• The Journal of Society for e-Business Studies
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.241-256
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• 2011

The present study examines the impact of eWOM on consumer decision making process by viewing eWOM as the product information supplier. We employ the concept of information entropy which was proposed in the information theory to explain different consumer responses to various types of product information in eWOM. Information entropy is the degree of uncertainty associated with the information in the message. In eWOM, a variety of information with different levels of entropy is available, and these different entropy levels result in different impacts on consumer behavior. The preliminary hypotheses are formulated to examine the impact of eWOM on consumer behavior, at the product attribute level and the purchase action level separately. An experiment was conducted to online shopping mall users and the analysis gives valuable insights into our future research.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.11 no.12
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• pp.51-62
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• 2013

Purpose - A pre-study on service quality-based customer value is conducted with the path structure (perceived value of service quality→customer satisfaction→behavior intention) based on the hierarchical model of service quality including interaction and outcome quality, physical environment quality and the SERVQUAL model of process quality, namely, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibles. In addition, customer value in the service industry is studied by dividing into the two-way structure of utilitarian and emotional values. This study classifies customer values of family restaurants through the customer value model based on the 4×4 matrix needs system of Jeon and Kim (2009). It illustrates the path structure of customer value→customer satisfaction→behavior intention targeting college students in order to generalize the customer value system of family restaurants. Research design, data, and methodology - This study established seven hypotheses based on the relationship between each type of customer value (food quality, convenience, social, emotional, interior quality, service encounter, and purchasing) and customer satisfaction, and the relationship between customer satisfaction and behavior intention. The study data were collected from students in the Department of Business and Tourism at Kimpo University. In all, 294 survey papers were returned of the 300 distributed: 253 pieces were used in the final analysis excluding 41 with insufficient and less effective answers. For statistical analysis, the statistics software package SPSS 15.0 was used. Results - The results of the analysis are as follows: first, the customer values of family restaurants are classified by seven customer values: goods quality value, emotional value, convenience value, social value, purchasing value, service encounter value, and inner quality value. Second, emotional value, purchasing value, service encounter value, and inner quality value had positive impact on customer satisfaction. In particular, purchasing value through being included in functional value was not classified in the previous study; however, this study could classify and generalize this value in a new way. Finally, customer satisfaction had a positive impact on behavior intention. This showed that college students had behavior intention - repurchase intention and word-of-mouth - because they could be content with the food items on the menu and the service provided by employees. Conclusions - The main points based on the above-mentioned results are as follows. This study with college students as study subjects could be classified into four dimensions, namely, generic value, usage value, purchasing value, and physical value and seven sub-dimensions on customer values of family restaurants based on a 4×4 matrix needs system. Then, to confirm its generalization, the path structure of customer value→customer satisfaction→behavior intention was verified. While existing pre-studies used simplified values by classifying restaurant values largely as utilitarian value and hedonic value, this study classified various forms of customer value, and that customer value especially could be expanded by adding purchasing value. As a result, it is shown that marketers need to diversify their customer services because this study proved that customer values can be classified in various ways based on customer needs.

• 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.

• Korean Security Journal
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• no.40
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• pp.35-56
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was aimed to identify the relationship between pursuit benefit and behavior by spectators participating security exhibition. The result of study is significant because it may provide more effective and aggressive marketing strategies to the future companies participating security exhibition, and suggest developmental direction by actively responding spectators' needs. The subject for this study was spectators who participating World Security Expo 2014 held three days from March 12 to 14 in 2014. 300 samples were selected by convenience sampling for subject of this study. 283 out of 300 surveys, excluded 17 unfaithful and defected surveys, were used for data analysis. Research tool was questionnaire which was based on and recomposed by previous researches home and abroad. The collected data were treated for analysis of frequency, reliability, factor analysis, correlation, and regression by using SPSS statistic package version of 18.0. Through the above research method and procedure, the results were as followings. First, the relationship between pursuit benefit and behavior after participating exhibition appeared positively. It was found that there was high relationship between pursuit benefit and behavior. Second, analyzing relationship of factors between pursuit benefit and behaviors resulted to effect information exploration, good use of spare time, and product purchase on word of mouth. Third, analyzing relationship of factors between pursuit benefit and behaviors resulted to effect good use of spare time, information exploration, and product purchase on re-participation.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.269-282
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to compare consumer satisfaction by analyzing importance on characteristics of clothing, performance, and their inconsistency between Korea and the United States. The data was collected by using a survey based on three sages of pre-tests, and main survey conducted in The U.S and Korea. Data of 520 participants from each country (260 males and 260 females) was used. The results of this study is as follows: First, both consumers in Korea and U.S. showed five factors such as aesthetics/trend, body shape, practical use/wearing, care, and distorted. In performance factor of Korean students was consisted of wearing/care, aesthetics, body shape, distorted, and trend/symbolism while that of American students was consisted of wearing, aesthetics, body shape, trend/image factor, and distorted. Second, regarding importance rate, aesthetics/trend, practical use/wearing, care, and distorted affected satisfaction of Korean students whereas aesthetics/trend factor affected satisfaction of American students. Regarding performance, body shape factor, distorted, trend/symbolic affected satisfaction of Korean students whereas trend/image affected satisfaction of American students. Third, satisfaction of Korean and American students influenced re-purchase intention and positive word-of-mouth, so proved to be the result variable of satisfaction. By understanding the differences between consumers in Korea and U.S., apparel importers and exporters may develop effective business strategies to better fulfill their customers' needs and desires, and therefore, increase their profit.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.13-24
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• 2012

This study aimed to investigate the images that affect general travel behavior and satisfaction of eco-tourists of Section seven of Jeju Olle-gil and to give eco-tourists preferred images to newly constructed eco-tour sections. Adjectives were selected to evaluate images, and for analysis, a survey was carried out with 132 persons who have toured 7 section of Jeju Olle-gil. On this survey, basic travel type, overall satisfaction, image before and after experience, age, gender, satisfaction level and accompanying type were inquired. 81(61.4%) knew section 7 of Jeju Olle-gil 'in advance', and 58(39.1%), which takes up the largest portion in this question, came to choose section 7 by a word of mouth. 95(71.9%) answered that they stayed 2 nights and 3 days, and 55(41.7%) answered that they stayed at a pension as accommodation. As for accompanying type, 34(25.7%) answered they accompanied family and relatives. As for the decision of visit, 60(45.5%) replied that they decided one month prior to the visit. And as for the purpose of visit, 63 (33.8%) replied they visited to appreciate nature. The adjectives that demonstrate overall satisfaction and significance level of the tourists were 'placid', 'refreshing', 'living', 'mountainous' and 'green'. As for the satisfaction level, people were satisfied with its environment, cleanliness level and direction boards. The types of section preferred by the tourists were clay pavements, followed by sand-masa soil mixture pavement and wooden deck pavement. 'Oidolgae' section was selected as the representative section, and 10:00a.m.~12:00p.m. was preferred as visiting time. And it is also proved that people were positive in appointing photo zones.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.100-112
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• 2022

Purpose: This study is a qualitative analysis of Korean-American (K-A) women's cancer prevention in the US. Methods: Qualitative research was conducted. Fifteen K-A women in four states were interviewed. Content theme analysis was used to analyze verbatim transcriptions of interviews. Results: Participants experienced difficulties in utilizing cancer screening programs. Factors include unfamiliarity with the US health care system, high health care costs or lack of health insurance, language barriers, and irregular and sporadic cancer screening participation. Participants also actively pursued non-institutional approaches to cancer prevention. They engaged in word-of-mouth informational exchanges in K-A communities, sought cancer screening in hospitals in Korea, conducted internet searches, autonomously decided on their health issues, and adopted healthy practices including better diets, physical exercise, and spiritual practices. Conclusion: It is necessary to implement measures to increase K-A women's utilization of the US cancer screening services and to encourage their active engagement in hands-on cancer prevention practices. K-A women should be empowered through increased familiarity with US cancer screening services and through the establishment of improved K-A community social services.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.77-100
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• 2014

Many researchers have analyzed the relationship between the financial success patterns of a motion picture and many other factors, such as the production cost, marketing, stars, awards, reviews, genre, and rating. Through these studies, many researchers and investors concluded that big budgets to make a blockbuster movie can serve as an insurance policy to meet their ROI; thus the box office is dominated by blockbuster movies. High-budget blockbuster movies are more likely to receive attention because these movies are more recognizable given their high expenses for production and casting. Therefore, audiences choose blockbusters in an effort to reduce the searching cost and to mitigate the possibility of a regrettable choice. This behavior of consumers, in turn, causes distributors to allocate screens for blockbusters, resulting in "concentration of blockbuster consumption." As such, low-budget films cannot easily become popular due to the lack of distribution. Indeed, low-budget films released on a small number of screens often end up becoming dismal failures. However, there are exceptional examples which are contrary to the general idea in the movie industry that a big budget and showings on a large number of screens can guarantee the success of a movie. Although researchers have attempted to analyze the performances of movies with small budgets, such movies are likely to be regarded as outliers and then be entirely discarded, as they are far from the 'three-sigma' range, especially given that previous research methodologies could not explain the financial success of such unique examples. This study attempts to explain the financial success at the box office of low-budget movies by applying the concept of the tunnel effect in quantum mechanics, as the phenomenon found in the movie industry is similar to a particle's movement in quantum physics. The tunneling effect is a phenomenon by which a particle without enough energy to pass over a potential barrier tunnels through it. Adopting the analogy, this study draws a tunneling probability function and cultural constant to forecast other outliers using the Schrödinger equation. Moreover, the study finds that word-of-mouth creates in the movie industry this phenomenon of finding outliers.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.216-224
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• 2019

The number of patients from Middle Eastern Arabic countries is steadily increasing in respect to the South Korean government's medical tourism strategies. Word of mouth is one of the main determinants concerning the Middle Eastern Arab patients' medical tourism destination. Further, patients' satisfaction affects repurchase and revisit intention. This study aimed to measure the level of Middle Eastern Arab patients' satisfaction, and to measure the effect of different medical factors on satisfaction in such patients who are seeking medical attention in South Korea. A 110 Middle Eastern Arab patients who visited South Korea for medical purposes participated in our survey between November, 2016 and April, 2017. All factors had a high mean (${\geq}4.24$; ${\geq}84.8/100$) except for one factor (hospital halal meals (3.82; 76.4)). To identify factors influencing participants' overall satisfaction we used multiple regression analysis. Physicians, interpreters, and halal meals were the main factors influencing overall Middle Eastern Arab patients' satisfaction. Physicians and interpreters in Korea are recommended to be oriented to basic Islamic beliefs and Middle Eastern Arab patients' behavior. Daily communication, such as speaking directly to the patient, limiting important issues to two or three at a time, and translating sentence by sentence, could help to improve Middle Eastern Arab patients' satisfaction. Enlisting Middle Eastern nutrition specialists in medical institutions in South Korea may substantially improve non-medical services satisfaction such as halal food and dietary restrictions.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.43-55
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• 2013

Since movies are experience goods, consumers are easily influenced by other consumers' behavior. For moviegoers, box office rank is the most credible and easily accessible information. Many studies have found that the relationship between a movie's box office rank and its revenue departs from the Pareto distribution, and this phenomenon has been named "increasing returns to information." The primary objective of the current research is to apply the empirical model proposed by De Vany and Walls (1996) to the Korean movie market in order to examine whether the same phenomenon prevails in the Korean movie market. The other purpose of the present study is to provide managers with useful implications about the release timing of a movie by finding different curvatures that depend upon seasonality. The empirical test on the Korean movie market shows similar results as prior studies conducted on the U.S., Hong Kong, and U.K. movie markets. The phenomenon of increasing returns is generated by information transmission among consumers, which makes some movies become blockbusters and others bombs. The proposed model can also be interpreted in such a way that a change in the rank has a nonlinear effect on the movie's performance. If a movie climbs up the chart, it would be rewarded more than its proportion. On the other hand, if a movie falls down in the ranks, its performance would drop rapidly. The research result also indicates that the phenomenon of increasing returns occurs differently depending on when the movies are released. Since the tendency of the increasing returns to information is stronger during the peak seasons, movie marketers should decide upon the release timing of a movie based on its competitiveness. If a movie has substantial potential to incur positive word-of-mouth, it would be more reasonable to release the movie during the peak season to enjoy increasing returns. Otherwise, a movie should be released during the low season to minimize the risk of being dropped from the chart.