• Title/Summary/Keyword: Social factor

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The Effects of Psychological Contract Violation on OS User's Betrayal Behaviors: Window XP Technical Support Ending Case (심리적 계약 위반이 OS이용자의 배신 행동에 미치는 영향: 윈도우 XP 기술적 지원서비스 중단 사례)

  • Lee, Un-Kon
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.24 no.3
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    • pp.325-344
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    • 2014
  • Technical support of Window XP ended in March, 8, 2014, and it makes OS(Operating System) users fall in a state of confusion. Sudden decision making of OS upgrade and replacement is not a simple problem. Firms need to change the long term capacity plan in enterprise IS management, but they are pressed for time and cost to complete it. Individuals can not help selecting the second best plan, because the following OSs of Window XP are below expectations in performances, new PC sales as the opportunities of OS upgrade decrease, and the potential risk of OS technical support ending had not announced to OS users at the point of purchase. Microsoft as the OS vendors had not presented precaution or remedy for this confusion. Rather, Microsoft announced that the technical support of the other following OSs of Wndow XP such as Window 7 would ended in two years. This conflict between OS vendor and OS users could not happen in one time, but could recur in recent future. Although studies on the ways of OS user protection policy would be needed to escape from this conflict, few prior studies had conducted this issue. This study had challenge to cautiously investigate in such OS user's reactions as the confirmation with OS user's expectation in the point of purchase, three types of justice perception on the treatment of OS vendor, psychological contract violation, satisfaction and the other betrayal behavioral intention in the case of Window XP technical support ending. By adopting the justice perception on this research, and by empirically validating the impact on OS user's reactions, I could suggest the direction of establishing OS user protection policy of OS vendor. Based on the expectation-confirmation theory, the theory of justice, literatures about psychological contract violation, and studies about consumer betrayal behaviors in the perspective of Herzberg(1968)'s dual factor theory, I developed the research model and hypothesis. Expectation-confirmation theory explain that consumers had expectation on the performance of product in the point of sale, and they could satisfied with their purchase behaviors, when the expectation could have confirmed in the point of consumption. The theory of justice in social exchange argues that treatee could be willing to accept the treatment by treater when the three types of justice as distributive, procedural, and interactional justice could be established in treatment. Literatures about psychological contract violation in human behaviors explains that contracter in a side could have the implied contract (also called 'psychological contract') which the contracter in the other side would sincerely execute the contract, and that they are willing to do vengeance behaviors when their contract had unfairly been broken. When the psychological contract of consumers had been broken, consumers feel distrust with the vendors and are willing to decrease such beneficial attitude and behavior as satisfaction, loyalty and repurchase intention. At the same time, consumers feel betrayal and are willing to increase such retributive attitude and behavior as negative word-of-mouth, complain to the vendors, complain to the third parties for consumer protection. We conducted a scenario survey in order to validate our research model at March, 2013, when is the point of news released firstly and when is the point of one year before the acture Window XP technical support ending. We collected the valid data from 238 voluntary participants who are the OS users but had not yet exposed the news of Window OSs technical support ending schedule. The subject had been allocated into two groups and one of two groups had been exposed this news. The data had been analyzed by the MANOVA and PLS. MANOVA results indicate that the OSs technical support ending could significantly decrease all three types of justice perception. PLS results indicated that it could significantly increase psychological contract violation and that this increased psychological contract violation could significantly reduce the trust and increase the perceived betrayal. Then, it could significantly reduce satisfaction, loyalty, and repurchase intention, and it also could significantly increase negative word-of-month intention, complain to the vendor intention, and complain to the third party intention. All hypothesis had been significantly approved. Consequently, OS users feel that the OSs technical support ending is not natural value added service ending, but the violation of the core OS purchase contract, that it could be the posteriori prohibition of OS user's OS usage right, and that it could induce the psychological contract violation of OS users. This study would contributions to introduce the psychological contract violation of the OS users from the OSs technical support ending in IS field, to introduce three types of justice as the antecedents of psychological contract violation, and to empirically validate the impact of psychological contract violation both on the beneficial and retributive behavioral intentions of OS users. For practice, the results of this study could contribute to make more comprehensive OS user protection policy and consumer relationship management practices of OS vendor.

A study on the developing and implementation of the Cyber University (가상대학 구현에 관한 연구)

  • Choi, Sung;Yoo, Gab-Sang
    • Proceedings of the Technology Innovation Conference
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    • 1998.06a
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    • pp.116-127
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    • 1998
  • The Necessity of Cyber University. Within the rapidly changing environment of global economics, the environment of higher education in the universities, also, has been, encountering various changes. Popularization on higher education related to 1lifetime education system, putting emphasis on the productivity of education services and the acquisition of competitiveness through the market of open education, the breakdown of the ivory tower and the Multiversitization of universities, importance of obtaining information in the universities, and cooperation between domestic and oversea universities, industry and educational system must be acquired. Therefore, in order to adequately cope wi th these kinds of rapid changes in the education environment, operating Cyber University by utilizing various information technologies and its fixations such as Internet, E-mail, CD-ROMs, Interact ive Video Networks (Video Conferencing, Video on Demand), TV, Cable etc., which has no time or location limitation, is needed. Using informal ion and telecommunication technologies, especially the Internet is expected to Or ing about many changes in the social, economics and educational area. Among the many changes scholars have predicted, the development and fixations of Distant Learning or Cyber University was the most dominant factor. In the case of U. S. A., Cyber University has already been established and in under operation by the Federate Governments of 13 states. Any other universities (around 500 universities has been opened until1 now), with the help of the government and private citizens have been able to partly operate the Cyber University and is planning on enlarging step-by-step in the future. It could be seen not only as U. S. A. trying to elevate its higher education through their leading information technologies, but also could be seen as their objective in putting efforts on subordinating the culture of the education worldwide. UTRA University in U. S. A., for example, is already exporting its class lectures to China, and Indonesia regions. Influenced by the Cyber University current in the U.S., the Universities in Korea is willing .to arrange various forms of Cyber Universities. In line with this, at JUNAM National University, internet based Cyber University, which has set about its work on July of 1997, is in the state of operating about 100 Cyber Universities. Also, in the case of Hanam University, the Distant Learning classes are at its final stage of being established; this is a link in the rapid speed project of setting an example by the Korean Government. In addition, the department of education has selected 5 universities, including Seoul Cyber Design University for experimentation and is in the stage of strategic operation. Over 100 universities in Korea are speeding up its preparation for operating Cyber University. This form of Distant Learning goes beyond the walls of universities and is in the trend of being diffused in business areas or in various training programs of financial organizations and more. Here, in the hope that this material would some what be of help to other Universities which are preparing for Cyber University, I would 1ike to introduce some general concepts of the components forming Cyber University and Open Education System which has been established by JUNAM University. System of Cyber University could be seen as a general solution offered by tile computer technologies for the management on the students, Lectures On Demand, real hour based and satellite classes, media product ion lab for the production of the multimedia Contents, electronic library, the Groupware enabling exchange of information between students and professors. Arranging general concepts of components in the aspect of Cyber University and Open Education, it would be expressed in the form of the establishment of Cyber University and the service of Open Education as can be seen in the diagram below.

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The Effects of Sight Alignment Method on Pistol Shooting Records of Security Guard (경호요원 권총사격시 조준선정렬방식과 기록변화와의 관계)

  • Lee, Sang-Chul;Shin, Seung-Cheol
    • Korean Security Journal
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    • no.14
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    • pp.367-388
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    • 2007
  • Some of individuals working at various fields of security guard are given the legal right to use a gun to cope with expected risks and crimes. Not only in Korea but also throughout the world, a pistol is being used as a device for the workers of security guard such as the army, the police and intelligence agencies to keep the law and social order. A pistol, which is regarded as the last safety measure of security guard, is easy to carry but, because of its short barrel for high portability, its hit ratio and long-range shooting performance are much lower than ordinary guns. Despite such weak points, a pistol can be a great tool because of its high portability and if the users make steady efforts to improve their skills and, for this reason, it has been being used widely until now. National agency workers' pistol shooting skills depend on several important factors, but for the fast and accurate shooting, the mot important factor is how to aim at the target. Because it takes a relatively longer time to align the sight on the target, the change of the sight alignment method is expected to improve pistol shooting skills a lot. In Korea, however, most of national agency training centers teach the basic aiming method that crosses the foresight and the backsight and aligns the crossing to the target. That is, they teach the sight alignment method for fixed targets. Some agencies in Korea and foreign countries that have used guns more frequently and longer than us are teaching different sight alignment methods as well. Representative ones of them are aiming only with the foresight and pointing shooting. These aiming methods are expected to produce good results against moving targets. While the basic sight alignment method has to cross the foresight and the backsight and then to align the crossing to the target, so takes a longer time than other aiming methods, the other two aiming methods are expected to be effective in fields where both swiftness and accuracy are require. Because domestic agencies are teaching mainly the basic sight alignment method, the present study purposed to examine the effects of different aiming methods on shooting records and ultimately to contribute to national agency workers' operation. For this purpose, we selected 20 policemen from local police commandos under the National Police Agency who were accustomed to pistol shooting and measured their pistol shooting. According to the results, the pointed shooting method showed the best record in 5m short.range shooting. As to hit ratio in 15m shooting, which is relatively long.range for pistol shooting, the basic aiming method showed the best record, but the results of statistical analysis showed that pointed shooting is most superior. Of course, the results were obtained from a group who were used to and skillful in pistol shooting, but they are considered meaningful in that all the police and national agency workers should have such high shooting skills.

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The Population Growth of Local Cities and the Stage Migration: A case study of Jeollabuk-do (비수도권 중소도시의 인구성장과 단계적 이동: 전라북도를 사례로)

  • Lee, Chungsup
    • Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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    • v.49 no.4
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    • pp.525-545
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    • 2014
  • This study seeks to clarify the influence of the stage migration which has proceeded through generations, on the population growth of local cities in the case of Jeollabuk-do. For this, setting to baby boomer as parents generation and echo boomer as their children, this study traces each generation's birth, distribution and the process of selective migration using aggregate level data. And the stage migration is analyzed by O-D, divided into three regions in each; Jeollabuk-do rural areas, Jeollabuk-do cities and other provinces. The major findings of this study are as follows. First, it was estimated that the number of the baby boomer births in Jeollabuk-do rural areas was seven times more numerous than in cities. Second, both rural and urban born baby boomers overwhelmingly moved into other provinces, especially Seoul metropolitan area and metropolis in their selective migration processes. However, there was also migration stream from rural areas to cities in Jeollabuk-do and the amount of this stream was approximately equal to the amount of outflux from cities in Jeollabuk-do to other provinces. Third, due to baby boomers' stage migration, from rural to urban, echo boomers were born in cities more than in rural areas. Fourth, urban born echo boomers still have moved into other provinces just like their parents generation in selective migration process. But comparing with baby boomer, the number of echo boomers influx from rural areas to cities has decreased. Consequentially the population of echo boomer in Jeollabuk-do cities also has decreased. Finally, the stage migration has been a basic cause of the social growth of urban population, and also influenced on the natural growth, closely connected with migrants' life course, such as marriage, childbirth and rearing. Therefore, this study concludes that the stage migration through generations is one of the crucial factor to understand the population growth in local cities.

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A Study of Family Caregiver's Burden for the Terminally III Patients (지역사회 말기질환자 가족 부담감에 관한 연구)

  • Han, Sung-Suk;Ro, You-Ja;Yang, Soo;Yoo, Yang-Sook;Kim, Sek-Il;Hwang, Hee-Hyung
    • Journal of Korean Academic Society of Home Health Care Nursing
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    • v.10 no.1
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    • pp.58-72
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    • 2003
  • The purpose of this study was to describe the perceived burden of the terminally III patients's caregiver and to analyze relationship between the perceived burden and the various demographics, illness characteristics, family relationships, and economic factor of the family & patients. The sample of 132 caregivers who care for the terminally III patients Kyung-Gi province, Seoul, Korea. The period of this study was from August to September, 2002. The perceived burden of the family caregiver was measured by the burden scale(20 items, 4 point scale) developed by Montgomery et al. (1985). The Data was analyzed using SAS-program by t-test and ANOVA. The results were as follows; 1. The mean of the family caregiver's burden score was 3.02. The score showed that caregivers perceive severe the level of burden. The hight items of the family caregiver's burden were' I feel it is painful to watch patient's diseases'(3.77). 'I feel afraid for what the future holds for my patients'(3.66), 'I feel it reduced to amount of privacy time'(3.64). 2. The caregiver's burden was significantly related to patient's gender(F=3.17, p= 0.0020), patient's job(F=2.49, p=0.0476), caregiver's age(F=4.29, p=0.0030), and caregiver's job(F=2.49, p=0.0476). 3. The caregiver's burden according to illness characteristics showed no significant difference. 4. The caregiver's burden was significantly associated with patient's family relationship (F=4.05, p=0.0041), patient's care mean period in a day(F=47.18,

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A Study to Compare between Groups Glassified by Demographic Characteristic into Effects of Word of Mouth and Methods of Sales Promotion in Intention of Watching Movies (개봉 전 후 영화의 구전효과와 판촉방식에 따른 인구통계학적 집단 간의 차이에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Yang Sug;Lee, Bo Young
    • Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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    • v.10 no.6
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    • pp.59-68
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    • 2015
  • It's important to analyse effects of word of mouth for making its impact higher in performance of motions pictures. And it's required to combine variety sales activities like free gift, promotion goods and price discount with word of mouth for the box office of film. The purpose of this study is to compare between groups classified by demographic characteristic into effects from word of mouth and methods of sales promotion in intention of watching film. On the other hand existing studies on sales activity and word of mouth were one-sided in theoretical background, a meaning of this study is theorizing a social phenomenon about sales promotion of movie giving actual examples that currently are effected by production company, Movie theaters, distribution company and affiliated company. For this purpose, it conducted a survey targeting 500 students in B university in Seoul city and 379 answers got received, and it proceeded this study with 369 answers except 10 inaccurate ones. Creating questionnaires with Likert 5 point scale, it decided that case of substantial inclination was 5 points and inverse one is 1 point. Doing analysis T and ANOVA according to male and female, kinds of major study and number of average monthly watching movie, it analysed the test results after comparison analysis between classified group. The results are summarized as follows: First, offering premiums is more effective by masculine than feminine, but situation of free gift is an opposite result. Second, there are no differences of effects word of mouth and methods of sales promotion by majority departments. Third, there are much differences between groups classified by average number of watching film in a month into effects from word of mouth and methods of sales promotion. Group of watching film more 3 times in a month is more effective than the other groups in intension of watching film by word of mouth. Fourth, word of mouth is great factor to increase intention of watching film and second one is discount on the price.

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A Study on the Fashion Information Activities of Clothing Manufactures (의류제조업체의 패션 정보활동에 관한 연구)

  • 송미령
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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    • v.22
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    • pp.135-158
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    • 1994
  • The fashion industry of today is closely re-lated with the information activity. This study investigates now they take advantage of the fashion information by analysing some related fields including fashion design. Furthormore this study identify the factor which makes the design activity distinctive and predict and fu-ture trend in design. The purposes of this study through analysis are : to help find the way to facilitate the fashion industry and to develop the fashion merchandising in order to activate the re-cession of manufacturers and to improve competitiveness in the world market and to contribute to the academic achievement in the study of fashion merchandising. In the experimental approach the tasks of research are as follows: Research 1: The application of fashion infor-mation is discussed in terms of process and level. Research 2: The differences of the fashion design activities are captured on the basis of the characteristics of manufactures and fashion specialists and fashion information ac-tivities. The factors are identified which pre-dict and discriminate the results of fashion de-sign activities. The questionaire and interview were conduc-ted among women's clothing manufactures in Seoul and their fashion specialists in charge of merchandise development. The methods of survey were designed on the basis of theories developed so far and on he advice from the social scientists and fashion specialists. the methods were corrected and complemented through the 1st and 2nd preliminary investigations before their application For data analysis cronbach's a coefficient fre-quency percentage average standard devi-ation pearson's correlation coefficient were calculated and t-test F-test(ANOVA) Duncan's multiple range test regression and Discriminant analysis were conducted. The results of analysis throughout the experimen-tal studies were as follows: 1. The analysis of fashion in formation (1) the present application of information a. The source of information : Both the foreign and the domestic information came mostly from fashion journals magazines newspapers and other periodicals, the main source of market information was collected from the survey of popular items in recent years the data about the life-style of customers and their tastes for wearing were widely used as the information about consumers. b. The applicaton of information : The most widely used information was about fabrics. The foreign information was prefered on the whole. The domestic problems pointed out in this investgation were that the domestic journals showed the lack of specialty and the special organizations for fashion informatino were in urgent need. (2) The research of fashion information a. The various processes and levels of in-formation activities: Among the process of collection analysis and distribution the collec-tion process showed a good acheivement whereas the distribution whereas the distribution didn't. In levels of the systematic activities the acceptance of support and the utility of supported instruments the first indicated a high degree whereas the second showed lowest. b. The correlationship among subvariables : There was a significant correlation between the collection and the analysis process. The systematic activities revealed close relation-ship with the analysis process and the accept-ance of support with the distribution process. The close correlation was found between the utility of supported instruments and the analy-sis process. 2. The analysis of the fashion design activities (1) No significant differences were found in the design activities when the characteristics of companies were compared only. (2) According to the characteristics of fashion specialists the one with age experi-ence and high income showed rather good achievement but no significant differences were captured among sex department in charge title academic background education in abroad and field experience (3) The fashion information activities were strongly correlated with the design achieve-ment : The analysis process and the system-atic activity level had a great influence on the design activities. (4) In order to examine which cha-racteristics in (1-3) made it possible to pre-dct and discriminate the achievement in de-sign activities the Discriminant analysis was carried out. The results were as follows: the fashion information activities showed the highest discriminant rate. Next came the in-come level experience and age in that order Those four variables discrimated 37 from 50 who showed great achievement in design area (74%) and 51 from 83 in low achievement group (81%) Thus the total discriminant rate was 77.5%.

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Neural Bases of Empathy in Competitive vs. non-Competitive situation (경쟁과 비경쟁 상황에서 공감의 신경학적 기제)

  • Hwang, Su-Young;Yoon, Mi-Sun
    • Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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    • v.27 no.3
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    • pp.441-467
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    • 2016
  • This fMRI study is aim to investigate effects of competitive environment in cognitive empathic process in human brain. Empathy is known as a crucial factor for human's adaptive behavior in aspects of social cognition and it is almost automatic process, on the other hand competitive situation is psychologically devastated environment to win someone for getting rewards. We hypnotized that reading and understanding of other person's mind are a specific characteristic related to survival evolutionarily, however competition would have an effect on the empathic cognitive process because of mechanisms of competition. To manipulate the competitive atmosphere, one researcher took a role of competitor against participants and they were instructed to get monetary rewards when their performance was better than a competitor. 21 participants(9 males and 12 females) performed to judge the emotional valence of the empathic task consisted of illustrated images with various situation could be experienced in real world as on $1^{st}$ person perspective in both competitive and non-competitive condition, and did same performance with objects stimulus in control condition. In order to examine the competition effects on empathic process,, hemodynamic response were obtained during fMRI session and the imaging data were analyzed to identify brain regions where responses to each condition across the two consecutive runs. Participants' reaction time in competitive condition was faster statistically significant than non-competitive one. Activation for competitive condition increased in the following areas: ACC, mPFC, SMG, thalamus extended caudate and Nacc, parahippocampal gyrus, and for non-competitive condition increased paracingulate gyrus, temporal pole, vmPFC, superior occipital gyrus. As a result of regression analysis using empathic scores as covariance, the rSMG, IFG, fusiform gyrus, thalamus, putamen were correlated with higher empathic levels, and TPJ were correlated with lower empathic scores. We suggest that these observations could mean competitive environment have an effect on neural base of cognitive empathic process.

A Study on Antecedents of Ethical Leadership of Power Retailers, : Focusing on the Relationship between Discount Stores and Their Suppliers (대형 유통업체 윤리적 리더십의 선행변수에 관한 연구 : 할인점과 공급업체 간 관계를 중심으로)

  • Kim, Sang-Deok
    • Journal of Distribution Research
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    • v.17 no.3
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    • pp.59-92
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    • 2012
  • With accumulated research evidence, there is little doubt that leadership behavior is related to a wide variety of positive individual and organizational outcomes. Indeed, leadership behavior has been empirically linked to increased employee satisfaction, organizational commitment, extra effort, turnover intention, organizational citizenship behavior, and overall employee performance. Although leadership behavior has been linked to a number of positive organizational outcomes, research regarding the antecedents of such behavior is limited. Especially there is little research dealing with the antecedents of inter-organizational leadership behavior. This study interests in inter-organizational ethical leadership among marketing channel members. In both the mass media and the academic association, there has been a surge in interest in the ethical and unethical behavior of leaders. Although the corporate scandals in recent years may explain much of the mass media and popular focus, academics' interest has been limited by evidence that ethical leadership behavior is associated with both positive and negative inter-organizational processes and performances. This study tried to contribute to this body of knowledge by examining antecedents of ethical leadership. Ethical leadership is defined "the demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through personal actions and interpersonal relationships, and the promotion of such conduct to followers through two-way communication, reinforcement, and decision-making." Ethical leaders not only inform individuals of the behefits of ethical behavior and the cost of inappropriate behavior, such leaders also set clear standards and use rewards and fair and balanced punishment to hold followers accountable for their ethical conduct. Despite the assume importance and prominence of ethical leadership among organizations, there are still many questions relating to its antecedents and consequences. One is whether the likelihood of an leading organization being perceived as an ethical leader among other following organizations in marketing channels can be predicted using its characteristics and inter-organizational relationship maintenance skills. Identifying trait and skill antecedents will aid in the development of strategies for selecting and developing ethical leaders and determining the best means to reinforce ethical behaviors. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of three categorized variables on ethical leadership of channel leader. To be concrete, this study develops a model of the antecedents of three conceptually distinct forms of channel leader characteristics, such as organizational traits, inter-organizational relationship maintenance strategies, and supplier management strategies, and tests the hypothesized differential effects on ethical leadership of marketing channel leaders. The reason why this study deals with discount store channel is that there is very strong inter-dependence between a discount store and its suppliers. Their strong inter-dependence makes their relationship as the relationship between a leader and suppliers and creates an atmosphere that leadership occur without difficulty. The research model is as follows. For the purpose of empirical testing, 295 respondents of suppliers of discount store channel in Korea were surveyed. The procedures included scale reliability, and discriminant and convergent validity were used to validate measures. Also, the reliability measurements traditionally employed, such as the Cronbach's alpha, were used. All the reliabilities were greater than .70. This study conducted confirmatory factor analyses to assess the validity of our measurements. All items loaded significantly on their respective constructs(with the lowest t-value being 15.2), providing support for convergent validity. We then examined composite reliability and average variance extracted(AVE). The composite reliability of each construct was greater than .70. The AVE of each construct was greater than .50. This study tested research model using Partial Least Square(PLS). The estimation of the structural equation model revealed an acceptable fit of the model to the data($r^2$=.851). Thus, This study concluded that the model fit was considered acceptable. The results of PLS are as follows. The results indicated that conscientiousness, openness, conflict management, social networks, training, fair reward had positive effects on ethical leadership of channel leaders. On the other hand, emotional insecure had negative effect and agreeableness, assurance, and inter-organizational communication had no significant effect on supply chain leadership.

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The Effect of the Improvement of the Sales Regulation of General Medicine and Political Proposals (일반의약품 판매규제 완화효과와 정책제언)

  • Yeom, Min-Sun
    • Journal of Distribution Research
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    • v.15 no.5
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    • pp.237-255
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    • 2010
  • The Korean Pharmacist Law has limited the sales of medicine to pharmacies. This has caused difficulty in purchasing medicine late at night or on holidays, which has limited the range of customers' selections and accelerated customers' discomfort, accordingly. Also, the rapid progress of aging has quickly boosted medical expenses for seniors, and has served as a factor that aggravates the budget of national medical insurance. Meanwhile, advanced countries, including the USA and Japan, have allowed the sales of general medicine, of which the safety and efficacy have been tested, in general retail stores such as convenience stores or super markets from the perspective of supporting self-medication. In particular, Japan, which has a strong tendency of pursuing safety in the world, diversified sales channels for general medicine in order to control quickly rising medical expenses. As a result, Japan has achieved the effect of easing various regulations as follows in the economic and social fields. First, the increasing distribution channels of general medicine from pharmacies to general retail stores provoked a potential demand, which also expanded related markets. Second, the competition between sales channels resulted in the reduction of the price of medicine. Third, the growing sales channels of medicine have extended the options of consumers and, subsequently, the convenience in the use of consumers has increased. Fourth, the creation of a competitive environment owing to the diversification of sales channels has accelerated an effort to enhance corporate competitiveness. Fifth, the foundation of enhancing the financial soundness of medical expenses has been prepared through the formation of a self-medication environment. In 2000, the Korean population aged 65 or over exceeded 7%, and it is anticipated to be over 14% by 2018; thus, the increase of national medical expenses will be sped up. As a way of being prepared for the era of aging, we, just as other advanced countries, need to create a self-treatment environment by diversifying the sellers of general medicine, and, thus, reduce spending on personal medical expenses, enhance the financial soundness of national medical insurance, and, further, promote the welfare of consumers.

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