• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.10
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• pp.83-91
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• 2015

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to identify whether the operation of cultural centers in discount stores contributes to their profitability. Thus, this study is aimed at exploring how the lifestyles of customers who use the cultural centers influence their intention to use the discount stores. Specifically, the effect of shopping value on the correlation between the lifestyle types and usage intention of the customers were examined through a structured research model. To verify the effect, a survey on 139 customers of the Cultural Center of Nonghyup Hanaro Club's S branch was conducted and the valid questionnaires were used for analysis. Research design, data, and methodology - The findings are as follows. First, the lifestyles seeking self-realization had a positive effect on utilitarian value, and lifestyles seeking pop cultures had a positive effect on hedonic value. Second, the mediating effect of shopping value on the correlation between the lifestyle types and usage intention of the customers is as follows. Utilitarian value had a mediating effect only on the lifestyles seeking self-realization. In case of lifestyles seeking pop cultures, the use of Cultural Center had no effect on the intention to use the discount store. Third, an analysis of a revised research model revealed that the store usage intention of lifestyles seeking pop cultures can be enhanced by boosting the utilitarian value through hedonic value. Results - The findings suggest the following. Customers with lifestyles seeking self-realization, who value what is beneficial to them with little attention to the perceptions of others, are highly interested in the benefits they can gain from shopping. As for customers with lifestyles seeking pop cultures, they are highly likely to consume products popular in a particular culture such as new products and sports, based on financial stability they pursue. Thus, they prefer more subjective, personal experience, unlike consumers pursuing utilitarian value. Conclusions - As a result, the former pursues hedonic value gained in the process of shopping with fun and joy, rather than doing shopping with a particular purpose in mind. Therefore, Cultural Centers need to offer information that fits the lifestyles of the users so that they are more likely to use the discount stores. However, if the Cultural Centers offer unified, profit-driven products and information, just to increase their store sales, it can backfire, which occurred in the past. On the other hand, if they provide information that fits the lifestyles of the users, it can actually increase the sales. Also, the findings suggest that sophisticated marketing strategies that can boost the hedonic value of customers by linking the educational contents of Cultural Centers to actual shopping, which is beneficial to consumers, should be set and operated by discount stores. In particular, customers with lifestyles seeking self-realization can be encouraged to use the stores by making them recognize the utilitarian value. However, the use of Cultural Centers doesn't necessarily lead to higher sales among customers with lifestyles seeking pop cultures. As mentioned previously, unified marketing strategy is not as effective for Cultural Centers of large discount stores.

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.40-51
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• 2020

Much time has passed since Korea's expressway congestion-threshold speed was revised in 2011. In the meantime, various expressway environments have changed owing to improved performance of vehicles, expanded operations of transport competition (i.e., the KTX), and increased speed limits along some expressway sections. In addition, the speed that expressway users expect to travel at is also increasing. Therefore, through a survey, this study investigates expressway users' perceptions of congestion, and reviews the adjustment of the expressway speed congestion threshold by analyzing expressway traffic flow. One result of the survey confirms that the threshold speed expressway users consider to be congestion has slightly increased. Analyzing traffic and speed data through a K-means algorithm found that the threshold speed for congestion is 60 km/h. In addition, assuming the congestion threshold speed increase from 40 km/h to 50 km/h and 60 km/h, frequently congested expressway sections are identified, determining that 50 km/h is appropriate as a congestion threshold for proper expressway mobility management.

• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.61-68
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• 2014

Recently, there have been increasing attempts to pursue and express feelings such as sensibilities, emotions, and impressiveness in commercial spaces. One of such methods is to apply 'storytelling' to space designs. Applicability of storytelling to a space suggests that the contents of a space can be expressed through various mediums. Portraying events and situations through a single time continuity of a story is referred to as 'narrative'. The movement of users and sequence of contents are determined by a narrative. It provides different storytelling and a sense of place to each space through various roles, such as wide association, engraving, and image formation. A narrative can lead users to engage in different perceptions and behaviors even in spaces with the same content. Thus, this study is intended to examine the impact of space marketing in line with design narratives, assuming that narratives of commercial space designs will influence the formation of brand identity. The research methods are as follows. First, the definition of narratives in space design was established by examining narrative architectures. Second, design analysis tools for commercial spaces were established from the perspective of narratives through preceding studies. Third, the design narratives of different shops under the same brand were comparatively analyzed through a case study. To carry out a case study, a commercial space of 'O'sulloc' was selected, and its brand identity was studied from the narrative standpoint. The case study involved interior designs of 7 road shops of 'O'sulloc.' Among the 7 road shops, two of them with the biggest difference in design narratives were selected, and an observation survey was done on the users as a second analysis. Through the observation survey, actual design narrative experience was analyzed in 4 steps of introduction, development, turn, and conclusion. The findings are as follows. The design method of each shop varied, and different design elements were emphasized. Among various elements, the ones that reflect the brand identity of 'O'sulloc' the best were logo, product, and shape. During the process of narratives, the characteristics of each shop and user recognition and behavior varied depending on the degree of emphasis on a particular element. It suggests that space design narratives can influence the formation of brand identity. This study provides ideal directions of developing space designs necessary for forming brand identity from the standpoint of Korean traditional culture modernization. Future studies could discuss the economic feasibility of such designs.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.68-73
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• 2023

Smoke masks have attracted great interests and have been supplied widely for the improvement of the safety during fire evacuation. However, there is not sufficient research on the practical utility, certification status and easy-donning about commercial smoke masks, therefore it is difficult to determine the actual usefulness of the smoke masks. In this study, we conducted a survey on users' perceptions and experiences about the smoke masks, and investigated the status of certification of 54 commercial smoke masks. We also performed donning tests and examined degrees of discomfort for 4 types of the smoke masks. Although 22% of 235 respondents had experienced the smoke masks before the test, and 23% of the respondents did not know the smoke masks, 93% of the respondents expected that the smoke masks could protect users from fire smokes and toxic gases. It was found that 41% of the commercial smoke masks did not certify according to domestic or overseas performance standards. Most certification standards have not effectively regulated maximum wearing time for the smoke masks. Only ASTM E 2952 and KFIS 024 had specific standards for the maximum wearing time of 30 s. As a result of donning tests for 4 types of smoke masks, the wearing time of the hood-type mask and self-contained smoke mask exceeded 30 s, therefore these types of smoke masks might increase the required safe evacuation time. On the other hand, it was also found that short education about the donning could reduce the wearing time by 19% and numbers of improper wearing by 89%.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.153-169
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• 2020

A new way of shopping based on virtual assistant, so called voice shopping, is drawing attention. The voice shopping market is growing around the world, and Korea is on the verge of full-scale commercialization of this new shopping. For the development of voice shopping-related industries, it is necessary to research on specific issues related to this new shopping methods, such as the quality of services, efficient processes tailored to new ways, and ways to build customer relationships. As part of such an attempt, the study seeks to determine the factors that affect consumers' perception and attitudes toward voice shopping. The study conducted the analysis based on survey response data of 171 online shopping users. In addition to the typical factors of the technology acceptability model(TAM) such as perceived usefulness and ease of use, the impact of perceived playfulness was included for analyzing the intention on the acceptance of voice shopping. In particular, this study focuses on the impact of user attributes. For the spread of voice shopping, it is necessary to set up a valid target customer and understand users for establishing an effective customer relationship. Therefore, this study tries to analyze how the perceptions on the voice shopping(perceived usefulness, ease of use, and perceived playfulness) are affected by users' attributes, such as user innovativeness and user knowledge level. The result of analysis shows that user innovativeness have a positive relationship with all of perceived usefulness, ease of use, and perceived playfulness. The user knowledge base, however, was not significant to all these three variables. The user knowledge base is shown to have a positive effect on user innovativeness which is the source of positively significant factor for the variable of the perceptions on the voice shopping. Meanwhile, among the variables of extended technology acceptance model, perceived usefulness and perceived playfulness have positive effects on the acceptance of voice shopping, while ease of use has no significant impact on the voice shopping acceptance. Ease of use has a positive relationship with perceived usefulness and playfulness. This study is meaningful in providing implications on the development of voice shopping platforms and related services, and establishment of customer relationship.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.67 no.2
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• pp.285-310
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• 2015

The purpose of this study is to verify qualitatively and quantitatively practitioners' perceptions of functions and roles of community child center which plays a pivotal role in afterschool care in Korea. To achieve its purposes, we investigate environments, services, workers, service users, and delivery systems of community child center. As a result, 4 types of perception of community child center(service integration-oriented type focusing on professional workers, care-oriented type based on child care center's physical environment, delivering service-oriented type working in collaboration with schools, and individual case management-oriented type) were examined. These results were also classified into two categories. One focused on the importance of workers and supports for service environments. The other focused more on the functions of community child center to find commonality and originality in other afterschool care systems. This study can be valuable in understanding practitioners' different perception on functions and roles of community child center which have not yet been confirmed statistically. The results allow us to apply diverse practitioners' perceptions to the practice, and to elicit discussions regarding improved practice directions for managing community child center. It also can provide useful baseline data in policy decisions and enforcement.

• The Journal of Society for e-Business Studies
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.95-118
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• 2009

Virtual community, which is formed on the internet, is expected to serve the needs of members for communication, information, and knowledge sharing. The executives of organizations should consider operating strategy of virtual community as a new innovation or knowledge pool since members share knowledge. However, many virtual community have failed due to members' low willingness to engage and furthermore to share knowledge with other members. Thus, there is a need to understand and foster the determinants of members' loyalty in virtual community. The objective of this study is to develop an integrated model designed to investigate and explain the relationships between contextual factors, personal perceptions of virtual community, usefulness, ease of use, familiarity, members' trust, reputation, community trust, attitude, satisfaction and loyalty. Empirical data was collected from 286 internet users and tested using structural equation modeling to verify the fit of the hypothetical model. The results show that the usefulness, familiarity significantly influences attitude and members' trust is significantly influence the community trust. And I confirmed that ease of use and attitude play the role of determinants in making the satisfaction, community trust and reputation influence the satisfaction that have the direct effect to making the loyalty. The results of the study can be used to identify the loyalty in virtual community. By investigating the impacts of contextual factors and personal perceptions on virtual community, the integrated model better explains behavior than other proposed models. This study might help executives of virtual communities and organizations to manage and promote community trust, attitude, satisfaction to stimulate members' willingness to revisit the community and futhermore enhance their virtual community loyalty.

• Journal of the Korean BIBLIA Society for library and Information Science
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.93-114
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• 2021

COVID-19 has been affecting the library, not to mention society as a whole. Especially, there are many changes in the role and service of the university libraries as all the classes of the universities are turned into non-face-to-face and the use of the university libraries is restricted. The changes in users' use of information and communication behavior due to COVID-19 could be an opportunity for new utilization of human and material resources the university libraries have and for the development of services. However, on the contrary, the university libraries could face another crisis if they fail to respond appropriately to current changes. Therefore, it is necessary to grasp, analyze the impact of COVID-19 and plan how to respond. A survey on the effects of COVID-19 and the response of the university libraries and the perceptions of the university libraries found that most university libraries are responding appropriately to COVID-19. However, a survey on the perceptions of the present and future of the university libraries under COVID-19 showed that many survey respondents think COVID-19 would have a negative impact on the university libraries. This means that the changes caused by COVID-19 are causing a crisis and anxiety in the university libraries. Therefore, by working hard together, the university libraries need to present the university libraries' new role, service and direction in the post-COVID-19 era as well as responding to the current situation.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.187-217
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• 2021

This study investigated the perceptions of librarians about Podcast and YouTube services in libraries. The study was designed by applying the Extended Technology Acceptance Model. Librarian's personal, organizational, and social awareness of library Podcast or YouTube services and the degree of understanding of users and their needs on services were mediated by perceived usefulness or ease of services= and influenced to having intentions and providing the services. First, we investigated the types of Podcast and YouTueb services provided by 39 libraries in Korea. Also, we collected data using an online survey method from 181 librarians and conducted hierarchical multiple regression analysis. Findings showed that libraries are using Podcast and YouTube appropriately considering features and functions of media, mainly for library event information/promotion, library programs, book recommendations, and author (librarian) lectures or interviews. Organizational or social awareness of librarians, i.e., library educational support, human resource supports, librarian recognition, job-related features, and understanding of user perceptions and needs, influenced the intention to provide library services. Also, there was a difference in perceived usefulness and ease of services between librarians who provided Podcast and YouTube services and those who did not. We expect that findings could be used as references to understand and support various aspects of librarians in charge of developing and providing Podcast or YouTube services in libraries.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.91-103
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• 2024

This study conducted surveys and in-depth interviews to explore the perception of sports psychology counseling among athletes. The participants included a total of 8 individuals: 307 athletes surveyed, 4 athletes who had received counseling, and 4 who had not. The survey investigated athletes' perceptions and management of psychological training, the perceived necessity of seeking advice for everyday concerns, willingness to use and perceived need for sports psychology counseling, prior experiences, and pre-engagement considerations. According to the survey results, 69.1% of athletes recognized the importance of mental training, but only 33.2% actually underwent psychological training. Furthermore, while 67.8% expressed a desire to receive education on psychological training from professionals, only 19.9% reported having searched for related information. When asked about their willingness to pay for sports psychology counseling services, 55.7% expressed willingness. Reasons for wanting to receive counseling, reasons for not wanting to receive counseling, and preferences or considerations for counseling sessions were listed as well. In the in-depth interviews, participants were classified into those who had received counseling and those who had not, delving deeply into motivations for seeking counseling or reasons for not doing so, perceptions during counseling sessions, considerations, preferred types of counselors, and program preferences. Based on this research, discussions and recommendations were provided with the perspective of utilizing sports psychology counseling as foundational data for providing high-quality services to users.