• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.105-117
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• 2019

Purpose - Underdog positioning is often used to evoke a positive attitude when interacting with consumers. However, little research has been conducted on the market competition structure and innovation contexts in which underdog positioning produces the most impact. This research aims to investigate unexplored boundary conditions of underdog positioning and addresses two issues: market structures (oligopoly vs monopolistic competition) and perceived firm innovativeness (PFI). Design/methodology - Two one-way ANOVA designs (market structures: monopolistic competitions vs. oligopoly; perceived frim innovativeness: strong vs. weak) were randomly assigned to 297 graduate and undergraduate students (52 % female) majoring in business. Study 1 examined the effect of underdog positioning on consumer attitudes in the different market structures. Study 2 investigated the relationship between underdog effect and consumer attitudes through viewing conditions that varied in PFI. Findings - Drawing on the results of the study, the authors conclude that underdog positioning is effective to generate more positive consumer attitudes when employed in the market structure of monopolistic competition rather than oligopoly. Moreover, both underdog and top dog positioning are likely to generate more positive consumer attitudes when accompanied with strong PFI than weak PFI. Originality/value -This is the first study to distinguish between monopolistic competition and oligopoly market structures with underdog positioning as well as to demonstrate a positive effect of PFI, regardless of the type of brand narratives.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.15 no.sup1
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• pp.94-109
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• 2021

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has dramatically changed nearly every aspect of our lives. Although Dietary lifestyle includes attitudes and behaviors to meet their most basic needs, but few studies have examined the pattern of changes in dietary lifestyle driven by COVID-19. This study explores changes in dietary attitudes and behaviors among Korean consumers after COVID-19. SUBJECTS/METHODS: An online survey was conducted with 549 Korean adults aged 20 and older to identify general demographics and changes in dietary attitudes and behaviors. Data were collected from Oct 12 to Oct 18, 2020. Frequency, percentage, and mean values were calculated and a K-means cluster analysis was performed to categorize consumers based on the 5S of dietary attitudes (i.e., savor-oriented, safety-oriented, sustainability-oriented, saving-oriented, and socializing-oriented). RESULTS: Findings indicate consumers considered safety, health, and freshness to be most important when choosing groceries and prepared meal such as home meal replacement and delivery food. Among the types of services, a large proportion of consumers increased their delivery and take-out services. Regarding retail channels, the increase in the use of online retailers was remarkable compared to offline retailers. Finally, consumers were classified into four segments based on changes in dietary attitudes: "most influenced," "seeking safety and sustainability," "abstaining from savor and socializing," and "least influenced." Each type of consumer exhibited statistically significant differences by sex, age, household composition, presence of disease, and perceived risk of COVID-19. CONCLUSIONS: This exploratory study provides initial insights for future research by identifying various aspects of dietary attitudes and behaviors among Korean consumers after COVID-19.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.105-111
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• 2015

Purpose - Many global companies across industries are paying significant attention to co-creation activities, which enable consumers to participate in firms' value creation process, as a main model of new product development processes. In this study, we aim to examine different types of co-creation activities and their effects on consumer attitudes. We focus on upstream co-creation, downstream co-creation, autonomous co-creation, and sponsored co-creation. Upstream co-creation includes firms' control and management in the initial stage of new product development and prototype testing. Downstream co-creation indicates that consumers participate in firms-initiative activities at a later stage in new product development, such as public relations and marketing communications. Autonomous co-creation includes consumers' commitment activities in the absence of firms' rewards. However, under the sponsored co-creation, consumers can return monetary and social rewards from firms through their co-creation activities. The hypotheses regarding the effect of co-creation on consumer attitudes are as follows. (H1, H2, H3, H4) Upstream, downward, autonomous, and sponsored co-creation has positive effects on consumer attitude. (H5, H6) As intrinsic motivation increases, the positive effect of upstream and autonomous co-creation increases. (H7, H8) As extrinsic motivation increases, the positive effect of downward and sponsored co-creation increases. Research design, data, and methodology - To achieve our research goals, we analyzed responses from 246 samples from Korean consumers and verified the proposed hypotheses using a linear regression model. The samples include Korean consumers who experienced upstream, downstream, autonomous, and sponsored co-creation by firms. Results - First, both upstream co-creation and downstream co-creation with firms and consumers are found to have positive effects on consumer attitudes. Second, autonomous co-creation and sponsored co-creation are found to positively affect consumer attitudes. Third, consumers' intrinsic motivation has a fit-effect between upstream co-creation and autonomous co-creation, and their extrinsic motivation has a fit-effect between downstream co-creation and sponsored co-creation. Consumers who have strong intrinsic motivation are affected by upstream co-creation and autonomous co-creation. However, consumers who have strong extrinsic motivation are affected by downstream co-creation and sponsored co-creation. Conclusion - These results indicate that the fit between consumers' co-creation participation types and consumers'motivations is a significant factor in determining consumer attitudes. The results of this study imply that various types of consumer participation actually improve consumers' attitudes toward products and brands. In addition, our study also suggests that firms should consider the fit between co-creation types and consumers' motivations when they initiate co-creation activities. In this study, we survey consumers who participated in firms' co-creation activities. Future studies can compare different types of consumers. For instance, we can examine the different in different test by comparing experienced versus inexperienced consumers. Finally, we expand this research to user-generated content topics. This attending issue focuses on the mechanism that breaks down the boundaries and barriers between consumers and producers.

• International Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.31-49
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• 2004

The purposes of the study were to examine the trend of undergraduate students' knowledges and attitudes toward elderly and aging traits, and to present the influence of undergraduate students' attitudes. The subjects were 494 undergraduate students. Statistics used such as frequency, Percentage, Mean, Standard Deviation, Cronbach's ${\alpha}$, t-test, Duncan test, ANOVA and Stepwise Multiple Regression Analysis. The results of this study were as follow: 1) Undergraduate students' knowledge level toward the elderly was low, and undergraduate students' attitudes level was middle. 2) There were meaningful differences in attitudes level according to sex, living together with elderly (the present time), living together with elderly (the past time), the presence of grandfather. It also had a significant correlation to the undergraduate students' knowledge. 3) The variables which affected the undergraduate students' attitudes were knowledge, sex, present co-residency with grandparents, past co-residency with grandparents, the presence grandfather, period of co-residency with grandparents that were explained about $24\%$. Among variables, knowledge of elderly was a very important variable on undergraduate students' attitudes.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.44 no.11
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• pp.133-148
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• 2006

This study takes an effort to suggest solutions for medical service consumers' sovereignty. Specifically, consumer evaluation, information seeking level, and affecting factors on information seeking level were explored in terms of medical service. In present study, medical information included medical institution and doctors, prescription, diseases, medical treatment and medical expense. Medical service consumers' information seeking is identified as consumers' own efforts to acquire medical information through various sources. The analysis results suggested that consumers' information seeking level is even lower, while their evaluation level is somewhat low. Moreover, the result for information seeking level by consumer characteristics implied that people who have high education, high economic status, medical knowledge, and high attitudes for consumer right are active information seekers. Finally, consumer attitudes for right appeared most influential factor on information seeking level, implying direction for medical service consumer education.

• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.27-38
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• 1999

The aim of this study is to identify needed consumer education changes through the analysis of the consumer education in elementary schools. The findings of this study are：1. The current situation of elementary school consumer education was examined through analysis of the curricula of elementary schools. 2. Teacher attitudes and perceptions toward elementary school consumer education were also examined. Although the elementary school teachers clearly understood the importance of consumer education, the problem is that a training workshop or program has not been provided for them. This deficiency needs to be addressed quickly. 3. The third part of the study consisted of an analysis of the curriculum of the 11 Teacher’s Colleges in Korea. This partof study revealed that consumer education was not systematically addressed at Teacher’s Colleges. This finding suggests that it is important to have an included with other opening lecture on consumer education, cultural subject. The content of the consumer education must be positively emphasized and applied systematically.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.11 no.8
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• pp.7-19
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• 2020

Purpose: Prior studies rarely investigated the effects of the Word of Mouse (WoM) information on consumers' motivation and willingness to purchase a product. Furthermore, few scholars have studied how word-of-mouth information works and they fail to find consistent results. Research design, data and methodology: This study uses a multivariate regression model to investigate the influence of WoM on consumer attitudes and consumer decision-making. It categorizes the quality of WoM into source level and acceptance level, to analyze its influence from a new perspective. A total of 400 surveys were completed, resulting in 336 usable questionnaires for analysis. It was collected in 14 cities from all regions in China. This study constructs a theoretical model of WoM influence on consumers' purchase willingness based on a systematic review of the related literature on WoM quality, perceived value, customer trust, and consumers' purchase willingness. Results: Empirical results reveal that the Internet WoM (consumer's source level and acceptance level) indirectly affects consumer behavior by influencing consumer attitudes. Conclusions: This study provides practical significance and value for merchants to develop better WoM marketing and to establish the reliability of WoM websites. Companies should consider online WoM from the perspective of consumers, thereby improving existing marketing strategies.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.105-124
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• 2017

The recent global economic crisis has resulted in increased discussion and attention on the sharing economy, a form of economic activity where individuals share currently available products. This study investigates consumer sharing economy usage attitudes and usage intentions by applying rational choice theory. For this study, an investigation that had 400 adult consumers from across Korea answer a structured questionnaire was conducted. A statistical approach using SPSS ver. 22.0 was used to analyze the data. The study found that the consumer's sharing economy value and participation levels were higher than usual. Higher than usual consumption patterns were seen for the construct of rational behavior theory. An analysis of the relative influence of variables regarding sharing economy usage intention also found that usage intention was higher for those who had experienced using a sharing economy services rather than those who did not have experience. In addition, the sharing economy usage intention also increased along with the values for subjective norms, sharing economy usage attitudes, sharing economy participation, sharing economy emotional benefits, and increased values. This study found that fundamental materials for consumer education should be made to eliminate difficulties that consumers have when they use sharing economy services. It is also expected that economic policy will develop to stimulate the sharing economy in a stable manner, that sharing economy-related information will be provided to consumers, and that consumer policies will be prepared to prevent consumer problems before they occur.

• International Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.45-54
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• 2008

This study examines the influence of acculturation level and ethnic groups as a fashion reference group on Korean-American consumer attitude toward luxury fashion brands. Of interest is the role of Korean culture, which emphasizes luxury brand consumption due to the Confucion value of 'face', on Korean-American attitudes toward luxury brands. Data were collected from 108 young Korean-Americans living in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and multiple regressions were conducted for the analysis. In general, the respondents had relatively negative attitudes toward luxury fashion brands. Even though the acculturation level did not have a significant influence, attitudes toward luxury fashion brands were influenced by Korean reference groups. Age at immigration did not have a significant relationship with attitudes toward luxury brands. Korean-Americans who maintain ties with Korean culture are more likely to have a positive attitude towards luxury fashion, regardless of familarity with American culture.

• Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.181-192
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• 2003

With emphasis on environmentally safe and sustainable and economically sound and oriented to consumer, this study intends to assess the consumer's cognition and attitudes for safe food distribution, to investigate the supplying system of the organic farm products, to survey the consumer and life cooperatives dealing with organic farm products, and to draw some implications toward environment- and consumer-oriented agriculture. Related literatures and available documents were reviewed to conceptualize the environmental-and consumer-oriented agriculture and consumer and life cooperatives, to grasp the nationwide status of such alternative agriculture and consumer cooperatives, and investigate the consumers' cognition and attitude. In order to investigate the consumers' needs for organic farm products and to grasp the active consumer and life cooperatives dealing with organic farm products, questionnaire method and non-structured interview were applied. The environment-and consumer-oriented agriculture refers hero to the farming system in which any farm food and other living products giving no harm to human and livestock health and catering the consumers' need. The consumer and life cooperatives is consumer's group buying and selling organic farm products organized in the cooperative system with which any consumer can be affiliated to buy organic farm products safely and reasonably.