providers' adaptive service behavior by continuously mediating the psychological processes of person-environment fit and work engagement. To test the hypothesis, a survey was conducted and data were collected from nutritionists at consignment catering companies located in Busan and Gyeongnam. As a result of testing the hypotheses proposed in this study's research model, internal market orientation increased person-job fit and person-organization fit, which are key elements of person-environment fit. And, it was confirmed that person-job fit and person-organization fit have a positive effect on work engagement. Additionally, work engagement improved service providers' adaptive service behavior. Lastly, this study confirmed that the influence of internal market orientation on adaptive service behavior is continuously mediated by person-environment fit and job enthusiasm.

The Effects of Adversity Quotient and R&D Capabilities on Corporate Performance: The Mediating Role of Organizational Creativity Influencing Factors (역경지수와 연구개발역량이 기업성과에 미치는 영향: 조직창의성 영향요인의 매개역할)

  • Hae-Jin Sue;Jong-Keon Lee
    • Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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    • v.18 no.4
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    • pp.89-102
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    • 2023
  • This study examined the effects of adversity quotient and R&D capabilities on corporate performance and the mediating role of organizational creativity influencing factors in the relationship between these variables. This study established seven hypotheses, divided the adversity quotient into control, reach, and endurance, divided organizational creativity influencing factors into organizational resources and creative management practices, and divided corporate performance into management performance and technical performance. This study distributed 1,000 One hundred and sixteenquestionnaires to CEOs working at small and medium-sized technology start-ups in Gyeonggi-do and collected 122 copies under anonymous names. 116 questionnaires were used for hypothesis testing, excluding 6 cases in which responses were unfaithful or omitted. The results of this study are as follows. First, it was found that reach among the adversity quotient was positively related to organizational resources. Second, among the adversity quotient, control was found to have a positive(+) effect on management performance and technical performance, respectively. Third, organizational management practices were found to have a positive(+) effect on management performance. Fifth, organizational resources were found to partially mediate the relationship between control and technical performance, and to fully mediate the relationship between reach and technical performance. Finally, this study discussed the theoretical and practical implications of the research results.

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The Effect of Attributes of Innovation and Perceived Risk on Product Attitudes and Intention to Adopt Smart Wear (스마트 의류의 혁신속성과 지각된 위험이 제품 태도 및 수용의도에 미치는 영향)

  • Ko, Eun-Ju;Sung, Hee-Won;Yoon, Hye-Rim
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.18 no.2
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    • pp.89-111
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    • 2008
  • Due to the development of digital technology, studies regarding smart wear integrating daily life have rapidly increased. However, consumer research about perception and attitude toward smart clothing hardly could find. The purpose of this study was to identify innovative characteristics and perceived risk of smart clothing and to analyze the influences of theses factors on product attitudes and intention to adopt. Specifically, five hypotheses were established. H1: Perceived attributes of smart clothing except for complexity would have positive relations to product attitude or purchase intention, while complexity would be opposite. H2: Product attitude would have positive relation to purchase intention. H3: Product attitude would have a mediating effect between perceived attributes and purchase intention. H4: Perceived risks of smart clothing would have negative relations to perceived attributes except for complexity, and positive relations to complexity. H5: Product attitude would have a mediating effect between perceived risks and purchase intention. A self-administered questionnaire was developed based on previous studies. After pretest, the data were collected during September, 2006, from university students in Korea who were relatively sensitive to innovative products. A total of 300 final useful questionnaire were analyzed by SPSS 13.0 program. About 60.3% were male with the mean age of 21.3 years old. About 59.3% reported that they were aware of smart clothing, but only 9 respondents purchased it. The mean of attitudes toward smart clothing and purchase intention was 2.96 (SD=.56) and 2.63 (SD=.65) respectively. Factor analysis using principal components with varimax rotation was conducted to identify perceived attribute and perceived risk dimensions. Perceived attributes of smart wear were categorized into relative advantage (including compatibility), observability (including triability), and complexity. Perceived risks were identified into physical/performance risk, social psychological risk, time loss risk, and economic risk. Regression analysis was conducted to test five hypotheses. Relative advantage and observability were significant predictors of product attitude (adj $R^2$=.223) and purchase intention (adj $R^2$=.221). Complexity showed negative influence on product attitude. Product attitude presented significant relation to purchase intention (adj $R^2$=.692) and partial mediating effect between perceived attributes and purchase intention (adj $R^2$=.698). Therefore hypothesis one to three were accepted. In order to test hypothesis four, four dimensions of perceived risk and demographic variables (age, gender, monthly household income, awareness of smart clothing, and purchase experience) were entered as independent variables in the regression models. Social psychological risk, economic risk, and gender (female) were significant to predict relative advantage (adj $R^2$=.276). When perceived observability was a dependent variable, social psychological risk, time loss risk, physical/performance risk, and age (younger) were significant in order (adj $R^2$=.144). However, physical/performance risk was positively related to observability. The more Koreans seemed to be observable of smart clothing, the more increased the probability of physical harm or performance problems received. Complexity was predicted by product awareness, social psychological risk, economic risk, and purchase experience in order (adj $R^2$=.114). Product awareness was negatively related to complexity, meaning high level of product awareness would reduce complexity of smart clothing. However, purchase experience presented positive relation with complexity. It appears that consumers can perceive high level of complexity when they are actually consuming smart clothing in real life. Risk variables were positively related with complexity. That is, in order to decrease complexity, it is also necessary to consider minimizing anxiety factors about social psychological wound or loss of money. Thus, hypothesis 4 was partially accepted. Finally, in testing hypothesis 5, social psychological risk and economic risk were significant predictors for product attitude (adj $R^2$=.122) and purchase intention (adj $R^2$=.099) respectively. When attitude variable was included with risk variables as independent variables in the regression model to predict purchase intention, only attitude variable was significant (adj $R^2$=.691). Thus attitude variable presented full mediating effect between perceived risks and purchase intention, and hypothesis 5 was accepted. Findings would provide guidelines for fashion and electronic businesses who aim to create and strengthen positive attitude toward smart clothing. Marketers need to consider not only functional feature of smart clothing, but also practical and aesthetic attributes, since appropriateness for social norm or self image would reduce uncertainty of psychological or social risk, which increase relative advantage of smart clothing. Actually social psychological risk was significantly associated to relative advantage. Economic risk is negatively associated with product attitudes as well as purchase intention, suggesting that smart-wear developers have to reflect on price ranges of potential adopters. It will be effective to utilize the findings associated with complexity when marketers in US plan communication strategy.

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Consumer Responses to Retailer's Location-based Mobile Shopping Service : Focusing on PAD Emotional State Model and Information Relevance (유통업체의 위치기반 모바일 쇼핑서비스 제공에 대한 소비자 반응 : PAD 감정모델과 정보의 상황관련성을 중심으로)

  • Lee, Hyun-Hwa;Moon, Hee-Kang
    • Journal of Distribution Research
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    • v.17 no.2
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    • pp.63-92
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    • 2012
  • This study investigated consumer intention to use a location-based mobile shopping service (LBMSS) that integrates cognitive and affective responses. Information relevancy was integrated into pleasure-arousal-dominance (PAD) emotional state model in the present study as a conceptual framework. The results of an online survey of 335 mobile phone users in the U.S. indicated the positive effects of arousal and information relevancy on pleasure. In addition, there was a significant relationship between pleasure and intention to use a LBMSS. However, the relationship between dominance and pleasure was not statistically significant. The results of the present study provides insight to retailers and marketers as to what factors they need to consider to implement location-based mobile shopping services to improve their business performance. Extended Abstract : Location aware technology has expanded the marketer's reach by reducing space and time between a consumer's receipt of advertising and purchase, offering real-time information and coupons to consumers in purchasing situations (Dickenger and Kleijnen, 2008; Malhotra and Malhotra, 2009). LBMSS increases the relevancy of SMS marketing by linking advertisements to a user's location (Bamba and Barnes, 2007; Malhotra and Malhotra, 2009). This study investigated consumer intention to use a location-based mobile shopping service (LBMSS) that integrates cognitive and affective response. The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship among information relevancy and affective variables and their effects on intention to use LBMSS. Thus, information relevancy was integrated into pleasure-arousal-dominance (PAD) model and generated the following hypotheses. Hypothesis 1. There will be a positive influence of arousal concerning LBMSS on pleasure in regard to LBMSS. Hypothesis 2. There will be a positive influence of dominance in LBMSS on pleasure in regard to LBMSS. Hypothesis 3. There will be a positive influence of information relevancy on pleasure in regard to LBMSS. Hypothesis 4. There will be a positive influence of pleasure about LBMSS on intention to use LBMSS. E-mail invitations were sent out to a randomly selected sample of three thousand consumers who are older than 18 years old and mobile phone owners, acquired from an independent marketing research company. An online survey technique was employed utilizing Dillman's (2000) online survey method and follow-ups. A total of 335 valid responses were used for the data analysis in the present study. Before the respondents answer any of the questions, they were told to read a document describing LBMSS. The document included definitions and examples of LBMSS provided by various service providers. After that, they were exposed to a scenario describing the participant as taking a saturday shopping trip to a mall and then receiving a short message from the mall. The short message included new product information and coupons for same day use at participating stores. They then completed a questionnaire containing various questions. To assess arousal, dominance, and pleasure, we adapted and modified scales used in the previous studies in the context of location-based mobile shopping service, each of the five items from Mehrabian and Russell (1974). A total of 15 items were measured on a seven-point bipolar scale. To measure information relevancy, four items were borrowed from Mason et al. (1995). Intention to use LBMSS was captured using two items developed by Blackwell, and Miniard (1995) and one items developed by the authors. Data analyses were conducted using SPSS 19.0 and LISREL 8.72. A total of usable 335 data were obtained after deleting the incomplete responses, which results in a response rate of 11.20%. A little over half of the respondents were male (53.9%) and approximately 60% of respondents were married (57.4%). The mean age of the sample was 29.44 years with a range from 19 to 60 years. In terms of the ethnicity there were European Americans (54.5%), Hispanic American (5.3%), African-American (3.6%), and Asian American (2.9%), respectively. The respondents were highly educated; close to 62.5% of participants in the study reported holding a college degree or its equivalent and 14.5% of the participants had graduate degree. The sample represents all income categories: less than $24,999 (10.8%), $25,000-$49,999 (28.34%), $50,000-$74,999 (13.8%), and $75,000 or more (10.23%). The respondents of the study indicated that they were employed in many occupations. Responses came from all 42 states in the U.S. To identify the dimensions of research constructs, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) using a varimax rotation was conducted. As indicated in table 1, these dimensions: arousal, dominance, relevancy, pleasure, and intention to use, suggested by the EFA, explained 82.29% of the total variance with factor loadings ranged from .74 to .89. As a next step, CFA was conducted to validate the dimensions that were identified from the exploratory factor analysis and to further refine the scale. Table 1 exhibits the results of measurement model analysis and revealed a chi-square of 202.13 with degree-of-freedom of 89 (p =.002), GFI of .93, AGFI = .89, CFI of .99, NFI of .98, which indicates of the evidence of a good model fit to the data (Bagozzi and Yi, 1998; Hair et al., 1998). As table 1 shows, reliability was estimated with Cronbach's alpha and composite reliability (CR) for all multi-item scales. All the values met evidence of satisfactory reliability in multi-item measure for alpha (>.91) and CR (>.80). In addition, we tested the convergent validity of the measure using average variance extracted (AVE) by following recommendations from Fornell and Larcker (1981). The AVE values for the model constructs ranged from .74 through .85, which are higher than the threshold suggested by Fornell and Larcker (1981). To examine discriminant validity of the measure, we again followed the recommendations from Fornell and Larcker (1981). The shared variances between constructs were smaller than the AVE of the research constructs and confirm discriminant validity of the measure. The causal model testing was conducted using LISREL 8.72 with a maximum-likelihood estimation method. Table 2 shows the results of the hypotheses testing. The results for the conceptual model revealed good overall fit for the proposed model. Chi-square was 342.00 (df = 92, p =.000), NFI was .97, NNFI was .97, GFI was .89, AGFI was .83, and RMSEA was .08. All paths in the proposed model received significant statistical support except H2. The paths from arousal to pleasure (H1: ${\ss}$=.70; t = 11.44), from information relevancy to intention to use (H3 ${\ss}$ =.12; t = 2.36), from information relevancy to pleasure (H4 ${\ss}$ =.15; t = 2.86), and pleasure to intention to use (H5: ${\ss}$=.54; t = 9.05) were significant. However, the path from dominance to pleasure was not supported. This study investigated consumer intention to use a location-based mobile shopping service (LBMSS) that integrates cognitive and affective responses. Information relevancy was integrated into pleasure-arousal-dominance (PAD) emotional state model as a conceptual framework. The results of the present study support previous studies indicating that emotional responses as well as cognitive responses have a strong impact on accepting new technology. The findings of this study suggest potential marketing strategies to mobile service developers and retailers who are considering the implementation of LBMSS. It would be rewarding to develop location-based mobile services that integrate information relevancy and which cause positive emotional responses.

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Effects of firm strategies on customer acquisition of Software as a Service (SaaS) providers: A mediating and moderating role of SaaS technology maturity (SaaS 기업의 차별화 및 가격전략이 고객획득성과에 미치는 영향: SaaS 기술성숙도 수준의 매개효과 및 조절효과를 중심으로)

  • Chae, SeongWook;Park, Sungbum
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.20 no.3
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    • pp.151-171
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    • 2014
  • Firms today have sought management effectiveness and efficiency utilizing information technologies (IT). Numerous firms are outsourcing specific information systems functions to cope with their short of information resources or IT experts, or to reduce their capital cost. Recently, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) as a new type of information system has become one of the powerful outsourcing alternatives. SaaS is software deployed as a hosted and accessed over the internet. It is regarded as the idea of on-demand, pay-per-use, and utility computing and is now being applied to support the core competencies of clients in areas ranging from the individual productivity area to the vertical industry and e-commerce area. In this study, therefore, we seek to quantify the value that SaaS has on business performance by examining the relationships among firm strategies, SaaS technology maturity, and business performance of SaaS providers. We begin by drawing from prior literature on SaaS, technology maturity and firm strategy. SaaS technology maturity is classified into three different phases such as application service providing (ASP), Web-native application, and Web-service application. Firm strategies are manipulated by the low-cost strategy and differentiation strategy. Finally, we considered customer acquisition as a business performance. In this sense, specific objectives of this study are as follows. First, we examine the relationships between customer acquisition performance and both low-cost strategy and differentiation strategy of SaaS providers. Secondly, we investigate the mediating and moderating effects of SaaS technology maturity on those relationships. For this purpose, study collects data from the SaaS providers, and their line of applications registered in the database in CNK (Commerce net Korea) in Korea using a questionnaire method by the professional research institution. The unit of analysis in this study is the SBUs (strategic business unit) in the software provider. A total of 199 SBUs is used for analyzing and testing our hypotheses. With regards to the measurement of firm strategy, we take three measurement items for differentiation strategy such as the application uniqueness (referring an application aims to differentiate within just one or a small number of target industry), supply channel diversification (regarding whether SaaS vendor had diversified supply chain) as well as the number of specialized expertise and take two items for low cost strategy like subscription fee and initial set-up fee. We employ a hierarchical regression analysis technique for testing moderation effects of SaaS technology maturity and follow the Baron and Kenny's procedure for determining if firm strategies affect customer acquisition through technology maturity. Empirical results revealed that, firstly, when differentiation strategy is applied to attain business performance like customer acquisition, the effects of the strategy is moderated by the technology maturity level of SaaS providers. In other words, securing higher level of SaaS technology maturity is essential for higher business performance. For instance, given that firms implement application uniqueness or a distribution channel diversification as a differentiation strategy, they can acquire more customers when their level of SaaS technology maturity is higher rather than lower. Secondly, results indicate that pursuing differentiation strategy or low cost strategy effectively works for SaaS providers' obtaining customer, which means that continuously differentiating their service from others or making their service fee (subscription fee or initial set-up fee) lower are helpful for their business success in terms of acquiring their customers. Lastly, results show that the level of SaaS technology maturity mediates the relationships between low cost strategy and customer acquisition. That is, based on our research design, customers usually perceive the real value of the low subscription fee or initial set-up fee only through the SaaS service provide by vender and, in turn, this will affect their decision making whether subscribe or not.

The Role of Social Capital and Identity in Knowledge Contribution in Virtual Communities: An Empirical Investigation (가상 커뮤니티에서 사회적 자본과 정체성이 지식기여에 미치는 역할: 실증적 분석)

  • Shin, Ho Kyoung;Kim, Kyung Kyu;Lee, Un-Kon
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.22 no.3
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    • pp.53-74
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    • 2012
  • A challenge in fostering virtual communities is the continuous supply of knowledge, namely members' willingness to contribute knowledge to their communities. Previous research argues that giving away knowledge eventually causes the possessors of that knowledge to lose their unique value to others, benefiting all except the contributor. Furthermore, communication within virtual communities involves a large number of participants with different social backgrounds and perspectives. The establishment of mutual understanding to comprehend conversations and foster knowledge contribution in virtual communities is inevitably more difficult than face-to-face communication in a small group. In spite of these arguments, evidence suggests that individuals in virtual communities do engage in social behaviors such as knowledge contribution. It is important to understand why individuals provide their valuable knowledge to other community members without a guarantee of returns. In virtual communities, knowledge is inherently rooted in individual members' experiences and expertise. This personal nature of knowledge requires social interactions between virtual community members for knowledge transfer. This study employs the social capital theory in order to account for interpersonal relationship factors and identity theory for individual and group factors that may affect knowledge contribution. First, social capital is the relationship capital which is embedded within the relationships among the participants in a network and available for use when it is needed. Social capital is a productive resource, facilitating individuals' actions for attainment. Nahapiet and Ghoshal (1997) identify three dimensions of social capital and explain theoretically how these dimensions affect the exchange of knowledge. Thus, social capital would be relevant to knowledge contribution in virtual communities. Second, existing research has addressed the importance of identity in facilitating knowledge contribution in a virtual context. Identity in virtual communities has been described as playing a vital role in the establishment of personal reputations and in the recognition of others. For instance, reputation systems that rate participants in terms of the quality of their contributions provide a readily available inventory of experts to knowledge seekers. Despite the growing interest in identities, however, there is little empirical research about how identities in the communities influence knowledge contribution. Therefore, the goal of this study is to better understand knowledge contribution by examining the roles of social capital and identity in virtual communities. Based on a theoretical framework of social capital and identity theory, we develop and test a theoretical model and evaluate our hypotheses. Specifically, we propose three variables such as cohesiveness, reciprocity, and commitment, referring to the social capital theory, as antecedents of knowledge contribution in virtual communities. We further posit that members with a strong identity (self-presentation and group identification) contribute more knowledge to virtual communities. We conducted a field study in order to validate our research model. We collected data from 192 members of virtual communities and used the PLS method to analyse the data. The tests of the measurement model confirm that our data set has appropriate discriminant and convergent validity. The results of testing the structural model show that cohesion, reciprocity, and self-presentation significantly influence knowledge contribution, while commitment and group identification do not significantly influence knowledge contribution. Our findings on cohesion and reciprocity are consistent with the previous literature. Contrary to our expectations, commitment did not significantly affect knowledge contribution in virtual communities. This result may be due to the fact that knowledge contribution was voluntary in the virtual communities in our sample. Another plausible explanation for this result may be the self-selection bias for the survey respondents, who are more likely to contribute their knowledge to virtual communities. The relationship between self-presentation and knowledge contribution was found to be significant in virtual communities, supporting the results of prior literature. Group identification did not significantly affect knowledge contribution in this study, inconsistent with the wealth of research that identifies group identification as an important factor for knowledge sharing. This conflicting result calls for future research that examines the role of group identification in knowledge contribution in virtual communities. This study makes a contribution to theory development in the area of knowledge management in general and virtual communities in particular. For practice, the results of this study identify the circumstances under which individual factors would be effective for motivating knowledge contribution to virtual communities.

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