• Title/Summary/Keyword: Research Data Sharing

Search Result 1,139, Processing Time 0.033 seconds

Analysis of Perceptions of Student Start-up Policies in Science and Technology Colleges: Focusing on the KAIST case (과기특성화대학 학생창업정책에 대한 인식분석: KAIST 사례를 중심으로)

  • Tae-Uk Ahn;Chun-Ryol Ryu;Minjung Baek
    • Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
    • /
    • v.19 no.2
    • /
    • pp.197-214
    • /
    • 2024
  • This study aimed to investigate students' perceptions at science and technology specialized universities towards entrepreneurship support policies and to derive policy improvement measures by applying a bottom-up approach to reflect the requirements of the policy beneficiaries, i.e., the students. Specifically, the research explored effective execution strategies for student entrepreneurship support policies through a survey and analysis of KAIST students. The findings revealed that KAIST students recognize the urgent need for improvement in sharing policy objectives with the student entrepreneurship field, reflecting the opinions of the campus entrepreneurship scene in policy formulation, and constructing an entrepreneurship-friendly academic system for nurturing student entrepreneurs. Additionally, there was a highlighted need for enhancement in the capacity of implementing agencies, as well as in marketing and market development capabilities, and organizational management and practical skills as entrepreneurs within the educational curriculum. Consequently, this study proposes the following improvement measures: First, it calls for enhanced transparency and accessibility of entrepreneurship support policies, ensuring students clearly understand policy objectives and can easily access information. Second, it advocates for student-centered policy development, where students' opinions are actively incorporated to devise customized policies that consider their needs and the actual entrepreneurship environment. Third, there is a demand for improving entrepreneurship-friendly academic systems, encouraging more active participation in entrepreneurship activities by adopting or refining academic policies that recognize entrepreneurship activities as credits or expand entrepreneurship-related courses. Based on these results, it is expected that this research will provide valuable foundational data to actively support student entrepreneurship in science and technology specialized universities, foster an entrepreneurial spirit, and contribute to the creation of an innovation-driven entrepreneurship ecosystem that contributes to technological innovation and social value creation.

  • PDF

Funds of Knowledge and Features of Teaching and Learning in the Hybrid Space of Middle School Science Class: Focus on 7th grade Biology (과학 수업의 혼성공간에서 드러나는 중학생의 지식자본 및 교수학습 특성: 7학년 생명 영역을 중심으로)

  • Lee, Minjoo;Kim, Heui-Baik
    • Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
    • /
    • v.34 no.8
    • /
    • pp.731-744
    • /
    • 2014
  • Extracting students' own culture and resources as main sources in science class, we begin a research to explore teaching and learning settings that are more responsive to adolescents. This study has been designed to explore the funds of knowledge that students bring into middle school science class. It also focused on the features of teaching and learning settings that stimulated the autonomous inflow of students' funds of knowledge as resources of science learning. Data from participant observations and in-depth interviews with 7th grade students were qualitatively analyzed based on grounded theory. We found that students' funds of knowledge were formed from their family life, neighbor communities, peer group, and pop culture. The funds of knowledge based on peer culture emerged as the most salient factor of students' enhanced participation and utterance. Common features of classes that stimulated the inflow of funds of knowledge were analyzed to be: (1) hybrid spaces for learning designed in advance: (2) sharing and enlargement of the funds of knowledge that has been brought into the class: and (3) common orientation of the community of practice for knowledge co-construction and shared outcomes. From these findings, this paper discussed the educational implications for promoting students' potential resources to actual sources of science class. It also discussed students' development of participation specifically among the generally marginalized students. Science classes based on the funds of knowledge of students offer an increased possibility of knowledge co-construction through the hybridized interactions of student's everyday lives and science knowledge and lead to more meaningful learning experiences.

A comparative study on perception of team teaching between vocational teachers and industry-educational adjunct teachers in Technical high school (팀티칭에 대한 공업계열 전문교과교사와 산학겸임교사 간 인식 비교 연구)

  • Son, Yeo-Ul;Lee, Byung-Wook
    • 대한공업교육학회지
    • /
    • v.36 no.1
    • /
    • pp.75-94
    • /
    • 2011
  • The purpose of this study is to suggest the basic data in order to examine and perform the plan for activating the team teaching between industry-educational adjunct teachers and vocational teachers in technical high school. The research results are as follows. First, It is found that both teacher groups acknowledge the necessity of the team teaching, but vocational teachers are less likely to recognize the necessity than industry-educational adjunct teachers. Second, In the preparation of team teaching, both two groups of the teachers believe that the preliminary interchange and training between them are to be highly supportive for the activities expected to help teachers. Therefore, it is necessary to have opportunity of communication and narrow the difference of opinions between them by promoting the deep interest about applicable field and sharing the mutual idea between the teachers in the preparation of team teaching. Third, And the two groups recognize that the cooperation and joint establishment of design of team teaching and the individual process or joint progress of class activity are desirable for the proper design of team teaching. Therefore, it is necessary to establish the class environment for the interaction between teachers and students through not only the reciprocal activities between teachers but the interest class by systematically preparing the class design and role division clearly. Fourth, In the practice of team teaching, the two groups believe that the teaching activities can be usually divided and progressed, but it is desirable to work together in the related contents. The vocational teachers recognize that it is necessary to actively interact with students by connecting with the case of industry field. On the other side, industry-educational adjunct teachers think that the learning contents should be selected and organized according to the interests of students by associating with the case of industry field. Fifth, And two groups of teachers recognize that it is desirable to evaluate the grade by reflecting on the assessment by vocational teachers(50%), industry-educational adjunct teachers(50%).

Synthesis, Sytructure, and Magnetic Properties of One-Dimensional Thiophoshates, $Al_2NiP_2S_6$ (A=Rb, Cs) (1차원 구조를 갖는 Thiophoshates, $Al_2NiP_2S_6$ (A=Rb, Cs)의 합성, 구조 및 자기적 성질)

  • Dong, Yong Kwan;Lee, Kun Soo;Yun, Ho Seop;Hur, Nam Hwi
    • Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
    • /
    • v.45 no.3
    • /
    • pp.242-246
    • /
    • 2001
  • The quaternary thiophosphates, $A_2NiP_2S_6$ (A=Rb, Cs), have been synthesized with halide fluxes and structurally characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction technique. These compounds crystallize in the space group $C_{2h}^5-P2_1/n$ of the monoclinic system with two formula units in a cell of dimensions a=5.960(2), b=12.323(4), $c=7.491(3)\AA$, $\beta=97.05(3)^{\circ}$, and $V=546.0(3)\AA^3$ for Rb2NiP2S6 and a=5.957(4), b=12.696(7), $c=7.679(4)\AA$, $b=93.60(5)^{\circ}$, and $V=579.7(5)\AA^3$ for $Cs_2NiP_2S_6.$ These compounds are isostructural. The structure of $Cs_2NiP_2S_6$ is made up of one-dimensional $_\infty^1[NiP_2S_6^{2-}]$ chains along the a axis and these chains are isolated by $Cs^+$ ions. The Ni atom is octahedrally coordinated by six S atoms. These Ni$S_6$ octahedral units are linked by sharing three m-S atoms of the $[P_2S_6^{4-}]$ anions to form the infinite one-dimensional $_\infty^1[NiP_2S_6^{2-}]$ chain. For $Cs_2NiP_2S_6$, the magnetic susceptibility reveals an antiferromagnetic exchange interaction below 8K,which corresponds to the Neel temperature ($T_N$). Above $T_N$, this compound obeys Curie-Weiss law. The magnetic moment, C, and ${\theta}forCs_2NiP_2S_6$ are 2.77 B.M., 0.9593 K, and -19.02 K, respectively. The effective magnetic moment obtained from the magnetic data is agreed with the spin-only value of $Ni^{2+}d^8$(2.83 B.M.) system.

  • PDF

A Study about the Correlation between Information on Stock Message Boards and Stock Market Activity (온라인 주식게시판 정보와 주식시장 활동에 관한 상관관계 연구)

  • Kim, Hyun Mo;Yoon, Ho Young;Soh, Ry;Park, Jae Hong
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
    • /
    • v.24 no.4
    • /
    • pp.559-575
    • /
    • 2014
  • Individual investors are increasingly flocking to message boards to seek, clarify, and exchange information. Businesses like Seekingalpha.com and business magazines like Fortune are evaluating, synthesizing, and reporting the comments made on message boards or blogs. In March of 2012, Yahoo! Finance Message Boards recorded 45 million unique visitors per month followed by AOL Money and Finance (19.8 million), and Google Finance (1.6 million) [McIntyre, 2012]. Previous studies in the finance literature suggest that online communities often provide more accurate information than analyst forecasts [Bagnoli et al., 1999; Clarkson et al., 2006]. Some studies empirically show that the volume of posts in online communities have a positive relationship with market activities (e.g., trading volumes) [Antweiler and Frank, 2004; Bagnoli et al., 1999; Das and Chen, 2007; Tumarkin and Whitelaw, 2001]. The findings indicate that information in online communities does impact investors' investment decisions and trading behaviors. However, research explicating the correlation between information on online communities and stock market activities (e.g., trading volume) is still evolving. Thus, it is important to ask whether a volume of posts on online communities influences trading volumes and whether trading volumes also influence these communities. Online stock message boards offer two different types of information, which can be explained using an economic and a psychological perspective. From a purely economic perspective, one would expect that stock message boards would have a beneficial effect, since they provide timely information at a much lower cost [Bagnoli et al., 1999; Clarkson et al., 2006; Birchler and Butler, 2007]. This indicates that information in stock message boards may provide valuable information investors can use to predict stock market activities and thus may use to make better investment decisions. On the other hand, psychological studies have shown that stock message boards may not necessarily make investors more informed. The related literature argues that confirmation bias causes investors to seek other investors with the same opinions on these stock message boards [Chen and Gu, 2009; Park et al., 2013]. For example, investors may want to share their painful investment experiences with others on stock message boards and are relieved to find they are not alone. In this case, the information on these stock message boards mainly reflects past experience or past information and not valuable and predictable information for market activities. This study thus investigates the two roles of stock message boards-providing valuable information to make future investment decisions or sharing past experiences that reflect mainly investors' painful or boastful stories. If stock message boards do provide valuable information for stock investment decisions, then investors will use this information and thereby influence stock market activities (e.g., trading volume). On the contrary, if investors made investment decisions and visit stock message boards later, they will mainly share their past experiences with others. In this case, past activities in the stock market will influence the stock message boards. These arguments indicate that there is a correlation between information posted on stock message boards and stock market activities. The previous literature has examined the impact of stock sentiments or the number of posts on stock market activities (e.g., trading volume, volatility, stock prices). However, the studies related to stock sentiments found it difficult to obtain significant results. It is not easy to identify useful information among the millions of posts, many of which can be just noise. As a result, the overall sentiments of stock message boards often carry little information for future stock movements [Das and Chen, 2001; Antweiler and Frank, 2004]. This study notes that as a dependent variable, trading volume is more reliable for capturing the effect of stock message board activities. The finance literature argues that trading volume is an indicator of stock price movements [Das et al., 2005; Das and Chen, 2007]. In this regard, this study investigates the correlation between a number of posts (information on stock message boards) and trading volume (stock market activity). We collected about 100,000 messages of 40 companies at KOSPI (Korea Composite Stock Price Index) from Paxnet, the most popular Korean online stock message board. The messages we collected were divided into in-trading and after-trading hours to examine the correlation between the numbers of posts and trading volumes in detail. Also we collected the volume of the stock of the 40 companies. The vector regression analysis and the granger causality test, 3SLS analysis were performed on our panel data sets. We found that the number of posts on online stock message boards is positively related to prior stock trade volume. Also, we found that the impact of the number of posts on stock trading volumes is not statistically significant. Also, we empirically showed the correlation between stock trading volumes and the number of posts on stock message boards. The results of this study contribute to the IS and finance literature in that we identified online stock message board's two roles. Also, this study suggests that stock trading managers should carefully monitor information on stock message boards to understand stock market activities in advance.

Is Fertility Rate Proportional to the Quality of Life? An Exploratory Analysis of the Relationship between Better Life Index (BLI) and Fertility Rate in OECD Countries (출산율은 삶의 질과 비례하는가? OECD 국가의 삶의 질 요인과 출산율의 관계에 관한 추이분석)

  • Kim, KyungHee;Ryu, SeoungHo;Chung, HeeTae;Gim, HyeYeong;Park, HeongJoon
    • International Area Studies Review
    • /
    • v.22 no.1
    • /
    • pp.215-235
    • /
    • 2018
  • Policy concerns related to raising fertility rates are not only common interests among the OECD countries, but they are also issues of great concern to South Korea whose fertility rate is the lowest in the world. The fertility rate in South Korea continues to decline, even though most of the national budget has been spent on measures to address this and many studies have been conducted on the increase in the fertility rates. In this regard, this study aims to verify the effectiveness of the detailed factors affecting the fertility rate that have been discussed in the previous studies on fertility rates, and to investigate the overall trend toward enhancing the quality of life and increasing the fertility rate through macroscopic and structural studies under the recognition of problems related to the policy approaches through the case studies of the European countries. Toward this end, this study investigated if a high quality of life in advanced countries contributes to the increase in the fertility rate, which country serves as a state model that has a high quality of life and a high fertility rate, and what kind of social and policy environment does the country have with regard to childbirth. The analysis of the OECD Better Life Index (BLI) and CIA fertility rate data showed that the countries whose people enjoy a high quality of life do not necessarily have high fertility rates. In addition, under the recognition that a country with a high quality of life and a high birth rate serves as a state model that South Korea should aim for, the social characteristics of Iceland, Ireland, and New Zealand, which turned out to have both a high quality of life and a high fertility rate, were compared with those of Germany, which showed a high quality of life but a low fertility rate. According to the comparison results, the three countries that were mentioned showed higher awareness of gender equality; therefore, the gender wage gap was small. It was also confirmed that the governments of these countries support various policies that promote both parents sharing the care of their children. In Germany, on the other hand, the gender wage gap was large and the fertility rate was low. In a related move, however, the German government has made active efforts to a paradigm shift toward gender equality. The fertility rate increases when the synergy lies in the relationship between parents and children; therefore, awareness about gender equality should be firmly established both at home and in the labor market. For this reason, the government is required to provide support for the childbirth and rearing environment through appropriate family policies, and exert greater efforts to enhance the effectiveness of the relevant systems rather than simply promoting a system construction. Furthermore, it is necessary to help people in making their own childbearing decisions during the process of creating a better society by changing the national goal from 'raising the fertility rate' to 'creating a healthy society made of happy families'

Monitoring and Preventive Preservation of Cultural Heritages to Maintain Original Wooden Architectural Cultural Heritage (목조건축문화재 원형유지를 위한 문화재돌봄 모니터링과 예방보존)

  • CHUN Kyoungmee
    • Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
    • /
    • v.56 no.4
    • /
    • pp.192-214
    • /
    • 2023
  • Wooden architectural cultural heritages are one of the visible legacies that show the national's identity. Even when the concept of 'the original' of cultural heritages was not accurately understood, the emphasis of preservation and management of cultural heritages was placed on 'preservation of the original form' or 'maintenance of the original form'. Moreover, these days, following the trend of international preservation principles, cultural heritages are considered important as "values as historical objects." This paper is the result of an attempt to determine the scope and content of what parts should be monitored to maintain the original form of wooden architectural cultural heritage. The first thing to be done in monitoring wooden architectural cultural heritage is to check the condition of the ground and foundation. The second is the column. This is because the instability of the column causes damage to the joint with each member and the fitting part, resulting in physical changes leading to damage to the wall. The third is monitor the roof tiles. If the leak continues into the building due to the separation or damage of the roof, the defect should be partially dismantled and repaired, so it should be monitored to maintain its original shape as much as possible. The monitoring range of the base, column, and roof serves as a reference point for identifying what damage is being done to the relevant cultural heritages. In other words, the data at the time when monitoring began becomes the 'original' for the year. Alternatives based on the analysis of monitoring for the preservation of original cultural heritages should be actively introduced. In addition, by sharing the current state and situation of cultural heritages as a result of monitoring with various related organizations, preventive preservation should be established rather than preservation of cultural heritages by "intervention."

A Study on the Success Factors of Co-Founding Start-up by Step: Focusing on the Case of Opportunity-type Start-up (공동창업의 단계별 성공요인에 관한 연구: 기회형 창업기업 사례를 중심으로)

  • Yun, Seong Man;Sung, Chang Soo
    • Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
    • /
    • v.18 no.1
    • /
    • pp.141-158
    • /
    • 2023
  • From the perspective of an entrepreneur, one of the most important factors for understanding the inherent limitations of a startup, reducing the risk of failure, and succeeding is the composition of the talent, that is, the founding team. Therefore, a common concern experienced by entrepreneurs in the pre-entrepreneurship stage or the early stage of startup is the choice between independent startups and co-founding start-up. Nonetheless, in Korea, the share of independent entrepreneurship is significantly higher than that of co-founding start-up. On the other hand, focusing on the fact that many successful global innovative companies are in the form of co-founding start-up, the success factors of co-founding start-up were examined. Most of the related preceding studies are studies that identify the capabilities and characteristics of individual entrepreneurs as factors influencing the survival and success of entrepreneurship, and there is a lack of research on partnerships, that is, co-founding start-up, which are common in the field of entrepreneurship ecosystems. Therefore, this study attempted a multi-case study through in-depth interviews, collection of relevant data, analysis of contextual information, and consideration of previous studies targeting co-founders of domestic startups that succeeded in opportunistic startups. Through this, a model for deriving the phased characteristics and key success factors of co-founding start-up was proposed. As a result of the study, the key element of the preliminary start-up stage was 'opportunity', and the success factors were 'opportunity recognition through entrepreneur's experience' and 'idea development'. The key element in the early stages of start-up is "start-up team," and the success factor is "trust and complement of start-up team," and synergy is shown when "diversity and homogeneity of start-up team" are harmonized. In addition, conflicts between co-founders may occur in the early stages of start-ups, which has a large impact on the survival of start-ups. The conflict between the start-up team could be overcome through constant "mutual understanding and respect through communication" and "clear division of work and role sharing." It was confirmed that the core element of the start-up growth stage was 'resources', and 'securing excellent talent' and 'raising external funds' were important factors for success. These results are expected to overcome the limitations of start-up companies, such as limited resources, lack of experience, and risk of failure, in entrepreneurship studies, and prospective entrepreneurs preparing for a start-up in a situation where the form of co-founding start-up is attracting attention as one of the alternatives to increase the success rate. It has implications for various stakeholders in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

  • PDF

The Effect of Mutual Trust on Relational Performance in Supplier-Buyer Relationships for Business Services Transactions (재상업복무교역중적매매관계중상호신임대관계적효적영향(在商业服务交易中的买卖关系中相互信任对关系绩效的影响))

  • Noh, Jeon-Pyo
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
    • /
    • v.19 no.4
    • /
    • pp.32-43
    • /
    • 2009
  • Trust has been studied extensively in psychology, economics, and sociology, and its importance has been emphasized not only in marketing, but also in business disciplines in general. Unlike past relationships between suppliers and buyers, which take considerable advantage of private networks and may involve unethical business practices, partnerships between suppliers and buyers are at the core of success for industrial marketing amid intense global competition in the 21st century. A high level of mutual cooperation occurs through an exchange relationship based on trust, which brings long-term benefits, competitive enhancements, and transaction cost reductions, among other benefits, for both buyers and suppliers. In spite of the important role of trust, existing studies in buy-supply situations overlook the role of trust and do not systematically analyze the effect of trust on relational performance. Consequently, an in-depth study that determines the relation of trust to the relational performance between buyers and suppliers of business services is absolutely needed. Business services in this study, which include those supporting the manufacturing industry, are drawing attention as the economic growth engine for the next generation. The Korean government has selected business services as a strategic area for the development of manufacturing sectors. Since the demands for opening business services markets are becoming fiercer, the competitiveness of the business service industry must be promoted now more than ever. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the mutual trust between buyers and suppliers on relational performance. Specifically, this study proposed a theoretical model of trust-relational performance in the transactions of business services and empirically tested the hypotheses delineated from the framework. The study suggests strategic implications based on research findings. Empirical data were collected via multiple methods, including via telephone, mail, and in-person interviews. Sample companies were knowledge-based companies supplying and purchasing business services in Korea. The present study collected data on a dyadic basis. Each pair of sample companies includes a buying company and its corresponding supplying company. Mutual trust was traced for each pair of companies. This study proposes a model of trust-relational performance of buying-supplying for business services. The model consists of trust and its antecedents and consequences. The trust of buyers is classified into trust toward the supplying company and trust toward salespersons. Viewing trust both at the individual level and the organizational level is based on the research of Doney and Cannon (1997). Normally, buyers are the subject of trust, but this study supposes that suppliers are the subjects. Hence, it uniquely focused on the bilateral perspective of perceived risk. In other words, suppliers, like buyers, are the subject of trust since transactions are normally bilateral. From this point of view, suppliers' trust in buyers is as important as buyers' trust in suppliers. The suppliers' trust is influenced by the extent to which it trusts the buying companies and the buyers. This classification of trust using an individual level and an organization level is based on the suggestion of Doney and Cannon (1997). Trust affects the process of supplier selection, which works in a bilateral manner. Suppliers are actively involved in the supplier selection process, working very closely with buyers. In addition, the process is affected by the extent to which each party trusts its partners. The selection process consists of certain steps: recognition, information search, supplier selection, and performance evaluation. As a result of the process, both buyers and suppliers evaluate the performance and take corrective actions on the basis of such outcomes as tangible, intangible, and/or side effects. The measurement of trust used for the present study was developed on the basis of the studies of Mayer, Davis and Schoorman (1995) and Mayer and Davis (1999). Based on their recommendations, the three dimensions of trust used for the study include ability, benevolence, and integrity. The original questions were adjusted to the context of the transactions of business services. For example, a question such as "He/she has professional capabilities" has been changed to "The salesperson showed professional capabilities while we talked about our products." The measurement used for this study differs from those used in previous studies (Rotter 1967; Sullivan and Peterson 1982; Dwyer and Oh 1987). The measurements of the antecedents and consequences of trust used for this study were developed on the basis of Doney and Cannon (1997). The original questions were adjusted to the context of transactions in business services. In particular, questions were developed for both buyers and suppliers to address the following factors: reputation (integrity, customer care, good-will), market standing (company size, market share, positioning in the industry), willingness to customize (product, process, delivery), information sharing (proprietary information, private information), willingness to maintain relationships, perceived professionalism, authority empowerment, buyer-seller similarity, and contact frequency. As a consequential variable of trust, relational performance was measured. Relational performance is classified into tangible effects, intangible effects, and side effects. Tangible effects include financial performance; intangible effects include improvements in relations, network developing, and internal employee satisfaction; side effects include those not included either in the tangible or intangible effects. Three hundred fifty pairs of companies were contacted, and one hundred five pairs of companies responded. After deleting five company pairs because of incomplete responses, one hundred five pairs of companies were used for data analysis. The response ratio of the companies used for data analysis is 30% (105/350), which is above the average response ratio in industrial marketing research. As for the characteristics of the respondent companies, the majority of the companies operate service businesses for both buyers (85.4%) and suppliers (81.8%). The majority of buyers (76%) deal with consumer goods, while the majority of suppliers (70%) deal with industrial goods. This may imply that buyers process the incoming material, parts, and components to produce the finished consumer goods. As indicated by their report of the length of acquaintance with their partners, suppliers appear to have longer business relationships than do buyers. Hypothesis 1 tested the effects of buyer-supplier characteristics on trust. The salesperson's professionalism (t=2.070, p<0.05) and authority empowerment (t=2.328, p<0.05) positively affected buyers' trust toward suppliers. On the other hand, authority empowerment (t=2.192, p<0.05) positively affected supplier trust toward buyers. For both buyers and suppliers, the degree of authority empowerment plays a crucial role in the maintenance of their trust in each other. Hypothesis 2 tested the effects of buyerseller relational characteristics on trust. Buyers tend to trust suppliers, as suppliers make every effort to contact buyers (t=2.212, p<0.05). This tendency has also been shown to be much stronger for suppliers (t=2.591, p<0.01). On the other hand suppliers trust buyers because suppliers perceive buyers as being similar to themselves (t=2.702, p<0.01). This finding confirmed the results of Crosby, Evans, and Cowles (1990), which reported that suppliers and buyers build relationships through regular meetings, either for business or personal matters. Hypothesis 3 tested the effects of trust on perceived risk. It has been found that for both suppliers and buyers the lower is the trust, the higher is the perceived risk (t=-6.621, p<0.01 for buyers; t=-2.437, p<0.05). Interestingly, this tendency has been shown to be much stronger for buyers than for suppliers. One possible explanation for this higher level of perceived risk is that buyers normally perceive higher risks than do suppliers in transactions involving business services. For this reason, it is necessary for suppliers to implement risk reduction strategies for buyers. Hypothesis 4 tested the effects of trust on information searching. It has been found that for both suppliers and buyers, contrary to expectation, trust depends on their partner's reputation (t=2.929, p<0.01 for buyers; t=2.711, p<0.05 for suppliers). This finding shows that suppliers with good reputations tend to be trusted. Prior experience did not show any significant relationship with trust for either buyers or suppliers. Hypothesis 5 tested the effects of trust on supplier/buyer selection. Unlike buyers, suppliers tend to trust buyers when they think that previous transactions with buyers were important (t=2.913 p<0.01). However, this study did not show any significant relationship between source loyalty and the trust of buyers in suppliers. Hypothesis 6 tested the effects of trust on relational performances. For buyers and suppliers, financial performance reportedly improved when they trusted their partners (t=2.301, p<0.05 for buyers; t=3.692, p<0.01 for suppliers). It is interesting that this tendency was much stronger for suppliers than it was for buyers. Similarly, competitiveness was reported to improve when buyers and suppliers trusted their partners (t=3.563, p<0.01 for buyers; t=3.042, p<0.01 for suppliers). For suppliers, efficiency and productivity were reportedly improved when they trusted buyers (t=2.673, p<0.01). Other performance indices showed insignificant relationships with trust. The findings of this study have some strategic implications. First and most importantly, trust-based transactions are beneficial for both suppliers and buyers. As verified in the study, financial performance can be improved through efforts to build and maintain mutual trust. Similarly, competitiveness can be increased through the same kinds of effort. Second, trust-based transactions can facilitate the reduction of perceived risks inherent in the purchasing situation. This finding has implications for both suppliers and buyers. It is generally believed that buyers perceive higher risks in a highly involved purchasing situation. To reduce risks, previous studies have recommended that suppliers devise risk-reducing tactics. Moving beyond these recommendations, the present study uniquely focused on the bilateral perspective of perceived risk. In other words, suppliers are also susceptible to perceived risks, especially when they supply services that require very technical and sophisticated manipulations and maintenance. Consequently, buyers and suppliers must solve problems together in close collaboration. Hence, mutual trust plays a crucial role in the problem-solving process. Third, as found in this study, the more authority a salesperson has, the more he or she can be trusted. This finding is very important with regard to tactics. Building trust is a long-term assignment; however, when mutual trust has not been developed, suppliers can overcome the problems they encounter by empowering a salesperson with the authority to make certain decisions. This finding applies to suppliers as well.

  • PDF