• Title/Summary/Keyword: Stress Interaction

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Influences of Environmental Gradients on the Patterns of Vegetation Structure and Tree Age Distribution in the East Side of Cascade Range, Washington, USA (워싱턴주(州) 케스케이드산맥(山脈) 동(東)쪽 산림(山林)에서 환경구배(環境勾配)가 식생구조(植生構造)와 연령분포(年齡分布)에 미치는 영향(影響))

  • Woo, Su Young;Lee, Kyung Joon;Lee, Sang Don
    • Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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    • v.85 no.1
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    • pp.107-119
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    • 1996
  • To understand vegetation changes along environmental gradients in the natural forests in the east side of the Cascade Range in Washington state, USA, line transects were used to sample six different forest environments in the Wenatchee National Forest in the north-facing and south-facing sites at 975, 1280 and 1700m elevation. Data were analyzed using ordination by detranded correspondence analysis. Pseudotsuga menziesii was found as one of the dominant species on all the six sites regardless of elevation or aspect, while Pinus ponderosa was dominant on south slopes only. Abies grandis and A. lasiocarpa were dominant species on north slopes at elevations of 1280 and 1700m, respectively. Moisture, as it related to aspect, was identified as one of the most important environmental gradients for explaining the variation of vegetation types. On north-facing slopes, compared to south-facing slopes, where moisture was not as limiting and canopies could grow denser, probably, elevation or competitive interaction was more important. Species diversity tended to decrease with increasing environmental severity, with south slopes having less diversity than north slopes due to extended water stress and harsher temperature extremes on south slopes. The age structure on north-facing and south-facing slopes was different. Light intensity, moisture and climate were different between these two slopes. Large scale disturbances(e.g., big fire or insects) were major causes in changing age structure. Younger trees showed a closer relationship between size and age than adult trees. DBH values of shade intolerant species in south-facing slope were bigger than those of north-facing slope, which suggested that aspect of stands be the most important factor for age and size.

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POLYMERIZATION SHRINKAGE OF COMPOSITE RESINS CURED BY VARIABLE LIGHT INTENSITIES (가변 광도 중합에 따른 복합레진의 중합수축에 관한 연구)

  • Lim, Mi-Young;Cho, Kyung-Mo;Hong, Chan-Ui
    • Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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    • v.32 no.1
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    • pp.28-36
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    • 2007
  • The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of exponential curing method with conventional curing and soft start curing method on polymerization shrinkage of composite resins. Three brands of composite resins (Synergy Duo Shade, Z250, Filtek Supreme) and three brands of light curing units (Spectrum 800, Elipar Highlight, Elipar Trilight) were used. 40 seconds curing time was given. The shrinkage was measured using linometer for 90 seconds. The effect of time on polymerization shrinkage was analysed by one-way ANOVA and the effect of curing modes and materials on polymerization shrinkage at the time of 90s were analysed by two-way ANOVA. The shrinkage ratios at the time of 20s to 90s were taken and analysed the same way. The results were as follows : 1. All the groups except Supreme shrank almost within 20s Supreme cured by soft start and exponential curing had no further shrinkage after 30s (p < 0.05). 2. Statistical analysis revealed that polymerization shrinkage varied among materials (p = 0.000) and curing modes (p = 0.003). There was no significant interaction between material and curing mode. 3. The groups cured by exponential curing showed the statistically lower polymerization shrinkage at 90s than the groups cured by conventional curing and soft start curing (p < 0.05). 4. The initial shrinkage ratios of soft start and exponential curing were statistically lower than conventional curing (p < 0.05). From this study, the use of low initial light intensities may reduce the polymerization rate and, as a result, reduce the stress of polymerization shrinkage.

Coupled Hydro-Mechanical Modelling of Fault Reactivation Induced by Water Injection: DECOVALEX-2019 TASK B (Benchmark Model Test) (유체 주입에 의한 단층 재활성 해석기법 개발: 국제공동연구 DECOVALEX-2019 Task B(Benchmark Model Test))

  • Park, Jung-Wook;Kim, Taehyun;Park, Eui-Seob;Lee, Changsoo
    • Tunnel and Underground Space
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    • v.28 no.6
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    • pp.670-691
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    • 2018
  • This study presents the research results of the BMT(Benchmark Model Test) simulations of the DECOVALEX-2019 project Task B. Task B named 'Fault slip modelling' is aiming at developing a numerical method to predict fault reactivation and the coupled hydro-mechanical behavior of fault. BMT scenario simulations of Task B were conducted to improve each numerical model of participating group by demonstrating the feasibility of reproducing the fault behavior induced by water injection. The BMT simulations consist of seven different conditions depending on injection pressure, fault properties and the hydro-mechanical coupling relations. TOUGH-FLAC simulator was used to reproduce the coupled hydro-mechanical process of fault slip. A coupling module to update the changes in hydrological properties and geometric features of the numerical mesh in the present study. We made modifications to the numerical model developed in Task B Step 1 to consider the changes in compressibility, Permeability and geometric features with hydraulic aperture of fault due to mechanical deformation. The effects of the storativity and transmissivity of the fault on the hydro-mechanical behavior such as the pressure distribution, injection rate, displacement and stress of the fault were examined, and the results of the previous step 1 simulation were updated using the modified numerical model. The simulation results indicate that the developed model can provide a reasonable prediction of the hydro-mechanical behavior related to fault reactivation. The numerical model will be enhanced by continuing interaction and collaboration with other research teams of DECOVALEX-2019 Task B and validated using the field experiment data in a further study.

Study on the Multilevel Effects of Integrated Crisis Intervention Model for the Prevention of Elderly Suicide: Focusing on Suicidal Ideation and Depression (노인자살예방을 위한 통합적 위기개입모델 다층효과 연구: 자살생각·우울을 중심으로)

  • Kim, Eun Joo;Yook, Sung Pil
    • 한국노년학
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    • v.37 no.1
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    • pp.173-200
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    • 2017
  • This study is designed to verify the actual effect on the prevention of the elderly suicide of the integrated crisis intervention service which has been widely provided across all local communities in Gyeonggi-province focusing on the integrated crisis intervention model developed for the prevention of elderly suicide. The integrated crisis intervention model for the local communities and its manual were developed for the prevention of elderly suicide by integrating the crisis intervention theory which contains local community's integrated system approach and the stress vulnerability theory. For the analysis of the effect, the geriatric depression and suicidal ideation scale was adopted and the data was collected as follows; The data was collected from 258 people in the first preliminary test. Then, it was collected from the secondary test of 184 people after the integrated crisis intervention service was performed for 6 months. The third collection of data was made from 124 people after 2 or 3 years later using the backward tracing method. As for the analysis, the researcher used the R Statistics computing to conduct the test equating, and the vertical scaling between measuring points. Then, the researcher conducted descriptive statistics analysis and univariate analysis of variance, and performed multi-level modeling analysis using Bayesian estimation. As a result of the study, it was found out that the integrated crisis intervention model which has been developed for the elderly suicide prevention has a statistically significant effect on the reduction of elderly suicide in terms of elderly depression and suicide ideation in the follow-up measurement after the implementation of crisis intervention rather than in the first preliminary scores. The integrated crisis intervention model for the prevention of elderly suicide was found to be effective to the extent of 0.56 for the reduction of depression and 0.39 for the reduction of suicidal ideation. However, it was found out in the backward tracing test conducted 2-3 years after the first crisis intervention that the improved values returned to its original state, thus showing that the effect of the intervention is not maintained for long. Multilevel analysis was conducted to find out the factors such as the service type(professional counseling, medication, peer counseling), characteristics of the client (sex, age), the characteristics of the counselor(age, career, major) and the interaction between the characteristics of the counselor and intervention which affect depression and suicidal ideation. It was found that only medication can significantly reduce suicidal ideation and that if the counselor's major is counseling, it significantly further reduces suicidal ideation by interacting with professional counseling. Furthermore, as the characteristics of the suicide prevention experts are found to regulate the intervention effect on elderly suicide prevention in applying integrated crisis intervention model, the primary consideration should be given to the counseling ability of these experts.

Grounded Theory Analysis on the Experience of Women from the Provinces Settling in Seoul (지방출신 여성들의 서울정착 경험에 대한 근거이론적 분석)

  • Yoonjung An;Yunseo Iem
    • Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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    • v.24 no.2
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    • pp.273-300
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    • 2018
  • In order to analyze the experience of women from the provinces settling in Seoul, the current study conducts in-depth interviews on seven women who are working in Seoul after coming up to Seoul to attend and graduate from university. The results of the interview were analyzed using grounded theory methodology, under which the open coding extracted one hundred ten concepts, twenty-one sub-categories, and eleven categories encompassing them all. Causal condition is 'difficulty of settling in Seoul' and contextual conditions are 'intensification of psychological anxiety', 'reduction in quality of life', and 'continuation of economic instability'. The central phenomenon is 'dilemma of continuing life in Seoul' and intervening condition is 'diagnosis of ten years after coming up to Seoul'. Action/interaction strategies are 'changes in personal life', 'securing economic abilities through a stable job', and 'finding ways to participate in the society', while the result was 'choosing whether to continue living in Seoul'. The paradigm of experience of women from the provinces settling in Seoul proceed from coming up to Seoul for university to becoming independent, adapting to life in the city, experiencing growth and failures, facing challenge and searching for solutions, and conducting self-evaluation and making new choices. The participants reported that they were aware of differences and experienced anxieties as a stranger in Seoul even after living in the city for ten years; the problems they face have become more complex and diverse since when they were in university, and while they launched a career and making money, the gap between them and their peers from Seoul has not closed. The women also express desperation that they may need to leave Seoul to find alternatives to problems caused by accumulated stress and social problems that cannot be solved by an individual. In conclusion, the current study confirmed that efforts by individuals can only have limited effects in helping women from the provinces to settle in Seoul, indicating that detailed policy plans are required to solve social issues in the overall Korean society.

The Effect of Gibberellin Dipping Concentration and Treatment Time on the Growth of Cutting Propagules in Strawberry (딸기 삽목 육묘 시 묘 생육에 미치는 지베렐린 침지농도 및 시간의 영향)

  • Eun Ji Kim;Chi Seon Kim;Hyun Soo Jung;Jun Gu Lee
    • Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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    • v.33 no.1
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    • pp.12-21
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    • 2024
  • The aim of this research was to investigate the effect of gibberellin on improving seedling growth characteristics and enhancing strawberry quality in cutting propagation. Cuttings of the cultivar 'Seolhyang' were treated with GA3 for 30 and 60 minutes at concentrations of 50, 100, and 150 mg·L-1, with distilled water used for dipping as the control. Evaluation of seedling growth showed a positive correlation between the duration of gibberellin dipping and growth characteristics such as leaf number and SPAD value. Plant height, petiole length, leaf length and width, and leaf area varied significantly based on the interaction between dipping time and concentration. Crown diameter exhibited differences depending on the dipping time, with cuttings producing superior seedlings having a diameter of 8.0 mm or more for all treatments except the 30-minute, 100 mg·L-1 treatment. The T/R ratio was significantly lower in the 30-minute, 50 mg·L-1 treatment, indicating the highest plant vigor. Quantum yield was lower at a concentration of 150 mg·L-1, showing a decreasing trend with increasing gibberellin concentration. Nonphotochemical quenching was significantly smaller in the 30-minute, 150 mg·L-1 treatment, indicating an effective reduction of stress in the cuttings. Antioxidant content was highest in the 30-minute, 50 mg·L-1 treatment and the 60-minute, 150 mg·L-1 treatment. Moreover, the results of post-transplanting growth assessment showed no negative effect of gibberellin on flowering induction. Therefore, it was confirmed that gibberellin treatment during the cutting propagation of 'Seolhyang' strawberries had a positive effect on the production of high-quality seedlings. Dipping the cuttings in 50 mg·L-1 gibberellin for 30 minutes is considered to be the most suitable method for improving growth and quality compared to the control.

The Trend and Achievements of Forest Genetics Research in Abroad (선진국(先進國)에 있어서의 임목육종연구(林木育種硏究)의 동향(動向))

  • Hyun, Sin Kyu
    • Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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    • v.14 no.1
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    • pp.1-20
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    • 1972
  • The trend and achievements of forest genetics research in abroad were investigated through observation tours and reference work and following facts were found to be important aspects which should be adopted in the forest genetics research program in Korea. Because of world wide recognization on the urgency of taking a measure to reserve some areas of the representative forest type on the globe before the extingtion of such forest type as the results of continuous exploitations of the natural forests to meet the timber demand all over the world, it is urgently needed to take a measure to reserve certain areas of natural stand of Pinus koraiensis, Pinus parviflora, Pinus densiflora f. erectra, Abies koreana, Quercus sp., Populus sp., etc. as gene pool to be used for the future program of forest tree improvement. And the genetic studies of those natural forest of economic tree species are also to be performed. 1. Increase of the number of selected tree for breeding purpose. Because of the fact that the number of plus tree at present is too small to carry out selection program for tree improvement, particularly for the formation of source population for recurrent selection of parent trees of the 2nd generation seed orchard it is to be strongly emphasized to increase the number of plus tree by alleviating selection criteria in order to enlarge the population size of plus trees to make the selection program more efficient. 2. Progeny testing More stress should be placed on carrying out progeny testing of selected trees with open pollinated seeds. And particular efforts are to be made for conducting studies on adult/juvenile correlation of important traits with a view to enable to predict adult performances with some traits revealed in juvenile age thus to save time for progeny testing. 3. Genotype-environment interaction Studies on genotype and environment interaction should be conducted in order to elucidate whether the plus trees selected on the good site express their superiority on the poor site or not and how the environment affect the genotype. And the justification of present classification of seed distribution area should be examined. 4. Seed orchard of broad leaf tree species. Due to the difficulty of accurate comparison of growth rate of neighbouring trees of broad leaf tree species in natural stand, it is recommended that for the improvement of broad leaf trees a seedling seed orchard is to be made by roguing the progeny test plantation planted densely with control pollinated seedlings of selected trees. 5. Breeding for insect resistant varieties. In the light of the fact that the resistant characteristics against insect such as pine gall midge (Thiecodiplosis japonensis U. et I.) and pine bark beetle (Myelophilus pinipera L.) are highly correlated with the amount and quality of resin which are known as gene controlled characteristics, breeding for insect resistance should be carried out. 6. Breeding for timber properties. With the tree species for pulp wood in particular, emphasis should be placed upon breeding for high specific gravity of timber. 7. Introduction of Cryptomeria and Japanese Cypress In the light of the fact that the major clones of Cryptomeria are originated from Yoshino source and are being planted up to considerably north and high elevation in Japan, those species should be examined on their cold resistance in Korea by planting them in further northern part of the country.

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The Effect of Corporate Association on the Perceived Risk of the Product (소비자의 제품 지각 위험에 대한 기업연상과 효과: 지식과 관여의 조절적 역활을 중심으로)

  • Cho, Hyun-Chul;Kang, Suk-Hou;Kim, Jin-Yong
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.18 no.4
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    • pp.1-32
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    • 2008
  • Brown and Dacin (1997) have investigated the relationship between corporate associations and product evaluations. Their study focused on the effects of associations with a company's corporate ability (CA) and its corporate social responsibility (CSR) on consumers' product evaluations. Their study has found that both of CA and CSR influenced product evaluation but CA association has a stronger effect than CSR associations. Brown and Dacin (1997) have, however, claimed that there are few researches on how corporate association impacts product responses. Accordingly, some of researchers have found the variables to moderate or to mediate the relationship between the corporate association and the product responses. In particular, there has been existed a few of studies that tested the influence of the reputation on the product-relevant perceived risk, but the effects of two types of the corporate association on the product-relevant perceived risk were not identified so far. The primary goal of this article is to identify and empirically examine some variables to moderate the effects of CA association and CSR association on the perceived risk of the product. In this articles, we take the concept of the corporate associations that Brown and Dacin (1997) had proposed. CA association is those association related to the company's expertise in producing and delivering its outputs and CSR association reflected the organization's status and activities with respect to its perceived societal obligations. Also, this study defines the risk, which is the uncertainty or loss of the product and corporate that consumers have taken in a particular purchase decision or after having purchased. The risk is classified into product-relevant performance risk and financial risk. Performance risk is the possibility or the consequence of a product not functioning at some expected level and financial risk is the monetary loss one perceives to be incurring if a product does not function at some expected level. In relation to consumer's knowledge, expert consumers have much of the experiences or knowledge of the product in consumer position and novice consumers does not. The model tested in this article are shown in Figure 1. The model indicates that both of CA association and CSR association influence on performance risk and financial risk. In addition, the effects of CA and CSR are moderated by product category knowledge (product knowledge) and product category involvement (product involvement). In this study, the relationships between the corporate association and product-relevant perceived risk are hypothesized as the following form. For example, Hypothesis 1a($H_{1a}$) is represented that CA association has a positive influence on the performance risk of consumer. Also, the hypotheses that identified some variables to moderate the effects of two types of corporate association on the perceived risk of the product are laid down. One of the hypotheses of the interaction effect is Hypothesis 3a($H_{3a}$), it is described that consumer's knowledges of the product moderates the negative relationship between CA association and product-relevant performance risk. A field experiment was conducted in order to examine our model. The company tested was not real but imagined to meet the internal validity. Water purifiers were used for our study. Four scenarios have been developed and described as the imaginary company: Type A with both of superior CA and CSR, Type B with superior CSR and inferior CA, Type C with superior CA and inferior CSR, and Type D with both inferior of CA and CSR. The respondents of this study were classified into four groups. One type of four scenarios (Type A, B, C, or D) in its questionnaire was given to the respondent who filled out questions. Data were collected by means of a self-administered questionnaire to the respondents, chosen in convenience. A total of 300 respondents filled out the questionnaire but 207 were used for further analysis. Table 1 indicates that the scales in this study are reliable because the range of coefficients of Cronbach's $\alpha$ are from 0.85 to 0.92. The composite reliability is in the range of 0,85 to 0,92 and average variance extracted is in 0.72-0.98 range that is higher than the base level of 0.6. As shown in Table 2, the values for CFI, NNFI, root-mean-square error approximation (RMSEA), and standardized root-mean-square residual (SRMR) are acceptably close to the standards suggested by Hu and Bentler (1999):.95 for CFI and NNFI,.06 for RMSEA, and.08 for SRMR. We also tested discriminant validity provided by Fornell and Larcker (1981). As shown in Table 2, we found strong evidence for discriminant validity between each possible pair of latent constructs in all samples. Given that these batteries of overall goodness-of-fit indices were accurate and that the model was developed on theoretical bases, and given the high level of consistency across samples, this enables us to proceed the previously defined scales. We used the moderated hierarchical regression analysis to test the influence of the corporate association(CA and CSR associations) on product-relevant perceived risk(performance and financial risks) and to identify the variables moderating the relationship between the corporate association and product-relevant performance risk. In this study, dependent variables are performance and financial risk. CA and CSR associations are described the independent variables. The moderating variables are product category knowledge and product category involvement. The results are, as expected, found that CA association has statistically a significant influence on the perceived risk of the product, but CSR association does not. Product category knowledge and involvement moderate the relationship between the CA association and the perceived risk of the product. However, the effect of CSR association on the perceived risk of the product is not moderated by the consumers' knowledge and involvement. For this result, it is necessary for a corporate to inform its customers CA association more than CSR association so that they could be felt to be the reduction of the perceived risk. The important theoretical contribution of this research is the meanings that two types of corporate association that Brown and Dacin(1997), and Brown(1998) have proposed replicated the difference of the effects on product evaluation. According to Hunter(2001), it was an important affair to accomplish the validity of a particular study and we had to take about ten studies to deduce a strict study. Next, there is the contribution of the this study to find that the effects of corporate association on the perceived risk of the product are varied by the moderator variables. In particular, the moderating effect of knowledge on the relationship between corporate association and product-relevant perceived risk has not been tested in Korea. In the managerial implications of this research, we suggest the necessity to stress the ability that corporate manufactures the product well(CA association) than the accomplishment of corporate's social obligation(CSR association). This study suffers from various limitations that imply future research directions. The moderating effects of product category knowledge and involvement on the relationship between corporate association and perceived risk need to be replicated. Next, future research could explore whether the mediated effects of the perceived risk has the relationship between corporate association and consumer's product purchase. In addition, to ensure the external validity of the study will be needed to use realistic company, not artificial.

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The Effect of Users' Personality on Emotional and Cognitive Evaluation in UCC Web Site Usage (UCC(user-created-contents) 웹 사이트에서 사용자의 인성이 감정적, 인지적 평가와 UCC 활용에 미치는 영향)

  • Moon, Yun-Ji;Kang, So-Ra;Kim, Woo-Gon
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.20 no.3
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    • pp.167-190
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    • 2010
  • The research conducted here focuses on the effect of factors that affect the behavior of UCC (User Created Content) website users, other than user's rational recognition of how useful a UCC website can be. Most discussions in the existing literature on information systems have focused on users' evaluation how a UCC website can help to attain the users' own goals. However, there are other factors and this research pays attention to an individual's 'personality,' which is stable and biological in nature. Specifically, I have noted here that 'extroversion' and 'neuroticism,' the two common personality factors presented in Eysenck's most representative 'EPQ Model' and 'Big Five Model,' are the two personality factors that affect a site's 'usefulness,' by this I mean how useful does the user consider the website and its content. How useful a site is considered by the user is the other factor that has been regarded as the antecedent factor that influences the adoption of information systems in the existing MIS (Management Information System) research. Secondly, as using or creating a UCC website does not guarantee the user's or the creator's extrinsic motivation, unlike when using the information system within an organization, there is a greater likelihood that the increase in user's activities in relation to a UCC website is motivated by emotional factors rather than rational factors. Thus, I have decided to include the relationship between an individual's personality and what they find pleasurable in the research model. Thirdly, when based on the S-O-R Paradigm of Mehrabian and Russell, the two cognitive factors and emotional factors are finally affected by stimulus, and thus these factors ultimately have an effect on an individual's respondent behavior. Therefore, this research has presented an assumption that the recognition of how useful the site and content is and what emotional pleasure it provides will finally affect the behavior of the UCC website users. Finally, the relationship between the recognition of how useful a site is and how pleasurable it is to useand UCC usage may differ depending on certain situational conditions. In other words, the relationship between the three factors may vary according to how much users are involved in the creation of the website content. Creation thus emerges as the keyword of UCC. I analyzed the above relationships through the moderating variable of the user's involvement in the creation of the site. The research result shows the following: When it comes to the relationship between an individual's personality and what they find pleasurable it is extroverted users who have a greater likelihood to feel pleasure when using a UCC website, as was expected in this research. This in turn leads to a more active usage of the UCC web site because a person who is an extrovert likes to spend time on activities with other people, is sensitive to new experiences and stimuli and thus actively responds to these. An extroverted person accepts new UCC activities as part of his/her social life, rather than getting away from this new UCC environment. This is represented by the term 'Foxonomy' where the users meet a variety of users from all over the world and contact new types of content created by these users. However, neuroticism creates the opposite situation to that created by extroversion. The representative symptoms of neuroticism are instability, stress, and tension. These dispositions are more closely related to stress caused by a new environment rather than this creatingcuriosity or pleasure. Thus, neurotic persons have an uneasy feeling and will eventually avoid the situation where their own or others' daily lives are frequently exposed to the open web environment, this eventually makes them have a negative attitude towards the web environment. When it comes to an individual's personality and how useful site is, the two personality factors of extroversion and neuroticism both have a positive relationship with the recognition of how useful the site and its content is. The positive, curious, and social dispositions of extroverted persons tend to make them consider the future usefulness and possibilities of a new type of information system, or website, based on their positive attitude, which has a significant influence on the recognition of how useful these UCC sites are. Neuroticism also favorably affects how useful a UCC website can be through a different mechanism from that of extroversion. As the neurotic persons tend to feel uneasy and have much doubt about a new type of information system, they actively explore its usefulness in order to relieve their uncomfortable feelings. In other words, neurotic persons seek out how useful a site can be in order to secure their own stable feelings. Meanwhile, extroverted persons explore how useful a site can be because of their positive attitude and curiosity. As a lot of MIS research has revealed that the recognition of how useful a site can be and how pleasurable it can be to use have been proven to have a significant effect on UCC activity. However, the relationship between these factors reveals different aspects based on the user's involvement in creation. This factor of creationgauges the interest of users in the creation of UCC contents. Involvement is a variable that shows the level of an individual's mental effort in creating UCC contents. When a user is highly involved in the creation process and makes an enormous effort to create UCC content (classed a part of a high-involvement group), their own pleasure and recognition of how useful the site is have a significantly higher effect on the future usage of the UCC contents, more significantly than the users who sit back and just retrieve the UCC content created by others. The cognitive and emotional response of those in the low-involvement group is unlikely to last long,even if they recognize the contents of a UCC website is pleasurable and useful to them. However, the high-involvement group tends to participate in the creation and the usage of UCC more favorably, connecting the experience with their own goals. In this respect, this research presents an answer to the question; why so many people are participating in the usage of UCC, the representative form of the Web 2.0 that has drastically involved more and more people in the creation of UCC, even if they cannot gain any monetary or social compensation. Neither information system nor a website can succeed unless it secures a certain level of user base. Moreover, it cannot be further developed when the reasons, or problems, for people's participation are not suitably explored, even if it has a certain user base. Thus, what is significant in this research is that it has studied users' respondent behavior based on an individual's innate personality, emotion, and cognitive interaction, unlike the existing research that has focused on 'compensation' to explain users' participation with the UCC website. There are also limitations in this research. Firstly, I divided an individual's personality into extroversion and neuroticism; however, there are many other personal factors such as neuro-psychiatricism, which also needs to be analyzed for its influence on UCC activities. Secondly, as a UCC website comes in many types such as multimedia, Wikis, and podcasting, these types need to be included as a sub-category of the UCC websites and their relationship with personality, emotion, cognition, and behavior also needs to be analyzed.

An Exploratory Study on the Effects of Relational Benefits and Brand Identity : mediating effect of brand identity (관계혜택과 브랜드 동일시의 역할에 관한 탐색적 연구: 브랜드 동일시의 매개역할을 중심으로)

  • Bang, Jounghae;Jung, Jiyeon;Lee, Eunhyung;Kang, Hyunmo
    • Asia Marketing Journal
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    • v.12 no.2
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    • pp.155-175
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    • 2010
  • Most of the service industries including finance and telecommunications have become matured and saturated. The competitions have become severe while the differences among brands become smaller. Therefore maintaining good relationships with customers has been critical for the service providers. In case of credit card and debit card, the similar patterns are shown. It is important for them to maintain good relationships with customers, and therefore, they have used marketing program which provides customized services to customers and utilizes the membership programs. Not only do they build and maintain good relationships, but also highlight their brands from the emotional aspects. For example, KB Card or Hyundai Card uses well-known designers' works for their credit card design. As well, they differentiate the designs of credit cards to stress on their brand personalities. BC Card introduced the credit card with perfume that a customer would like. Even though the credit card is small and not shown to public easily, it becomes more important for those companies to touch the customers' feelings with the brand personalities and their images. This is partly because of changes in consumers' lifestyles. Y-generations becomes highly likely to express themselves in many different ways and more emotional than X-generations. For the Y-generations, therefore, even credit cards in the wallet should be personalized and well-designed. In line with it, credit cards with good design can be seen as an example of brand identity, where different design for each customer can be used to recognize the membership groups that customers want to belong. On the other hand, these credit card companies offer the special treatment benefits for those customers who are heavy users for the cards. For example, those customers who love sports will receive some special discounts when they use their credit cards for sports related products. Therefore this study attempted to explore the relationships between relational benefits, brand identification and loyalty. It has been well known that relational benefits and brand identification lead to loyalty independently from many other studies, but there has been few study to review all the three variables all together in a research model. Furthermore, as reviewed above, in the card industry, many companies attempt to associate the brand image with their products to fit their customers' lifestyles while relational benefits are still playing an important role for their business. Therefore in our research model, relational benefits, brand identification, and loyalty are all included. We focus on the mediating effect of brand identification. From the relational benefits perspective, only special treatment benefit and confidence benefit are included. Social benefit is not applicable for this credit card industry because not many cases of face-to-face interaction can be found. From the brand identification perspective, personal brand identity and social brand identity are reviewed and included in the model. Overall, the research model emphasizes that the relationships between relational benefits and loyalty will be mediated by the effect of brand identification. The effects of relational benefits which are confidence benefit and special treatment benefits on loyalty will be realized when they fit to the personal brand identity and social brand identity. In the research model, therefore, the relationships between confidence benefit and social brand identity, and between confidence benefit and personal identity are hypothesized while the effects of special treatment benefit on social brand identity and personal brand identity are hypothesized. Loyalty, then, is hypothesized to have positive relationships with personal brand identity and social brand identity. In addition, confidence benefit among the relational benefits is expected to have a direct, positive relationship with loyalty because confidence benefit has been recognized as a critical factor for good relationships and satisfaction. Data were collected from college students who have been using either credit cards or debit cards. College students were regarded good subjects because they are in Y-generation cohorts and have tendency to express themselves more. Total sample size was two hundred three at the beginning, but after deleting those data with many missing values, one hundred ninety-seven data points were remained and used for the model testing. Measurement items were brought from the previous literatures and modified for this research. To test the reliability, using SPSS 14, chronbach's α was examined and all the values were from .874 to .928 exceeding over .7. Using AMOS 7.0, confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to investigate the measurement model. The measurement model was found good fit with χ2(67)=188.388 (p= .000), GFI=.886, AGFI=.821, CFI=.941, RMSEA=.096. Using AMOS 7.0, structural equation modeling has been used to analyze the research model. Overall, the research model fit were χ2(68)=188.670 (p= .000), GFI=.886, AGFI=,824 CFI=.942, RMSEA=.095 indicating good fit. In details, all the paths hypothesized in the research model were found significant except for the path from social brand identity to loyalty. Personal brand identity leads to loyalty while both confidence benefit and special treatment benefit have a positive relationships with personal and social identities. As well, confidence benefit has a direct positive effect on loyalty. The results indicates the followings. First, personal brand identity plays an important role for credit/debit card usage. Therefore even for the products which are not shown to public easy, design and emotional aspect can be important to fit the customers' lifestyles. Second, confidence benefit and special treatment benefit have a positive effects on personal brand identity. Therefore it will be needed for marketers to associate the special treatment and trust and confidence benefits with personal image, personality and personal identity. Third, this study found again the importance of confidence and trust. However interestingly enough, social brand identity was not found to be significantly related to loyalty. It can be explained that the main sample of this study consists of college students. Those strategies to facilitate social brand identity are focused on high social status groups while college students have not been established their status yet.

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