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Research on Factors Affecting Smartphone App Market Selection: App Market Platform Provider's Perspective (스마트폰 앱 마켓 선택에 영향을 미치는 요인에 관한 연구: 앱 마켓 플랫폼 사업자 관점으로)

  • Lee, Ho;Kim, Jae Sung;Kim, Kyung Kyu;Lee, Youngin
    • Journal of the Korea Knowledge Information Technology Society
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    • v.13 no.1
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    • pp.11-23
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    • 2018
  • This paper empirically investigates the factors that influence the consumer choice of an app market based on the rational choice theory. The app market is the only channel where a consumer can buy smartphone apps, which give various functional convenience and are considered to be a major contributor to the proliferation of smartphones. Analyses of 281 questionnaires show that usability and structural guarantees as benefit factors significantly influence the app market choice. From the cost perspectives, both monetary and non-monetary conversion costs are found to significantly influence the app market choice. On the other hand, customer trust, information quality, and market image were found to have no significant effect on app market selection. In particular, Korean app market platform providers (KT, LG U +) seem to be superior in terms of structural guarantees, such as customer center operation and damage compensation regulations, compared to overseas app market platform operators (Google). However, in the case of the Google App Market, it is pre-installed on all Android phones, so it is not inconvenient to install additional apps to use other app market. This is disadvantageous to domestic app market platform operators, and it is necessary to establish a policy solution point. In terms of operator costs, both monetary and non-monetary conversion costs have a significant impact on app market choice. In particular, non-monetary conversion costs have a negative impact on Korean app market platform operators. It can be explained that the service expectation level of the domestic app market is low and it is recognized that the time cost factor such as membership is large for new users to use. It seems to be necessary to improve the domestic app market business. Meanwhile, extant research on smartphone apps focuses on the purchase of apps themselves, but not on the selection of the app market itself. In order to fill in this gap, this study focuses on the determinants of app market selection, including the characteristics of an app market and the switching costs.

A Study on People Counting in Public Metro Service using Hybrid CNN-LSTM Algorithm (Hybrid CNN-LSTM 알고리즘을 활용한 도시철도 내 피플 카운팅 연구)

  • Choi, Ji-Hye;Kim, Min-Seung;Lee, Chan-Ho;Choi, Jung-Hwan;Lee, Jeong-Hee;Sung, Tae-Eung
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.26 no.2
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    • pp.131-145
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    • 2020
  • In line with the trend of industrial innovation, IoT technology utilized in a variety of fields is emerging as a key element in creation of new business models and the provision of user-friendly services through the combination of big data. The accumulated data from devices with the Internet-of-Things (IoT) is being used in many ways to build a convenience-based smart system as it can provide customized intelligent systems through user environment and pattern analysis. Recently, it has been applied to innovation in the public domain and has been using it for smart city and smart transportation, such as solving traffic and crime problems using CCTV. In particular, it is necessary to comprehensively consider the easiness of securing real-time service data and the stability of security when planning underground services or establishing movement amount control information system to enhance citizens' or commuters' convenience in circumstances with the congestion of public transportation such as subways, urban railways, etc. However, previous studies that utilize image data have limitations in reducing the performance of object detection under private issue and abnormal conditions. The IoT device-based sensor data used in this study is free from private issue because it does not require identification for individuals, and can be effectively utilized to build intelligent public services for unspecified people. Especially, sensor data stored by the IoT device need not be identified to an individual, and can be effectively utilized for constructing intelligent public services for many and unspecified people as data free form private issue. We utilize the IoT-based infrared sensor devices for an intelligent pedestrian tracking system in metro service which many people use on a daily basis and temperature data measured by sensors are therein transmitted in real time. The experimental environment for collecting data detected in real time from sensors was established for the equally-spaced midpoints of 4×4 upper parts in the ceiling of subway entrances where the actual movement amount of passengers is high, and it measured the temperature change for objects entering and leaving the detection spots. The measured data have gone through a preprocessing in which the reference values for 16 different areas are set and the difference values between the temperatures in 16 distinct areas and their reference values per unit of time are calculated. This corresponds to the methodology that maximizes movement within the detection area. In addition, the size of the data was increased by 10 times in order to more sensitively reflect the difference in temperature by area. For example, if the temperature data collected from the sensor at a given time were 28.5℃, the data analysis was conducted by changing the value to 285. As above, the data collected from sensors have the characteristics of time series data and image data with 4×4 resolution. Reflecting the characteristics of the measured, preprocessed data, we finally propose a hybrid algorithm that combines CNN in superior performance for image classification and LSTM, especially suitable for analyzing time series data, as referred to CNN-LSTM (Convolutional Neural Network-Long Short Term Memory). In the study, the CNN-LSTM algorithm is used to predict the number of passing persons in one of 4×4 detection areas. We verified the validation of the proposed model by taking performance comparison with other artificial intelligence algorithms such as Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP), Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) and RNN-LSTM (Recurrent Neural Network-Long Short Term Memory). As a result of the experiment, proposed CNN-LSTM hybrid model compared to MLP, LSTM and RNN-LSTM has the best predictive performance. By utilizing the proposed devices and models, it is expected various metro services will be provided with no illegal issue about the personal information such as real-time monitoring of public transport facilities and emergency situation response services on the basis of congestion. However, the data have been collected by selecting one side of the entrances as the subject of analysis, and the data collected for a short period of time have been applied to the prediction. There exists the limitation that the verification of application in other environments needs to be carried out. In the future, it is expected that more reliability will be provided for the proposed model if experimental data is sufficiently collected in various environments or if learning data is further configured by measuring data in other sensors.

Applications of Different Types of Germanium Compounds on Rice Plant Growth and its Ge Uptake (게르마늄 종류별 토양처리시 벼의 생육특성 및 게르마늄 흡수에 미치는 영향)

  • Seo, Dong-Cheol;Cheon, Yeong-Seok;Park, Seong-Kyu;Park, Jong-Hwan;Kim, Ah-Reum;Lee, Won-Gyu;Lee, Seong-Tae;Lee, Young-Han;Cho, Ju-Sik;Heo, Jong-Soo
    • Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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    • v.43 no.2
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    • pp.166-173
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    • 2010
  • In order to obtain the basic information for agricultural utilization of germanium (Ge), the growth characteristics, Ge uptake, and grain quality of rice plant (Hopyungbyeo) were investigated under different germanium ($GeO_2$, and commercial Ge) treatments in paddy field. Phytotoxicity was detected in $GeO_2$ treatment but not in commercial Ge treatment. The grain yield was greater in the order of control treatment > commercial Ge treatment > $GeO_2$ treatment. The dry weight was greater in order of control treatment > $GeO_2$ treatment ${\geq}$ commercial Ge treatment. The Ge content of leaf in $GeO_2$ treatment was 6 times (177 mg $m^{-2}$) higher than that in commercial Ge treatment. The Ge content in rice bran was not different in $GeO_2$, and commercial Ge treatments. The Ge contents of brown rice in$GeO_2$, and commercial treatments were 40.9, and 31.1 mg $kg^{-1}$, respectively. The Ge uptake rates in rice plant was higher in the order of leaf > rice bran > brown rice > stem > root. Under $GeO_2$, 15.56% of Ge absorbed into plant with 11.1% in leaf, 1.6% in stem, 0.03% in root, 2.2% in rice bran and 0.73% in brown rice. Under commercial Ge treatment, 5.19% of Ge absorbed into plant with 1.8% in leaf, 0.46% in stem, 0,01% in root, 2.2% in rice bran, and 0.71% in brown rice. Based on these results, the Ge contents in polished rice in commercial Ge treatment were higher than those in $GeO_2$ treatment. However, the Ge contents of rice grain (containing rice bran and polished rice) in $GeO_2$ treatment were higher than those in commercial Ge treatment.

Investigating the Moderating Impact of Hedonism on Online Consumer Behavior (탐색쾌악주의대망상소비자행위적조절작용(探索快乐主义对网上消费者行为的调节作用))

  • Mazaheri, Ebrahim;Richard, Marie-Odile;Laroche, Michel
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.20 no.2
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    • pp.123-134
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    • 2010
  • Considering the benefits for both consumers and suppliers, firms are taking advantage of the Internet as a medium to communicate with and sell products to their consumers. This trend makes the online shopping environment a growing field for both researchers and practitioners. This paper contributes by testing a model of online consumer behavior with websites varying in levels of hedonism. Unlike past studies, we included all three types of emotions (arousal, pleasure, and dominance) and flow into the model. In this study, we assumed that website interfaces, such as background colors, music, and fonts impact the three types of emotions at the initial exposure to the site (Mazaheri, Richard, and Laroche, 2011). In turn, these emotions influence flow and consumers' perceptions of the site atmospherics-perception of site informativeness, effectiveness, and entertainment. This assumption is consistent with Zajonc (1980) who argued that affective reactions are independent of perceptual and cognitive operations and can influence responses. We, then, propose that the perceptions of site atmospherics along with flow, influence customers' attitudes toward the website and toward the product, site involvement, and purchase intentions. In addition, we studied the moderating impact of the level of hedonism of websites on all the relationship in the model. Thus, the path coefficients were compared between "high" and "low" hedonic websites. We used 39 real websites from 12 product categories (8 services and 4 physical goods) to test the model. Among them, 20 were perceived as high hedonic and 19 as low hedonic by the respondents. The result of EQS 6.1 support the overall model: $\chi^2$=1787 (df=504), CFI=.994; RMSEA=.031. All the hypotheses were significant. In addition, the results of multi-groups analyses reveal several non-invariant structural paths between high and low hedonic website groups. The findings supported the model regarding the influence of the three types of emotions on customers' perceptions of site atmospherics, flow, and other customer behavior variables. It was found that pleasure strongly influenced site attitudes and perceptions of site entertainment. Arousal positively impacted the other two types of emotions, perceptions of site informativeness, and site involvement. Additionally, the influence of arousal on flow was found to be highly significant. The results suggested a strong association between dominance and customers' perceptions of site effectiveness. Dominance was also found to be associated with site attitudes and flow. Moreover, the findings suggested that site involvement and attitudes toward the product are the most important antecedents of purchase intentions. Site informativeness and flow also significantly influenced purchase intentions. The results of multi-group analysis supported the moderating impacts of hedonism of the websites. Compared to low (high) hedonic sites, the impacts of utilitarian (hedonic) attributes on other variables were stronger in high (low) hedonic websites. Among the three types of emotions, dominance (controlling feelings) effects were stronger in high hedonic sites and pleasure effects were stronger in low hedonic sites. Moreover, the impact of site informativeness was stronger for high hedonic websites compared to their low-hedonic counterparts. On the other hand, the influence of effectiveness of information on perceptions of site informativeness and the impact of site involvement on product attitudes were stronger for low hedonic websites than for high hedonic ones.

Critical Pathway Development for the Hysterectomy Patients and its applied Effect (자궁적출술 환자를 위한 critical pathway 개발과 적용효과)

  • Noh, Gi-Ok;Park, Kyung-Sook
    • Women's Health Nursing
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    • v.6 no.2
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    • pp.234-257
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    • 2000
  • At present in the medical care, the study and effort for producing health service to consider efficiency, effectiveness, and quality are urgently called for because of the difficulty in the keen competition according to the inter- nationalization and opening, the operation in the medical institution service testing system, the change in the medical policy of KDRGs, and the lack of the health care cost increasing rate. As an alternative, the case management for the new management system is introduced in the U.S., and the Critical Pathway that is the method designing the contents of activity and its result has been developed and applied in order to anticipate and manage the patient-outcome for the realization of the cost-effective case-management. Thus, this study intended to analyze the effectiveness to obtain by developing the Critical Pathway presented as the method to improve the quality-betterment and cost effectiveness through the continuous and consistent patient management for the hysterectomy patient and applying it to the real practice. As a study method, this author formed a conceptual framework through considering five Critical Pathway used in the current U.S. and three Critical Pathway presented in the literature to develop the Critical Pathway for the hysterectomy patient, and made out the preliminary Critical Pathway through reviewing the old chart. This author made the verified the validity of the expert group about the developed Critical Pathway, and to confirm the possibility of practice application, completed and settled the final Critical Pathway after using the Critical Pathway to the hysterectomy patient from March 1st to 15th, 1997. Finally, to analyze the application-effect of the developed Critical Pathway, this author offered health care service applying the Critical Pathway to the hysterectomy patient from April 15th to August 31th, 1997. The guide for the Critical Pathway was carried out in advance by outpatient setting nurse for outpatient setting visit before the operation, and after hospitalization the primary nurse monitored the execution degree on the every duty. After discharge this author surveyed the complication through phone visiting, and one month after discharge surveyed the patient's reaction about the offered service when outpatient setting visit and analyzed the result. The source for health care cost was obtained by the statistics about the hospital charge which was offered by the General Business Department. The results were as follows. 1. It was decided that the vertical line of the Critical Pathway was made up of eight items such as monitoring/assessment, treatment, line/drains, activity, medication, lab test, diet, patient teaching, and the horizontal line of the Critical Pathway was made up of from hospitalization to discharge. 2. After the analysis of service contents through reviewing the old chart, it was decided that the horizontal line of the preliminary Critical Pathway was made up of from hopitalization to fourth postoperative day, and the vertical line of it was divided into eight items which were the contents to occur with the time frame of the horizontal line. 3. After the verifying the validity of the expert group about the preliminary Critical Pathway, the horizontal line was amended from hopitalization to third postoperative day, and taking their consensus, some contents of the horizontal line was amended and deleted. 4. From March 1st to 15th, 1997, to confirm the clinical suitability, this author offered eight hysterectomy patients the medical service through the Critical Pathway. The result was that three of them could be discharged at the expected discharge day, and the others later than that day. Supplementing the preliminary Critical Pathway through analyzing the cause of that delay- case, this author developed the final Critical Pathway. 5. There were no significant differences between the experimental and the control group in the incidence of complication(P > 0.05). 6. The 92.4% of experimental group was satisfied with the Critical Pathway service. 7. The length of hospital stay of the experimental group offered with the Critical Pathway service was 4.6 days and there was a significant difference that it was 1.3 days shorter than that of the control group(t=-29.514, P=0.000). 8. There wsa a significant difference that the mean medical charge per one patient of the experimental group offered the Critical Pathway service was cheaper \124,150 than that of the control group(t=-9.826, P=0.000). 9. The result that the author assumed and analyzed hospital income with the rate of turning bed was assumed that the increase of hospital income was \63,245,072 for that study, and the income increase was expected with \68,704,864 for a year. The result that this author applied the Critical Pathway to the hysterectomy patient have no differences in the incidence of complication, high satisfaction with that service, and the length of hospital stay decreased in the experimental group, and the mean hospital charge per one patient decreased, but hospital income increased. Suggestions for further study and nursing practice are as follows. 1. The study to apply the Critical Pathway for a year, verify the validity, and measure the effect repeatedly is needed. 2. To apply and manage the Critical Pathway effectively, the study to computerize it is needed. 3. The study to develop hospital-based Critical Pathway about other diseases or procedure, and measure the effect is needed.

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The Influence of Healthcare Service Nature on Job Performance : The Moderating Effects of Individaul Personality (의료서비스의 서비스본질 특성이 직무성과에 미치는 영향 :개인성향을 조절변수로)

  • Byun, Miyoung;Kim, Hyunsoo
    • Journal of Service Research and Studies
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    • v.9 no.4
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    • pp.41-62
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    • 2019
  • In this intangible good-oriented, modern service economy era, we have to first understand the characteristics of the healthcare service in order to enhance the competitiveness of the healthcare industry and achieve continuous growth. In addition, service nature and characteristics should be reinforced so that connections can be made to the organizational job performance. To achieve the aforementioned results, this study analyzes the direct effects service nature and characteristics have on job performance in the healthcare industry and investigates the indirect effects with individual personality as the moderating effect. While conducting this study, a total of 340 healthcare workers were surveyed. Survey data from a total of 315 workers were used for analysis during empirical investigation of the research hypothesis. According to the analysis, it was proven that interactivity and horizontality among service nature and characteristics have a positive (+) effect on job effectiveness. This means that customer needs can be identified at customer touchpoints to quickly and accurately provide customers with the products and services they want, while horizontality among service nature and characteristics have a positive (+) effect on job effectiveness. This means that customer needs can be identified at customer touchpoints to quickly and accurately provide customers with the products and services they want, while horizontal communication enhance from department to department and from colleague to colleague within the organization can be linked to job performance. Also, with regards to the relationship shared between the customer or the patient, the job performance of healthcare workers may also improve if they provide customers with their desired service as an expert at the same level. In a rapidly changing healthcare environment, if the healthcare service nature and characteristics are put into practical use, it will be possible to propel the growth of hospitals and sustain it while investigating the moderating effects of individual personality, a partial moderating effect was observed for self-esteem and growth desire. As the study on service nature and characteristics came about only just recently, there is a needs for futher research. The study focuses on the healthcare service industry and hopefully, it will serve as a base study that can be applied to different service industries as well.

A Study on the Acceptance Factors of the Capital Market Sentiment Index (자본시장 심리지수의 수용요인에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Suk-Hwan;Kang, Hyoung-Goo
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.26 no.3
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    • pp.1-36
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    • 2020
  • This study is to reveal the acceptance factors of the Market Sentiment Index (MSI) created by reflecting the investor sentiment extracted by processing unstructured big data. The research model was established by exploring exogenous variables based on the rational behavior theory and applying the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The acceptance of MSI provided to investors in the stock market was found to be influenced by the exogenous variables presented in this study. The results of causal analysis are as follows. First, self-efficacy, investment opportunities, Innovativeness, and perceived cost significantly affect perceived ease of use. Second, Diversity of services and perceived benefits have a statistically significant impact on perceived usefulness. Third, Perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness have a statistically significant effect on attitude to use. Fourth, Attitude to use statistically significantly influences the intention to use, and the investment opportunities as an independent variable affects the intention to use. Fifth, the intention to use statistically significantly affects the final dependent variable, the intention to use continuously. The mediating effect between the independent and dependent variables of the research model is as follows. First, The indirect effect on the causal route from diversity of services to continuous use intention was 0.1491, which was statistically significant at the significance level of 1%. Second, The indirect effect on the causal route from perceived benefit to continuous use intention was 0.1281, which was statistically significant at the significance level of 1%. The results of the multi-group analysis are as follows. First, for groups with and without stock investment experience, multi-group analysis was not possible because the measurement uniformity between the two groups was not secured. Second, the analysis result of the difference in the effect of independent variables of male and female groups on the intention to use continuously, where measurement uniformity was secured between the two groups, In the causal route from usage attitude to usage intention, women are higher than men. And in the causal route from use intention to continuous use intention, males were very high and showed statistically significant difference at significance level 5%.

Qualitative Study on Experiences of Responding to COVID-19 of Therapists in Long-term Care Hospitals (요양병원 치료사의 코로나19 대응 경험에 대한 질적 연구)

  • Bae, Won-Jin;Park, Ju-Young
    • Journal of Korea Entertainment Industry Association
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    • v.15 no.4
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    • pp.337-347
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    • 2021
  • This study is a qualitative study conducted to provide basic data for therapists working in long-term care hospitals to improve their countermeasure strategies for new infectious diseases and improvement of the treatment room infection management system, and to help therapists understand their infection management work. Colaizzi's phenomenological research method was applied as the research method. Telephone interviews were conducted with nine occupational therapists and physical therapists working in nursing hospitals. The contents of the interview were recorded with the consent of the study subjects, and additional confirmation was received by email. The recorded content was analyzed after transcription, and the meaning and nature of the experience coping with COVID-19 were described. The content was organized into 6 themes, 17 main meaning and 49 meaning units. In accordance with the COVID-19 situation, the infection control system has been strengthened by reinforcing infection control education in nursing hospitals, practicing infection control, and supervising infection control outside business hours. It was found that the treatment environment was changed due to the restriction of treatment activities by practicing distancing in the treatment room, adjusting rest and meal times during working hours, and strengthening infection control. In addition, the therapist's role has been expanded and the paradigm of treatment has changed, such as considering the untact intervention, and they have experienced cohort quarantine, pre-tested for COVID-19, vaccinations, and side effects from COVID-19. However, due to the infection work, the therapist's work burden is increased, and the person is experiencing fear, depression, and work stress from the spread of COVID-19. They were also aware of the need for nursing hospital care personnel support, such as guaranteeing rest after vaccination and providing infection control tools and equipment. The results of this study are expected to be used as basic data for human and physical support for the development of infectious disease response strategy programs in nursing hospital treatment rooms and for infection control in nursing hospitals.

Performance of Korean State-owned Enterprises Following Executive Turnover and Executive Resignation During the Term of Office (공기업의 임원교체와 중도퇴임이 경영성과에 미치는 영향)

  • Yu, Seungwon;Kim, Suhee
    • KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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    • v.34 no.3
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    • pp.95-131
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    • 2012
  • This study examines whether the executive turnover and the executive resignation during the term of office affect the performance of Korean state-owned enterprises. The executive turnover in the paper means the comprehensive change of the executives which includes the change after the term of office, the change after consecutive terms and the change during the term of office. The 'resignation' was named for the executive change during the term of office to distinguish from the executive turnover. The study scope of the paper is restrained to the comprehensive executive change itself irrespective of the term of office and the resignation during the term of office. Therefore the natural change of the executive after the term of office or the change after consecutive terms is not included in the study. Spontaneous resignation and forced resignation are not distinguished in the paper as the distinction between the two is not easy. The paper uses both the margin of return on asset and the margin of return on asset adjusted by industry as proxies of the performance of state-owned enterprises. The business nature of state-owned enterprise is considered in the study, the public nature not in it. The paper uses the five year (2004 to 2008) samples of 24 firms designated as public enterprises by Korean government. The analysis results are as follows. First, 45.1% of CEOs were changed a year during the sample period on the average. The average tenure period of CEOs was 2 years and 3 months and 49.9% among the changed CEOs resigned during the term of office. 41.6% of internal auditors were changed a year on the average. The average tenure period of internal auditors was 2 years and 2 months and 51.0% among the changed internal auditors resigned during the term of office. In case of outside directors, on average, 38.2% were changed a year. The average tenure period was 2 years and 7 months and 25.4% among the changed internal directors resigned during the term of office. These statistics show that numerous CEOs resigned before the finish of the three year term in office. Also, considering the tenure of an internal auditor and an outside director which diminished from 3 years to 2 years by an Act on the Management of Public Institutions (applied to the executives appointed since April 2007), it seems most internal auditors resigned during the term of office but most outside directors resigned after the end of the term. Secondly, There was no evidence that the executives were changed during the term of office because of the bad performance of prior year. On the other hand, contrary to the normal expectation, the performance of prior year of the state-owned enterprise where an outside director resigned during the term of office was significantly higher than that of other state-owned enterprises. It means that the clauses in related laws on the executive dismissal on grounds of bad performance did not work normally. Instead it can be said that the executive change was made by non-economic reasons such as a political motivation. Thirdly, the results from a fixed effect model show there were evidences that performance turned negatively when CEOs or outside directors resigned during the term of office. CEO's resignation during the term of office gave a significantly negative effect on the margin of return on asset. Outside director's resignation during the term of office lowered significantly the margin of return on asset adjusted by industry. These results suggest that the executive's change in Korean state-owned enterprises was not made by objective or economic standards such as management performance assessment and the negative effect on performance of the enterprises was had by the unfaithful obeyance of the legal executive term.

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Effects of Reward Programs on Brand Loyalty in Online Shopping Contexts (인터넷쇼핑 상황에서 보상프로그램이 브랜드충성도에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Ji-Hern;Kang, Hyunmo;Munkhbazar, M.
    • Asia Marketing Journal
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    • v.14 no.2
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    • pp.39-63
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    • 2012
  • Previous studies of reward programs have generally focused on designing the best programs for consumers and suggested that consumers' perception of the value of reward programs can vary according to the type of reward program (e.g., hedonic vs. utilitarian and direct vs. indirect) and its timing (e.g., immediate vs. delayed). These studies have typically assumed that consumers' preference for reward programs has a positive effect on brand loyalty. However, Dowling and Uncles (1997) pointed out that this preference does not necessarily foster brand loyalty. In this regard, the present study verifies this assumption by examining the effects of consumers' perception of the value of reward programs on their brand loyalty. Although reward programs are widely used by online shopping malls, most studies have examined the conditions under which consumers are most likely to value loyalty programs in the context of offline shopping. In the context of online shopping, however, consumers' preferences may have little effect on their brand loyalty because they have more opportunities for comparing diverse reward programs offered by many online shopping malls. That is, in online shopping, finding attractive reward programs may require little effort on the part of consumers, who are likely to switch to other online shopping malls. Accordingly, this study empirically examines whether consumers' perception of the value of reward programs influences their brand loyalty in the context of online shopping. Meanwhile, consumers seek utilitarian and/or hedonic value from their online shopping activity(Jones et al., 2006; Barbin et al., 1994). They visit online shopping malls to buy something necessary (utilitarian value) and/or enjoy the process of shopping itself (hedonic value). In this sense, reward programs may reinforce utilitarian as well as hedonic value, and their effect may vary according to the type of reward (utilitarian vs. hedonic). According to Chaudhuri and Holbrook (2001), consumers' perception of the value of a brand can influence their brand loyalty through brand trust and affect. Utilitarian value influences brand loyalty through brand trust, whereas hedonic value influences it through brand affect. This indicates that the effect of this perception on brand trust or affect may be moderated by the type of reward program. Specifically, this perception may have a greater effect on brand trust for utilitarian reward programs than for hedonic ones, whereas the opposite may be true for brand affect. Given the above discussion, the present study is conducted with three objectives in order to provide practical implications for online shopping malls to strategically use reward program for establishing profitable relationship with customers. First, the present study examines whether reward programs can be an effective marketing tool for increasing brand loyalty in the context of online shopping. Second, it investigates the paths through which consumers' perception of the value of reward programs influences their brand loyalty. Third, it analyzes the effects of this perception on brand trust and affect by considering the type of reward program as a moderator. This study suggests and empirically analyzes a new research model for examining how consumers' perception of the value of reward programs influences their brand loyalty in the context of online shopping. The model postulates the following 10 hypotheses about the structural relationships between five constructs: (H1) Consumers' perception of the value of reward programs has a positive effect on their program loyalty; (H2) Program loyalty has a positive effect on brand loyalty; (H3) Consumers' perception of the value of reward programs has a positive effect on their brand trust; (H4) Consumers' perception of the value of reward programs has a positive effect on their brand affect; (H5) Brand trust has a positive effect on program loyalty; (H6) Brand affect has a positive effect on program loyalty; (H7) Brand trust has a positive effect on brand loyalty; (H8) Brand affect has a positive effect on brand loyalty; (H9) Consumers' perception of the value of reward programs is more likely to influence their brand trust for utilitarian reward programs than for hedonic ones; and (H10) Consumers' perception of the value of reward programs is more likely to influence their brand affect for hedonic reward programs than for utilitarian ones. To test the hypotheses, we considered a sample of 220 undergraduate students in Korea (male:113). We randomly assigned these participants to one of two groups based on the type of reward program (utilitarian: transportation card, hedonic: movie ticket). We instructed the participants to imagine that they were offered these reward programs while visiting an online shopping mall. We then asked them to answer some questions about their perception of the value of the reward programs, program loyalty, brand loyalty, brand trust, and brand affect, in that order. We also asked some questions about their demographic backgrounds and then debriefed them. We employed the structural equation modeling (SEM) method with AMOS 18.0. The results provide support for some hypotheses (H1, H3, H4, H7, H8, and H9) while providing no support for others (H2, H5, H6, H10) (see Figure 1). Noteworthy is that the path proposed by previous studies, "value perception → program loyalty → brand loyalty," was not significant in the context of online shopping, whereas this study's proposed path, "value perception → brand trust/brand affect → brand loyalty," was significant. In addition, the results indicate that the type of reward program moderated the relationship between consumers' value perception and brand trust but not the relationship between their value perception and brand affect. These results have some important implications. First, this study is one of the first to examine how consumers' perception of the value of reward programs influences their brand loyalty in the context of online shopping. In particular, the results indicate that the proposed path, "value perception → brand trust/brand affect → brand loyalty," can better explain the effects of reward programs on brand loyalty than existing paths. Furthermore, these results suggest that online shopping malls should place greater emphasis on the type of reward program when devising reward programs. To foster brand loyalty, they should reinforce the type of shopping value that consumers emphasize by providing them with appropriate reward programs. If consumers prefer utilitarian value to hedonic value, then online shopping malls should offer utilitarian reward programs and vice versa.

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