• Title/Summary/Keyword: Evaluation and Implementation

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Utilization of a Ubiquitous Environmental Sculptures Analysis (유비쿼터스 환경 조형물의 이용의식 실태 분석)

  • Kim, Dong-Chan;Cho, Hwee-In
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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    • v.38 no.3
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    • pp.15-22
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    • 2010
  • Today's rapid shifts toward a new paradigm are combining city spaces with reality and technology, which is known as a ubiquitous environment. An ubiquitous environment means that 'whenever' and 'wherever' become connected. It is a great possibility that this will change our future lifestyle. Korea has the biggest advantage in the implementation of this new environment, such as having an excellent network infrastructure. Using these attributes of a ubiquitous environment, changes are being made toward ubiquitous cities within developing fields of construction, landscaping, streets, art, and the environment. This research is based on background of research that activated media pole in public city space has been done research about reality of digital skill, fusion, and sense of ubitizen, and Kang-Nam U-street applied by ubiquitous technique. While reflecting an environment that can be utilized in a modern digital society, the application of ubiquitous technology to media pole can be a space for the two-way communication of the current paradigm. It would also be meaningful to create a new cultural space through media pole. Through evaluation, citizens of the ubiquitous age are going to interact to raise the satisfaction that media pole in city space can prevent giving direction to develop and trial and error about service ability, identity, and publicity. Finally, the media pole can be used as a fundamental element to suggest directions for change when viewed as future development.

The Judgment of Criminal Liability and Psychiatric Evaluation for Mentally Defective Person (정신장애자의 형사책임능력 판단과 정신감정)

  • Jung, Yong-Gi
    • Korean Security Journal
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    • no.43
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    • pp.177-204
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    • 2015
  • The Korean Criminal Code ${\S}10$ (1) provides that "The act of a person who, because of mental disorder, is unable to make discriminations or to control one's will, shall not be punished". Therefore, it'll not be able to be given criminal punishment if a mentally defective person is determined to lack the criminal liability. The problem about judging the criminal liability for the mentally defective person exists in areas where the criminal law intersects with psychiatry. Although the supreme court ultimately judges whether the criminal liability by mental defectiveness exists or not, the judgment of mental defectiveness, which is biological element, needs psychiatric knowledge and it is no wonder to rely on this. In particular, a change is required in the procedure and contents of mental examination for a mentally defective person as implementation of the Civil Participation in Criminal Jury Trial. It is needed the improvement of procedure to submit more accurate mental examination and the result of it in order that jurors are able to understand the result of mental examination and make an decision. This is because jurors consisting of ordinary citizens take part in trial. For guaranteeing the precise result of mental examination in the criminal justice procedure, it is necessary to establish the pool of manpower consisting of psychiatrists or psychologists who have completed the specific educational programs about the criminal justice and legal psychiatry, and it is desired to carry out the psychiatric test with selecting appraisers who belong to a pool of manpower. Furthermore, it is required to draw up and submit the written appraisal of mental examination which is easy to be known because of considering the nonprofessional of jurors consisting of ordinary citizens in the Civil Participation in Criminal Jury Trial. In order to gain a fair verdict of the jury about whether mental defectiveness exists or not, it is recommended the prompt submission of the written appraisal of mental examination, the presentation of the written appraisal of mental examination summarizing the important contents, and making out the written appraisal of mental examination for jurors to understand it easily.

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Evaluation of Every Other Day - Cone Beam Computed Tomography in Image Guided Radiation Therapy for Prostate Cancer (전립선암의 영상유도방사선치료 시 격일 콘빔 CT 적용의 유용성 평가)

  • Park, Byoung Suk;Ahn, Jong Ho;Kim, Jong Sik;Song, Ki Won
    • The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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    • v.26 no.2
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    • pp.289-295
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    • 2014
  • Purpose : Cone Beam Computed Tomography(CBCT) in Image Guided Radiation Therapy(IGRT), Set-up error can be reduced but exposure dose of the patient due to CBCT will increase. Through this study, we are to evaluate by making a scenario with the implementation period of CBCT as every other day. Materials and Methods : Of prostate cancer patients, 9 patients who got a Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy(IMRT) with CBCT in IGRT were analyzed. Based on values corrected by analyzing set-up error by using CBCT every day during actual treatment, we created a scenario that conducts CBCT every other day. After applying set-up error values of the day not performing CBCT in the scenario to the treatment planning system(Pinnacle 9.2, Philips, USA) by moving them from the treatment iso-center during actual treatment, we established re-treatment plan under the same conditions as actual treatment. Based on this, the dose distribution of normal organs and Planning Target Volume(PTV) was compared and analyzed. Results : In the scenario that performs CBCT every other day based on set-up error values when conducting CBCT every day, average X-axis : $0.2{\pm}0.73mm$, Y-axis : $0.1{\pm}0.58mm$, Z-axis : $-1.3{\pm}1.17mm$ difference was shown. This was applied to the treatment planning to establish re-treatment plan and dose distribution was evaluated and as a result, Dmean : -0.17 Gy, D99% : -0.71 Gy of PTV difference was shown in comparison with the result obtained when carrying out CBCT every day. As for normal organs, V66 : 1.55% of rectal wall, V66 : -0.76% of bladder difference was shown. Conclusion : In case of a CBCT perform every other day could reduce exposure dose and additional treatment time. And it is thought to be able to consider the application depending on the condition of the patient because the difference in the dose distribution of normal organs, PTV is not large.

Contents analyses of teaching·learning research on housing education of home economics for secondary schools (중등학교 주생활교육 교수·학습 개발연구 내용분석)

  • Joo, Hyunjung;Cho, Jaesoon;Choi, Yoori
    • Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
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    • v.29 no.3
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    • pp.33-48
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    • 2017
  • The purpose of this research was to analyze the contents of housing teaching learning studies in Home Economics of secondary schools since 2001. The 22 research, drawn from the database 'riss4u', were analyzed in terms of general information of the paper (studied institution & year, implementation & evaluation, subject of study & size) and specific contents of teaching learning plans (theme, curricula & textbooks, methode & # of lessons, resources). The results showed that most studies were reported during the 7th or the 2007 revised curricula period. All, except one doctoral dissertation, were master's theses from a few universities. In all studies, ranging from 2 to 15 lessons, teaching learning plans were implemented and evaluated in the class of the researcher while some were applied in other schools, too. The theme of the teaching learning plans varied but were concentrated on one out of two content elements and two out of six learning elements. The 2007 revised curriculum seems to be an important turning point, not only reinforcing the analyses of the curricular and textbooks in the analyzing stage but also facilitating the use of various methods for the lessons in the developing stage. Practical problem based model was the most frequently adopted, while cooperative learning and ICT served as fundamental although not always mentioned. Various teaching resources such as UCC, reading materials, PPT were developed for the teacher. Activity sheets were the most frequently used for the students, followed by reading materials. Because teaching learning is an essential core of education, teaching learning studies should be more actively conducted and the variety of subject topics, methods and resources should also be obtained by more researchers.

The "Pan-National Scientification Movement" in Elementary Schools ('국민학교'로 들어온 '전(全) 국민의 과학화운동')

  • Kang, Eugene
    • Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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    • v.43 no.2
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    • pp.301-321
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    • 2024
  • This study aims to elucidate the historical origins of the long-term demand for the integration of "science subject classes" and "science-related events" within the context of science education for teachers. During the 1970s, science education in elementary schools faced a dual challenge marked by the tension between implementing the third curriculum, which emphasized fundamental science, and the "Pan-National Scientification Movement," which focused on technology education. The Ministry of Education was compelled to integrate the sudden demands of the Yushin regime into the ongoing third curriculum. As these demands emerged from dual policy directives, activities related to elementary science education were subsequently categorized into formal science subject classes and extracurricular science-related events. Although the movement did not directly alter the curriculum, it instigated modifications in personnel structure, activity spaces, and evaluation systems within schools. The introduction of the Pan-National Scientification Movement in elementary schools resulted in changes including the establishment of a new "science lead teacher system," the creation of a dedicated "science corner," and the implementation of a "science badge system." Although the movement was abruptly introduced, it ostensibly contributed to the advancement of the inquiry-oriented approach promoted by the third curriculum. Paradoxically, this advancement was facilitated by the integration of the consequences of the movement into schools' autonomous, extracurricular activities spearheaded by frontline education offices and schools. Although the movement represented a government-driven policy at a particular juncture in time, the manner in which science education practitioners responded to urgent governmental mandates, while preserving the integrity of the long-established third curriculum framework, involved dividing education activities into subject-specific classes and extracurricular science activities. Examining how science education practitioners in the 1970s proactively addressed these challenges offers valuable insights for the science education community in adapting to the current rapidly evolving educational landscape.

Design and Implementation of Quality Broker Architecture to Web Service Selection based on Autonomic Feedback (자율적 피드백 기반 웹 서비스 선정을 위한 품질 브로커 아키텍처의 설계 및 구현)

  • Seo, Young-Jun;Song, Young-Jae
    • The KIPS Transactions:PartD
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    • v.15D no.2
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    • pp.223-234
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    • 2008
  • Recently the web service area provides the efficient integrated environment of the internal and external of corporation and enterprise that wants the introduction of it is increasing. Also the web service develops and the new business model appears, the domestic enterprise environment and e-business environment are changing caused by web service. The web service which provides the similar function increases, most the method which searches the suitable service in demand of the user is more considered seriously. When it needs to choose one among the similar web services, service consumer generally needs quality information of web service. The problem, however, is that the advertised QoS information of a web service is not always trustworthy. A service provider may publish inaccurate QoS information to attract more customers, or the published QoS information may be out of date. Allowing current customers to rate the QoS they receive from a web service, and making these ratings public, can provide new customers with valuable information on how to rank services. This paper suggests the agent-based quality broker architecture which helps to find a service providing the optimum quality that the consumer needs in a position of service consumer. It is able to solve problem which modify quality requirements of the consumer from providing the architecture it selects a web service to consumer dynamically. Namely, the consumer is able to search the service which provides the optimal quality criteria through UDDI browser which is connected in quality broker server. To quality criteria value decision of each service the user intervention is excluded the maximum. In the existing selection architecture, the objective evaluation was difficult in subjective class of service selecting of the consumer. But the proposal architecture is able to secure an objectivity with the quality criteria value decision where the agent monitors binding information in consumer location. Namely, it solves QoS information of service which provider does not provide with QoS information sharing which is caused by with feedback of consumer side agents.

An experimental study on the impact of an agreement on the means to achieve nursing goals in the early postpartum period of primiparous mothers and enhance their self-confidence and satisfaction in maternal role performance (산욕초기 초산모의 간호목표달성방번 합의가 어머니 역할수행에 대한 자신감 및 만족도에 미치는 영향에 관한 실험적 연구)

  • 이영은
    • Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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    • v.22 no.1
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    • pp.81-115
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    • 1992
  • The problem addressed by this study was to determine the effect of nurse - patient agreement on the means to achieve nursing goals in the early postpartum period of primiparous mothers. It was hypothesized that the experimental treatment would result in hegher self-confidence and satisfaction in maternal role performance. This purpose was to contribute to the planning of nursing care to enhance self- confidence and satisfaction in maternal role performance and to the development of relevant nursing theory. Especially, the early postpartum period is crucial toward in recovery from childbirth and attainment of the maternal role. Maternal role attaintment is a complex social and cognitive process of stimulus -response accomplished by learning. Most women attain the maternal role sucessfully. But, some primiparous mothers experience difficultites in attainment of the maternal role due to lack of experience and knowledge. Self-confidence and satisfaction in maternal role performance are important factors in attainment and adjustment to the maternal role (Mercer, 1981a, 1981b ; Lederman, Weigarten, and Lederman, 1981 :Bobak and Jensen, 1985). Nursing is defined as behaviors of nurses add patients that attain nursing goals through action, reaction, interaction, and transaction. For attainment of nursing goals, active participating transactions must occur by agreement on the means to achieve those goals through nurse -patient mutual goal setting and establishment of their active relationships(King, 1981, Ha, 1977). Based on King's theory of goal attainment (1981), this stuy was planned as a non-equivalent control group, non -synchronized quasi -experimental design using agreement on the means to achieve nursing goals in early postpartum as the experimental treatment. The data were collected from July 20 to Sep. 1, 1991 by questionnaires with 60 primiparous mothers planing to breast feed after normal deliveries at W hospital in Pusan, Korea. The subjects were divided into a control group(conventional group) -those admitted from July 20 to Aug. 12, and an experimental group(agreement group) - those admitted from Aug. 13 to Sep. 1. The instument for agreement on the means to nursing goals in the early postpartum period included five steps - identification of disturbances of problems through action, reaction, and interaction with primiparous mothers : mutual early postpartal nursing goal setting : exploration of the means to achieve goals ; agreement on the means (self- care, ealry maternal -infant contact, performance of mothering behavior, and communicating about the infant's behavior and health condition) : implementation of the means. This instrument was developed on the basis of King's elements that lead to transactions in nurse-patient interactions. Lederman et al's (1981) scale for Confidence in ability to cope with tasks of motherhood and Lederman et al's(1981) scale for Mother's satisfaction with motherhood and infant care were used to measure self-confidence and satisfaction in maternal role performance ·with the subjects immediately after admission and on the day of discharge. Self-care performance in the experimental group was measured by self -evaluation tool developed by the investigator from the literature concerned. The tools to measure Pelf-confidence and satisfaction in maternal role performance, and the tool to measure self-evaluation of self-care performance were tested for internal reliability. Cronbach's Alphas were 0.94, 0.94, and 0.63. The data were analysed by using in S.P.S.S. computerized program and included percentage, x²-test, t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson Correlation Coefficient. The conclusions obtained from this study are summerized as follows : 1. The degree of self-confidence in maternal role performance of the total subjects group measured before the experimental treatment was above average with a mean score of 2.77(range 2.14-3.64). Out of 14 items, those with relatively high mean scores were ‘I would like to be a better mother than I am’(3.95), and ‘I have my doubts about whether I am a good mother’(2.87). Those with low mean scores were ‘I know that my baby wants most of the times’(2.28), ‘When the baby cries, I can tell what she /he wants’(2.37), and ‘I have confidence in my ability to care for the baby’(2;50). That is, the self - confidence of Primiparous mothers was considerably high in mothering, but rather low in activities concerning the infant care and understanding of the infant behavior. The degree of satisfaction in maternal role performance of the total subjects group measured before the experimental treatment was high with a mean score of 3.18(range 1.92-3.92). Out of 13 items, those with relatively high mean scores were ‘I am glad 1 had this baby now’(3.75), ‘I play with the baby between feedings when s/he is awake and quiet’(3.67), and ‘I enjoy being a mother’(3.27). Those with low mean scores were ‘I am upset about having too many responsibilities as a mother’(2.78), ‘It bothers me to get up for the baby at night’(2.82), and ‘I get annoyed if the baby frequently interrupts my activities’.(2.82), That is, the satisfaction of primiparous mothers was considerably high in mothering and infant care, but rather low in restraints in time or on the mother's self accomplishment and development. 2. Agreement on the means to achieve nursing goals in the early postpartum period included process of mutual goal setting, exploration of the means to achieve goals, and ahreement in concert means to achieve goals based on the mothers' condition, concerns, self-perception of the nurse - patient interactions. In the process of agreement, there was agreement that the means to achieve goals should be through trust and establishment of active relationships with the nurse through identification of problems according to planned nursing goals and active interaction, such as explanations, teaching, changing of opinions, acceptance or rejection of explanations, and proposing of questions. Therefore agreement on the means to achieve nursing goals in the early postpartum period appears to be an effective nursing intervention for primiparous mothers. 3. The degree of self- confidence in maternal role performance of the exprimental group was higher than that of the control group(t=3.95, p<0.01). Out of 14 items, those with higher score in the experimental group were ‘I would like to be a better mother than I am’(t=1.93, p<0.05), ‘I know that my baby wants most of the times’(t=2.75, p<0.01), ‘When the baby cries, 1 can tell what she/he wants’(t=2.10, p<0.05), ‘I have confidence in my ability to care for the baby’(t=3.72, p<0.01), ‘I trust my own judement in deciding how to care for the baby’(t=1.96, p<0.05), ‘I feel that I know my baby and what to do for him /her’(t=2.44, p<0.01), ‘I am concerned about being able to meet the baby's needs’(t=2.87, p<0.01), ‘I know what my baby likes and dislikes’(t=3.26, p<0.01), ‘I don't know to care for the baby as well as I should’(t=2.07, p<0.05), and ‘I am unsure about whether I give enough attention to the baby’(t=3.04, p<0.01), That is, the degree of self-confidence in mothering, activities concerning infant care, and understanding of infant behavior of the experimental group was higher than that of the control group. Therefore, the first hypothesis, that the degree of self-confidence in maternal role performance of the experimental group would be higher than that of the control group, was supported(t=3.95, p<0.01). 4. The degree of satisfaction in the maternal role performance of the exprimental group was higer than that or the control group(t=2.31, p<0.05). Out of 13 items, those with higher score in the experimental group were ‘I am glad I had this baby now’(t=2.29, p<0.05), ‘I enjoy taking care of the baby’(t=2.4g, p<0.01), ‘It is boring for me to care for the baby and do the same thing over and over’(t=2.87, P<0.01), ‘I am unhappy with the amount of time I have for activities other than childcare’(t=2.51, p<0.01), and ‘When bathing and diapering the baby, I would like to be doing something else’(t=2.43, p<0.01). That is, the degree of satisfaction in mothering, infant care, and restraints in time of on the mother's self accomplishment and development in the experimental group was higher than that of the control group. Therefore, the second hypothesis, that the degree of satisfaction in maternal role performance of the experimental group would be higher than that of the control group, was supported(t=2.31, p<0.05). 5. The third hypothesis, that the higher the degree of satisfaction in materenal role performance, the higher the degree of self-confidence in materenal role performance in the experimental group, was supported (r=0.57, p<0.01)

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The Determination of Trust in Franchisor-Franchisee Relationships in China (중국 프랜차이즈 시스템에서의 본부와 가맹점간 신뢰의 영향요인)

  • Shin, Geon-Cheol;Ma, Yaokun
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.18 no.2
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    • pp.65-88
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    • 2008
  • Since the implementation of economic reforms in 1978, the Chinese economy grows rapidly at an average annul growth rate of 9% over the post two decades. Franchising has been widely recognized as an important source of entrepreneurial activity. Trust is important in that it facilitates relational exchanges by permits partners to transcend short-run inequities or risks to concentrate on long-term profits or gains. In the relationship between the franchisors and franchisees, trust has been described as an important source of competitive advantage. However, little research has been done on the factors affecting trust in Chinese franchisor-franchisee relationships. The purpose of this study is to investigate what factors affect the trust in the franchise system in China, and to provide guidelines and insights to franchisors which enter Chinese market. In this study, according to Morgan and Hunt (1994), trust is defined as the extending when one party has confidence in an exchange partner's reliability and integrity. We offered a conceptual model of the empirical study. The model shows that the factors affecting the trust include franchisor's supports, communication, satisfaction with previous outcome and conflict. We also suggested the franchisor's supports and communication like to enhance the franchisee's satisfaction with previous outcome, and the franchisor's supports, communication and he franchisee's satisfaction with previous outcome tend to decrease conflict. Before the formal study, a pretest involving exploratory interviews with owners from three franchisees was conducted to make sure the questionnaire was relevant and clear to the respondents. The data were collected using trained interviewers to carry out personal interviews with the aid of an unidentified, muti-page, structured questionnaire. The respondents comprised of owners, managers, and owner managers of franchisee-owned food service franchises located in Beijing, China. Even though a total of 256 potential franchises were initially contacted, the finally usable sample consisted of 125 respondents. As expected, the sampling method was successful in soliciting respondents with waried personal and firm characteristics. Self-administrated questionnaires were used for all measures. And established scales were used to measure the latent constructs in this study. The measures tapped the franchisees' perceptions of the relationship with the referent franchisor. Five-point Likert-type scales ranging from "strongly disagree" (=1) to "strongly agree" (=7) were used throughout the constructs (trust, eight items; support, five items; communication, four items; satisfaction, six items; conflict, three items). The reliability measurements traditionally employed, such as the Cronbach's alpha, were used. All the reliabilities were greater than.80. The proposed measurement model was estimated using SPSS 12.0 and AMOS 5.0 analysis package. We conducted A series of exploratory factor analyses and confirmatory factor analyses to assess the convergent validity, discriminant validity, and reliability. The results indicate reasonable overall fits between the model and the observed data. The overall fit of measurement model were $X^2$= 159.699, p=0.004, d.f. = 116, GFI =.879, NFI =.898, CFI =.969, IFI =.970, TLI =.959, RMR =.058. The results demonstrated that the data reasonably fitted the model. We also examined construct reliability and reliability and average variance extracted (AVE). The construct reliability of each construct was greater than.80 and the AVE of each construct was greater than.50. According to the analysis of Structure Equation Modeling (SEM), the results of path model indicated an adequate fit of the model: $X^2$= 142.126, p = 0.044, d.f. = 115, GFI =.892, NFI =.909, CFI =.981, IFI =.981, TLI =.974, RMR =.057. As hypothesized, the results showed that it is strategically important to establish trust in a franchise system, and the franchisor's supports, communication and satisfaction with previous outcome tend to reinforce franchisee's trust. The results also showed trust seems to decrease as the experience of conflict episodes increases. And we also noticed that franchisor's supports and communication tend to enhance the franchisee's satisfaction with previous outcome, and communication tend to decrease conflict. If the trust between the franchisor and franchisee can be established in a franchise system, franchising offers many benefits and reduces many costs. To manage a mutual trust of relationship with their franchisees, franchisor's should provide support effectively to their franchisees. Effective assistant services have direct effect on franchisees' satisfaction with previous outcome and trust in franchisor. Especially, franchise sales process, orientation, and training in the start-up period are key elements for success of the franchise system. Franchisor's support is an accumulated separate satisfaction evaluation with different kind of service provided by the franchisor. And providing support definitely can improve the trustworthy image of the franchisor. In the franchise system, conflicts of interests and exertions of different power sources are very common. The experience of conflict episodes seems to negatively relate to trust. Therefore, it is important to reduce the negative side of the relationship conflicts. Communication actually plays a broader role in reducing conflict and establish mutual trust in franchisor-franchisee relationship. And effective communication between franchisors and franchisees can improve franchisees' satisfaction toward the franchise system. As the diversification of Chinese markets, both franchisors and franchisees must keep the relevant, timely, and reliable communication. And it is very important to improve the quality of communication. Satisfaction with precious outcomes seems to positively relate to trust. Franchisors and franchisees that are highly satisfied with the previous outcomes that flow from their relationship will perceive their partner as advancing their goal achievement. Therefore, it is necessary for both franchisor and their franchisees to make the welfare of partner with effort. Little literature has focused on what factors affect the trust between franchisors and their franchisees in China. This study developed the hypotheses regarding the factors affecting trust in the transaction relationship. The results of data analysis supported the hypotheses strongly. There are certain limitations in this study. First, we may point out that some other factors missed in this study could be significantly important. Second, the context of this study, food service industry, limits its potential generalizability for all franchise systems. More studies in different categories of franchise system are needed to broaden its generalizability. Third, the model was tested empirically in a sample in Beijing, more empirical tests of the proposed model in other Chinese areas are needed. Finally, the analysis in this study was solely based on the perception of franchisees and the opinions of franchisors were not included.

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Electronic Word-of-Mouth in B2C Virtual Communities: An Empirical Study from CTrip.com (B2C허의사구중적전자구비(B2C虚拟社区中的电子口碑): 관우휴정려유망적실증연구(关于携程旅游网的实证研究))

  • Li, Guoxin;Elliot, Statia;Choi, Chris
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.20 no.3
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    • pp.262-268
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    • 2010
  • Virtual communities (VCs) have developed rapidly, with more and more people participating in them to exchange information and opinions. A virtual community is a group of people who may or may not meet one another face to face, and who exchange words and ideas through the mediation of computer bulletin boards and networks. A business-to-consumer virtual community (B2CVC) is a commercial group that creates a trustworthy environment intended to motivate consumers to be more willing to buy from an online store. B2CVCs create a social atmosphere through information contribution such as recommendations, reviews, and ratings of buyers and sellers. Although the importance of B2CVCs has been recognized, few studies have been conducted to examine members' word-of-mouth behavior within these communities. This study proposes a model of involvement, statistics, trust, "stickiness," and word-of-mouth in a B2CVC and explores the relationships among these elements based on empirical data. The objectives are threefold: (i) to empirically test a B2CVC model that integrates measures of beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors; (ii) to better understand the nature of these relationships, specifically through word-of-mouth as a measure of revenue generation; and (iii) to better understand the role of stickiness of B2CVC in CRM marketing. The model incorporates three key elements concerning community members: (i) their beliefs, measured in terms of their involvement assessment; (ii) their attitudes, measured in terms of their satisfaction and trust; and, (iii) their behavior, measured in terms of site stickiness and their word-of-mouth. Involvement is considered the motivation for consumers to participate in a virtual community. For B2CVC members, information searching and posting have been proposed as the main purpose for their involvement. Satisfaction has been reviewed as an important indicator of a member's overall community evaluation, and conceptualized by different levels of member interactions with their VC. The formation and expansion of a VC depends on the willingness of members to share information and services. Researchers have found that trust is a core component facilitating the anonymous interaction in VCs and e-commerce, and therefore trust-building in VCs has been a common research topic. It is clear that the success of a B2CVC depends on the stickiness of its members to enhance purchasing potential. Opinions communicated and information exchanged between members may represent a type of written word-of-mouth. Therefore, word-of-mouth is one of the primary factors driving the diffusion of B2CVCs across the Internet. Figure 1 presents the research model and hypotheses. The model was tested through the implementation of an online survey of CTrip Travel VC members. A total of 243 collected questionnaires was reduced to 204 usable questionnaires through an empirical process of data cleaning. The study's hypotheses examined the extent to which involvement, satisfaction, and trust influence B2CVC stickiness and members' word-of-mouth. Structural Equation Modeling tested the hypotheses in the analysis, and the structural model fit indices were within accepted thresholds: ${\chi}^2^$/df was 2.76, NFI was .904, IFI was .931, CFI was .930, and RMSEA was .017. Results indicated that involvement has a significant influence on satisfaction (p<0.001, ${\beta}$=0.809). The proportion of variance in satisfaction explained by members' involvement was over half (adjusted $R^2$=0.654), reflecting a strong association. The effect of involvement on trust was also statistically significant (p<0.001, ${\beta}$=0.751), with 57 percent of the variance in trust explained by involvement (adjusted $R^2$=0.563). When the construct "stickiness" was treated as a dependent variable, the proportion of variance explained by the variables of trust and satisfaction was relatively low (adjusted $R^2$=0.331). Satisfaction did have a significant influence on stickiness, with ${\beta}$=0.514. However, unexpectedly, the influence of trust was not even significant (p=0.231, t=1.197), rejecting that proposed hypothesis. The importance of stickiness in the model was more significant because of its effect on e-WOM with ${\beta}$=0.920 (p<0.001). Here, the measures of Stickiness explain over eighty of the variance in e-WOM (Adjusted $R^2$=0.846). Overall, the results of the study supported the hypothesized relationships between members' involvement in a B2CVC and their satisfaction with and trust of it. However, trust, as a traditional measure in behavioral models, has no significant influence on stickiness in the B2CVC environment. This study contributes to the growing body of literature on B2CVCs, specifically addressing gaps in the academic research by integrating measures of beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors in one model. The results provide additional insights to behavioral factors in a B2CVC environment, helping to sort out relationships between traditional measures and relatively new measures. For practitioners, the identification of factors, such as member involvement, that strongly influence B2CVC member satisfaction can help focus technological resources in key areas. Global e-marketers can develop marketing strategies directly targeting B2CVC members. In the global tourism business, they can target Chinese members of a B2CVC by providing special discounts for active community members or developing early adopter programs to encourage stickiness in the community. Future studies are called for, and more sophisticated modeling, to expand the measurement of B2CVC member behavior and to conduct experiments across industries, communities, and cultures.

The Relationship Between DEA Model-based Eco-Efficiency and Economic Performance (DEA 모형 기반의 에코효율성과 경제적 성과의 연관성)

  • Kim, Myoung-Jong
    • Journal of Environmental Policy
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    • v.13 no.4
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    • pp.3-49
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    • 2014
  • Growing interest of stakeholders on corporate responsibilities for environment and tightening environmental regulations are highlighting the importance of environmental management more than ever. However, companies' awareness of the importance of environment is still falling behind, and related academic works have not shown consistent conclusions on the relationship between environmental performance and economic performance. One of the reasons is different ways of measuring these two performances. The evaluation scope of economic performance is relatively narrow and the performance can be measured by a unified unit such as price, while the scope of environmental performance is diverse and a wide range of units are used for measuring environmental performances instead of using a single unified unit. Therefore, the results of works can be different depending on the performance indicators selected. In order to resolve this problem, generalized and standardized performance indicators should be developed. In particular, the performance indicators should be able to cover the concepts of both environmental and economic performances because the recent idea of environmental management has expanded to encompass the concept of sustainability. Another reason is that most of the current researches tend to focus on the motive of environmental investments and environmental performance, and do not offer a guideline for an effective implementation strategy for environmental management. For example, a process improvement strategy or a market discrimination strategy can be deployed through comparing the environment competitiveness among the companies in the same or similar industries, so that a virtuous cyclical relationship between environmental and economic performances can be secured. A novel method for measuring eco-efficiency by utilizing Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), which is able to combine multiple environmental and economic performances, is proposed in this report. Based on the eco-efficiencies, the environmental competitiveness is analyzed and the optimal combination of inputs and outputs are recommended for improving the eco-efficiencies of inefficient firms. Furthermore, the panel analysis is applied to the causal relationship between eco-efficiency and economic performance, and the pooled regression model is used to investigate the relationship between eco-efficiency and economic performance. The four-year eco-efficiencies between 2010 and 2013 of 23 companies are obtained from the DEA analysis; a comparison of efficiencies among 23 companies is carried out in terms of technical efficiency(TE), pure technical efficiency(PTE) and scale efficiency(SE), and then a set of recommendations for optimal combination of inputs and outputs are suggested for the inefficient companies. Furthermore, the experimental results with the panel analysis have demonstrated the causality from eco-efficiency to economic performance. The results of the pooled regression have shown that eco-efficiency positively affect financial perform ances(ROA and ROS) of the companies, as well as firm values(Tobin Q, stock price, and stock returns). This report proposes a novel approach for generating standardized performance indicators obtained from multiple environmental and economic performances, so that it is able to enhance the generality of relevant researches and provide a deep insight into the sustainability of environmental management. Furthermore, using efficiency indicators obtained from the DEA model, the cause of change in eco-efficiency can be investigated and an effective strategy for environmental management can be suggested. Finally, this report can be a motive for environmental management by providing empirical evidence that environmental investments can improve economic performance.

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