• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.247-269
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• 2007

In recent years, one of the major reasons for the fierce competition amongst firms is that they strive to increase their own market shares and customer acquisition rate in the same market with similar and apparently undifferentiated products in terms of quality and perceived benefit. Because of this change in recent marketing environment, the differentiated after-sales service and diversified promotion strategies have become more important to gain competitive advantage. Price promotion is the favorite strategy that most retailers use to achieve short-term sales increase, induce consumer's brand switch, in troduce new product into market, and so forth. However, if marketers apply or copy an identical price promotion strategy without considering the characteristic differences in product and consumer preference, it will cause serious problems because discounted price itself could make people skeptical about product quality, and the changes of perceived value might appear differently depending on other factors such as consumer involvement or brand attitude. Previous studies showed that price promotion would certainly increase sales, and the discounted price compared to regular price would enhance the consumer's perceived values. On the other hand, discounted price itself could make people depreciate or skeptical about product quality, and reduce the consumers' positivity bias because consumers might be unsure whether the current price promotion is the retailer's best price offer. Moreover, we cannot say that discounted price absolutely enhances the consumer's perceived values regardless of product category and purchase situations. That is, the factors that affect consumers' value perceptions and buying behavior are so diverse in reality that the results of studies on the same dependent variable come out differently depending on what variable was used or how experiment conditions were designed. Majority of previous researches on the effect of price-comparison advertising have used consumers' buying behavior as dependent variable. In order to figure out consumers' buying behavior theoretically, analysis of value perceptions which influence buying intentions is needed. In addition, they did not combined the independent variables such as brand loyalty and price discount rate together. For this reason, this paper tried to examine the moderating effect of brand loyalty on relationship between the different levels of discounting rate and buyers' value perception. And we provided with theoretical and managerial implications that marketers need to consider such variables as product attributes, brand loyalty, and consumer involvement at the same time, and then establish a differentiated pricing strategy case by case in order to enhance consumer's perceived values properl. Three research concepts were used in our study and each concept based on past researches was defined. The perceived acquisition value in this study was defined as the perceived net gains associated with the products or services acquired. That is, the perceived acquisition value of the product will be positively influenced by the benefits buyers believe they are getting by acquiring and using the product, and negatively influenced by the money given up to acquire the product. And the perceived transaction value was defined as the perception of psychological satisfaction or pleasure obtained from taking advantage of the financial terms of the price deal. Lastly, the brand loyalty was defined as favorable attitude towards a purchased product. Thus, a consumer loyal to a brand has an emotional attachment to the brand or firm. Repeat purchasers continue to buy the same brand even though they do not have an emotional attachment to it. We assumed that if the degree of brand loyalty is high, the perceived acquisition value and the perceived transaction value will increase when higher discount rate is provided. But we found that there are no significant differences in values between two different discount rates as a result of empirical analysis. It means that price reduction did not affect consumer's brand choice significantly because the perceived sacrifice decreased only a little, and customers are satisfied with product's benefits when brand loyalty is high. From the result, we confirmed that consumers with high degree of brand loyalty to a specific product are less sensitive to price change. Thus, using price promotion strategy to merely expect sale increase is not recommendable. Instead of discounting price, marketers need to strengthen consumers' brand loyalty and maintain the skimming strategy. On the contrary, when the degree of brand loyalty is low, the perceived acquisition value and the perceived transaction value decreased significantly when higher discount rate is provided. Generally brands that are considered inferior might be able to draw attention away from the quality of the product by making consumers focus more on the sacrifice component of price. But considering the fact that consumers with low degree of brand loyalty are known to be unsatisfied with product's benefits and have relatively negative brand attitude, bigger price reduction offered in experiment condition of this paper made consumers depreciate product's quality and benefit more and more, and consumer's psychological perceived sacrifice increased while perceived values decreased accordingly. We infer that, in the case of inferior brand, a drastic price-cut or frequent price promotion may increase consumers' uncertainty about overall components of product. Therefore, it appears that reinforcing the augmented product such as after-sale service, delivery and giving credit which is one of the levels consisting of product would be more effective in reality. This will be better rather than competing with product that holds high brand loyalty by reducing sale price. Although this study tried to examine the moderating effect of brand loyalty on relationship between the different levels of discounting rate and buyers' value perception, there are several limitations. This study was conducted in controlled conditions where the high involvement product and two different levels of discount rate were applied. Given the presence of low involvement product, when both pieces of information are available, it is likely that the results we have reported here may have been different. Thus, this research results explain only the specific situation. Second, the sample selected in this study was university students in their twenties, so we cannot say that the results are firmly effective to all generations. Future research that manipulates the level of discount along with the consumer involvement might lead to a more robust understanding of the effects various discount rate. And, we used a cellular phone as a product stimulus, so it would be very interesting to analyze the result when the product stimulus is an intangible product such as service. It could be also valuable to analyze whether the change of perceived value affects consumers' final buying behavior positively or negatively.

• Korean Business Review
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• v.15
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• pp.133-152
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• 2002

The objective of this study examines that a country-of-origin and a congruity between country-of-origin of brand and country-of-origin of production effect on consumers' product preference respectively. To test this hypothesis, we used stimulus material including product photos with brand and its production description. Nation selected for study is defined as developed country, Korea, underdeveloped country, and tape record, sports shoes, and cosmetic, tissue is selected, they have characteristics with thinking vs feeling, level of involvement, private vs public. The result of analysis show that the effects of country-of-origin on product preference is different over country. The product of developed country is preferred by subjective, and following Korea, underdeveloped country. This result imply that country-of-origin effect on consumers' product preference and product evaluation positively. And we found that the degree of congruity between country-of-origin of brand and country-of-origin of production has very substantial impact on product quality judgement and product preference above and beyond brand and country-of-origin of production main effects. This study contributes to a understanding of effects of country-of-origin at the perspective of congruity, and extend level of generalization of country-of-origin effect by testing various product characteristic and congruity.

• Journal of Korean Library and Information Science Society
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.263-282
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• 2018

This study analyzed nineteen best-practices (161 sub-programs) regarding school library media program. The authors conducted content analysis based on The Library Media Specialist's Taxonomy and the CIPP Model. In the analysis of taxonomy showing the degree of involvement of librarian teachers, Level Seven indicating a concerted effort to promote school library program was the most important (37.6%). Among the ten levels of taxonomy, the highest level (levels 6 to 10, high involvement of librarians) accounted for 65.9%. According to the analysis of the CIPP Model, (Context) most of the excellent programs were aimed at reading education (41.5%) and library use education (11.3%), and more than half (53.8%) cases were initiated by learners' needs. (Input) excellence programs employed various teaching materials and were operated at fixed time. (Process) the programs were run in a variety of ways, mainly with reading instruction (30.4%) and cultural activities (17.3%). (Product) As a fruit of programs, students and parents' satisfaction, students' achievement, self-confidence, and self-improvement were reported.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.39 no.11
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• pp.107-128
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• 2001

The objectives of this study were to classify the consumer group based on the lifestyle traits of cortege women, to examine the demographic characteristics of each group, and to find out the differences of buying and using behavior of cosmetics among each group. The survey was conducted and 392 samples were analyzed by SPSS package program. The results of this study were as follows; 1. The lifestyle types were clasified 4 groups. They were named 'Progressive fashion pursuing type' 'Reality adaptable living-satisfaction type','Traditional frugal faithful type','Passive living-unconcern type'. 2. The demographic characteristics of each lifestyle group showed meaningful differences according to the following variables ; major, average monthly pocket money, religion, living standard, educational level and occupation of the head of a family. 3. The buying behavior of cosmetics(the degree of product involvement, information search behavior, product choice criteria, store choice criteria) showed meaningful differences among each lifestyle group. 4. The using behavior of cosmetics( the motive of make-up, the extent of make-up, average monthly cosmetics expenditure) showed meaningful differences among each lifestyle group.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.31-38
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• 2007

Pentamethylcyclopentadienyltitanium trichloride, bis(cyclopentadienyl)titanium dichloride ($Cp_2TiCl_2$), and bis(pentamethylcyclopentadienyl)titanium dichloride were used in the polymerization of styrene without the aid of Group I-III cocatalysts. The properties of the resulting polymer indicated that polymerization was more controlled than in thermal polymerization. The kinetic studies indicated that a lower level of termination is present and that the polymer chain can be extended by adding an additional monomer. To elucidate the mechanism of polymerization, a series of experiments was performed. All results supported the involvement of a radical mechanism in the polymerization using $Cp_2TiCl_2$. The possibility of atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) mechanism was investigated by isolating the intermediate species. We could confirm the activation step from the reaction of 1-PEC1 with $Cp_2TiCl$ by detecting the coupling product of the generated active radicals. However, the reversible deactivation reaction competes with other side reactions, and it detection was difficult with our model system.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.53-70
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• 2009

This study empirically explored what promotes exploration, through a case analysis of a Korean SME (small and medium sized enterprise), based on the research framework which focuses on the identification and the selection of exploratory NPD (new product development) alternatives, and the accumulation of novel capabilities in new technology domains. The learning process of the exploratory NPD project described is as follows. The identification barrier of exploratory NPD project is relatively low. Constructive crisis is germane to selecting exploratory NPD alternatives and to enduring the long payback period. New separated R&D unit is likely to implement the exploratory NPD project. The length of the gestation period of the exploratory NPD project is related with the level of the conflict between old members and new members. This study identified several antecedents of the exploratory NPD project. Prior success promotes the identification process of the exploratory NPD projects. Constructive crisis is related with CEO's personal characteristics such as future oriented and proactive personality. The proactive involvement and persuasion of CEO are germane to reducing the conflict between old and new members and to the success of the exploratory NPD project. Based on the results, this study discusses several implications and future research directions.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.97-108
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to propose a product planning and design direction for smart fitness wear that will improve the impact of personal training based on researching the requirements of smart fitness wear and its acceptance level, as well as the functional demand. The study conducted in-depth interviews with professional fitness trainers and derived five categories and thirteen keywords by analyzing the categorical data analysis using the interview data. In addition, we surveyed general consumers to measure the acceptance level of smart fitness wear and the functional demand for product development. The results revealed that the difference in the acceptance level of smart fitness wear generally depended on the characteristics related to exercise involvement and exercise-related culture rather than on the demographic characteristics. With regard to the difference in the functional demand of smart fitness wear, the results showed that professional trainers focused on the scientific improvement of the effect of exercise while general consumers focused on the function that considers the sustainability of exercise. Based on the results, we proposed product planning and design directions such as 'mounting of heart rate sensing, muscle activity sensing, motion angle or posture sensing, and motion sensing', 'development of concepts and contents for expert line, ordinary line', 'compression wear design', and 'differentiation of product development according to exercise areas'.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.95-131
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• 2008

This study serves the main research purpose of verifying the hypothetical relationship between antecedent and consequence variables of shopping experience based on the classification system by Schmitt (1999) who dimensionalized experience into five components (sense, feel, think, act, relate). Specifically, the study seeks to fulfill the following three research objectives. First, it substantiates dynamic relationships among the five experiential components comprising the strategic experiential modules that serve as the basis of the theoretical framework of the study. Especially, it focuses on interactive relationships among the experiential components by taking a holistic view of the experience. Second, the study seeks to uncover the effects of pre-experiential antecedents such as shopping motivation and shopping involvement, based on taxonomy of motivation as product-centered vs. experience-centered. Third, the study investigates the effects of shopping experience on intention to revisit with regard to department store, discount store, and Internet shops, based on customers' store experiences. The major findings from this study are as follows: first, the five experiential components were found to have a high level of correlations according to hypothesis verification. Second, shopping motivation was learned to have significant effects on preference toward thinking as well as feeling experiences. That is, product-centered (vs. experience-centered) shopping motivation exerted a greater influence on cognitive (vs. affective experience than affective (vs. cognitive) experience.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.123-134
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• 2010

Considering the benefits for both consumers and suppliers, firms are taking advantage of the Internet as a medium to communicate with and sell products to their consumers. This trend makes the online shopping environment a growing field for both researchers and practitioners. This paper contributes by testing a model of online consumer behavior with websites varying in levels of hedonism. Unlike past studies, we included all three types of emotions (arousal, pleasure, and dominance) and flow into the model. In this study, we assumed that website interfaces, such as background colors, music, and fonts impact the three types of emotions at the initial exposure to the site (Mazaheri, Richard, and Laroche, 2011). In turn, these emotions influence flow and consumers' perceptions of the site atmospherics-perception of site informativeness, effectiveness, and entertainment. This assumption is consistent with Zajonc (1980) who argued that affective reactions are independent of perceptual and cognitive operations and can influence responses. We, then, propose that the perceptions of site atmospherics along with flow, influence customers' attitudes toward the website and toward the product, site involvement, and purchase intentions. In addition, we studied the moderating impact of the level of hedonism of websites on all the relationship in the model. Thus, the path coefficients were compared between "high" and "low" hedonic websites. We used 39 real websites from 12 product categories (8 services and 4 physical goods) to test the model. Among them, 20 were perceived as high hedonic and 19 as low hedonic by the respondents. The result of EQS 6.1 support the overall model: $\chi^2$=1787 (df=504), CFI=.994; RMSEA=.031. All the hypotheses were significant. In addition, the results of multi-groups analyses reveal several non-invariant structural paths between high and low hedonic website groups. The findings supported the model regarding the influence of the three types of emotions on customers' perceptions of site atmospherics, flow, and other customer behavior variables. It was found that pleasure strongly influenced site attitudes and perceptions of site entertainment. Arousal positively impacted the other two types of emotions, perceptions of site informativeness, and site involvement. Additionally, the influence of arousal on flow was found to be highly significant. The results suggested a strong association between dominance and customers' perceptions of site effectiveness. Dominance was also found to be associated with site attitudes and flow. Moreover, the findings suggested that site involvement and attitudes toward the product are the most important antecedents of purchase intentions. Site informativeness and flow also significantly influenced purchase intentions. The results of multi-group analysis supported the moderating impacts of hedonism of the websites. Compared to low (high) hedonic sites, the impacts of utilitarian (hedonic) attributes on other variables were stronger in high (low) hedonic websites. Among the three types of emotions, dominance (controlling feelings) effects were stronger in high hedonic sites and pleasure effects were stronger in low hedonic sites. Moreover, the impact of site informativeness was stronger for high hedonic websites compared to their low-hedonic counterparts. On the other hand, the influence of effectiveness of information on perceptions of site informativeness and the impact of site involvement on product attitudes were stronger for low hedonic websites than for high hedonic ones.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.123-136
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• 2014

Bakery nutrition labeling has been implemented in the company, but most consumers have no idea about it due to lack of promotion of the product nutrition labeling information or do not have a big interest in it. As a result, various studies based on the forecast about changes in consumption patterns of the bakery market due to nutrition labeling information are needed. Especially nowadays, when buying bakery products the involvement of consumers in health and nutrition is growing. So, we need to understand that nutrition labeling information makes any causal relationship between consumer attitude and confidence, purchasing behavior in bakery products. It can be said to be a very important research. For that reason, I think this research will help to settle and activate the nutrition labeling information system for the rational purchasing decisions of consumers in the bakery market. In addition, this research could be a base material for various marketing strategies.