• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.479-495
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• 2019

This study defines Korean wave stars as Korean wave human brands and examines the influence of the characteristics, attachment, and self-congruity of the Korean wave human brand on brand equity. For this, this study surveyed Chinese female consumers in their 20s and 30s who consume many Korean wave products from May 2018 to June 2018. First, human brand characteristics, attachment, self-congruity, Korean wave aspiration level, and brand equity according to demographic characteristics were identified. Second, characteristics, attachment, self-congruity, and the aspiration level of the Korean wave human brand showed correlations with brand equity. However, brand awareness, a sub-factor of brand equity, does not show correlations with self-congruity. Third, characteristics, attachment, self-congruity, and Korean wave aspiration level had a positively influenced brand equity. Fourth, when looking into the mediated effect of attachment on brand equity, both human brand characteristics and self-congruity showed a partially mediated effect. Fifth, when analyzing the adjustment effect in the Korean wave aspiration level, a group with higher Korean wave aspiration level showed more correlations with attachment and brand equity. This study found that attachment and self congruity are important elements in forming human brand and brand equity. This study is significant in that it verified the influence of Korean wave brand power that has been on the rise recently on brand equity and provided a theoretical basis that has allowed researchers to determine that the characteristics, attachment, and self-congruity of Korean wave human brand significantly influence brand equity.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.559-575
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• 2021

The popularity of K-pop, the development of diverse media and communications, and rapid globalization are increasing consumers' attachment to celebrities. These celebrities, called "Human brand", have a growing impact on consumers. However, research on idol celebrities has been conducted mainly on teenagers. Furthermore, there are limits to the studies on consumers' attachment to idol celebrities who do not advertise specific products and intention to purchase products which are not advertised but related to the idol human brand. Therefore, this study has been conducted on 301 out of 400 adult women in their twenties to forties in Korea to examine the relationship between the characteristics of the idol human brand, attachment to the idol human brand, desire to imitate the idol human brand, desire to identify with the idol human brand and its fandom community, and the effect on purchase intention. For the statistical analysis, SPSS and AMOS were used. The study found that the characteristics of the idol human brand which are trust, professionality, social attractiveness, and physical attractiveness positively influenced attachment to the idol human brand. The attachment to the idol human brand positively affected the imitation desire toward the idol human brand, and the identification desire with the idol human brand, and to identify with its fandom community. Additionally, the desire to imitate and to identify with the idol human brand and its fandom community positively affected the intention. Furthermore, the relationships between all variables were found to have a significant mediating effect.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.537-550
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• 2023

This study investigates the impact of Hallyu human brands on consumer behavior, given the increasing influence of Hallyu human brands due to their global spread and the limited academic discussions surrounding this topic. The research examines the role of self-congruity, human brand attachment, and brand equity factors. An online survey was conducted, targeting Chinese consumers who are highly engaged with the Korean Wave. Data from 403 respondents were analyzed. The results reveal that both ideal and actual self-congruity with the Hallyu human brand significantly affected attachment to the brand, while social self-congruity was found to be insignificant. Furthermore, attachment to Hallyu human brands positively influenced brand recognition, perceived quality, brand image, and brand loyalty.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.5-14
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• 2020

Purpose: Early morning delivery markets have grown exponentially in the last few years. This study aims to verify the effects of brand experience factors and brand personality factors of Market Kurly, a representative early morning delivery brand, on brand attachment and brand loyalty. Research design, data, and methodology: For this purpose, 204 ordinary people in their 20s and 40s who have experience in using Market Kurly were surveyed. 7 hypotheses were verified by using hierarchical regression analysis. Results: Affective experience, intellectual experience, and behavioral experience among brand experience factors had a positive effect on brand attachment. Also, brand personality-self-image congruence and brand personality-human brand congruence as brand personality factors had a positive effect on brand attachment. The brand attachment was identified as an important preceding factor to explain the brand loyalty of Market Kurly. Conclusions: When applying brand experience factors to the early morning delivery service context, each brand experience factor affected brand attachment and brand loyalty. The scope of research on brand personality-self-image congruence was expanded in that it considered both brand personality-human brand congruence and brand personality-self-image congruence. This study provides academic and practical implications by revealing that brand experience factors and brand personality factors can positively affect brand attachment and brand loyalty.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.22 no.10
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• pp.291-308
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to suggest an effective marketing method for product advertising. With regards to this, 148 copies of survey data were collected from consumers, and the hypothesis of this study was verified using SPSS 25.0. The results revealed that (1) Human Brand attractiveness had a positive effect on Human Brand attachment among the products of low involvement. (2) The uniqueness and the intimacy of Human Brand had a positive effect on Human Brand attachment among the products of high involvement. Through this study, the effect of reliability, expertise, attractiveness, uniqueness, and intimacy among human brand characteristics on human brand attachment, human brand attitude, and product purchase intention was confirmed, and it was also possible to confirm the difference in influence on human brand characteristics and purchase intention according to the product characteristics involved. This study has expanded the research scope of Human Brand, which has been studied mainly by entertainers and entrepreneurs, to sports stars and through empirical analysis, it has tried to identify influencing factors to improve purchasing intent based on high and low-contention characteristics of advertising products.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.12 no.12
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• pp.27-41
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• 2014

Purpose - This study examines various reservation service components that would increase customers' brand attachment and loyalty, while discussing how reservation service components would affect the customer behaviors. Research design, data, and methodology - This study theoretically analyzed the hotel package product reservation system, the customer expectations, the brand attachment, and the brand loyalty, while reviewing previous studies. Results - This study analyzed the distribution channels of the hotel package products from various angles and, as for more extensive research, the study explained the different results caused by each different reservation system type that may be preferred by each individual customer. Conclusions - It was confirmed that, of the hotel reservation service components, the convenience factors, the reliability factors, the information factors, and the other factors other than the human factors, have a significant influence on the customer expectations. Further, the study also revealed that the customer expectation has an important effect on the brand attachment. In addition, the study improved the prevailing understanding on the relation between the brand attachment and the brand loyalty.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.63 no.7
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• pp.148-163
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to examine the attributes and internal structure of fashion brand authenticity, which is a new concept of brand association. For quantitative research, a total of 591 samples of consumer survey were taken from 24th of August to 7th of September, 2009. The results of this study were as follows: 1) The scale for the fashion brand authenticity was developed, which consisted of 33 questions. These questions estimated a total of 8 dimensions, including heritage, authority, relationship to place, consistency, non-popularity, trend leading, originality, and ethics. 2) The internal structure of the fashion brand authenticity was confirmed. The internal structure was constituted into core attributes and promoted attributes. 3) The relationship between the fashion brand authenticity and consumer related variables were found. The core attributes of authenticity were putting positive influence directly on brand loyalty. However, paths through brand attachment or brand commitment were not found. The promoted attributes showed that it had a direct negative influence on brand loyalty, but it has also showed positive influence on paths, which underwent brand attachment and commitment.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.579-586
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• 2021

This study aimed to identify the influence of soccer star's human brand on attitude and attachment to the club, providing the importance and implications of brand management of star players in the club. Therefore, a non-face-to-face mobile survey was conducted from January 14 to March 5, 2021, and a total of 348 copies of data were used for the final analysis. Data processing used the SPSS (ver.21.0) program to conduct frequency analysis, internal consistency and exploratory factor analysis, correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis. The main results of this study are as follows. First, the human brand of a soccer star has been shown to influence the attitude of the club in the order of ethicality, attractiveness, and differentiation. Second, the human brand of a soccer star has been shown to influence the attachment of the club in the order of ethicality, attractiveness, and differentiation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.793-807
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• 2024

In response to the growing focus on products utilizing character IP in retail, this study investigated the impact of consumers' recollection of character IP fashion products on brand relationship formation. Furthermore, it explores the moderating effect of consumer preferences for collaboration series on this relationship. Participants were consumers who recalled character IP fashion products, and the analysis was conducted using PLS-SEM. The findings show that consumer recollection associated with character IP in fashion products positively affects brand attachment, leading to a positive impact on brand attitude and brand loyalty. The study also highlights the effectiveness of repeated exposure to similar products as an effective marketing strategy. Furthermore, a positive synergy between brand attachment and preferences for collaboration series enhances brand loyalty by influencing consumer attitudes. The study suggests that collaboration series marketing strategies affect consumers' perceptions of novelty and alter their expectations. This research has significant academic and practical implications, demonstrating the effectiveness of marketing through collaboration series and revealing how character IP in fashion products, commonly used by fashion brands, shapes brand-consumer relationships. The findings provide a robust theoretical foundation for marketing strategies leveraging character IP.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.101-116
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• 2014

In the year 2013, Warren Buffett was named one of the most influential people of the year by TIME magazine. When people are exposed to such news, they show strong interest in who the influential people are and how those people became so successful. Likewise, people show strong attachment to other prominent figures as well. This social phenomenon indicates that people perceive well-known persona like business leaders, TV stars or sports stars etc. as human brands of intangible assets. As the role of these human brands is becoming more important, people tend to develop stronger attachment toward them. Another notable modern social phenomenon is people's pursuit of life-satisfaction and social well-being. People desire to increase their quality of life by having quality time with family and friends, and also by building attachment towards celebrities, sports stars, and so on. The main objective of this study is to examine how attachment toward human brands affects quality of life. While existing studies on human brands examined antecedents of attachment, e.g., some needs fulfillment such as A-R-C needs (autonomy, relatedness and competence needs) fulfillment, this study focuses on the outcome variables of attachment, e.g., how attachment toward human brands affects stress relief and life satisfaction through self-efficacy. Based on previous research, we divided human brands into two types: heroes and celebrities. Heroes are defined as people who have considerable and lasting importance on both societal and individual levels, and celebrities are defined as people who are well-known but have little or no short-term impact on society and individual levels. This study focuses on how attachment toward each type of human brands, celebrities and heroes, affects the quality of life or well-being. This study focuses on three important outcome variables; stress relief, life satisfaction, and self-efficacy, (three variables) which have been recently gaining importance, especially in the domain of positive psychology. Major findings from the present study show that although celebrities draw attachment from people by providing fun and entertainment or providing stress relief, they have weak influences on the wellbeing or efficacy of individuals at a deeper level. In contrast, attachment toward heroes helps people live better by providing meaning and positively influencing life satisfaction through self-efficacy (Frankl 1997). These results are consistent with the main tenet of 'positive psychology' which seeks "to find and nurture genius and talent and to make normal life more fulfilling" (Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi 2000). Considering the fact that certain celebrities are perceived as heroes to some, we can conclude that celebrities can become heroes if they provide meaning and value to the lives of people. This study contributes to the research stream of human brands since the most current leading research (e.g., Thomson 2006) indicated the need to look at the resulting effect of attachment on life satisfaction through self-efficacy. Another important contribution is that we empirically documented the different effects of celebrities and heroes. As expected, this study shows that heroes more deeply influence the lives of individuals in the long term while celebrities do so rather shallowly in the short term. The issues of the influence of heroes on the individuals' lives need to be further investigated in relation with the perspective of positive psychology.