• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.208-218
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• 2010

Internet has grown fast and become one of the most important retail channels now. Various types of Internet retailers, hereafter etailers, have been introduced so far and as one type of Internet shopping mall, 'surrogate Internet shopping mall' has been prosperous and attracting consumers in the domestic market. Surrogate Internet shopping mall is a unique type of etailer that globally purchases well-known brand goods that are not imported in the market, completes delivery in the favor of individual buyers, and collects fees for these specific services. The consumers, who are usually interested in purchasing high-end and unique but not eligible brands, have difficulties to purchase these items overseas directly from the retailers or brands in other countries due to worries of payment failure and no address available for their usually domestic only delivery. In Korea, both numbers of surrogate Internet shopping malls and the magnitude of sales have been growing rapidly up to more than 430 active malls and 500 billion Korean won in 2008 since the population of consumers who want this agent shopping service is also expending. This etail business concept is originated from 'surrogate-mediated purchase' and this type of shopping agent has existed in many different forms and also in wide ranges of context level for quite a long time. As marketers face their individual buyers' representatives instead of a direct contact with them in many occasions, the impact of surrogate shoppers on consumer's decision making has been enormously important and many scholars have explored various range of agent's impact on consumer's purchase decisions in marketing and psychology field. However, not much rigorous research in the Internet commerce has been conveyed yet. Moreover, since as one of the shopping agent surrogate Internet shopping malls specifically connect overseas brands or retailers to domestic consumers, one specific character of the mall's, image of surrogate buying country, where surrogate purchases are conducted in, may play an important role to form consumers' attitude and purchase intention toward products. Furthermore it also possibly affects various dimensions of perceived risk in consumer's information processing. However, though tremendous researches have been carried exploring the effects of diverse dimensions of country of origin, related studies in Internet context has been rarely executed. There have been some studies that prove the positive impact of country of origin on consumer's evaluations as one of information clues in product manufacture descriptions, yet studies detecting the relationship between country image of surrogate buying origin and product evaluations rarely undertaken regarding this specific mall type. Thus, the authors have found it well-worth investigating in this specific retail channel and explored systematic relationships among focal constructs and elaborated their different paths. The authors have proven that country image of surrogate buying origin in the mall, where surrogate malls purchase products in and brings them from for buyers, not only has a positive effect on consumers' product evaluations including attitude and purchase intention but also has a negative effect on all three dimensions of perceived risk: product-related risk, shipping-related risk, and post-purchase risk. Specifically among all the perceived risk, product-related risk which is arisen from high uncertainty of product performance is most affected (${\beta}$= -.30) by negative country image of surrogate buying origin, and also shipping-related risk (${\beta}$= -.18) and post-purchase risk (${\beta}$= -.15) get influenced in order. Its direct effects on product attitude (${\beta}$= .10) and purchase intention (${\beta}$= .14) are also secured. Each of perceived risk dimension is proven to have a negative effect on purchase intention through product attitude as a mediator (${\beta}$= -.57: product-related risk ${\rightarrow}$ product attitude; ${\beta}$= -.24: shipping-related risk ${\rightarrow}$ product attitude; ${\beta}$= -.44: post-purchase risk ${\rightarrow}$ product attitude) as well. From the additional analysis, the paths of consumers' information processing are shown to be different based on their levels of product knowledge. While novice consumers with low level of knowledge consider only perceived risk important, expert consumers with high level of knowledge take both the country image, where surrogate services are conducted in, and perceived risk seriously to build their attitudes and formulate decisions toward products more delicately and systematically, which is in line with previous studies. This study suggests several pieces of academic and practical advice. Precisely, country image of surrogate buying origin does affect on consumer's risk perceptions and behavioral consequences. Therefore a careful selection of surrogate buying origin is recommended. Furthermore, reducing consumers' risk level is required to blossom this new type of retail business whether its consumer are novices or experts. Additionally, since consumer take different paths of elaborating information based on their knowledge levels, sophisticated marketing approaches to each group of consumers are required. For novice buyers strong devices for risk mitigation are needed to induce them to form better attitudes and for experts selections of better and advanced countries as surrogate buying origins are advised while endorsement strategy for the site might work as a reliable information clue to all consumers to mitigate the barriers to purchase goods online. The authors have also explained that the study suffers from some limitations, including generalizability. In future studies, tests of and comparisons among different types of etailers with relevant constructs are recommended to broaden the findings.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.195-220
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• 2018

In this study, we conducted an empirical analysis of the factors that affect the change of Bitcoin Closing Price. Previous studies have focused on the security of the block chain system, the economic ripple effects caused by the cryptocurrency, legal implications and the acceptance to consumer about cryptocurrency. In various area, cryptocurrency was studied and many researcher and people including government, regardless of country, try to utilize cryptocurrency and applicate to its technology. Despite of rapid and dramatic change of cryptocurrencies' price and growth of its effects, empirical study of the factors affecting the price change of cryptocurrency was lack. There were only a few limited studies, business reports and short working paper. Therefore, it is necessary to determine what factors effect on the change of closing Bitcoin price. For analysis, hypotheses were constructed from three dimensions of consumer, industry, and macroeconomics for analysis, and time series data were collected for variables of each dimension. Consumer variables consist of search traffic of Bitcoin, search traffic of bitcoin ban, search traffic of ransomware and search traffic of war. Industry variables were composed GPU vendors' stock price and memory vendors' stock price. Macro-economy variables were contemplated such as U.S. dollar index futures, FOMC policy interest rates, WTI crude oil price. Using above variables, we did times series regression analysis to find relationship between those variables and change of Bitcoin Closing Price. Before the regression analysis to confirm the relationship between change of Bitcoin Closing Price and the other variables, we performed the Unit-root test to verifying the stationary of time series data to avoid spurious regression. Then, using a stationary data, we did the regression analysis. As a result of the analysis, we found that the change of Bitcoin Closing Price has negative effects with search traffic of 'Bitcoin Ban' and US dollar index futures, while change of GPU vendors' stock price and change of WTI crude oil price showed positive effects. In case of 'Bitcoin Ban', it is directly determining the maintenance or abolition of Bitcoin trade, that's why consumer reacted sensitively and effected on change of Bitcoin Closing Price. GPU is raw material of Bitcoin mining. Generally, increasing of companies' stock price means the growth of the sales of those companies' products and services. GPU's demands increases are indirectly reflected to the GPU vendors' stock price. Making an interpretation, a rise in prices of GPU has put a crimp on the mining of Bitcoin. Consequently, GPU vendors' stock price effects on change of Bitcoin Closing Price. And we confirmed U.S. dollar index futures moved in the opposite direction with change of Bitcoin Closing Price. It moved like Gold. Gold was considered as a safe asset to consumers and it means consumer think that Bitcoin is a safe asset. On the other hand, WTI oil price went Bitcoin Closing Price's way. It implies that Bitcoin are regarded to investment asset like raw materials market's product. The variables that were not significant in the analysis were search traffic of bitcoin, search traffic of ransomware, search traffic of war, memory vendor's stock price, FOMC policy interest rates. In search traffic of bitcoin, we judged that interest in Bitcoin did not lead to purchase of Bitcoin. It means search traffic of Bitcoin didn't reflect all of Bitcoin's demand. So, it implies there are some factors that regulate and mediate the Bitcoin purchase. In search traffic of ransomware, it is hard to say concern of ransomware determined the whole Bitcoin demand. Because only a few people damaged by ransomware and the percentage of hackers requiring Bitcoins was low. Also, its information security problem is events not continuous issues. Search traffic of war was not significant. Like stock market, generally it has negative in relation to war, but exceptional case like Gulf war, it moves stakeholders' profits and environment. We think that this is the same case. In memory vendor stock price, this is because memory vendors' flagship products were not VRAM which is essential for Bitcoin supply. In FOMC policy interest rates, when the interest rate is low, the surplus capital is invested in securities such as stocks. But Bitcoin' price fluctuation was large so it is not recognized as an attractive commodity to the consumers. In addition, unlike the stock market, Bitcoin doesn't have any safety policy such as Circuit breakers and Sidecar. Through this study, we verified what factors effect on change of Bitcoin Closing Price, and interpreted why such change happened. In addition, establishing the characteristics of Bitcoin as a safe asset and investment asset, we provide a guide how consumer, financial institution and government organization approach to the cryptocurrency. Moreover, corroborating the factors affecting change of Bitcoin Closing Price, researcher will get some clue and qualification which factors have to be considered in hereafter cryptocurrency study.

• Journal of Sasang Constitutional Medicine
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.1-26
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• 1999

This paper was written in order to understand each constitutional symptoms and diseases with two aspects. The first was to trace the courses to accomplish constitutional symptoms and diseases from that of oriented medicine through "Dongyi Bogam" and the original writing such as "Shanghanlun". The second was to analyze the constitutional diseases with Lee Je-ma's own recognition on human being and the society which was based on the "Dongyi Suse Bowon". The original concepts of 'The Interior Disease' and 'The Exterior Disease' were based on the Nature and the Emotion, the Environmental Frames and the Human Affairs, the Ears Eyes Nose Mouth and the Lung Spleen Liver Kidney. The exterior disease were caused by the abilities of ears to listen, eyes to see, nose to smell, and mouth to taste on the environmental frames which were related one's recognition to society. The interior diseases were caused by the abilities of lung to study, spleen to ask, liver to think, kidney to judge on human affairs which were related the relationship between me and others. So the titles of constitutional diseases were named by these views on his first writing of "Dongyi Suse Bowon" in 1894. So the titles of Taeyangin diseases, 'The lumbar Vertebae Disease Induced by Exopathogen' and 'The Small Intestine Disease Induced by Endopathogen' were still remained as the first writing. But the titles of constitutional diseases were rewritten such as present titles in 1900. In order to express pathology and mechanism of constitutional diseases exactly, he rewrote titles which contained the manifestation sites of diseases, and the symptoms of febrile and cold, and the different congenital formations of organs. The exterior diseases and interior diseases had three characteristics. The first was that the exterior disease injured by the nature which had a tendency to progress slowly and the interior disease injured by the emotion which had a tendency to progress rapidly. The second was not that the interior disease and the exterior disease were separated, but that one influenced the other and these were revealed as a disease together when the diseases continued for a long time. The third was that even though the disease caught together it was included the beginning disease. The symptoms in ordinary times was the origin and clue to recognize the constitutional symptoms and diseases. It enabled to establish the constitutional medicine which treated by different ways according to constitution. It had two characteristics which were different from the Traditional Chinese Medicine in appearance of diseases. The first was that the disease was progressed to the next step from the symptoms in ordinary times. The second was that each constitution had different symptoms which were due to symptoms in ordinary times under the same disease, The third was the manifestation of disease were different from symptoms in ordinary times in the same constitution. But the most important thing was that Lee Je-ma recognized these symptoms in ordinary times as four categories and he presented constitutional symptoms and constitutional disease. The four categories were the method to recognize the human being and the diseases for him As the symptoms and diseases of Sasang Constitutional Medicine were compared to Traditional Chinese Medicine, the constitutional diseases of "Dongyi Suse Bowon" could be classified into two groups. The first group was the unique diseases and symptoms, which were not in the Traditional Chinese Medicine, and which were established by the Lee Je-ma. These contained the diseases of taeyangin, the exterior disease of taeumin, the exterior disease of soyangin. The second group used the unique methods to treat disease, which were not in Traditional Chinese Medicine, and which were established by Lee Je-ma. This contained the interior disease of taeumin, the delirium diseases from the MangYin of soyangin, the treatment to help the Yang-Qi ascend and to supplement the ql In the exterior disease of soeumin. Especially, the diseases of taeyangin and taeumin which were caused by the metabolism disorders of Qi-Yack(氣液) were the great achievement to establish constitutional symptoms and diseases. The discourse of taeyangin diseases presented his original thought to recognize the symptoms and diseases through the Shin Gi Hyul Jeong(神氣血精) and the Qi-Yack, the discourse of taeumin diseases presented the disperse of Qi-Yack through the forward and backward of sweat, the discourse of soyangin disease presented the sweat of hand and feet which was manifested that yin-qi of spleen descended to yin qi of kidney, and the bowel movement which was manifested that yang qi of large intestine ascend to head, face and four extremities, the discourse of soeumin disease presented the Jueyin syndrome without the abdominal pain and diarrhea as the exterior disease and made importance to the nervous mind And the classification of exterior diseases and interior diseases were not due to the pharmacology but due to the symptoms and diseases according to the constitution.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.160-189
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• 2010

This study has been designed to grasp the present situation, shapes and meaning of the standing stones and rock pillars in the whole area of Noseong Mountain Fortress in Nonsan City which have never been academically reported yet. Accordingly, the research was carried out to grasp the spatial identity of Noseong Mt. and Noseong Mountain Fortress and the dispersion of standing stones scattered around inside and outside Noseong Mountain Fortress, while the shapes and structural characteristics of stones were investigated and analyzed focusing on Chongsuk Temple, which was considered to have the highest density of standing stones and greatest values for preservation as a cultural property. In consideration of the reference to the 'Top Sa' (tower temple) at the 'Bul Woo Jo' (Article about Buddhism Houses) of 'Shinjoong Dongguk Yeoji Seungram', theoretical existence of the temple according to surveying investigation, and the excavation records of roof tile pieces with the name of 'Gwan Eum Temple', it is presumed that there had been a Buddhist sanctum inside the fortress and it could be connected to the carved letters, 'Chongsuk Temple'. According the observation survey, the 6th place of standing stones among many other places inside the fortress shows that Chongsuk Temple appears to have the strong characteristics of artificially constructed space in consideration of the size of trees and stones, the composite trend of tree and stone composition, and trace of the adjacent well and strand and the construction of stairway leading to the stone gate. Along with the constellation of the Big Dipper carved on a rock at the same space, the stones, on which the letters of 'Shinseonam', 'Chilseongam' and 'Daejangam' were carved, including 'Chongsuksa', and the carved statue of Buddha, which was assumed to be Avalokitesvara Guan Yin, have offered clue which make it possible to infer that the space was a space for Chilseong and Mountain god(Folk Belief) that had originated from the combination of Buddhism, Taoism and folk religion. According to the actual measurement of standing stones at Chonsuk Temple, it was identified that there were big differences in height among 24 stones in total, ranging from 402~29cm and the averaged distance between each stone appeared to be 23.6cm. And the shape of stones appeared to be standing or flat, and various stones such as mountain-like stones and Buddha-like stones were placed in a special arrangement or assorted arrangement, but the direction of the stones had a consistency pointing to the west. And comparing to the trace of construction of ZEN Landscape Garden well known in the country, the three flat stones except for the standing and shaped stones appeared to have the shape of meditation statue, which is the typical formational factors of a ZEN Landscape Garden, on the basis of formational technique of stones. Among them, the flat stone facing the Buddhist saint statue, was formed by way of symbolization of three-mountain stone, which was assumed to be an offering stone for sacrificial food rather than carrying out ZEN Meditation. In consideration of the formation of standing stones at Chong-suk Temple, which was carried out in the composite stoning method based using the scalene triangle with ratio of 3:5:7 in order to seek the in-depth beauty based on the stone statues of three Buddhas where the three factors such as heaven, earth and humans are embodied in the elevated or flat formation, the stones at Chongsuk Temple and the space seemed to the trace of contracted garden construction that was formed with stones for a temple, so that could be used for ZEN meditation.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.4-19
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• 2014

In Joseon dynasty, Gongsin-Gyoseo(Royal Edicts rewarding meritorious vassals) was issued for the reward of the contribution to the specific event of the nation. The family decided as vassals succeeded this Gongsin-Gyoseo as the family treasure to later generations. When one happened to lose this caused by an unavoidable situation such as war in this process, there were a few cases of reissuing of Gongsin-gyoseo by the nation. The confirmative reissued Gongsin-gyoseo among Gongsin-gyoseo that descended down by now are three pieces which is Park dongnyang Hoseong Gongsin-Gyoseo, Gu goeng Jeongsa Gongsin-Gyoseo, and Park jung Jeongsa Gongsin-Gyoseo. This research considered the form and mounting about these three pieces. It was indicated that the reissued Gongsin-Gyoseo was produced following the same form with the original Gongsin-Gyoseo, that is pyeongchul(moving to next lines) and daedu (writing one or two letters ahead compared to the first letter) and so on. But, it was indicated that the change of the position of the vassals in the reissued time was reflected compared to position of the original Gongsin-Gyoseo. In case of Jeonsa Gongsin-Gyoseo, it was indicated that it was 'Wonjongdaewang-whi' since the original Gongsin-Gyoseo was 'Jeongwongun-bu' and the reissued time he became the father of King Injo. Also, it was confirmed that the case of deprivation because of conspiracy such as 'Kim jajeom, Kim ryeon, Sim kiwon, Sim kisung' was produced as the original document and deleted with black ink stick. It was newly confirmed while the original Gongsin-Gyoseo was produced by a designated writer from the nation, the reissuance was written by a writer from the family of the vassals. Since the mounting of Gongsin-Gyoseo could be changed according to the favor and technique of the craftsman participated in the practical production such as Baezeopjang and economical situation of the country supplying the material, the mounting of these three Gongsin-Gyoseo should be different from the original mounting, especially because of the loss of the original by the Manchu war of 1636. The comparison result of Gongsin-Gyoseo produced in the same period with the original issued one in the record of the related Uigwe (a collection of documents from the Joseon Dynasty), the reissued one seems to be larger in the form or ratio of the mounting compared to the first issued one. First of all, the width of Byunah was expanded as twice bigger, center and both side Hoejang also was bigger as over 2cm, and the below Hoejang was expanded as 10cm, and the ratio of the upper Hoejang and the below Hoejang was wider as 1.5 times and the reissuance was 1:1 ratio. The bisect of upper shaft in Park dongnyang Hoseong Gongsin-Gyoseo is assumed as the form of an equilateral triangle, not a half-moon shape of the present, and Gu goeng and Park jung Jeongsa Gongsin-Gyoseo will be the form whose bisection form is same but the size is smaller. Chuksu is confirmed that the size is not changed significantly. Osaekdahoe can be assumed that the width was smaller compared to the first issued one. The 3 pieces of the reissued versions provide the clue of the verification for the form of the mounting of Bosa Gongsin-Gyoseo in the same production period. In the situation that the mounting of the production time was not confirmed among the currently descended Bosa Gongsin-Gyoseo, they can be very important materials.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.59-69
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• 2010

Green or an environmental consciousness has been a major issue for businesses and government offices, as well as consumers, worldwide. In response to this movement, the Korean government announced, in the early 2000s, the era of "Green Growth" as a way to encourage green-related business activities. The Korean fashion industry, in various levels of involvement, presents diverse eco-friendly products as a part of the green movement. These apparel products include organic products and recycled clothing. For these companies to be successful, they need information about who are the consumers who consider green issues (e.g., environmental sustainability) as part of their personal values when making a decision for product purchase, use, and disposal. These consumers can be considered as eco-sumers. Previous studies have examined consumers' purchase intention for or with eco-friendly products. In addition, studies have examined influential factors used to identify the eco-sumers or green consumers. However, limited attention was paid to eco-sumers' disposal or recycling behavior of clothes in comparison with their green product purchases. Clothing disposal behaviors are ways that consumer can get rid of unused clothing and in clue temporarily lending the item or permanently eliminating the item by "handing down" (e.g., giving it to a younger sibling), donating, exchanging, selling, or simply throwing it away. Accordingly, examining purchasing behaviors of eco-friendly fashion items in conjunction with clothing disposal behaviors should improve understanding of a consumer's clothing consumption behavior from the environmental perspective. The purpose of this exploratory study is to provide descriptive information about Korean eco-sumers who have ecologically-favorable lifestyles and behaviors when buying and disposing of clothes. The objectives of this study are to (a) categorize Koreans on the basis of clothing disposal behaviors; (b) investigate the differences in demographics, lifestyles, and clothing consumption values among segments; and (c) compare the purchase intention of eco-friendly fashion items and influential factors among segments. A self-administered questionnaire was developed based on previous studies. The questionnaire included 10 items of clothing disposal behavior, 22 items of LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) characteristics, and 19 items of consumption values, measured by five-point Likert-type scales. In addition, the purchase intention of two eco-friendly fashion items and 11 attributes of each item were measured by seven-point Likert type scales. Two polyester fleece pullovers, made from fabric created from recycled bottles with the PET identification code, were selected from one Korean brand and one US imported brand among outdoor sportswear brands. A brief description of each product with a color picture was provided in the survey. Demographic variables (i.e., gender, age, marital status, education level, income, occupation) were also included. The data were collected through a professional web survey agency during May 2009. A total of 600 final usable questionnaires were analyzed. The age of respondents ranged from 20 to 49 years old with a mean age of 34 years. Fifty percent of the respondents were males and about 58% were married, and 62% reported having earned university degrees. Principal components factor analysis with varimax rotation was used to identify the underlying dimensions of the clothing disposal behavior scale, and three factors were generated (i.e., reselling behavior, donating behavior, non-recycling behavior). To categorize the respondents on the basis of clothing disposal behaviors, k-mean cluster analysis was used, and three segments were obtained. These consumer segments were labeled as 'Resale Group', 'Donation Group', and 'Non-Recycling Group.' The classification results indicated approximately 98 percent of the original cases were correctly classified. With respect to demographic characteristics among the three segments, significant differences were found in gender, marital status, occupation, and age. LOHAS characteristics were reduced into the following five factors: self-satisfaction, family orientation, health concern, environmental concern, and voluntary service. Significant differences were found in the LOHAS factors among the three clusters. Resale Group and Donation Group showed a similar predisposition to LOHAS issues while the Non-Recycling Group presented the lowest mean scores on the LOHAS factors compared to the other segments. The Resale and Donation Groups described themselves as enjoying or being satisfied with their lives and spending spare-time with family. In addition, these two groups cared about health and organic foods, and tried to conserve energy and resources. Principal components factor analysis generated clothing consumption values into the following three factors: personal values, social value, and practical value. The ANOVA test with the factors showed differences primarily between the Resale Group and the other two groups. The Resale Group was more concerned about personal value and social value than the other segments. In contrast, the Non-Recycling Group presented the higher level of social value than did Donation Group. In a comparison of the intention to purchase eco-friendly products, the Resale Group showed the highest mean score on intent to purchase Product A. On the other hand, the Donation Group presented the highest intention to purchase for Product B among segments. In addition, the mean scores indicated that the Korean product (Product B) was more preferable for purchase than the U.S. product (Product A). Stepwise regression analysis was used to identify the influence of product attributes on the purchase intention of eco product. With respect to Product A, design, price and contribution to environmental preservation were significant to predict purchase intention for the Resale Group, while price and compatibility with my image factors were significant for the Donation Group. For the Non-Recycling Group, design, price compatibility with the factors of my image, participation to eco campaign, and contribution to environmental preservation were significant. Price appropriateness was significant for each of the three clusters. With respect to Product B, design, price and compatibility with my image factors were important, but different attributes were associated significantly with purchase intention for each of the three groups. The influence of LOHAS characteristics and clothing consumption values on intention to purchase Products A and B were also examined. The LOHAS factor of health concern and the personal value factor were significant in the relationships with the purchase intention; however, the explanatory powers were low in the three segments. Findings showed that each group as classified by clothing disposal behaviors showed differences in the attributes of a product, personal values, and the LOHAS characteristics that influenced their purchase intention of eco-friendly products. Findings would enable organizations to understand eco-friendly behavior and to design appropriate strategic decisions to appeal eco-sumers.