• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.65-88
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• 2008

Since the implementation of economic reforms in 1978, the Chinese economy grows rapidly at an average annul growth rate of 9% over the post two decades. Franchising has been widely recognized as an important source of entrepreneurial activity. Trust is important in that it facilitates relational exchanges by permits partners to transcend short-run inequities or risks to concentrate on long-term profits or gains. In the relationship between the franchisors and franchisees, trust has been described as an important source of competitive advantage. However, little research has been done on the factors affecting trust in Chinese franchisor-franchisee relationships. The purpose of this study is to investigate what factors affect the trust in the franchise system in China, and to provide guidelines and insights to franchisors which enter Chinese market. In this study, according to Morgan and Hunt (1994), trust is defined as the extending when one party has confidence in an exchange partner's reliability and integrity. We offered a conceptual model of the empirical study. The model shows that the factors affecting the trust include franchisor's supports, communication, satisfaction with previous outcome and conflict. We also suggested the franchisor's supports and communication like to enhance the franchisee's satisfaction with previous outcome, and the franchisor's supports, communication and he franchisee's satisfaction with previous outcome tend to decrease conflict. Before the formal study, a pretest involving exploratory interviews with owners from three franchisees was conducted to make sure the questionnaire was relevant and clear to the respondents. The data were collected using trained interviewers to carry out personal interviews with the aid of an unidentified, muti-page, structured questionnaire. The respondents comprised of owners, managers, and owner managers of franchisee-owned food service franchises located in Beijing, China. Even though a total of 256 potential franchises were initially contacted, the finally usable sample consisted of 125 respondents. As expected, the sampling method was successful in soliciting respondents with waried personal and firm characteristics. Self-administrated questionnaires were used for all measures. And established scales were used to measure the latent constructs in this study. The measures tapped the franchisees' perceptions of the relationship with the referent franchisor. Five-point Likert-type scales ranging from "strongly disagree" (=1) to "strongly agree" (=7) were used throughout the constructs (trust, eight items; support, five items; communication, four items; satisfaction, six items; conflict, three items). The reliability measurements traditionally employed, such as the Cronbach's alpha, were used. All the reliabilities were greater than.80. The proposed measurement model was estimated using SPSS 12.0 and AMOS 5.0 analysis package. We conducted A series of exploratory factor analyses and confirmatory factor analyses to assess the convergent validity, discriminant validity, and reliability. The results indicate reasonable overall fits between the model and the observed data. The overall fit of measurement model were $X^2$= 159.699, p=0.004, d.f. = 116, GFI =.879, NFI =.898, CFI =.969, IFI =.970, TLI =.959, RMR =.058. The results demonstrated that the data reasonably fitted the model. We also examined construct reliability and reliability and average variance extracted (AVE). The construct reliability of each construct was greater than.80 and the AVE of each construct was greater than.50. According to the analysis of Structure Equation Modeling (SEM), the results of path model indicated an adequate fit of the model: $X^2$= 142.126, p = 0.044, d.f. = 115, GFI =.892, NFI =.909, CFI =.981, IFI =.981, TLI =.974, RMR =.057. As hypothesized, the results showed that it is strategically important to establish trust in a franchise system, and the franchisor's supports, communication and satisfaction with previous outcome tend to reinforce franchisee's trust. The results also showed trust seems to decrease as the experience of conflict episodes increases. And we also noticed that franchisor's supports and communication tend to enhance the franchisee's satisfaction with previous outcome, and communication tend to decrease conflict. If the trust between the franchisor and franchisee can be established in a franchise system, franchising offers many benefits and reduces many costs. To manage a mutual trust of relationship with their franchisees, franchisor's should provide support effectively to their franchisees. Effective assistant services have direct effect on franchisees' satisfaction with previous outcome and trust in franchisor. Especially, franchise sales process, orientation, and training in the start-up period are key elements for success of the franchise system. Franchisor's support is an accumulated separate satisfaction evaluation with different kind of service provided by the franchisor. And providing support definitely can improve the trustworthy image of the franchisor. In the franchise system, conflicts of interests and exertions of different power sources are very common. The experience of conflict episodes seems to negatively relate to trust. Therefore, it is important to reduce the negative side of the relationship conflicts. Communication actually plays a broader role in reducing conflict and establish mutual trust in franchisor-franchisee relationship. And effective communication between franchisors and franchisees can improve franchisees' satisfaction toward the franchise system. As the diversification of Chinese markets, both franchisors and franchisees must keep the relevant, timely, and reliable communication. And it is very important to improve the quality of communication. Satisfaction with precious outcomes seems to positively relate to trust. Franchisors and franchisees that are highly satisfied with the previous outcomes that flow from their relationship will perceive their partner as advancing their goal achievement. Therefore, it is necessary for both franchisor and their franchisees to make the welfare of partner with effort. Little literature has focused on what factors affect the trust between franchisors and their franchisees in China. This study developed the hypotheses regarding the factors affecting trust in the transaction relationship. The results of data analysis supported the hypotheses strongly. There are certain limitations in this study. First, we may point out that some other factors missed in this study could be significantly important. Second, the context of this study, food service industry, limits its potential generalizability for all franchise systems. More studies in different categories of franchise system are needed to broaden its generalizability. Third, the model was tested empirically in a sample in Beijing, more empirical tests of the proposed model in other Chinese areas are needed. Finally, the analysis in this study was solely based on the perception of franchisees and the opinions of franchisors were not included.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.27-55
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• 2008

Due to the increasing and intensifying competition in the Internet shopping market, it has been recognized as very important to develop an effective policy and strategy for acquiring loyal customers. For this reason, web site designers need to know if a new Internet shopping mall(ISM) will be accepted. Researchers have been working on identifying factors for explaining and predicting user acceptance of an ISM. Some studies, however, revealed inconsistent findings on the antecedents of user acceptance of a website. Lack of consideration for individual differences in user ability is believed to be one of the key reasons for the mixed findings. The elaboration likelihood model (ELM) and several studies have suggested that individual differences in ability plays an moderating role on the relationship between the antecedents and user acceptance. Despite the critical role of user ability, little research has examined the role of user ability in the Internet shopping mall context. The purpose of this study is to develop a user acceptance model that consider the moderating role of user ability in the context of Internet shopping. This study was initiated to see the ability of the technology acceptance model(TAM) to explain the acceptance of a specific ISM. According to TAM. which is one of the most influential models for explaining user acceptance of IT, an intention to use IT is determined by usefulness and ease of use. Given that interaction between user and website takes place through web interface, the decisions to accept and continue using an ISM depend on these beliefs. However, TAM neglects to consider the fact that many users would not stick to an ISM until they trust it although they may think it useful and easy to use. The importance of trust for user acceptance of ISM has been raised by the relational views. The relational view emphasizes the trust-building process between the user and ISM, and user's trust on the website is a major determinant of user acceptance. The proposed model extends and integrates the TAM and relational views on user acceptance of ISM by incorporating usefulness, ease of use, and trust. User acceptance is defined as a user's intention to reuse a specific ISM. And user ability is introduced into the model as moderating variable. Here, the user ability is defined as a degree of experiences, knowledge and skills regarding Internet shopping sites. The research model proposes that the ease of use, usefulness and trust of ISM are key determinants of user acceptance. In addition, this paper hypothesizes that the effects of the antecedents(i.e., ease of use, usefulness, and trust) on user acceptance may differ among users. In particular, this paper proposes a moderating effect of a user's ability on the relationship between antecedents with user's intention to reuse. The research model with eleven hypotheses was derived and tested through a survey that involved 470 university students. For each research variable, this paper used measurement items recognized for reliability and widely used in previous research. We slightly modified some items proper to the research context. The reliability and validity of the research variables were tested using the Crobnach's alpha and internal consistency reliability (ICR) values, standard factor loadings of the confirmative factor analysis, and average variance extracted (AVE) values. A LISREL method was used to test the suitability of the research model and its relating six hypotheses. Key findings of the results are summarized in the following. First, TAM's two constructs, ease of use and usefulness directly affect user acceptance. In addition, ease of use indirectly influences user acceptance by affecting trust. This implies that users tend to trust a shopping site and visit repeatedly when they perceive a specific ISM easy to use. Accordingly, designing a shopping site that allows users to navigate with heuristic and minimal clicks for finding information and products within the site is important for improving the site's trust and acceptance. Usefulness, however, was not found to influence trust. Second, among the three belief constructs(ease of use, usefulness, and trust), trust was empirically supported as the most important determinants of user acceptance. This implies that users require trustworthiness from an Internet shopping site to be repeat visitors of an ISM. Providing a sense of safety and eliminating the anxiety of online shoppers in relation to privacy, security, delivery, and product returns are critically important conditions for acquiring repeat visitors. Hence, in addition to usefulness and ease of use as in TAM, trust should be a fundamental determinants of user acceptance in the context of internet shopping. Third, the user's ability on using an Internet shopping site played a moderating role. For users with low ability, ease of use was found to be a more important factors in deciding to reuse the shopping mall, whereas usefulness and trust had more effects on users with high ability. Applying the EML theory to these findings, we can suggest that experienced and knowledgeable ISM users tend to elaborate on such usefulness aspects as efficient and effective shopping performance and trust factors as ability, benevolence, integrity, and predictability of a shopping site before they become repeat visitors of the site. In contrast, novice users tend to rely on the low elaborating features, such as the perceived ease of use. The existence of moderating effects suggests the fact that different individuals evaluate an ISM from different perspectives. The expert users are more interested in the outcome of the visit(usefulness) and trustworthiness(trust) than those novice visitors. The latter evaluate the ISM in a more superficial manner focusing on the novelty of the site and on other instrumental beliefs(ease of use). This is consistent with the insights proposed by the Heuristic-Systematic model. According to the Heuristic-Systematic model. a users act on the principle of minimum effort. Thus, the user considers an ISM heuristically, focusing on those aspects that are easy to process and evaluate(ease of use). When the user has sufficient experience and skills, the user will change to systematic processing, where they will evaluate more complex aspects of the site(its usefulness and trustworthiness). This implies that an ISM has to provide a minimum level of ease of use to make it possible for a user to evaluate its usefulness and trustworthiness. Ease of use is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the acceptance and use of an ISM. Overall, the empirical results generally support the proposed model and identify the moderating effect of the effects of user ability. More detailed interpretations and implications of the findings are discussed. The limitations of this study are also discussed to provide directions for future research.

• Korean journal of food and cookery science
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.545-556
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• 2009

The purposes of this study were to understand the influence of perceived service quality in Korean food restaurants on customer satisfaction and behavioral intention and to empirically analyze whether trust plays a mediating role between both the relations of the perceived service quality and customer satisfaction and the perceived service quality and behavioral intention. Based on total 303 samples obtained from empirical research, this study reviewed the reliability and fitness of the research model and verified a total of 5 hypotheses using the Amos program. The hypothesized relationships in the model were tested simultaneously by using a structural equation model(SEM). The proposed model provided an adequate fit to the data, $X^2{_{(df131)}}$ = 536.566, p<.01, RMR .126, GFI .841, NFI .896, CFI .919, RMSEA .101. The SEM results showed that the perceived service quality(${\beta}$= .823, t = 9.392, p<.001) had a significant positive effect on trust had a significant positive effect on trust, and trust had a significant positive effect on customer satisfaction(${\beta}$ = .730, t = 14.202, p<.001) and behavioral intention(${\beta}$ = .239, t = 3.362, p<.001). Also, customer satisfaction had a significant positive effect on behavioral intention(${\beta}$ = .509, t = 6.978, p<.001). In addition, the effect of the perceived service quality in Korean food restaurants upon behavioral intention was found to be partially mediated by the trust.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.159-180
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• 2012

The objectives of this study are to identify significant antecedents of trust and satisfaction and to examine the relationship between trust and satisfaction and interrelationship between trust, satisfaction, loyalty, relationship retention and intention of words of mouth based on buyers of Chinese internet shopping mall. The questionnaire was collected by personal interview. A total of 448 completed questionnaires were collected. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to test the validity of the measurement model, and the structural model also was analyzed to examine the associations hypothesized in the research model. This study uses AMOS program to investigate the research model. Results in this paper indicate that the antecedents of trust and satisfaction have three dimensions, namely communicational, traditional and relational factors. All these three functions are positively related to trust and satisfaction. Also the results show that trust and satisfaction are positively related to loyalty, relationship retention and intention of words of mouth. Finally, this study suggests the implications of these findings and offers directions for future research.

• Management & Information Systems Review
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• v.18
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• pp.183-199
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• 2006

This study examines this intriguing idea In the context of the E-commerce involved in inquiring and purchasing books on the internet. Survey data from 154 potential users support and offend this hypothesis. The data show that both familiarity with an internet vendor and its processes and trust in the vendor influenced the respondent's intentions to inquire about books, it is primarily people's dispositions to trust that affected their trust in the vendor. The data support the basic assumption of the study both trust and familiarity influence E-commerce. Also, the study show that both trust in a Internet vendor and familiarity with the vendor and its procedures influence two distinct aspects of I-commerce intentions in book selling sites: inquiry and purchase. The influence if familiarity and trust are strong on people's intentions to purchase. The study show that trust and familiarity are distinctly different constructs, and that trust is significantly affected by familiarity, and not only by people's disposition to trust. The research model thus shows both trust and familiarity influence behavioral intentions. In this study, familiarity was introduced primarily as an antecedent of trust, while its role in increasing I-commerce was not as emphasized as that of trust. However, the importance of familiarity might be greater: familiarity influences both purchase intentions and inquiry intentions only slightly less than trust does.

• The Korean Journal of Franchise Management
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.1-15
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• 2022

Purpose: In the restaurant sector, it has been known that consumers' positive perception of brands influences their positive WOM intention, and information sources play an important role in increasing credibility by enhancing consumer awareness and developing differentiated brands. This study examines the effects of information sources (e.g., advertisement, WOM, SNS) on trust (cognitive and affective) and, WOM and eWOM intention in the restaurant context. In the model, cognitive and affective trust play mediating roles in the relationships between information sources (e.g., advertisement, WOM, SNS) WOM and eWOM intention. Research design, data, and methodology: Research models and hypotheses were developed according to the research direction. The survey questionnaire items were developed and used appropriately according to the contents of this paper based on prior studies. All constructs were measured with multiple items developed and validated in prior studies. A total of 502 responses were collected from an online survey. The research model was evaluated using SmartPLS 4.0. Frequency analysis was performed to understand the demographic characteristics of the survey respondents. The reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity were assessed using measurement model analysis. The proposed model was verified using the structural equation model. Results: Advertisement, WOM, and SNS information sources all had a positive effect on affective trust, whereas only WOM had a significant effect on cognitive trust. In addition, affective trust had a positive effect on cognitive trust and eWOM intention but did not affect WOM intention. Finally, cognitive trust was found to have a positive effect on both WOM intention and eWOM intention. Conclusions: This study redefines the concept of where restaurant service companies should focus when providing consumers with information about their products and services. As a result, the conceptual framework of positive word of mouth intention to increase new customer visits to the restaurant brand has been expanded. In addition, this study not only presents an information source management strategy for restaurant brands, but also presents practical implications for resource allocation guidelines for customer management in the restaurant sector.

• 한국경영정보학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.494-499
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• 2007

Recently, owing to the rapid development of Internet and information technology in China, the growth of consumers' purchasing activities in the Internet Shopping Mall has been truly phenomenal. Thus, it is considered essential to understand what affects Chinese consumer's intention to purchase in the Internet Shopping Mall. Based on prior studies, trust is thought as a key factor affecting on Chinese consumers' purchasing intention. Hence, the purpose of the study is to investigate the effects of Chinese consumer's trust on purchasing intention of Internet Shopping Mall. In order to accomplish the purpose of this study, a research model has been established and it suggests that there are significant relationships between trust and purchasing intention, e-commerce knowledge and trust, perceived reputation and trust, perceived risk and trust, perceived ease of use and purchasing intention. The results of the study show that the relationships between these variables are all significant. This research confirms the important effect of Chinese consumer's trust on purchasing intention. Implications of these findings are discussed for researchers and practitioners.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.149-176
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• 2009

In the recent e-learning environment, avatars are often used to help learners get familiar with the contents, which is ultimately to motivate them to study more. Therefore, it is important to investigate whether avatars have actually the desirable effect on users of e-learning materials. Surprisingly, however, no extensive study has been conducted on this crucial issue Accordingly, main objectives this study are summarized as follows. First, we need to gain better understanding of how much learners' trust towards avatars (termed as "avatar trust") is transferred to learners' trust towards e-learning contents (termed as "contents trust"). Second, we need to investigate how much learners' personal relationships with avatars as well as learning behaviors change depending on avatar types (attractive vs. professional) and contents complexity (easy vs. difficult). As described in the study objectives, in order for us to analyze empirical data more systematically, we classified avatar types into two: "attractive" and "professional;" the contents are categorized as either "easy" or "difficult." Therefore, it is essential for this study to build a prototype e-learning website on which our research purpose can be realized and tested effectively with proper avatar types and e-learning contents. For this purpose, we built a prototype e-learning website, in which avatars are invited from currently working avatar instructors used in real-world e-learning websites, and e-learning contents are adapted from real-world contents about Java programming topic, which have been proved to have shown high quality and reliability. Our research method includes questionnaire survey by inviting a number of valid respondents comprised of office workers who are believed to have high demands for the e-learning contents as well as those who have previous experience with avatar instructors. Respondents were given one of the four e-learning experiment conditions (2 avatar types x 2 contents types) on a random basis. Each experimental e-learning condition is framed to have the same quality but different avatar type and content complexity. Then the respondents are asked to fill out the survey form which has questions about avatar trust, contents trust, personal relationships with avatar, and learning behavior, among others. Regarding the constructs used in research model, we based them rigorously on previous studies. For example, we used six constructs such as behavior to give information (BGI), behavior to obtain information (BOI), need for inclusion wanted, need for control wanted, contents trust, and avatar trust. To measure them, 7-Likert scales were used in the questionnaire. E-learning performance was measured indirectly through two constructs such as BGI and BOI. Six constructs used in the research model were adopted and revised from the FIRO-B model suggested by Schutz. Empirical results are as follows: First, professional avatars are more effective for difficult contents, while attractive avatars were not as effective for easy contents. Second, our study results ascertained that avatar trust transfers to contents trust regardless of avatar types and contents complexity.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.27-39
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• 2019

Purpose - This study explores the relationships between e-Marketing and perceived service quality with brand trust and loyalty towards the brand of mobile telephone operators in Kosovo. Research design, data, and methodology - The conceptual model of four constructs was developed, while each construct consisted of the set of variables measured by using five-point Likert scale. The primary data was collected via an online survey through SurveyMonkey, distributed via Facebook and email. The collected data were cleaned, validated and tested for its consistency through Cronbach's Alpha; ensured that five assumptions of multiple linear regression are met. To assess the relationships between outcome variable and dependent variables of the model, performed the bivariate correlation, simple, multiple linear and hierarchical regression. Results - Perceived service quality has a positive significant effect on brand trust and loyalty. e-Marketing presents moderating direct effect on brand loyalty, and slightly higher effect through brand trust of the mobile telephone operators in Kosovo. Conclusions - The perceived service quality and brand trust are key determinants in achieving brand loyalty in telecommunication industry, followed by e-Marketing as means to creating expectations, delivering on promise to meet customers' perceptions for service quality with a purpose of building trust, that leads to loyalty towards the brands of mobile operators in Kosovo.

• The Korean Fashion and Textile Research Journal
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.720-731
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• 2009

The current study investigates the customer's perceived interactivity, perceived trust, and flow of the Internet shopping-mall. The TAM(Technology Acceptance Model) was applied to see the effect on the individual's attitude toward the shopping-mall via purchase intention. To fulfill the study objectives, a total of 806 questionnaires were distributed to the customers with first-hand experience with fashion merchandise in Internet shopping-mall. The judgement sampling method was employed on sample population ages from 20's to 40's over one month period. The result showed the following. First, the perceived interactivity had an effect on perceived trust, usefulness, Flow in all shopping mall types. but there was no effect in the relationship between the two-way Interactivity and the perceived usefulness in the Specialty Internet Shopping-mall model. Second, perceived trust and Flow had an effect on perceived usefulness in all shopping mall types. Third, perceived trust, usefulness and Flow had an effect on the attitude toward shopping-mall in all shopping mall types. Forth, perceived trust, usefulness, Flow and attitude toward shopping-mall had an effect on purchase intention of fashion merchandise in all shopping mall types.