• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.132-142
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perception and information needs about food additives from the parents of elementary school children, and to develop a smartphone application (App) providing information about food additives, and finally to assess its educational effects. A survey was conducted in April 2013 by using a self-administered questionnaire, and total 358 responses were collected from the parents living in Seoul and Gyeonggi province. While purchasing processed foods, parents considered safety (40.5%) as the most important factor, and first checking item except production and expiration dates was origin labelling (35.4%), and chose foods with less food additives (63.1%). Parents recognized food additives as the most dangerous (42.7%), and 75.1% responded the level of danger as 'very dangerous'. However, 82.4% of parents didn't have experiences to get educations about food additives. Based on their information needs including the safety, legal standards and the foods containing food additives. a smartphone App designated as 'Catch up Food Additives' consisting of the definition, safety, food labelling guideline, management, animation about food additives was developed. When the App was exposed to the parents (n = 27), their negative perceptions on food additives were improved significantly. These results showed that providing information and education about food additives using smartphone App was very fast and effective for the promotion of risk communication on food additives with the parents.

• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.49-64
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• 2021

Apprenticeship education in Korea started approximately in 2005, and is divided into government-led apprenticeship education and Gyeonggi-do-led apprenticeship education. Apprenticeship education for textile and clothing-related majors in Korea is a very different process compared to Germany, where the country, companies, and schools have cooperated with each other with a long tradition, and there are many points to be supplemented. In order to explore the literature on apprenticeship education in Germany and Korea, and to understand the phenomena or actual conditions that have not been shown in the literature, interviews were conducted with two German professors living in South Korea. As a result of the analysis, Germany's long tradition and positive perception of vocational education are the basis for the establishment of apprenticeship education, and it is positioned as a system of education process. Various associations related to apprenticeship education make systematic training manuals, and then distribute certificates to trainees who have completed these courses. Therefore, companies promote the stability of the job market by educating local talents through apprenticeship training to nurture industrial manpower. Currently, in Korea's apprenticeship education, a series of procedures for developing educational courses such as company discovery and job analysis for each company are entirely entrusted to vocational high schools. Therefore, public confidence and solidity in apprenticeship education were found to be insignificant. This study has limitations in that it cannot confirm a phenomenon that has not been shown in the literature review, there is insufficient research on German literature, and the number of samples interviewed is small. However, if, based on the results of this study, an association dedicated to apprenticeship education is created in Korea and a systematic curriculum is developed, it will be able to contribute to establishing the stability of the textile and apparel labor market in the future.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.516-538
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• 2020

The present study investigated regional and sex differences in knowledge, perception, cognition and behavior of fine-dust protective masks for periods of high concentration of fine dust in Korea. A total of 2,012 adults from seven provinces responded to the questionnaire. The results (all p<.05) showed that 78% of respondents considered pollution from China to be the greatest contributor of fine dust. Seoul and Gyeonggi residents more frequently checked fine dust forecasts than other provinces and consulted their smartphone applications to do so more than other residents. Jeju, Gwangwon, and Jeonla residents had less knowledge of KF 80, 94, and 99 masks than residents of other provinces. Gwangwon and Jeju residents had less trust in the effectiveness of protective masks than other residents. Females perceived themselves as unhealthier respiratory, more frequently checked the concentration of fine dust, trusted more the effectiveness of masks, and more frequently wore masks, compared to male respondents. Those who self-identified their respiratory function as poor, more frequently checked fine dust forecasting, and had greater knowledge of masks, which resulted in greater trust in the protective function of masks, and finally had higher wear frequency of masks for days with high concentrations of fine dust.

• 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.

• Nutritional Sciences
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.223-234
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• 2004

The aim of this study was to investigate intake of health foods and supplements and its associated factors in middle and old-aged adults in order to contribute to health promotion of Korean population by providing a guide for proper use of health foods and supplements. About 69% of the subjects reported that they were currently taking health foods and supplements or had experiences of having them in the past, whereas 31.2 % reported they had never taken them. The most commonly used type of health foods and supplements was vitamin C as reported by 41.8% followed by others such as lactobacillus products, multi-vitamins, tonic medicine and cardiotonic drug, artificially processed Ginseng foods, vitamin B complex, enzyme supplement, calcium, aloe, apricot extract products, chitosan products, loyal honey, squalene, refined fish oil and iron products. The major reason for taking health foods and supplements was 'to protect the weak constitution' with 155 (42.1%) responses, and the motive for the intake was the suggestion from family-relatives with 235 (63.9%) responses, and the place of purchase was pharmacy with 140 (38.0%) responses, the average monthly expense was 20,000-40,000 won with 140 (26.2%) responses, and effects after the intake was 'so and so' with 180 (33.6%) responses as the highest. More health foods and supplements were consumed as age and education were statistically significantly increased (p<0.05). For health and lifestyle and the intake of health foods and supplements, perceived health status, the presence of illness, and the presence of health management were statistically significant (p<0.05). Male subjects than female subjects and the 30s than the 405 and 50s were appeared to have poorer dietary behaviors (p<0.05). For the health locus of control and the intake of health foods and supplements, the health locus of control score was 22.82 for consumers and 22.79 for non-consumers, showing no significant difference. Logistic regression analysis was performed to find out major factors that affect the intake of health foods and supplements, in which gender, education, smoking, perceived health status, the presence of illness, and health management were significant to the intake of health foods and supplements. It is shown that subjects with perception and attitude of 'health foods and supplements are useful in health maintenance and disease prevention' and 'the information and variety for health foods and supplements are great' have higher probability of taking health foods and supplements.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.32 no.12
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• pp.1927-1938
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• 2008

Companies can build a close relationship by providing benefits that consumers want. As long relationships between consumer and company are stressed these days, it is very important for the growth and development of companies to assess what benefits consumers perceive and how they reflect them to their buying behaviors. Thus, this study aims to examine the relational benefits that consumers perceive in internet clothing purchase and how these perceived relational benefits affects relational commitment and customer loyalty. This study surveyed 343 male and female in their 20s and 30s for empirical analysis who have ever purchased clothing through internet shopping malls. Descriptive statistics, factor analysis, ANOVA analysis, Duncan test, and ${\chi}^2$-test are carried out using SPSS for Windows 12.0 for statistical analysis. The results are as follows. First, the dimensions of relational benefits perceived by consumers in internet clothing purchase are found 6 including customization, economic, psychological, social, shopping convenience, and informational. Second, consumers' perception of relational benefits significantly affect on relational commitment and loyalty, thus consumers with greater recognition of relational benefits have higher relational commitment and loyalty. Third, based on the dimensions of consumer's perceived relational benefit, consumers are categorized into 6 types: group perceiving social benefit, group perceiving economic/shopping convenience benefit, group perceiving shopping convenience benefit, group perceiving customization benefit, group perceiving informational benefit, and group perceiving psychological benefit. The group perceiving customization benefits have higher relational commitment and loyalty than the others. It is expected that this study will help internet companies establish customer relationship management strategies, which are needed to promote relationships with customers and to enhance customers' loyalty to internet shopping malls.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.317-324
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• 2008

This study was performed in order to investigate perceptions on environment and environment-friendly agricultural products, knowledge level and opinion about these products. The subjects were 387 college students in Seoul and Incheon area. This survey was conducted by self-administered questionnaire. The statistical analysis was conducted using the SPSS 12.0 program. Male subjects were 53.2% and female subjects were 46.8%. 52.9% of the subjects have knowledge about environment-friendly agricultural products. Also 50.9% of the subjects knew certification label of environment-friendly agricultural products whereas 13.4% knew certification authority of environment-friendly agricultural products. The average scores of 'image of environment-friendly agricultural products', 'attitude towards environment', 'attitude towards agrichemical' were $3.84{\pm}0.68,\;3.51{\pm}0.73\;and\;3.58{\pm}0.87$, respectively. In regard to 'image of environment- friendly agricultural products', the scores were significantly affected by gender (p<0.05), self-recognition of health status (p<0.05) and self-knowledge about environment-friendly agricultural products (p<0.001). In regard to 'attitude towards environment', the scores were significantly affected by self-recognition of health status (p<0.05), self-knowledge about environment-friendly agricultural products (p<0.001), and information about environment friendly agricultural products certificate authority (p<0.01). In regard to 'attitude towards agrichemical', the scores were significantly affected by gender (p<0.001), self-recognition of health status (p<0.05), supplements for health (p<0.05) and self-knowledge about environment-friendly agricultural products (p<0.001). Therefore, various education programs on environment-friendly agricultural products are necessary for college students to make right food choices.