• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.11 no.8
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• pp.7-19
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• 2020

Purpose: Prior studies rarely investigated the effects of the Word of Mouse (WoM) information on consumers' motivation and willingness to purchase a product. Furthermore, few scholars have studied how word-of-mouth information works and they fail to find consistent results. Research design, data and methodology: This study uses a multivariate regression model to investigate the influence of WoM on consumer attitudes and consumer decision-making. It categorizes the quality of WoM into source level and acceptance level, to analyze its influence from a new perspective. A total of 400 surveys were completed, resulting in 336 usable questionnaires for analysis. It was collected in 14 cities from all regions in China. This study constructs a theoretical model of WoM influence on consumers' purchase willingness based on a systematic review of the related literature on WoM quality, perceived value, customer trust, and consumers' purchase willingness. Results: Empirical results reveal that the Internet WoM (consumer's source level and acceptance level) indirectly affects consumer behavior by influencing consumer attitudes. Conclusions: This study provides practical significance and value for merchants to develop better WoM marketing and to establish the reliability of WoM websites. Companies should consider online WoM from the perspective of consumers, thereby improving existing marketing strategies.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.121-144
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• 2009

Consumers generally have different country images and purchasing patterns about products made in different countries. The essence of consumer behavior lies in psychological image on consumers' mind rather than actual characteristics of product itself. The current study examines how much country of origin influences consumers' purchase intentions focusing on Mexican products by consumers between Korea and the U.S. after establishment of NAFTA. The result of the study shows that there exists significant differences between Korean and the U.S. consumers' attitudes on purchasing Mexican products by structural equation modeling analyses.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.219-245
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• 2017

This study is intended to empirically investigate how Korean consumers evaluate foreign CSRs conducted by Korean firms. Specifically, the study investigates the effects of domestic vs. foreign CSR targets & domestic vs. global NGO affiliations by employing a two-way 2-by-2 factorial design. Field experiments were carried out with adult consumers in Seoul aged over 25. Our findings, first, suggest that Korean consumers perceive domestic CSRs more positively than foreign CSRs. But Korean consumers were found to respond more positively to foreign CSRs when the focal firm was perceived as a global firm. As regards to NGO affiliations, the study found that consumers were partially favorable towards domestic NGOs. However, interestingly, foreign CSRs with domestic NGOs were perceived more favorably than foreign CSRs with foreign NGOs.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.14 no.8
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• pp.123-128
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• 2016

Purpose - Korean Wave that overspreads around Asia and America, especially the Korean beauty wave, has reached Mongolia and Mongolian consumers. Mongolia consumers usually prefer foreign cosmetic brands to local brands, because the local brands cannot satisfy fast changing needs and wants of local consumers. Research design, data, and methodology - Based on previous studies about life style of Mongolian consumers, advertisement properties and consumer behaviors, we propose a research model and related hypothesis. In order to test hypotheses, we analyzed 366 survey data out of 376 by eliminating improper 10 responses. Factor analysis and reliability analysis was conducted by SPSS 22.0. We used multiple regression analysis and parameter analysis to test the relation between variables. Results - As exploring the Mongolian consumers' current usage of cosmetic products, we found that the customers' focus is how the products fit with their skin. Mongolian consumers often get the information about cosmetic products through TV and internet. Mongolian consumers show positive attitudes on the appearance of Korean celebrities in responsibility, while there is no significant effect on attractiveness. Mongolian consumer's behaviors toward brand have positive effect on both responsibility and attractiveness of Korean commercial celebrities. Responsibility and attractiveness of Korean commercial celebrities have positive effect on the behaviors toward advertisements of cosmetic products. Conclusions - Behaviors toward advertisements of cosmetic products have positive effect on both purchase intention and loyalty of customer. Responsibility and attractiveness of Korean commercial celebrities have positive effect on mediating variable of behavior toward advertisement and independent variable of purchase intention. Responsibility and attractiveness of Korean commercial celebrities have positive effect on mediating variable of behavior toward advertisement and independent variable of loyalty of customer. In order to improve the effect of advertisements, firms need to consider not only the technique of the model but also the image of model in regard to trust and professionalism appealing to consumers. In addition, firms need to choose the model who fits in with the image of the firms and the products and service of the firms. Finally, Mongolian consumers tend to acquire the shopping information through TV advertisements, especially featuring Korean popular stars, thus, TV advertisements can be a wise option in Mongolian cosmetic market.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.49-59
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• 2011

Although the South Korean organic food market is in the infancy compared to other industrialized countries, Korean consumers'interest in organic food and retail stores devoting space to organic products have been rapidly increasing. Despite the fact of organic food popularity, the term "organic" is interpreted differently by individuals. As opposed to the US, Japan and the EU where have operated an integrated organic food labelling system, Korea has adopted complex organic labelling systems regulated by several different government bodies. As a result, complicated food labelling standards make consumers confused when purchasing organic foods. Furthermore, in terms of country of origin (COO), it is argued by a lot of researchers that COO effects vary from product to product and from country to country; moreover, other informational cues such as brand and price can influence COO effects. In modern society, COO labelling has been complicated, due to the sourcing, manufacturing and market locations of merchandise spread over the world. Accordingly, the evaluation of COO effects has become complex. In order to examine these issues, a quantitative research was selected to classify the commonfeatures of organic food consumers and construct statistics such as the extent to which people are aware of organic food and COO labellingvia a questionnaire which took place in two cities in Korea with a cluster sample of 161 organic food purchasers. As for the data analysis, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), T-tests, bivariate crosstatulations with Cramer's V were conducted,depending on the characteristics of variables and the assumptions the research data need to fit. It has been concluded that in general, Korean organic consumers comprehend the term "organic"in a closer way to the general concept rather than technical term, thus people do not appreciate environmentally labels which include organic food labels, although marital status influence the degree of label awareness, regardless of gender, age, education level and so on. Regarding COO effects on organic food, home organic products were Korean consumers'first choice over those from industrialized countries and developing nations. Specifically, in processed organic product category, domestically cultivated and processed organic products were absolutely preferred to leading national brands produced with imported ingredients and international brands. However, due to a lack of checks of ingredients' COO, consumers tend to purchase a leading national organic food brand, believing that it is a pure organic food sourced domestically. As a consequence, this research has suggested some important managerial implications and future research directions. In order to prevent consumer confusion when buying organic foods, it should be noted that consumers do not comprehend the organic food certifications, due to complicated labelling systems for organic produce and processed organic foods. Therefore, government bodies related to organic food distribution have to know consumers' perception of organic food labels and the significance of customer-oriented labels and reestablish labelling standards. Similarly, public advertising should be followed to raise public awareness of the labelling to enable customers to have the correct information. In addition, not only international marketers but also domestic marketers need to understand COO images and also the influence COO of ingredients has on the image of an organic product.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.147-174
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• 2017

Korean companies currently operating in China have made active efforts to undertake corporate social responsibility activities and corporate advertising to improve their image, as well as marketing activities directly related to their products. In this context, this study aims to analyze how corporate social responsibility activities and corporate advertising influence a company's image from the perspective of Chinese consumers. This study also analyzes corporate image, consumer-company identification, and the structural relationship between the consumers' behavioral responses and their evaluation of Korean products. Based on theoretical discussions and previous studies, the study tests five research hypotheses for the development of a theoretical research model. In order to empirically test the research model, data were collected by enlisting and observing MBA students from major universities in China. The results obtained by actual analysis are as follows. First, corporate social responsibility activities and corporate advertising were found to be positively influential on corporate image. Second, corporate image is positively influential on consumer-company identification. The consumer-company identification of Chinese consumers' evaluation of Korean products, and positive evaluation of Korean products in turn induce positive influences on Chinese consumers' behavioral responses. These results suggest that the Korean companies already established in China not only need to enhance a positive corporate image but also have to make efforts to undertake corporate social responsibility activities and corporate advertising activities in order to improve their continuous and long-term relationship with Chinese consumers.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.15-19
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• 2017

With the increased economic profit in China, people tend to give more attention to the nurturing of children. The change in the food markets directly connected to the infants' health seem to have brought various consumption patterns different than before. Based on the actual condition survey operated by this research, the expansion in the scale of consumption and preference to the imported food for infants appeared in the Chinese food markets for infants. The rapidly increased amount of the online purchases of the food for Chinese infants was checked through the condition survey. Based on the analysis results, with the purpose of increasing the purchase opportunities of the Korean food for infants to the Chinese consumers, it should not only perform the promotion activities such as the promotion for the product's superiority and various promotional event, but also establish the pricing strategy for each entry step to the Chinese market. Because the purchase experience of the Korean food for infant plays the important role for the additional payments decision, it is estimated that there is a need to expand the opportunities for the Chinese consumers to approach the Korean food for infants both directly and indirectly.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.5-14
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• 2019

Purpose - This study aims to proposes a conceptual framework to segment multi-national products based on a Chinese consumer's perception of multi-national products, to find the role of consumer ethnocentrism (CET) in country of origin (COO) effects for Chinese, and to figure out how different dimension of CET Effects on purchase intention developed market and home country. Research design, data and methodology - This study selected a 2×2×2 factorial design for the hypothesis test based on the product category × combination of manufactured type × Ethnocentrism level. This study distinguishes products between luxury (Burberry) and non-luxury (Nike) products and choose combination of manufactured type (Spain vs India/ Spain vs China) in order to perform comparative studies. A total of 223 Chinese participated in the experiment. After being exposed to each scenario, participants were asked to respond to questions about brand preference and purchase intention Results - Regarding to luxury made in developed country, it is worth that exposing COO information to low level of ethnocentrism consumers. Regarding to non-luxury product made in emerging country, it makes it worse when COO information to high level of ethnocentrism consumers. Lastly, regarding to non-luxury product, patriotic consumers prefer to purchase product made in home country.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.14 no.9
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• pp.65-72
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• 2016

Purpose - This study is to examine the effect of Korean Wave (Hallyu) towards consumer purchase intention of Korean Product in Indonesia. In addition, this study also investigates the image of Korea whether it can give an impact on Indonesian consumers' intention to purchase Korean Products. Research design, data, and methodology - A total of 227 respondents from Indonesian consumers were collected using online surveys. The results from this survey were analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA) to identify each of the factors. Multiple regression and process analysis (designed by Andrew F. Hayes) were conducted to test the hypotheses. Results - This research found that 'Korean Wave', 'Ethnocentrism', and 'Country-of-Origin Image' significantly affected consumer purchase intention towards Korean Products in Indonesia, while 'Country Image' on the purchase intention was not significant affected the purchase intention. Conclusions - Study findings provide useful information for business practitioners and government to develop and maintain the use of Korean Wave in the business and marketing fields. By only referring to the image of country, it will be difficult for the consumers to decide whether they want to purchase the products or not. In other words, the favorable image of Korea, usually represented by high level of industrialization and economy, is more likely to be enhanced by favorable image of product and Korean cultural wave.

• International journal of advanced smart convergence
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.38-44
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to investigate the structural relationship among brand dependence, brand attitude, brand satisfaction and repurchase intention of online golf goods consumers. To achieve the purpose of this study, a survey was conducted on consumers who had experience in purchasing golf goods online by visiting golf driving ranges in Seoul and Kyeonggi area. A total of 200 people were surveyed and 197 data were used for the final data processing. SPSS 23 and AMOS 23 were used for data processing. We obtained the following results. First, brand dependence had a positive effect on brand attitude, but it did not have a significant effect on repurchase intention.Second, brand attitude had a positive effect on brand satisfaction and repurchase intention; third, brand satisfaction had a positive effect on repurchase intentionFirst, face has been shown to have a significant impact on symbolic consumption propensity. Second, symbolic consumption tendencies have a significant impact on product satisfaction and intention to purchase new products. Third, product satisfaction has been shown to have a negative impact on the intention of purchasing new products.