• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.73-92
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• 2009

Consumers influence other consumers' brand choice behavior by delivering a variety of objective or subjective information on a particular product, which is called WOM (Word-Of-Mouth) activities. For WOM activities, WOM senders should choose messages to deliver to other consumers. We classify the contents of the messages a consumer chooses for WOM delivery into two categories: Subjective (positive or negative) evaluation and objective information on products. In our study, we regard WOM senders' activities as a choice behavior and introduce a choice model to study the relationship between the choice of different WOM information (WOM with positive or negative subjective evaluation and WOM with objective information) and its influencing factors (information sources and consumer characteristics) by developing two bivariate Probit models. In order to consider the mediating effects of WOM senders' product involvement, product attitude, and their characteristics (gender and age), we develop three second-level models for the propagation of positive evaluations, of negative evaluations, and of objective information on products in an hierarchical Bayesian modeling framework. Our empirical results show that WOM senders' information choice behavior differs according to the types of information sources. The effects of information sources on WOM activities differ according to the types of WOM messages (subjective evaluation (positive or negative) and objective information). Therefore, our study concludes that WOM activities can be partially managed with effective communication plans influencing on consumers' WOM message choice behavior. The empirical results provide some guidelines for consumers' propagation of information on products companies want.

• Management & Information Systems Review
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.117-144
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• 2010

This paper planned to review positively the influence of leading variables - Functional benefits, Emotional benefits, Self-expressive benefits over Consumer-brand relationship, and the structural relationship between Consumer-brand relationship and Brand attachment, Word-of-mouse. For it, we verified our hypothesis utilizing Hierarchial chi-square analysis that was available to statistically verify the size between 2 paths out of Structural models As the result of research, Emotional benefits was more influential than Functional benefits in the formation of Consumer-brand relationship. Additionally, the influential difference between Emotional benefits and Self-expressive benefits was not found in the formation of Consumer-brand relationship. In other words, both Emotional benefits and Functional benefits were proved to have a positive influence on forming Consumer-brand relationship. On the other hand, Self expressive benefits played a more influential role than Functional benefit in the formation of Consumer-brand relationship. The fact was also proved that the higher the formation level of Consumer -brand relationship was, the greater positive influence over Brand attachment and Word-of-mouse Through the above results, it is more desirable to establish brand strategy for forming Consumer-brand relationship through Emotional benefits and Self expressive benefits rather than Functional benefits. Additionally, the Consumer-brand relationship formed by Value benefit is expected not only to get the level of attachment, showing like love, toward the brand deeper, but also to achieve the effect of positive, long term communication through voluntary Word-of-mouse.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.53-74
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• 2018

Since South Korea has an economic structure that has a characteristic which market-dependent on overseas, the tourism industry is considered as a very important industry for the national economy, such as improving the country's balance of payments or providing income and employment increases. Accordingly, the necessity of more accurate forecasting on the demand in the tourism industry has been raised to promote its industry. In the related research, economic variables such as exchange rate and income have been used as variables influencing tourism demand. As information technology has been widely used, some researchers have also analyzed the effect of media on tourism demand. It has shown that the media has a considerable influence on traveler's decision making, such as choosing an outbound destination. Furthermore, with the recent availability of online information searches to obtain the latest information and two-way communication in social media, it is possible to obtain up-to-date information on travel more quickly than before. The information in online media such as blogs can naturally create the Word-of-Mouth effect by sharing useful information, which is called eWOM. Like all other service industries, the tourism industry is characterized by difficulty in evaluating its values before it is experienced directly. And furthermore, most of the travelers tend to search for more information in advance from various sources to reduce the perceived risk to the destination, so they can also be influenced by online media such as online news. In this study, we suggested that the number of online media posting, which causes the effects of Word-of-Mouth, may have an effect on the number of outbound travelers. We divided online media into public media and private media according to their characteristics and selected online news as public media and blog as private media, one of the most popular social media in tourist information. Based on the previous studies about the eWOM effects on online news and blog, we analyzed a relationship between the volume of eWOM and the outbound tourism demand through the panel model. To this end, we collected data on the number of national outbound travelers from 2007 to 2015 provided by the Korea Tourism Organization. According to statistics, the highest number of outbound tourism demand in Korea are China, Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong and the Philippines, which are selected as a dependent variable in this study. In order to measure the volume of eWOM, we collected online news and blog postings for the same period as the number of outbound travelers in Naver, which is the largest portal site in South Korea. In this study, a panel model was established to analyze the effect of online media on the demand of Korean outbound travelers and to identify that there was a significant difference in the influence of online media by each time and countries. The results of this study can be summarized as follows. First, the impact of the online news and blog eWOM on the number of outbound travelers was significant. We found that the number of online news and blog posting have an influence on the number of outbound travelers, especially the experimental result suggests that both the month that includes the departure date and the three months before the departure were found to have an effect. It is shown that online news and blog are online media that have a significant influence on outbound tourism demand. Next, we found that the increased volume of eWOM in online news has a negative effect on departure, while the increase in a blog has a positive effect. The result with the country-specific models would be the same. This paper shows that online media can be used as a new variable in tourism demand by examining the influence of the eWOM effect of the online media. Also, we found that both social media and news media have an important role in predicting and managing the Korean tourism demand and that the influence of those two media appears different depending on the country.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.225-236
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• 2008

This study is to evaluate the influence of relationship marketing and identify empirically the important factors which affect relationship continuity between multimodal transport operators and shippers. The empirical findings of this research are, MTO's marketing activity factors which consist of customers' contact intensity, relationship-oriented factors, positively affects relationship continuity such as revisit intention and word-of-mouth communication. As a result, relationship marketing activities are essential to the market strategy of MTO for continuous and stable growth. Also, on condition of transactional types, On-line transaction has an effect of customer switching, but there is no different effect in case of service type. Accordingly, international MTO in domestic need to develop various relationship marketing programs such as a special program for enhancing the continuity, an event for long-term customers and training program should be implemented and enforced to elevate qualify of the service encounter.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.239-249
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• 2022

This study aims to analyze and compare the activating factors of domestic and overseas scuba diving resorts. Our delphi survey was conducted three times in 30 experts who involved in operation and management including scuba diving resort management representative and training team leader. As a result of comparing the activating factors at domestic versus overseas, it was found that common important activating factors included expansion of convenient facilities at public diving places, installation of safety and medical facilities for divers, development of first aid system including AED and oxygen ventilator, requirement of convenient facilities such as water lift and toilet in diving boat, installation of diving boat screw safety system, local boat operation guideline, regular course training program for scuba diving, employment of professional scuba diving instructor and guide, communication and promotion through various SNS portals, promotion by divers' word of mouth, involvement in regional Diving Resort Association, involvement in Korean Diving Association, communication and mutual benefit with local fishing villages, and linkage policy with local tourism industry.

• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.175-185
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• 2020

Mobile shopping has been settled down as one of the general shopping methods, good enough to be called new normal today. Contrary to the initial stage for researching the shopping in online environment, the factors more important today must be changed quite a lot. Thus, this study aimed to select the service quality factors regarded as important in mobile shopping, to examine their effects on consumers' rational-emotional evaluation, and also to understand a series of influence relations led to the purchase intention and word of mouth effect in the future, and then obtained the significant results. In the results of this study, only the Personalization and responsiveness of service quality had positive(+) effects on the consumer sentiment, and the consumer sentiment had positive(+) effects on the consumer behavior. Such results verified that the Personalization and responsiveness would be important factors to consumers. Also, when the consumer satisfaction is high, the consumer behavior would be positive too.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.147-157
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors influencing the intent to revisit among health screening center customers. The subjects were 195 customers of a health screening center. The intent to revisit was positively correlated with customer satisfaction and word-mouth communication. Multiple regressions showed that customer satisfaction and perceived health status explained 29% of the variance of the intent to revisit. In order to increase the intent to revisit, hospital and nursing managers should strive to improve customer satisfaction. In particular, strategies to arrange explanation of the result consultations, individual health management tailored to customers' needs, and customers-relationship management for continuing relations with the customer should be needed. In addition, it will be needed to expand the roles of nurses who are working in the health screening center from simple heath check or customer reception to active health education and continuous health screening plan after initial one.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.133-146
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• 2013

While the use of internet is routine nowadays, users receive and share information through a variety of media. Through the use of internet, information delivery media is diversifying from traditional media of one-way communication, such as newspaper, TV, and radio, into media of two-way communication. In contrast of traditional media, blogs enable individuals to directly upload and share news, which can be considered to have a differential speed of information diffusion than news media that convey information unilaterally. Therefore this Study focused on the difference between online news and social media blogs. Moreover, there are variations in the speed of information diffusion because that information closely related to one person boosts communications between individuals. We believe that users' standard of evaluation would change based on the types of information. As well, the speed of information diffusion would change based on the level of proximity. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the differences in information diffusion based on the types of media. And then information is segmentalized and an examination is done to see how information diffusion differentiates based on the types of information. This study used the Bass diffusion model, which has been frequently used because this model has higher explanatory power than other models by explaining diffusion of market through innovation effect and imitation effect. Also this model has been applied a lot in other information diffusion related studies. The Bass diffusion model includes an innovation effect and an imitation effect. Innovation effect measures the early-stage impact, while the imitation effect measures the impact of word of mouth at the later stage. According to Mahajan et al. (2000), Innovation effect is emphasized by usefulness and ease-of-use, as well Imitation effect is emphasized by subjective norm and word-of-mouth. Also, according to Lee et al. (2011), Innovation effect is emphasized by mass communication. According to Moore and Benbasat (1996), Innovation effect is emphasized by relative advantage. Because Imitation effect is adopted by within-group influences and Innovation effects is adopted by product's or service's innovation. Therefore, ours study compared online news and social media blogs to examine the differences between media. We also choose different types of information including entertainment related information "Psy Gentelman", Current affair news "Earthquake in Sichuan, China", and product related information "Galaxy S4" in order to examine the variations on information diffusion. We considered that users' information proximity alters based on the types of information. Hence, we chose the three types of information mentioned above, which have different level of proximity from users' standpoint, in order to examine the flow of information diffusion. The first conclusion of this study is that different media has similar effect on information diffusion, even the types of media of information provider are different. Information diffusion has only been distinguished by a disparity between proximity of information. Second, information diffusions differ based on types of information. From the standpoint of users, product and entertainment related information has high imitation effect because of word of mouth. On the other hand, imitation effect dominates innovation effect on Current affair news. From the results of this study, the flow changes of information diffusion is examined and be applied to practical use. This study has some limitations, and those limitations would be able to provide opportunities and suggestions for future research. Presenting the difference of Information diffusion according to media and proximity has difficulties for generalization of theory due to small sample size. Therefore, if further studies adopt to a request for an increase of sample size and media diversity, difference of the information diffusion according to media type and information proximity could be understood more detailed.

• The Korean Journal of Franchise Management
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.45-55
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• 2018

Purpose - Non-verbal Communication with customers in restaurant business can play an important role because it affects customer behavior and attitudes as a means to develop and maintain long-term relationships with customers. The purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of non-verbal communication with customers and the effect of the influence on customer satisfaction, trust, and revisit intention. Research design, data, methodology - In order to verify the research models and hypotheses of this study, questions were prepared for each variable and data were collected through questionnaires. The questionnaire survey was conducted from March 27, 2018 to April 17, 2018, for those who agreed with the citizens of the Jeju area who visited the restaurant recently. 50 out of 100 were conducted by internet survey and 50 were surveyed. Thus, a total of 100 responses were used using structural equation modeling with Smartpls 3.0. Results - The results of the study are as follows. First, non-verbal communication has a significant impact on customer emotion. Second customer emotion have a significant impact on customer trust and satisfaction. Third, Customer satisfaction had positive a significant effect on revisit intention. Fourth, Customer trust had positive a significant effect on revisit intention. Conclusions - The implications of this study are following as: The food service company should continuously provide non-verbal communication training to employees so that they can respond to customers with the right attitude and bright smile. In particular, in the case of restaurant franchises, customer response manuals should be created and distributed to the franchisees, and a regular training program for the franchisees should be implemented to provide the same service to the customer. Second, CEOs should have to worry about what kind of experience he or she has left since leaving the store. It is also necessary to constantly look at what customers experience in their stores or in their brands, and what emotions they form through their experiences. Third, the more satisfied or trusted customers are formed through the service of the employee, the more loyal the restaurant business will be, and the more likely it is to make continuous revisit and positive word-of-mouth activities..

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.134-144
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• 2011

Crossmedia Storytelling is receiving attention as a new style of description in the age of limitless competition and infinite fusion among media. Crossmedia Storytelling specifies a form of storytelling carried out through mixed usage of plural media, such as televisions, movies, and web services. It is different from OSMU strategy in that plays one source of contents according to the characteristics of various media while Crossmedia Storytelling demands users' active participation. Moreover, it is also slightly different from Transmedia Storytelling in the point that narratives of each media are not complete themselves and only through effectively combining plural media can the whole story fully enjoyed. This research aims to analyze how users move among media in terms of Crossmedia contents by examining cases of Swedish interactive drama series , from Australia, and from the United States. To do so, first, the paper looks into the principles of Crossmedia communication and examines that it is based on online word-of-mouth communication, such as viral marketing. As a result, the following was found in the cases of Crossmedia Storytelling: negative stories that arouse users' emotional reactions & users' participation are effective, and the set-up of Sneezer, which causes the knowledge gap, is very important. It was also found that users' participation was actively taking place through online WOM communication in Crossmedia Storytelling.