• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.1-10
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• 2019

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate determinants of purchasing indemnity private health insurance and its impact on the healthcare utilization among outpatients with chronic disease. Methods: The study analyzed 4,997 chronic ill patients using 2015 Korean Health Panel data. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to analyze the factors affecting the purchase of indemnity private health insurance and multiple regression analysis was conducted to analyze the effect of private health insurance on the number of outpatient visits and outpatient expenditures. Findings: The age, education level, and number of chronic diseases were significant factors affecting the purchasing of indemnity private health insurance among chronic patients. As a result of analyzing the impact of indemnity private health insurance on healthcare utilization, the number of outpatient visits for those who enrolled in the indemnity private health insurance was higher than the number of outpatient visits for those who did not. But there was no statistically significant difference in outpatient medical expenses. Practical Implications: The results of this study shows that indemnity private health insurance may cause inequality in the healthcare utilization of the socially vulnerable. It is necessary to seek ways to strengthen the health security of chronic disease patients and high-risk elderly people who need more healthcare.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.1747-1753
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• 2013

Background: It is projected that low and middle-income countries will bear a major burden of tobacco related morbidity and mortality, yet, only limited information is available on the determinants of smoking initiation among youth in Africa. This study aimed to assess the determinants of smoking initiation and susceptibility to future smoking among a population of high school school students in Lagos, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: Baseline data from an intervention study designed to assess the effect of an anti-smoking awareness program on the knowledge, attitudes and practices of adolescents was analyzed. The survey was carried out in six randomly selected public and private secondary schools in local government areas in Lagos state, Nigeria. A total of 973 students completed self-administered questionnaires on smoking initiation, health related knowledge and attitudes towards smoking, susceptibility to future smoking and other factors associated with smoking. Results: Of the respondents, 9.7% had initiated smoking tobacco products with the predominant form being cigarettes (7.3%). Males (OR: 2.77, 95%CI: 1.65-4.66) and those with more pro-smoking attitudes (OR: 1.44, 95%CI: 1.34-1.54) were more likely to have initiated smoking. Those with parents and friends who are smokers were 3.47 (95%CI: 1.50-8.05) and 2.26 (95%CI: 1.27-4.01) times more likely to have initiated smoking. Non-smoking students, in privately owned schools (OR: 5.08), with friends who smoke (5.09), with lower knowledge (OR: 0.87) and more pro-smoking attitudes (OR 1.13) were more susceptible to future smoking. In addition, respondents who had been sent to purchase cigarettes by an older adult (OR: 3.68) were also more susceptible to future smoking. Conclusions: Being male and having parents who smoke are predictors of smoking initiation among these students. Consistent with findings in other countries, peers not only influence smoking initiation but also influence smoking susceptibility among youth in this African setting. Prevention programs designed to reduce tobacco use among in-school youth should take these factors into consideration. In line with the recommendations of article 16 of the WHO FCTC, efforts to enforce the ban on the sales of cigarettes to minors should be also emphasised.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.15-25
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• 1989

The purpose of this study is to examine the factors affecting the consumer's search for information and the relationship between the amount of search and the final price paid. The model indicates the demand for search is affected by the market price of each durable good purchased, the tim available for search, family income, direct cost of search, the initial stock of information, effectiveness of search, and shopping attitudes. The final price savings are a function of search, price of dispersion in the market, the initial stock of information, and effectiveness of search. Data from the Pane Study on Consumer Decisions and Asset Management were used for the empirical testing of the theoretical model. The amount of information search as dependent variable is represented by two different measures, the level of discussion with others and the number of stores visited. The amount of discussion with others depends mainly on the respondent's shopping attitude. The higher the wife's desire to search, the higher the degree of husband's comparison shopping, the less the husband's perception of price-quality relationship, the higher the level of discussions with others. The number of stores visited depends on the average market price of product purchased and the level of family income. The higher the average market price and he higher the level of family income, the greater the number of stores visited. The final savings depend upon the level of information search. The greater the number of store visited, but the less the purchase is discussed with stores, the higher the final savings are.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.10
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• pp.267-273
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• 2020

With the strong growth of social networking sites such as Facebook in recent years, the potential of exploiting customers on Facebook is increasing. Presently, trading activities on Facebook is rapidly developing. Therefore, businesses have become increasingly competitive when selling products on Facebook, so as to retain customers as well as to satisfy customer, which is of paramount importance. This study was conducted to assess the factors affecting the satisfaction of individual customers in Vietnam when buying goods on Facebook. This study uses multivariate analysis techniques (Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Structural Equation Modeling) to determine the factors affecting customer satisfaction when buying goods on Facebook. Research results from 268 individual customers in Vietnam indicated trust and convenience are the two important factors related to customer satisfaction when buying goods on Facebook. Customer satisfaction is the result of consumer experience throughout the different stages of purchase. The more the shopping experience, the more the customers are satisfied when buying products. The price and products do not affect customer satisfaction (prices are easy to compare and products are easily understood on the Internet; hence, these two factors are not considered as determinants of customer satisfaction). Furthermore, this study provides recommendations to improve customer satisfaction.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.12
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• pp.519-528
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• 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic struck several countries in 2020. After the government officially announced that individuals will be working from home, shut public service agencies, and compelled people to wear masks and maintain social distance, several hundred business actors were forced to shut down their firms. The purpose of this study is to help companies determine the steps for a new marketing strategy for healthy food products in Indonesia. The number of samples was 500 respondents. The variance-based Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) method was used to conduct this investigation, which was similar to a marketing study. The findings show that in Indonesia, lifestyle and price perceptions influence healthy food product purchasing decisions. Meanwhile, brand awareness and customer attitudes had no bearing on healthy food products purchase decisions. The novelty of this study stems from the discovery of new opportunities for business players to market healthy food products during the current COVID-19 period. This opportunity arises as a result of changes in customer lifestyles and price perceptions, both of which must be taken into account by organizations to offer nutritious food items at reasonable rates in Indonesia.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.769-782
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• 2020

Interest in fruit and vegetables has increased due to changes in consumer consumption patterns, socioeconomic status, and family structure. This study determined the factors influencing the demand for fruit and vegetables (strawberries, paprika, tomatoes and cherry tomatoes) using a panel of Rural Development Administration household-level purchases from 2010 to 2018 and compared the ability to the prediction performance. An artificial neural network model was constructed, linking household characteristics with final food expenditure. Comparing the analysis results of the artificial neural network with the results of the panel model showed that the artificial neural network accurately predicted the pattern of the consumer panel data rather than the fixed effect model. In addition, the prediction for strawberries was found to be heavily affected by the number of families, retail places and income, while the prediction for paprika was largely affected by income, age and retail conditions. In the case of the prediction for tomatoes, they were greatly affected by age, income and place of purchase, and the prediction for cherry tomatoes was found to be affected by age, number of families and retail conditions. Therefore, a more accurate analysis of the consumer consumption pattern was possible through the artificial neural network model, which could be used as basic data for decision making.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.31-41
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• 2023

Purpose: Electric vehicle (EV) technology started in 2015 in Thailand. The Thai Government has indicated that 30% of all cars produced in Thailand by 2025 will be EVs. Using EVs in Thailand will reduce road pollution and increase energy efficiency, especially in major cities. Hence, the adoption of EVs in the country has been promoted. This study pointed out that social influence, facilitating conditions, perceived enjoyment, environmental concern, attitude, and perceived behavioral control are key factors affecting the behavioral intention to adopt EVs among logistic and distribution firms in Thailand. Research design, data, and methodology: 500 top management, middle management and purchasing managers of logistic and distribution firms in Thailand are surveyed. The study employed judgmental, convenience, and snowball sampling. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Model (SEM) are the main statistical tools for data analysis. Results: The results show that all determinants impact customers' willingness to adopt EVs, except perceived enjoyment and environmental control. Conclusions: The study proposes to promote the incentives by decreasing electricity prices and endorsing EVs purchase to accelerate the adoption of EVs in Thailand. Therefore, future policies should focus on behavioral intention toward EVs amongst logistic and distribution firms for enhancing the future of mobility in Thailand.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.3-29
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• 2016

Recently, the market size of the global electronic-commerce is rapidly growing. The global market size of an overseas direct-purchase is expected to reach 1 trillion won by 2020. This study intends to determine the decision making factors of B2B overseas direct-purchase(DP) and reverse direct-purchase(RDP), and the impact on the vitalization of the small to middle-sized companies'(SMC) overseas DP and RDP. Ultimately, the purpose of this study is to provide a policy insight on the expansion of exports by SMC. For this, we determined the necessary elements for getting good results by Korean SCM in the overseas DP and RDP market through a preceding research based on resource-based theory and industry structure theory. Afterwards, we used the multiple regression model for positive analysis of the survey documents. We were able to confirm through analysis that the company information, logistics delivery, customs process, law and regulations have positive effects on the overseas DP and RDP. This study surveyed the entire overseas DP market, rather than focusing on the cases of harm and responses of the overseas DP, which was the topic for the preceding research, and can be differentiated from the previous study by deducting influence factors for the Korean SMC to succeed in the overseas DP and RDP market. Moreover, the results of this study is meaningful in proposing a strategic direction for the SMC participating in the overseas DP market and the government enacting policies.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.32 no.12
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• pp.1891-1902
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• 2008

With concerns for consumers' return behaviors affecting internet shopping malls' profits and product management in the internet clothing market, this study is designed to investigate determinants affecting return and path models for return behaviors. For an empirical study, questionnaires are prepared and respondents in their 20s and 30s with internet clothing purchase experience are selected using the convenience sampling. A total of 517 questionnaires are used for the final analysis. Data are analyzed by using SPSS 12.0 software and descriptive statistics, $x^2$-test, discriminant analysis, regression analysis, and path analysis is conducted. The results are as follows. First, ones who have returned after purchasing clothing items in internet shopping reached 63.4% of the total consumers. Respondents returned items with price at 50 thousand won or less stood at 67.2%, and the most frequent return shopping malls are open markets with their return rate at 51.1%. Second, variables such as risk perception, information search, impulse buying, buying experience, and age have a positive effect on return experience. Impulse buying and buying experience turn out to have a significant effect on the degree of return, but risk perception, information search, age, and gender to have an insignificant effect. Return intention is significantly affected by risk perception, gender, and age. Third, the analysis of path model for return experience shows that perceived risk has a positively effect, and information search has a direct effect as well as an indirect effect through buying experience or impulse buying. The analysis of path model for the degree of return shows that risk perception does not have effect, but information search has indirect effect through buying experience or impulse buying. This study is thought to find consumers' return behavior characteristics in online shopping, and help businesses operating online shopping malls to efficiently manage returns and set up strategies against returns.

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.15-36
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• 2005

This study is concerned with selling alliance in the internet shopping services, which is generally used by portal sites in recent and that is a typical form of strategic alliance. This study tried to find the relationship between. consumer's attitude and alliance performance. The authors investigated them in the field. then searched the reasons and determinants of selling alliance performance. As a result of field investigation, the authors found that the traffic of the portal site was not proportionated to the sales of internet shopping mall and this was not consistent with general expectation, With the analysis of it, the authors found that attitudes to the sites (brands) allianced in On-line and recognition of fitting between them had influenced positively on the attitude and purchase intention to alliance services. Moreover, unlike the attitude to the portal sites, the attitude to the internet shopping mall had positively influenced directly on the purchase intention. The other hand. from the view of influence power on the attitude to the allianced shopping service, the recognition of fitting between the sites was the factor which had the least effect of all factors. Compared with Off-line, this is interesting aspect of On-line. So in the On-line selling alliance, be careful of consideration for not only prior attitudes to the partners(portal and shopping mall) but also the fitness between them and make it in the mind that the attitude to shopping mall has greater influence upon the purchase intention than that to portal site.