• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.245-276
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• 2008

Brand equity is one of the most important concepts in business practice as well as in academic research. Successful brands can allow marketers to gain competitive advantage (Lassar et al.,1995), including the opportunity for successful extensions, resilience against competitors' promotional pressures, and the ability to create barriers to competitive entry (Farquhar, 1989). Branding plays a special role in service firms because strong brands increase trust in intangible products (Berry, 2000), enabling customers to better visualize and understand them. They reduce customers' perceived monetary, social, and safety risks in buying services, which are obstacles to evaluating a service correctly before purchase. Also, a high level of brand equity increases consumer satisfaction, repurchasing intent, and degree of loyalty. Brand equity can be considered as a mixture that includes both financial assets and relationships. Actually, brand equity can be viewed as the value added to the product (Keller, 1993), or the perceived value of the product in consumers' minds. Mahajan et al. (1990) claim that customer-based brand equity can be measured by the level of consumers' perceptions. Several researchers discuss brand equity based on two dimensions: consumer perception and consumer behavior. Aaker (1991) suggests measuring brand equity through price premium, loyalty, perceived quality, and brand associations. Viewing brand equity as the consumer's behavior toward a brand, Keller (1993) proposes similar dimensions: brand awareness and brand knowledge. Thus, past studies tend to identify brand equity as a multidimensional construct consisted of brand loyalty, brand awareness, brand knowledge, customer satisfaction, perceived equity, brand associations, and other proprietary assets (Aaker, 1991, 1996; Blackston, 1995; Cobb-Walgren et al., 1995; Na, 1995). Other studies tend to regard brand equity and other brand assets, such as brand knowledge, brand awareness, brand image, brand loyalty, perceived quality, and so on, as independent but related constructs (Keller, 1993; Kirmani and Zeithaml, 1993). Walters(1978) defined information search as, "A psychological or physical action a consumer takes in order to acquire information about a product or store." But, each consumer has different methods for informationsearch. There are two methods of information search, internal and external search. Internal search is, "Search of information already saved in the memory of the individual consumer"(Engel, Blackwell, 1982) which is, "memory of a previous purchase experience or information from a previous search."(Beales, Mazis, Salop, and Staelin, 1981). External search is "A completely voluntary decision made in order to obtain new information"(Engel & Blackwell, 1982) which is, "Actions of a consumer to acquire necessary information by such methods as intentionally exposing oneself to advertisements, taking to friends or family or visiting a store."(Beales, Mazis, Salop, and Staelin, 1981). There are many sources for consumers' information search including advertisement sources such as the internet, radio, television, newspapers and magazines, information supplied by businesses such as sales people, packaging and in-store information, consumer sources such as family, friends and colleagues, and mass media sources such as consumer protection agencies, government agencies and mass media sources. Understanding consumers' purchasing behavior is a key factor of a firm to attract and retain customers and improving the firm's prospects for survival and growth, and enhancing shareholder's value. Therefore, marketers should understand consumer as individual and market segment. One theory of consumer behavior supports the belief that individuals are rational. Individuals think and move through stages when making a purchase decision. This means that rational thinkers have led to the identification of a consumer buying decision process. This decision process with its different levels of involvement and influencing factors has been widely accepted and is fundamental to the understanding purchase intention represent to what consumers think they will buy. Brand equity is not only companies but also very important asset more than product itself. This paper studies brand equity model and influencing factors including information process such as information searching and information resources in the fashion market in Asia and Europe. Information searching and information resources are influencing brand knowledge that influences consumers purchase decision. Nine research hypotheses are drawn to test the relationships among antecedents of brand equity and purchase intention and relationships among brand knowledge, brand value, brand attitude, and brand loyalty. H1. Information searching influences brand knowledge positively. H2. Information sources influence brand knowledge positively. H3. Brand knowledge influences brand attitude. H4. Brand knowledge influences brand value. H5. Brand attitude influences brand loyalty. H6. Brand attitude influences brand value. H7. Brand loyalty influences purchase intention. H8. Brand value influence purchase intention. H9. There will be the same research model in Asia and Europe. We performed structural equation model analysis in order to test hypotheses suggested in this study. The model fitting index of the research model in Asia was $X^2$=195.19(p=0.0), NFI=0.90, NNFI=0.87, CFI=0.90, GFI=0.90, RMR=0.083, AGFI=0.85, which means the model fitting of the model is good enough. In Europe, it was $X^2$=133.25(p=0.0), NFI=0.81, NNFI=0.85, CFI=0.89, GFI=0.90, RMR=0.073, AGFI=0.85, which means the model fitting of the model is good enough. From the test results, hypotheses were accepted. All of these hypotheses except one are supported. In Europe, information search is not an antecedent of brand knowledge. This means that sales of global fashion brands like jeans in Europe are not expanding as rapidly as in Asian markets such as China, Japan, and South Korea. Young consumers in European countries are not more brand and fashion conscious than their counter partners in Asia. The results have theoretical, practical meaning and contributions. In the fashion jeans industry, relatively few studies examining the viability of cross-national brand equity has been studied. This study provides insight on building global brand equity and suggests information process elements like information search and information resources are working differently in Asia and Europe for fashion jean market.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.9
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• pp.81-93
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• 2015

Purpose - "Showrooming" refers to the phenomenon where a shopper visits a store to see and compare products but makes the purchase online at a lower price. Surveys on showrooming activities at home and abroad indicate that a significant number of consumers pursue showrooming activities. The advent of "showroomers," who engage in buying activities, hovering both on and offline, while selectively choosing sales channels to suit their needs, is powerful enough to erode the borders between channels and bring about seismic changes in the distribution industry. However, surprisingly, there has been no in-depth discussion on showrooming. This study seeks to theoretically investigate what impact personal characteristics have on showrooming preferences and attitudes in a multi-channel environment. Specifically, assumptions have been made that price perception, perceived performance risk, and trust in online shopping not only have a direct impact on showrooming attitudes but also indirectly affect it through the means of contact motivation. Research design, data, and methodology - To test the hypotheses, this study conducted a survey of male and female shoppers, ages 20 through 40s, who live in metropolitan areas, and have actively showroomed fashion items in the last six months. A clothing item usually purchased after a careful decision-making process was chosen as the target product of the study. The survey was conducted between October and November 2014, using a professional survey service provider. A total of 200 surveys were collected, of which 198 were used for analysis. Conceptual model Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and Amos 18.0 were employed for data analysis and model verification. In addition, following the confirmatory factor analysis and measurement model analysis, the theoretical model that corresponds to the research model was analyzed. Results - Analysis results show that price perception, perceived performance risk, and trust in online shopping have a statistically significant and positive (+) impact on showrooming attitudes. In addition, in terms of the indirect influence of price perception and perceived performance risk on showrooming attitudes through means of contact motivation, price perception had a statistically significant and positive impact on means of contact motivation, whereas perceived performance risk did not have a statistically significant impact on it, with the relevant hypothesis rejected. Conclusions - These analysis results imply that the ultimate goal of consumers is to maximize their shopping benefits by selectively and strategically taking advantage of different channels in a complementary manner. This study presents many implications for distributors to encourage a deep understanding of showrooming consumers who have complicated consumption behaviors and to build channel integration strategies. This study has limitations in theoretical and practical implications. Therefore, subsequent studies need to focus on verifying that showrooming activities are based on reasonable and planned decisions by applying the theory of reasoned or planned behavior. In addition, the scope of the study should expand to include web showrooming, where consumers conduct product research online and purchase offline.

• The KIPS Transactions:PartC
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• v.17C no.3
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• pp.271-280
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• 2010

For the next generation mobile communication system, diverse wireless network techniques such as beyond 3G LTE, WiMAX/WiBro, and next generation WLAN etc. are proceeding to the form integrated into the All-IP core network. According to this development, Beyond 3G integrated into heterogeneous wireless access technologies must support the vertical handover and network to be used of several radio networks. However, unified management of each network is demanded since it is individually serviced. Therefore, in order to solve this problem this study is introducing the theory of Common Radio Resource Management (CRRM) based on Generic Link Layer (GLL). This study designs the structure and functions to support the vertical handover and propose the vertical handover algorithm of which policy-based and MCDM are composed between LTE and WLAN systems using GLL. Finally, simulation results are presented to show the improved performance over the data throughput, handover success rate, the system service cost and handover attempt number.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.158-167
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• 2018

The role of S/W in weapon systems has been developed with various functions and complex structures. As the weapon system S/W is directly related to quick and accurate decision making of users, more accurate evaluation is required during the training. However, situation awareness of weapon system S/W users has only been assessed qualitatively such as by simple test or qualitative judgement. Therefore, this study suggests the 'Cognition Ratio' concept which represents the quantitative of users by combining ACT-R cognitive architecture to SA (Situation Awareness) and Fitts' Law based on the theory of cognitive engineering. The cognition ratio is a ratio of cognition among the whole cognitive behavior process including perception and psychomotor. Moreover, this study provides a systematic assessment process of situation awareness that will be applicable to various weapon system S/W for effective assessment.

• Journal of KIISE:Computer Systems and Theory
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.213-222
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• 2008

This paper is related to color image segmentation and textile texture mapping for the 2D virtual wearing system. The proposed system is characterized as virtually wearing a new textile pattern selected by user to the clothing shape section, based on its intensity difference map, segmented from a 2D clothes model image using color image segmentation technique. Regardless of color or intensity of model clothes, the proposed system is possible to virtually change the textile pattern or color with holding the illumination and shading properties of the selected clothing shape section, and also to quickly and easily simulate, compare, and select multiple textile pattern combinations for individual styles or entire outfits. The proposed system can provide higher practicality and easy-to-use interface, as it makes real-time processing possible in various digital environment, and creates comparatively natural and realistic virtual wearing styles, and also makes semi-automatic processing possible to reduce the manual works to a minimum. According to the proposed system, it can motivate the creative activity of the designers with simulation results on the effect of textile pattern design on the appearance of clothes without manufacturing physical clothes and, as it can help the purchasers for decision-making with them, promote B2B or B2C e-commerce.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.458-465
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of policy in Jeju, using a macro-economic forecasting model of Jeju. First, the model's reality explanatory power improved by updating its statistics to 2017 and expanding new policy variables and modules. Also, the industrial structure of the model was further subdivided and extended to be considered simultaneously in the demand side of Keynesian theory. Second, it was determined that the predictive power for the model of this study was better than that of the existing model. However, with some endogenous variables, it was possible to identify implications that should be developed and considered when the model is improved with additional data in the future. Third, when the second airport construction was considered, it was observed that its effect was an increase of 1.25 times for GRDP, 1.2 times for employment, 1.48 times for private consumption, and 2.06 times for investment. Also, the economic growth rate was estimated to be 1.6% point higher than when the second airport was not constructed. Finally, the results of this study are expected to be used for policy decision making of the Jeju Government.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.183-193
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• 2000

This main purpose of this study was to assess the effects of two different types of ethics education on the moral judgement of clinical nurses. One type was free discussions among nurses with given specific moral issues and the other type was discussions guided by experts on specific moral issues. The study employed a quasi-experimental, nonequivalent pre test-post test design using two different control groups. The conceptual framework of the study was derived from the Kohlberg′s Moral Development Theory (1969) and the Greipp′s Ethical Decision-Making Model (1992). The data was collected during the period of October 14 through December 15, 1998. Sample consists of 32 nurses working in the ICU who met research criteria. 16 nurses were assigned to the free discussion group and 16 nurses to the group for the guided discussion with experts group. For the pre-test, the DIT which was developed by Rest (1984) and JAND by Ketefian (1998) were used with some modification by the author. After the education, only JAND was used to assess the changes in moral judgement. The collected data was analysed using SPSS PC program. The findings are as follows: 1. There was no significant difference between two groups in their general characteristics. Only difference which was statistically significant between two groups was that realistic score on Case 3/Medical Research and Autopsy was higher in the free discussion group. 2. Hypothesis 1: "There will be a difference on the moral judgement of nurses before and after they receive an ethics education". This hypothesis was supported partially. Those who had low scores on moral judgement before the education tended to have higher scores after the education on the same issues. And, after the education, the nurses tend to give lower scores on the dilemmas they had experienced frequently at work; while giving higher scores on those dilemmas they had no prior experience. 3. Hypothesis 2: "The effect of education may differ depended upon the moral development index [P(%)] score of nurses". The effect of education was different depend on moral development level. The group who′s P(%) scores was low at the pretest has higher scores in realistic moral judgement after the education, while the groups with middle or high P(%) scores went down after the education. These changes were statistically significant in some cases, thus, the Hypothesis 2 was partially supported 4. Hypothesis 3: "The method of ethics education will have different effects on the moral judgement of nurses". Even though several nurses attended the guided discussion stated that the education program broadend their perspectives the difference between two groups was not significant and this hypothesis was not supported. In conclusion, both types of ethics education had helped the nurses to acquire the skills to deal some nursing dilemmas. The effects of ethics education may differ according to the moral development index - P(%) score. However, because of some of the limitations of this study, mainly small sample size, short term education, unable to control other variables which may affect moral judgement of nurses, further research is warranted.er research is warranted.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.62 no.4
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• pp.46-57
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• 2012

Consumers currently show cross-channel shopping behavior between the Internet and store-based retail types when searching information and purchasing sensory products such as fashion items to reduce risks. As consumers compare both types of stores before making a purchase decision, the Internet retail type and store-based retail type started conflicting/competing each other as the combined retail evolution theory proposed(Kim & Kincade, 2006). The purpose of this study is to examine consumers' cross-channel shopping behavior between the Internet and store-based retail types and their importance and satisfaction with information provided by the Internet retail stores. This study employs a quantitative research method using a survey. Demographics, types of stores used for purchase, satisfaction with the type of stores, Internet shopping behavior, importance and satisfaction with product information in the Internet retail stores were asked. MANOVA and descriptive statistics were used to test hypotheses. The result shows that a majority of participants(36.2%) shows cross-channel shopping behavior between the two retail types. Also, most participants(72.4%) decide on their purchase and are satisfied only after cross-channel shopping between the two retail types. Participants were grouped based on their information search and purchase behavior. Significant differences among the groups were found in importance and satisfaction with product information provided by the Internet stores. In measuring participants' satisfaction, a majority of participants(42.1%) showed satisfaction with their purchase at store-based retail stores after information search via the internet, followed by the satisfaction with the purchase at the internet retail stores after information search at store-based retail stores(30.3%). Fifty one point nine percent of participants search information via the internet(vs.48% at store-based retail stores), and they especially look for fiber contents and design details with pictures(37.4%). The satisfaction with price information provided by the Internet retail stores is the highest (m=3.70 out of 5.0) among fashion product information followed by design information(m=3.48). On the other hand, size information, refund/exchange and fiber content information received low satisfaction scores(m=2.81, 2.71, 2.57 in turn). This research suggests the Internet retail stores should provide more variety of information in detail using technology and improving customer services. This study could provide the Internet retail stores a guideline to establish a satisfactory information delivery system.

• Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.39-85
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• 2020

With the development of information technology, fake news is becoming a serious social problem. Individual measures to manage the problem, such as fact-checking by the media, legal regulation, or technical solutions, have not been successful. The flood of fake news has undermined not only trust in the media but also the general credibility of social institutions, and is even threatening the foundations of democracy. This is why one cannot leave fake news unchecked, though it is certainly a difficult task to accomplish. The problem of fake news is not about simply judging its veracity, as no news is completely fake or unquestionably real and there is much uncertainty. Therefore, managing fake news does not mean removing them completely. Nor can the problem be left to individuals' capacity for rational judgment. Recurring fake news can easily disrupt individual decision making, which raises the need for socio-technical measures and multidisciplinary collaboration. In this study, we introduce a new public online platform for fake news management, which incorporates a multidimensional and multidisciplinary approach based on citizen science. Our proposed platform will fundamentally redesign the existing process for collecting and analyzing fake news and engaging with user reactions. People in various fields would be able to participate in and contribute to this platform by mobilizing their own expertise and capability.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.61-72
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• 2017

Purpose - The ICT development is affecting the consumer behaviors in selecting channel or distribution system. This study aims to advance the theory on the influence and interaction with omni-channel behaviors. Specifically, analyzing moderating variable is category knowledge that effect between propensity of brand loyalty and its precedence factor which is perceived difference, perceived value, authenticity and consumer-brand relationship. Research design, data, and methodology - The subject of this research is consumers who purchase goods in omni-channel situation. The hypothesis of this research is derived from the literature of the preceding research analysis on brand loyalty, omni-channel and consumer behaviors. This study have constructs that were defined operationally with reference to previous studies, and the research model was designed to figure out the structural relationship among perceived difference, perceived value, authenticity, consumer-brand relationship and brand loyalty. From 2016 Sept. 1 to Dec. 31, a questionnaire survey was performed targeting customers using omni-channel. 327 questionnaire survey had conducted. 316 survey data were used for empirical analysis except data that had missing and wrong value. AMOS(structural equation) was used to confirm the hypothesis which developed by researcher. Results - The results of this study are as follows. First, an authenticity has significant effect on brand loyalty. Second, in the omni-channel situation, but perceived differentiation, perceived value, consumer-brand relationship does not affect brand loyalty. According to this result, it is judged that it is easy to search for information in the situation of omni-channel and integrated decision making is done without distinction between channels. Third, category knowledge has moderating effect between brand loyalty and precedence factors. When the category knowledge level is low, preceding factors have a significant effect on brand loyalty. when the category knowledge level is high, the preceding factors did not have a significant effect on brand loyalty except the authenticity. Conclusions - This study finds out omni-channel's phenomenon is different from other distribution channel phenomenon. In the situation of omni-channel, it is suggested that brand loyalty may be relatively low for a certain brand because it raises the knowledge level of the category. Then this study provides a managerial implications based on the role of the moderate effect on category knowledge, brand loyalty and omni-channel.