• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.77-100
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• 2023

Purpose - Using the Model of Goal-Directed Behavior (MGB), this study identifies the critical factors that influence consumer intention to purchase an electric vehicle (EV). This study also provides differentiated policy implications to the Korean and Chinese governments and EV-related companies for the expansion of the EV market in both countries by comparing consumers' perceptions of EV purchase intentions. Design/methodology - Our extended MGB model adds to the standard model consideration of financial incentives, perceived risks, and environmental concerns. An online survey was conducted of Korean and Chinese consumers. Based on the collected responses, all tested hypotheses were verified using PLS-SEM (Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling). Differences in the path analysis results between Korea and China were compared and verified using Henseler's MGA (multi-group analysis), the parametric test, and the Welch-Satterthwaite test. Findings - The most critical factor that influences the intent to purchase an EV in consumers from both countries is personal desire. PBC and SN were identified as the critical factors that respectively increase personal desire in Korea and China. In addition, in Korea, among the three factors EC, FIP, and PR, environmental concerns were found to have the most significant impact on attitudes and purchase intention. In contrast, in China, economic factors (specifically financial incentives) had greater importance than environmental issues. Originality/value - This study has academic contributions in that it presents a new research model that includes financial incentive policies, environmental concerns, and perceived risk variables based on the MGB to explore consumers' purchase intentions. This study can also make a practical contribution in that it provides some meaningful implications to the governments and EV-related companies of both countries based on the differences in the analysis results of the Korean and Chinese markets.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.697-711
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• 2023

The global waste crisis has been escalating and its consequent impact on soil, water, air pollution, and eventually climate change acceleration has shed light on the importance of reducing waste. Amidst COVID-19 and the following surge in single-use plastics for food delivery, waste generation is on the incline. Companies and governments have embarked on developing various eco-friendly packaging technologies, but their effectiveness on the consumers is vague as definitions of eco-friendly packaging are vague, and research on its link to purchase intention remains scarce. Thus, the adoption of eco-friendly packaging has been slow. To address this issue, this study analyzes the awareness and purchase intention of four visual attributes of eco-friendly packaging-material, verbal statement, eco-label, and color-along with the environmental consciousness among undergraduate university students in Korea through online surveys and the ordered logit regression model. The study distinguished the attributes into evidence-based and conjectural categories. The findings revealed that eco-friendly visual attributes had a positive effect on purchase intention amongst undergraduate students in Korea; however the level of environmental consciousness had marginal effect on the purchase intention of eco-friendly visual attributes. The level of effectiveness also varied with each visual element. Analyses revealed that visual attributes to eco-friendly material had marginal effect on purchase intention; color was deemed not an "Eco-friendly attribute" by most students, and although eco-friendly labels were deemed as an eco-friendly attribute, trust in the labels varied according to environmental consciousness. These findings have implications for businesses and policymakers aiming to promote eco-friendly consumption within packaged food products.

• Journal of Information Technology Applications and Management
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.123-138
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• 2024

With the increase in online shopping and delivery food consumption since the pandemic, solving environmental problems caused by single-use packaging has become an important issue. 'Upcycling' is a combination of 'Upgrade' and 'Recycle', and it is the rebirth of obsolete or discarded objects by adding new value to them, and there are currently various upcycled products on the market. In order to activate upcycling, consumers' awareness of the environment and their values for consumption are very important. This study aims to investigate the influence of students' environmental concern, environmental experience, and consumption value on their purchase intention of upcycled products. Based on the results of previous studies on environmental concern, environmental experience, and consumption value, hypotheses were set, and a survey was conducted among university students nationwide to test the hypotheses. The results of this study are as follows First, environmental concern has a significant positive effect on purchase intention of upcycled products. It can be seen that the more environmental concerns such as global warming and waste disposal problems increase, the more positive attitudes toward upcycled products increase. Second, the research hypothesis that environmental knowledge will have a positive effect on the purchase intention of upcycled products is rejected. It was found that environmental knowledge is acquired through environmental education and many SNS, but it does not have a direct effect on the purchase intention of upcycled products. Third, it was found that the consumption value of college students has a positive effect on the purchase intention of upcycled products by increasing their positive perception of upcycled products. Fourth, college students' purchase intention of upcycled products has a positive effect on their behavioral intention to purchase upcycled products. The results of the study provide implications for relevant organizations such as universities and companies to effectively design upcycling-related education. It is also expected to have a positive impact on the use of upcycled products by providing basic information on the characteristics of consumers who purchase upcycled products.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.1015-1031
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• 2022

The objectives of this study were to classify the types of elderly households and to compare the characteristics of their dietary lifestyle. Panel data surveyed by Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI) for Food Purchase Attitudes over three years (2019 - 2021) were utilized for the analysis. Through a factor analysis, five common factors were extracted out of 19 basic variables related to dietary style, which indicate two kinds of consumer competency index (safe diet, traditional diet) and three kinds of purchase frequency (healthy food, meat & fish, fresh seafood). Applying the cluster analysis method, by using socioeconomic variables along the five common factors, elderly households aged 60 or older were grouped into four types. As a result, Type 1 elderly households accounted for 50.8%, Type 2 for 16.2%, Type 3 for 27.8%, and Type 4 for 5.2% out of all 870 elderly households. Type 1 is characterized as a low-income vulnerable class with a poor diet, Type 2 as a middle-income class with a healthy food-oriented diet, whereas Type 3 was classified as a middle-income class with a meat-oriented diet, and Type 4 as a high-income class with diverse dietary culture. It is necessary to expand the agri-food voucher pilot project to the entire country and also increase the monthly subsidy for the Type 1 elderly households. Implementing community kitchen projects for elderly single-person households, promoting senior internships by providing incentives to companies that employ retirees, the provision of education by local governments on a safe and balanced diet for Types 2 and 3, and the promotion of an elderly-friendly social environment are also recommended.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.59-81
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• 2024

Online consumer reviews provide a variety of information from the customer perspective in terms of satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Negative emotional expression is a potential antecedent of review usefulness, and can also influence potential consumers' attitudes and decisions. In addition, because national culture provides a perspective from which individuals view the world and act, it is highly likely that differences in negative emotional expression will occur depending on culture. This study explores the relationship between national culture and negative emotional expression based on impression management theory and ultimately analyzes the impact on review usefulness. For empirical analysis, 16,076 reviews of 140 hotels located in Seoul were collected and analyzed using the PLS-SEM method. As a result of the analysis, it was found that power distance and masculinity culture dimensions had a positive effect on reviewers' negative emotional expressions, while uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation had a negative effect. In addition, negative emotional expression was analyzed to have a positive effect on review usefulness even when review ratings were controlled.

• 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.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.66-75
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• 2001

A survey was conducted to investigate consumers'attitudes toward the foods developed by gene recombination techniques from December, 1999 to April, 2000. The questionnaires were mailed to 1,500 people, and the 1,101 people responded. The consumers were asked about knowledge, acceptance, intention of purchasing, and labeling information. Although the portion of the consumers (88.8%) knowing the genetically modified floods (GMF) was lower than that of the flood expert group (98.7%), many consumers had some knowledge on the GMF, which may be influenced by news released from mass media. Seventy-nine percent of the consumers responded that gene recombination technology is necessary in food production, which is similar to the findings on the survey of the expert group. The portion of the consumers responding that these foods are potentially hazard was 88.1%, which is a little higher than the data (80.9%) from the expert group. The consumers having greater knowledge less worried about a potential hazard of the gene recombinant foods (p<0.01). Although 62.9% of the consumers responded to be willing to purchase those foods, only 16.2% of them responded to purchase the foods with no conditions, which is lower to that from the expert group (23.5%). There was no statistically significant relationship between the knowledge and the intention of purchasing. The ninety point three percent of the consumers wanted the information on gene recombination to be labeled on the foods. The data from this survey suggest that knowledge of the consumers on the GMF are not accurate, so proper strategy for consumer education may need to be developed. In addition, it is necessary to improve safety assessment system and analytical techniques for genetically modified foods (GMF) and to build pre- and post-market surveillance system fur efficient implementation of the GMF labeling.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.139-145
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• 2003

The purpose of this study was to investigate the awareness and practice of Korean consumer on food safety. A telephone survey was conducted from 1,040 adults randomly selected from each province and large city of Korea. Therefore, 12.4% of the subjects experienced foodborne illness at least once a year and 0.3% was hospitalized due to the illness. General restaurant (37.2%) and home (21.2%) were the main causative place of foodborne illness, and the most frequently associated foods were meat and meat products (41.7%) and fish and fish products (18.7%). Regarding the causative agent of foodborne illness, the respsondents were aware of Cholera (75.5%), Vibrio gastroenteritis (73%), Shigellosis (65.5%), Bacillary dysentery (65.5%) and Salmonellosis (47.5%) very well; however very few were aware of Listeriosis (9.9%) and brucellosis (8.3%) and ever believed they were not food-related illness. When the survey data were analyzed based on 3 models (Model 1: Knowledge about the pathogens associated food and water, Model 2: The awareness of food safety, Model 3: Attitudes and behavior about foodborne disease prevention and measure) by Multiple regression analysis. The results showed that the awareness of the causative agent of foodborne illness was significantly related with the previous experience of foodborne illness (OR: 1.714) followed by education level (OR: 0.536) and married status (OR: 0.527). The awareness of food safety was significatly related with education level (OR: 0.702). Education (OR: 0.816) and gender (OR:0.650) were the main factors affecting the awareness of the practice to prevent foodborne illness. However, the previous experience of foodborne illness and food safety education, and the awareness of food safety did not show any correlation, suggesting that the experience and awareness of foodborne illness do not affect the real practice of food safety.

• Journal of Venture Innovation
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.63-81
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• 2023

The purpose of this study was to utilize the Photovoice qualitative research method targeting university students. Through this method, we aimed to understand the perceptions of environmental issues, environmental barriers, and eco-friendly behaviors among university students. By employing the Photovoice methodology, we sought to share the perspectives of university students on eco-friendly behaviors, explore the motivations and manifestations of these behaviors, and reflect on their significance. The ultimate goal was to provide practical suggestions for fostering eco-friendly behaviors through an in-depth examination of the visual narratives and reflections of university students. Under the overarching theme of the environment, participants were given the opportunity to individually select and explore three specific sub-themes: 'My Concept of the Environment,' 'Environmental Barriers in My Life,' and 'My Eco-friendly Behaviors.' Participants engaged in the process of capturing photographs from their daily lives related to each theme, expressing their thoughts and perspectives through the selected images. Subsequently, they shared and discussed their insights, actively listening to the opinions of others in the group. The results of this study revealed several key findings. Firstly, participants assigned meaning to the photographs they selected by directly capturing aspects related to the environment, such as 'waste,' 'discomfort,' 'fine dust=environmental pollution,' and 'indifference.' Secondly, participants attributed meaning to the selected photographs related to environmental barriers, associating them with concepts like 'invisibility,' 'apathy,' 'social stigma,' 'inefficiency,' and 'compulsion.' Lastly, participants ascribed significance to photographs selected in the context of eco-friendly behaviors, with themes like 'recycling,' 'energy conservation,' 'reuse,' and 'reducing the use of disposable items.' Based on these research findings, the confirmation of the V-A-B (Values-Attitudes-Behavior) model was established. It was observed that consumers structure a hierarchical relationship between their personal values, attitudes, and behaviors. The study also identified clear impediments in consumers' daily lives hindering the practice of eco-friendly behaviors. In light of this, the research highlighted the need for strategies to address the discomfort or inconvenience associated with implementing environmentally friendly consumer behaviors. The implications of the study suggest that interventions or solutions are necessary to alleviate barriers and promote a more seamless integration of eco-friendly practices into consumers' daily routines.

• Journal of Ginseng Culture
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• v.6
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• pp.135-151
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• 2024

In order to compare the ginseng consumption culture of Korean and Chinese college students, their purchase status of ginseng products, attitudes toward ginseng, and satisfaction with ginseng products were examined, and the purchase and recommendation intention of ginseng products was investigated. It targeted 267 Korean college students and 318 Chinese college students who had experience eating ginseng products. As a result of the survey, in the case of Korean college student consumers, interest in ginseng products increased compared to before COVID-19, and the intention to purchase and recommend ginseng products increased. In addition, the higher the satisfaction with ginseng, the higher the frequency of ginseng purchase experience, the higher the social benefit attitude toward ginseng, and the higher the age, the higher the intention to purchase and recommend ginseng products. Chinese college student consumers had higher parental purchases than Korea, higher positive intentions to purchase and recommend social and psychological benefits, and their 20s are already more interested and friendly than Korea. What Korean college students and Chinese college student consumers have in common is that interest in health, safety, and environment has increased since before COVID-19, and interest in ginseng-related products has changed in individual experiences, indicating that individual experiences are important and Chinese college student consumers are influenced by parents. In particular, COVID-19 is an opportunity to recognize the importance of health, which is important to those in their 20s, and is actually related to purchase intention. Focusing on these results, it seems that expansion to preferred products for college student consumers and differentiation of marketing strategies according to family influence and consumption culture should be made, and these new changes due to COVID-19 seem to be a timely opportunity. At a time when interest in health and safety has increased, strategic preparations are needed for the future consumersociety to respond to changesin product diversity and convergence, changes in marketing media to meet consumer consumption values, and changesin consumer family types, such assingle households.