• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.10 no.7
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• pp.344-354
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• 2010

The primary purpose of this study is to examine the effects of customer satisfaction and switching barrier on customer retention and intention of WOM in insurance services. Based on relevant literature reviews, this study posits three switching barrier characteristics, that is, switching costs, attractiveness of alternatives and interpersonal relationship as key determinants of customer retention and intention of WOM. And then we structured a research model and hypotheses about relationship between these variables. A total 230 usable survey responses of life insurance service users have been employed in the analysis. The major findings from the data analyses are as follows. Firstly, customer satisfaction had a positive influence upon customer retention and intention of WOM. Secondly, two switching barrier characteristics of switching costs and interpersonal relationship had a positive influence upon customer retention. Lastly, customer retention had very significantly related to intention of WOM in insurance services. From this study, we expect to suggest practical and managerial implications to insurance service providers.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.445-456
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• 2013

This study addresses the relationship between individual differences regarding self-concept, measured by Self Concept Clarity (SCC) scale and Relational-Interdependent Self-Construal and relationships (RISC) scale, and diverse affective consequences after choice behavior. We hypothesized that lower self-concept clarity and higher relational interdependence would be related to increased susceptibility to choice context-for example, how a choice set is constructed based on one's initial preference. We examined how variations in a choice set can produce different affective consequences after making choices, and investigated the underlying neural mechanism using fMRI. In this experiment, participants first rated their preferences for art posters, and made a series of choices from a presented set. After the choice task, they completed post-choice measures including preferences for the chosen posters, as well as measures of their self-concept clarity and relational interdependence. Our behavioral results demonstrated that when participants faced more conflicting choice context, self-concept clarity was related to more positive affective consequences after choice, whereas relational interdependence was correlated with a lower second-rated attractiveness of the chosen option. The neuroimaging analysis of choice-making revealed that self-concept clarity and the degree of their relational interdependence served as modulators in shaping how one perceives and experiences the same decision-making process. These results have theoretical and practical importance in that it is one of the first studies investigating the influence of the individual differences regarding self-concept on value-based decision making process among diverse choice set contexts.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.8 no.9
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• pp.259-273
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• 2008

This study aims to identify of customer features control the effect on revisit intention and switching intention. The statistical techniques used for this empirical analysis are frequency analysis, technology analysis, reliability analysis, factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis along with path analysis and moderate regression analysis, which are based on structural model From the effect that customer features control the effect on switching barrier by switching intention, travel agencies has a control effect on 'financial switching costs' and 'relational switching costs', and airlines show they have control effect on 'relational switching costs.' In diversity pursuit factors, 'financial switching costs' and 'attractiveness of alternatives' have a meaningful control effect for travel agencies customers, while 'procedural switching costs' for airlines customers. In the analysis result of the effect that customer features control the effect on revisit intention by switching intention, 'percept' and 'diversity pursuit' have a meaningful control effect in travel agencies customers and airlines one, respectively.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.19-41
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• 2016

Recently, the proliferation of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet personal computers and the development of information communication technologies (ICT) have led to a big trend of a shift from single-channel shopping to multi-channel shopping. With the emergence of a "smart" group of consumers who want to shop in more reasonable and convenient ways, the boundaries apparently dividing online and offline shopping have collapsed and blurred more than ever before. Thus, there is now fierce competition between online and offline channels. Ever since the emergence of online shopping, a major type of multi-channel shopping has been "showrooming," where consumers visit offline stores to examine products before buying them online. However, because of the growing use of smart devices and the counterattack of offline retailers represented by omni-channel marketing strategies, one of the latest huge trends of shopping is "webrooming," where consumers visit online stores to examine products before buying them offline. This has become a threat to online retailers. In this situation, although it is very important to examine the influencing factors for switching from online shopping to webrooming, most prior studies have mainly focused on a single- or multi-channel shopping pattern. Therefore, this study thoroughly investigated the influencing factors on customers switching from online shopping to webrooming in terms of both the "search" and "purchase" processes through the application of a push-pull-mooring (PPM) framework. In order to test the research model, 280 individual samples were gathered from undergraduate and graduate students who had actual experience with webrooming. The results of the structural equation model (SEM) test revealed that the "pull" effect is strongest on the webrooming intention rather than the "push" or "mooring" effects. This proves a significant relationship between "attractiveness of webrooming" and "webrooming intention." In addition, the results showed that both the "perceived risk of online search" and "perceived risk of online purchase" significantly affect "distrust of online shopping." Similarly, both "perceived benefit of multi-channel search" and "perceived benefit of offline purchase" were found to have significant effects on "attractiveness of webrooming" were also found. Furthermore, the results indicated that "online purchase habit" is the only influencing factor that leads to "online shopping lock-in." The theoretical implications of the study are as follows. First, by examining the multi-channel shopping phenomenon from the perspective of "shopping switching" from online shopping to webrooming, this study complements the limits of the "channel switching" perspective, represented by multi-channel freeriding studies that merely focused on customers' channel switching behaviors from one to another. While extant studies with a channel switching perspective have focused on only one type of multi-channel shopping, where consumers just move from one particular channel to different channels, a study with a shopping switching perspective has the advantage of comprehensively investigating how consumers choose and navigate among diverse types of single- or multi-channel shopping alternatives. In this study, only limited shopping switching behavior from online shopping to webrooming was examined; however, the results should explain various phenomena in a more comprehensive manner from the perspective of shopping switching. Second, this study extends the scope of application of the push-pull-mooring framework, which is quite commonly used in marketing research to explain consumers' product switching behaviors. Through the application of this framework, it is hoped that more diverse shopping switching behaviors can be examined in future research. This study can serve a stepping stone for future studies. One of the most important practical implications of the study is that it may help single- and multi-channel retailers develop more specific customer strategies by revealing the influencing factors of webrooming intention from online shopping. For example, online single-channel retailers can ease the distrust of online shopping to prevent consumers from churning by reducing the perceived risk in terms of online search and purchase. On the other hand, offline retailers can develop specific strategies to increase the attractiveness of webrooming by letting customers perceive the benefits of multi-channel search or offline purchase. Although this study focused only on customers switching from online shopping to webrooming, the results can be expanded to various types of shopping switching behaviors embedded in single- and multi-channel shopping environments, such as showrooming and mobile shopping.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.275-289
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• 2018

It is necessary to develop a bridgehead port for trading with northern countries to promote trade through the East Sea because the East Sea Rim economic bloc around the Northeast Asia including South Korea, China, Russia, Japan, and North Korea has a high growth potential in the future. Therefore, this study aims to suggest a strategic direction to enhance the competitiveness of Donghae Port through reinforcement of container cargoes by conducting Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) for stakeholders of Donghae Port. The analysis results suggest that it is necessary to improve the five evaluation factors: attractiveness of container and bulk volumes, appropriate ratio of export/import container quantities, frequency of vessel entry and diversity of sea routes, convenience of complex linked transportation, and competitiveness of cargo handling equipment. The implications of this study are as follows. First, it is necessary to continuously research the current status of container and bulk cargo volumes of the port and ways to increase the absolute cargo volume. Second, we need to consider realistic alternatives to improve the ratio of export/import container quantities. Third, in terms of network, we should establish a service improvement plan to increase the frequency of port calls and the diversity of sea routes. Furthermore, incentives should be provided to increase the trade volume of Donghae Port through strengthened complex linked transportation function. Finally, it is urgently necessary to provide investment support for container handling equipment as an essential requirement for the activation of the container cargoes in Donghae Port.

• Analyses & Alternatives
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.31-43
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• 2017

The article is devoted to the theoretical and practical analysis of Chinese global leadership. The concept of leadership is applied as a methodology, which involves identifying the main factors, such as strategic power, the attractiveness of political institutions, the ability to provide acceptable ideas and the presence of allies that contribute to a comprehensive analysis of the country's leadership potential. The authors also describe the relevance of Chinese global leadership and analyze its domestic, economic and international causes. Moreover, the ''Belt and Road'' initiative is defined as the main mechanism for providing the influence of China on the global level which is now being changed its quantitative component, namely the increasing attention to the security aspects of this initiative. In addition to that, it is important to note that China maintains its economic and political positions in Africa, Central Asia and South-East Asia. Africa has a special role in the Chinese ''Belt and Road'' initiative as a recipient of Chinese investments and a site for the deployment of China's naval facilities to protect the trade routes. On the regional level, China will strive to become a leader of the trade and economic processes in the Asia-Pacific region, the South China Sea and the North Korea nuclear program issues. The American factor in modern international relations, namely so-called "Trump factor", which means the U.S. withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Paris Agreement, will cause demand for Chinese leadership in the Asia-Pacific region and in the world as well. However, in this case a number of questions arise: is China prepared for this? Is Beijing able to bear greater responsibility? Does China have the potential for this? The article concludes that China will not become global leaders in the next 20-30 years, because of internal (political reforms) and foreign policy reasons (doctrinal formulation of foreign policy initiatives, military-political and economic power, international posture and relations with other states). The authors believe that the implementation of Chinese leadership is possible not on the condition of confrontation between China and the United States, but on the establishing of constructive relations between these countries. The last meeting between Trump and Xi Jinping showed a trend for creating channels for dialogue between Beijing and Washington, which can become the basis for interaction. An important place in the work is given to the analysis of development and forecasting the evolution of Russian-Chinese and U.S.-China relations. As for Russia, Moscow should conduct a policy that will not allow it to become a ''junior partner'' of China.

• Journal of Service Research and Studies
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.17-41
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• 2017

The purpose of this research is to investigate the factors that impact customer satisfaction and loyalty in mobile payment services. Specifically, this research (1) studies the influence of company reputation on customer satisfaction and loyalty, (2) examines service quality dimensions that increase customer satisfaction, and (3) assesses switching barriers as moderators in influencing customer loyalty. Findings of this empirical research reconfirm the point of view that company reputation, service quality, and switching barriers are crucial for customer satisfaction in mobile payment services. The research methodologies that were used to verify the hypothesis in this study included customized surveys and structural equation modeling. The results demonstrated that company reputation significantly affects customer satisfaction and loyalty. Additionally, the results indicated that only two of the five total service qualities, ease of use and the security/privacy qualities, have positive influences on customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction has also proven to be a significant influence on loyalty. Lastly, the results showed that among the factors of switching barriers, the factors of lost performance costs, sunk costs, setup costs, the attractiveness of alternatives, and service recovery have moderating effects on the relationships between customer satisfaction and loyalty. Base on the results, this research recommends that firms aim at devising integrated strategies that make switching barriers act as complements to customer satisfaction.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.171-177
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• 2020

This study investigates e-service quality of online travel agency and influence on relationship quality and Reuse. The individual Chinese tourists with experiences using online travel agencies were chosen for the study. The survey was carried out at Jeju International Airport, which is the most frequently used by Chinese tourists visiting Korea. Data were collected for 7 days from July 15, 2019 to July 21, 2019. A total of 320 tourists were attended in this research and finally 300 samples were used for empirical analysis. The result of the study showed that e-service quality of online travel agencies all factors(convenience, individuality, accuracy and price attractiveness) influences on relationship quality all factors(satisfaction, trust) and the factor 'accuracy' was analyzed as the biggest among them. Moreover satisfaction and trust factors of all sub-factors of relationship quality influences on reuse. In the future, we intend to provide basic marketing data for Chinese tourists using online travel agencies to officials and practitioners. Particularly, focusing on the tourism behaviors of individual Chinese tourists, we are going to propose effective business cooperation plans and strategic alternatives with online travel agencies.

• Korean Journal of Comparative Education
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.163-185
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• 2014

Along with concerns about deteriorating social and economic status of teachers around the world, Master Teacher System(MTS) has been considered as one of the alternatives to transform teaching profession into a more attractive job. In this study, the conditions and problems associated with the MTS in China is analyzed to draw implications for South Korea, which recently legalized the MTS. Research framework including four research questions is developed based on the controversies surrounding MTS of South Korea. The main findings show that the MTS in China was introduced to improve teachers' social and economic status along with the quality of prospective teachers. A very small number of master teachers are selected through rigorous standards including longer service period. They are given additional monetary and non-monetary compensations in return for their teaching-learning leadership and responsibilities. As highly respected educators, they enjoy the lifelong benefits, although they are annually evaluated. It is evident that the MTS has contributed to improving the attractiveness of teaching profession in China. Nevertheless, there are many problems associated with selection standards and methods of master teachers, their roles, compensation, evaluation and terms of service. Recent criticism due to changing circumstances surrounding education in China makes the MTS more questionable. Based on the findings, major implications for future directions of MTS of South Korea are drawn and suggested.