• Title/Summary/Keyword: cross-cultural research

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Growth and Fruit Characteristics of 'Cheongsoo' Grape in Different Trellis Systems ('청수' 포도의 수형에 따른 수체 생육 및 과실 특성)

  • Kim, Su Jin;Park, Seo Jun;Jung, Sung Min;Noh, Jeong Ho;Hur, Youn Young;Nam, Jong Cheol;Park, Kyo Sun
    • Horticultural Science & Technology
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    • v.32 no.4
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    • pp.427-433
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    • 2014
  • Trellising is an important cultural practice that affects grape quality and yield. Some grape cultivars require different trellising under different climate and soil conditions. To find suitable trellis conditions for grape cultivar 'Cheongsoo', we measured growth and fruit characteristics with three different trellis systems: curtain, Geneva double curtain (GDC), and modified T. The maximum light exposure of clusters in the curtain, GDC, modified T trellis systems was 670, 1,654, and $1,649{\mu}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$, respectively. However, there was no difference in air temperature among the three trellis systems. Net $CO_2$ assimilation rate at $1,500{\mu}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$ light intensity was 13.4, 13.7, and $8.7{\mu}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$ in curtain, GDC, and modified T trellis systems, respectively. Trunk cross section area (TCSA) and bud burst rate were not significantly different among the three systems. Shoot number was 31.3, 47.0, and 37.0 in curtain, GDC, and modified T trellis systems, respectively. The shoot length was higher (243.9 cm) in the modified T trellis system than in the single curtain (171.1 cm) and GDC (151.5 cm) systems. Interior leaf number and leaf layer number were higher in the GDC system, in which there are two primary branches, in comparison to the modified T and curtain systems, which utilize one primary branch. Primary leaf area and lateral leaf area were significantly higher in the modified T trellis system in comparison to the GDC system. Berry weight, length and diameter, and total soluble solids were not significantly different among the three trellis systems. However, cluster weight and cluster number per tree were significantly higher in GDC. Titratable acidity was significantly lower in GDC. Collectively, our data suggest that the GDC trellis system is preferable for grape 'Cheongsoo' to maintain fruit quality and quantity in Korea.

Brand Equity and Purchase Intention in Fashion Products: A Cross-Cultural Study in Asia and Europe (상표자산과 구매의도와의 관계에 관한 국제비교연구 - 아시아와 유럽의 의류시장을 중심으로 -)

  • Kim, Kyung-Hoon;Ko, Eun-Ju;Graham, Hooley;Lee, Nick;Lee, Dong-Hae;Jung, Hong-Seob;Jeon, Byung-Joo;Moon, Hak-Il
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.18 no.4
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    • pp.245-276
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    • 2008
  • Brand equity is one of the most important concepts in business practice as well as in academic research. Successful brands can allow marketers to gain competitive advantage (Lassar et al.,1995), including the opportunity for successful extensions, resilience against competitors' promotional pressures, and the ability to create barriers to competitive entry (Farquhar, 1989). Branding plays a special role in service firms because strong brands increase trust in intangible products (Berry, 2000), enabling customers to better visualize and understand them. They reduce customers' perceived monetary, social, and safety risks in buying services, which are obstacles to evaluating a service correctly before purchase. Also, a high level of brand equity increases consumer satisfaction, repurchasing intent, and degree of loyalty. Brand equity can be considered as a mixture that includes both financial assets and relationships. Actually, brand equity can be viewed as the value added to the product (Keller, 1993), or the perceived value of the product in consumers' minds. Mahajan et al. (1990) claim that customer-based brand equity can be measured by the level of consumers' perceptions. Several researchers discuss brand equity based on two dimensions: consumer perception and consumer behavior. Aaker (1991) suggests measuring brand equity through price premium, loyalty, perceived quality, and brand associations. Viewing brand equity as the consumer's behavior toward a brand, Keller (1993) proposes similar dimensions: brand awareness and brand knowledge. Thus, past studies tend to identify brand equity as a multidimensional construct consisted of brand loyalty, brand awareness, brand knowledge, customer satisfaction, perceived equity, brand associations, and other proprietary assets (Aaker, 1991, 1996; Blackston, 1995; Cobb-Walgren et al., 1995; Na, 1995). Other studies tend to regard brand equity and other brand assets, such as brand knowledge, brand awareness, brand image, brand loyalty, perceived quality, and so on, as independent but related constructs (Keller, 1993; Kirmani and Zeithaml, 1993). Walters(1978) defined information search as, "A psychological or physical action a consumer takes in order to acquire information about a product or store." But, each consumer has different methods for informationsearch. There are two methods of information search, internal and external search. Internal search is, "Search of information already saved in the memory of the individual consumer"(Engel, Blackwell, 1982) which is, "memory of a previous purchase experience or information from a previous search."(Beales, Mazis, Salop, and Staelin, 1981). External search is "A completely voluntary decision made in order to obtain new information"(Engel & Blackwell, 1982) which is, "Actions of a consumer to acquire necessary information by such methods as intentionally exposing oneself to advertisements, taking to friends or family or visiting a store."(Beales, Mazis, Salop, and Staelin, 1981). There are many sources for consumers' information search including advertisement sources such as the internet, radio, television, newspapers and magazines, information supplied by businesses such as sales people, packaging and in-store information, consumer sources such as family, friends and colleagues, and mass media sources such as consumer protection agencies, government agencies and mass media sources. Understanding consumers' purchasing behavior is a key factor of a firm to attract and retain customers and improving the firm's prospects for survival and growth, and enhancing shareholder's value. Therefore, marketers should understand consumer as individual and market segment. One theory of consumer behavior supports the belief that individuals are rational. Individuals think and move through stages when making a purchase decision. This means that rational thinkers have led to the identification of a consumer buying decision process. This decision process with its different levels of involvement and influencing factors has been widely accepted and is fundamental to the understanding purchase intention represent to what consumers think they will buy. Brand equity is not only companies but also very important asset more than product itself. This paper studies brand equity model and influencing factors including information process such as information searching and information resources in the fashion market in Asia and Europe. Information searching and information resources are influencing brand knowledge that influences consumers purchase decision. Nine research hypotheses are drawn to test the relationships among antecedents of brand equity and purchase intention and relationships among brand knowledge, brand value, brand attitude, and brand loyalty. H1. Information searching influences brand knowledge positively. H2. Information sources influence brand knowledge positively. H3. Brand knowledge influences brand attitude. H4. Brand knowledge influences brand value. H5. Brand attitude influences brand loyalty. H6. Brand attitude influences brand value. H7. Brand loyalty influences purchase intention. H8. Brand value influence purchase intention. H9. There will be the same research model in Asia and Europe. We performed structural equation model analysis in order to test hypotheses suggested in this study. The model fitting index of the research model in Asia was $X^2$=195.19(p=0.0), NFI=0.90, NNFI=0.87, CFI=0.90, GFI=0.90, RMR=0.083, AGFI=0.85, which means the model fitting of the model is good enough. In Europe, it was $X^2$=133.25(p=0.0), NFI=0.81, NNFI=0.85, CFI=0.89, GFI=0.90, RMR=0.073, AGFI=0.85, which means the model fitting of the model is good enough. From the test results, hypotheses were accepted. All of these hypotheses except one are supported. In Europe, information search is not an antecedent of brand knowledge. This means that sales of global fashion brands like jeans in Europe are not expanding as rapidly as in Asian markets such as China, Japan, and South Korea. Young consumers in European countries are not more brand and fashion conscious than their counter partners in Asia. The results have theoretical, practical meaning and contributions. In the fashion jeans industry, relatively few studies examining the viability of cross-national brand equity has been studied. This study provides insight on building global brand equity and suggests information process elements like information search and information resources are working differently in Asia and Europe for fashion jean market.

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The Effect of E-SERVQUAL on e-Loyalty for Apparel Online Shopping (재망상복장구물중전자(在网上服装购物中电子)E-SERVQUAL 대전자충성도적영향(对电子忠诚度的影响))

  • Kim, Eun-Young;Jackson, Vanessa P.
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.19 no.4
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    • pp.57-63
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    • 2009
  • With an exponential increase in electronic commerce (e-commerce), marketers are attempting to gain a competitive advantage by emphasizing service quality and post interaction service aspects, which leads to customer satisfaction or behavioral consequence. Particularly for apparel, service quality is one of the key determinants in encouraging customer e-loyalty, and hence the success of apparel retailing in the context of electronic commerce. Therefore, this study explores e-service quality (E-SERVQUAL) factors and their unique effects on e-loyalty for apparel online shopping based on Parasuraman et al' s (2005) framework. Specific objectives of this study are to identify underlying dimension of E-SERVQUAL, and analyze a structural model for examining the effect of E-SERVQUAL on e-loyalty for online apparel shopping. For the theoretical framework of service quality in the context of online shopping, literatures on traditional and electronic service quality factors were comparatively reviewed, and two aspects of core and recovery services were identified. This study hypothesized that E-SERVQUAL has an effect on e-loyalty; customer satisfaction has a positive effect on e-service loyalty for apparel online shopping; and customer satisfaction mediates in the effect of E-SERVQUAL on e-loyalty for apparel online shopping. A self-administered questionnaire was developed based on literatures. A total of 252 usable questionnaires were obtained from online consumers who had purchase experience with online shopping for apparel products and reside in standard metropolitan areas, in the United States. Factor analysis (e.g., exploratory, confirmatory) was conducted to assess the validity and reliability and the structural equation model including measurement and structural models was estimated via LISREL 8.8 program. Findings showed that the E-SERVQUAL of shopping websites for apparel consisted of five factors: Compensation, Fulfillment, Efficiency, System Availability, and Responsiveness. This supports Parasuraman (2005)'s E-S-QUAL encompassing two aspects of core service (e.g., fulfillment, efficiency, system availability) and recovery related service (e.g., compensation, responsiveness) in the context of apparel shopping online. In the structural equation model, there are five exogenous latent variables for e-SERVQUAL factors; and two endogenous latent variables (e.g., customer satisfaction, e-loyalty). For the measurement model, the factor loadings for each respective construct were statistically significant and were greater than .60 and internal consistency reliabilities ranged from .85 to .88. In the estimated structural model of the e-SERVEQUAL factors, the system availability was found to have direct and positive effect on e-loyalty, whereas efficiency had a negative effect on e-loyalty for apparel online shopping. However, fulfillment was not a significant predictor for explaining consequences of E-SERVQUAL for apparel online shopping. This finding implies that perceived service quality of system available was likely to increase customer satisfaction for apparel online shopping. However, it was not supported that e-loyalty was determined by service quality, because service quality has an indirect effect on e-loyalty (i.e., repurchase intention) by mediating effect of value or satisfaction in the context of online shopping for apparel. In addition, both compensation and responsiveness were found to have a significant impact on customer satisfaction, which influenced e-loyalty for apparel online shopping. Thus, there was significant indirect effect of compensation and responsiveness on e-loyalty. This suggests that the recovery-specific service factors play an important role in maximizing customer satisfaction levels and then maintaining customer loyalty to the online shopping site for apparel. The findings have both managerial and research implications. Fashion marketers can establish long-term relationship with their customers based on continuously measuring customer perceptions for recovery-related service quality, such as quick responses to problem and returns, and compensation for customers' problem after their purchases. In order to maintain e-loyalty, recovery services play an important role in the first choice websites for consumers to purchase clothing. Given that online consumers may shop anywhere, a marketing strategy for improving competitive advantages is to provide better service quality, maximize satisfaction, and turn to creating customers' e-loyalty for apparel online shopping. From a researcher's perspective, there are some limitations of this research that should be considered when interpreting its findings. For future research, findings provide a basis for the further study of this important topic along both theoretical and empirical dimensions. Based on the findings, more comprehensive models for predicting E-SERVQUAL's consequences can be developed and tested. For global fashion marketing, this study can expand to a cross-cultural approach into e-service quality for apparel by including multinational samples.

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A Study of Design Education for the Public and its Development Direction (대중의 디자인교육문제와 발전방향에 관한 연구)

  • Cho, Kyu-Myung;Kim, Tae-Chul;Kim, Kyung-Sook
    • Archives of design research
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    • v.18 no.1 s.59
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    • pp.91-104
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    • 2005
  • In the past, the design education focused on the technique and skill to satisfy the production and consumption activities of a corporation based on beauty and practicality in the industrial age. Now, it's time to switchover to a life-quality enhancing education by harmonizing and meeting the public's physical and mental needs because design education is a character education which enhances the quality of life by uplifting people's aesthetic sense. This paper has emphasized on the importance of public education of design through the theoretical investigation on social environmental changes caused by the emergence of information society,,education problems, public education, and the necessity of design education. The reason why this study should be done has been suggested by investigating the necessity of this research and bringing up the issue. Furthermore, the current status and problems of public education on design have been analyzed. Then, based on the result, the development direction of design education has been suggested. This study can be concluded as follows: First, the design education should change from its vertical structure to a horizontal one. It should be widely spread to the public, getting off from its privatization for a certain group. Second, designers and the public should correct their way of thinking about design. The ordinary people as well as the designers should cultivate their capability to find and take care of design related issues in their everyday lives. Third, all people should be the subject of design education for the public. As a part of cultural education on the public's aesthetic sense, design education should be reborn as a field of study in which a sound public culture can be developed by the integration of human life and culture, exceeding the limit of school curriculum.

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A Study on Understanding about the Korean movie of Internet user in China: Focused on the Reply of Movie Web-site in China and Korea (한.중 인터넷 이용자들의 한국영화 이해에 관한 비교 연구: <엽기적인 그녀> 영화 사이트의 관람후기 게시판을 중심으로)

  • Lee, Jei-Young;Choi, Jeong-Ki
    • Korean journal of communication and information
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    • v.34
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    • pp.196-243
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    • 2006
  • The popularity of Korea pop culture, which called as the name of "Korea wave", has started to spread out in China and other Asian states from late-1990's. The study about "Korea wave" until now, however, have prevailed within an economic point of view. So, I would like to clarify that this dissertation raises a question in exiting argument and explains the identity of "Korea wave" by investigating the details of pop culture contents of Korea, and understanding of chinese receiver. It shows that chinese receiver, watching the movie , has estimated in the affirmative viewpoint after I have analyzed a reply of movie web-site in China. The main features of this analysis prove that there are a lot of good estimation when chinese receiver have seen that movie because it has been well-matched with emotion and fun of story and attraction in the movie. In that order, Some Chinese netizen evaluated that there are some negative point of view as the main actress has a strange and crazy behavior. I have also found that Korea pop culture contents has not given to them good image and chinese receiver had a tendency to view objectively to classify with strength and weakness. Analysis to contrast understanding of Chinese netizen with Korea netizen showed that Korea netizen emphasized fun of story, however, Chinese netizen showed that they had a lot of opinion to be fresh and realistic relatively. In conclusion, I would like herewith to identify that there are some differences between Chinese netizen and Korean netizen after contacting the movie. The reason has showed that understanding about the same object can be a great deal of various consideration in two more diverse cultures which have many different social-cultural and historical situation.

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A Study on the Characteristics and Management Plan of Old Big Trees in the Sacred Natural Sites of Handan City, China (중국 한단시 자연성지 내 노거수의 특성과 관리방안)

  • Xi, Su-Ting;Shin, Hyun-Sil
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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    • v.41 no.2
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    • pp.35-45
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    • 2023
  • First, The spatial distribution characteristics of old big trees were analyzed using ArcGIS figures by combining basic information such as species and ages of old big trees in Handan City, which were compiled by the local bureau of landscaping. The types of species, distribution by ages of trees, ownership status, growth status, and diversity status were comprehensively analyzed. Statistically, Styphnolobium, Acacia, Gleditsia, and Albizia of Fabaceae accounted for the majority, of which Sophora japonica accounted for the highest proportion. Sophora japonica is widely and intensively distributed to each prefecture and district in Handan city. According to the age and distribution, the old big trees over 1000 years old were mainly Sophora japonica, Zelkova serrata, Juniperus chinensis, Morus australis Koidz., Dalbergia hupeana Hance, Ceratonia siliqua L., and Pistacia chinensis, and Platycladus orientalis. Second, as found in each type of old big tree status, various types of old big tree status were investigated, the protection management system, protection management process, and protection management benefits were studied, and the protection of old big tree was closely related to the growth environment. Currently, the main driving force behind the protection of old big trees is the worship of old big trees. By depositing its sacredness to the old big tree and sublimating the natural character that nature gave to the old big tree into a guiding consciousness of social activities, nature's "beauty" and personality's "goodness" are well combined. The protection state of the old big tree is closely related to the degree of interaction with the surrounding environment and the participation of various cultures and subjects. In the process of continuously interacting with the surrounding environment during the long-term growth of old big trees, it seems that a natural sanctuary was formed around old big trees in the process of voluntarily establishing a "natural-cultural-scape" system involving bottom-up and top-down cross-regions, multicultural and multi-subjects. Third, China focused on protecting and recovering old big trees, but the protection management system is poor due to a lack of comprehensive consideration of historical and cultural values, plant diversity significance, and social values of old big trees in the management process. Three indicators of space's regional characteristics, property and protection characteristics, and value characteristics can be found in the evaluation of the natural characteristics of old giant trees, which are highly valuable in terms of traditional consciousness management, resource protection practice, faith system construction, and realization of life community values. A systematic management system should be supported as to whether they can be protected and developed for a long time. Fourth, as the perception of protected areas is not yet mature in China, "natural sanctuary" should be treated as an important research content in the process of establishing a nature reserve system. The form of natural sanctuary management, which focuses on bottom-up community participation, is a strong supplement to the current type of top-down nature reserve management in China. Based on this, the protection of old giant trees should be included in the form of a nature reserve called a natural monument in the nature reserve system. In addition, residents of the area around the nature reserve should be one of the main agents of biodiversity conservation.

A Study on Design Techniques of Palace Gardens presented in Donggwoldo (동궐도에 보이는 궁궐정원의 조영수법)

  • Chin, Sang-Chul
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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    • v.33 no.4
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    • pp.26-37
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    • 2015
  • This paper aims to review all landscaping elements of Donggwoldo by building and identify the palatial garden landscaping characteristics and landscaping methods in a bid to explore landscaping methods applicable for modern-time gardens of Korea through Succession of Tradition. The research methodology was adopted by which the palatial gardens appearing in Donggwoldo were observed according to garden elements to identify their characteristics. Garden elements in Donggwoldo include oddly shaped stones, ponds, buildings and Madang, borders and areas, and trees. Their characteristics were analyzed, and as a result they are outlined as follows. Location : Buildings in Donggwoldo were located in the optimal areas within the Myungdang (the best location), with the building sites being created by transforming the natural topography positively according to the existing topography and uses. Tree planting : The construction of the buildings involved using the existing trees. There were no specific principle and method of planting trees, and no specific criteria for choosing the kind of tree. Symmetrical planting was adopted and its is considered embracing the viewpoint of making gardens based on the expression of Yin and Yang. Strongly symbolical kinds of trees were also adopted. Bangji : it takes a nearly circular shape in palatial gardens, and such shapes represent conceptual and abstract symbols. They were also frequently used as the place of public entertainment. Pavilions : they did not take a certain standard shape. They had diverse shapes, including a triangle, square, pentagon, hexagon, and octagon and cross. Oddly shaped stones : Oddly shapes stones and stone cases were deployed mainly near the bedroom and the crow prince's residence and in the rear garden. Hwagye : it appeared mainly in the back of the bedroom, the crown prince's residence, the princess's residence, and other women's quarters. Chwibyeong : it was installed for the purpose of drawing the natural energy like a natural inlet instead of being the nature-dividing wall. Korea's garden composition method was very different from the Western and Chinese method. Overall, Chosun palatial garden style was characterized by strict and Confucian features, while the garden construction method adopted the Taoism thought. Yet, the gardens had a carefree aspect.

A Study on the Kaftan Style in Asia (아시아 Kaftan양식에 관한 연구)

  • 오춘자
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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    • v.35
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    • pp.45-66
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    • 1997
  • This thesis is a study on the kaftan styles iin Asia. The purpose of he study was to examine the origin o the kaftan concentrating on the history and cultural backgrounds of nomads in he Western Central and North Eastern Asia. Secondly for more thorough study and expla-nation on how these kaftans contributed to East-West trade along the silk road. wall paintings and miniature illuminations along Oasis roads persia and Saracen period were compared, Also real kaftans were compared and analyzed the characteristics of Western (Turkey palestine) Central(Kazakistan Uz-bekistan Tadzhistan Qyrgyztan Turkmenistan) and the North Eastern Asian(Mongol) area. Thirdly an attempt has been made to provide the North Eastern Asian(Mongol) area. Thirdly an attempt has been made to provide the style classifications according to their peculiarities of the various kaftans as well as how kaftan gave important influences on custumes of different religious sects. The kaftan is a long coat-like garment with front openings fastened with long sash having an extra long sleeves which were worn by middle and high class nomadics throughout the West Central and North Eastern Asia This type of kaftans were a basic clothing for nomadics since they were constantly moving fromone to another areas on their horse back riding. They also wore tight trousers with boots. Kaftans seem to be originated from nomads of Steppe around B.C. 800 On B. C 400 west asian areas such as Solokha Kul-oba Kulogan had pictures sculptues on vases showing kaftans of half coat type length with front opening tied with band. Also the materials used were the products of animals such as wool or felt with animal designs showing Scythian nomads. In the North Eastern Asia Hsiung-Nu were active in Kazakha North Altai and Mongol The Clothing and fabrics exfavated near Noin-ula Pazyrik showed many samples of kaftan with trousers with other interment be-longings with a corpse around B.C 300 to A. D 100 when trades along the silk roads were proven by many historians Kaftans excavated in this area wore red front opening silk materials which suggesting settling down of nomads. in he central Asia Dol-gull near Altai mountain area were mainly miners who later had many trades with Persia and Bizantine. After Dol-gull Bezeklik temple Samarkant Kizil cow Budda sculture wall paintings of Astana tomb showed typical kaftan of this re-gion. These were both hip covered length as well as long coat with narrow sleeves. Es-pecially they had different color band fron the main kaftan with grogeously and splendously designed silk. In perusia during A. D 1400 to 1600 minia-ture illumination showed kaftan as a high class symbol more than clothing purpose. They had best quality silk with extra long sleeves draping and had a layers of kaftans one on top of anther as a symbol of wealth These Kaftans with different colors and designs were even more beautiful with their effective combinations and contrast of colors. On the other hand the lower class common people and servants wore simple kaftan with the front part of the kaftan were slipped into the belt in order to be more active and con-venient to work, The real kaftans discovered at Topkapi Saray palace of Turkey from A. D 1300 to 1900 were also compared. These kaftans were very numerous in numbers as well as designs The materials and designs used were also vari-ous such as Chinese to Italian silk. The shaped and pattern itself were not much different from the previous nomad's Kaftans. The Palestian kaftans remained were from the beginning of 19th and 20th century. Since this area is hot and dry desert they used black and navy blue colors mostly in order to exclude the sun lights. The patterns used were similar to Nomads and Bedouin with cross stiches and patch work decorations. In the central Asia they had similar life style and natural environmental cnditions with Turkish tribe which resulted in similar kaftan styles as nomads. Mongols conserved basic patterns of kaftan since Cinggis Khan with deep folding in order to keep warm. At last the kaftans studided in this thesis were classified in to four such as half coat long coat jacket and vest style. A pattern used in the Central Asia were zigzag and ani-mal design whereas in the West Asia were floral plant arabesk and circle pattern. As I discussed previously kaftan styles of nomads in the Asia maintained its basic pat-tern throughout the history except slight changes in color gusset sleeve shapes. These slight changes were made according to the need to adapt the need of environmental natu-ral conditions, The reason for aboriginality of kaftan in Asia was its simplicity and con-venience Most interesting fact is that for all these years Mongols are still wearing kaftan in their life ensuring us that they art the preserves of old kaftan. Since this thesis dealt enormous Asian regions I had a limitation of not being able to cover the Far Esatern asian areas such as Korea China and Japan how these kaftans were influenced in their clothing history as well as Eastern and Western culture. This topic along with the studies on materials and designs of patterns of kaftan will be another research project in the future.

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The Relationship between Korean college students' Self-Construal and Alexithymia: Mediation Effects of Ambivalence over Emotional Expressiveness and Emotion Suppression according to the Deficiency of Independent Self-Construal (한국 대학생의 자기관과 감정표현불능증의 관계: 상호독립적 자기관 결핍에 따른 정서표현양가성 및 정서억제의 매개 효과)

  • Soyoung Kwon;Jarang Kwak;Bia Kim;Donghoon Lee
    • Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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    • v.25 no.2
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    • pp.101-118
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    • 2019
  • Alexithymia refers to a psychological deficit of identifying and describing one's feelings. It has benn reported that the level of alexithymia of East-Asians is generally higher than that of Western Europeans. Recently one research conducted in U.S. suggested that the interdependent self-construal from East-Asians' collectivism culture might be a cause of this cross-cultural difference. In the current study, we examined the relationship between the level of independent and interdependent self-construal of Korean college students and their level of alexithymia, as well as their ambivalence over emotional expressiveness and emotion suppression. The correlation analysis shows that the Korean students' alexithymia level does not correlate with their level of interdependent self-construal, but negatively correlates with their level of independent self-construal. Moreover, it is also correlated with the level of ambivalence over emotional expressiveness(AEE) and emotion suppression(ES). Thus, we setup a double-mediation model between the deficiency of independent self-construal and alexithymia via AEE and ES, and estimate mediation effects using Hayes and Preacher(2014)s' Process analysis. The results show that the deficiency of independent self-construal has a direct effect as well as indirect effects of AEE and ES on the alexithymia level. Further analysis on the indirect effects reveals that the mediation effect of AEE and the double mediation effect of ES via AEE are significant, but the mediation effect of ES is not significant. Current results imply that the interdependent self-construal from the traditional collectivistic culture may not cause Korean college students' problems on the emotional expression, but the relatively lower independent self-construal may cause them. The deficiency of independent self-constural may raise up the level of self-defensive ambivalence over emotional expressiveness and suppress emotional expression by themselves, which can result in alexithymia.

The Factors Affecting Attitudes Toward HSDPA Service and Intention to Use: A Cross-Cultural Comparison between Asia and Europe (대영향(对影响)HSDPA복무적태도화사용의도적인소적연구(服务的态度和使用意图的因素的研究): 재아주화구주지간적(在亚洲和欧洲之间的)-개과문화비교(个跨文化比较))

  • Jung, Hae-Sung;Shin, Jong-Kuk;Park, Min-Sook;Jung, Hong-Seob;Hooley, Graham;Lee, Nick;Kwak, Hyok-Jin;Kim, Sung-Hyun
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.19 no.4
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    • pp.11-23
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    • 2009
  • HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) is a 3.5-generation asynchronous mobile communications service based on the third generation of W-CDMA. In Korea, it is mainly provided in through videophone service. Because of the diffusion of more powerful and diversified services, along with steep advances in mobile communications technology, consumers demand a wide range of choices. However, because of the variety of technologies, which tend to overflow the market regardless of consumer preferences, consumers feel increasingly confused. Therefore, we should not adopt strategies that focus only on developing new technology on the assumption that new technologies are next-generation projects. Instead, we should understand the process by which consumers accept new forms of technology and devise schemes to lower market entry barriers through strategies that enable developers to understand and provide what consumers really want. In the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use are suggested as the most important factors affecting the attitudes of people adopting new technologies (Davis, 1989; Taylor and Todd, 1995; Venkatesh, 2000; Lee et al., 2004). Perceived usefulness is the degree to which a person believes that a particular technology will enhance his or her job performance. Perceived ease of use is the degree of subjective belief that using a particular technology will require little physical and mental effort (Davis, 1989; Morris and Dillon, 1997; Venkatesh, 2000). Perceived pleasure and perceived usefulness have been shown to clearly affect attitudes toward accepting technology (Davis et al., 1992). For example, pleasure in online shopping has been shown to positively impact consumers' attitudes toward online sellers (Eighmey and McCord, 1998; Mathwick, 2002; Jarvenpaa and Todd, 1997). The perceived risk of customers is a subjective risk, which is distinguished from an objective probabilistic risk. Perceived risk includes a psychological risk that consumers perceive when they choose brands, stores, and methods of purchase to obtain a particular item. The ability of an enterprise to revolutionize products depends on the effective acquisition of knowledge about new products (Bierly and Chakrabarti, 1996; Rothwell and Dodgson, 1991). Knowledge acquisition is the ability of a company to perceive the value of novelty and technology of the outside (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990), to evaluate the outside technology that has newly appeared (Arora and Gambaradella, 1994), and to predict the future evolution of technology accurately (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990). Consumer innovativeness is the degree to which an individual adopts innovation earlier than others in the social system (Lee, Ahn, and Ha, 2001; Gatignon and Robertson, 1985). That is, it shows how fast and how easily consumers adopt new ideas. Innovativeness is regarded as important because it has a significant effect on whether consumers adopt new products and on how fast they accept new products (Midgley and Dowling, 1978; Foxall, 1988; Hirschman, 1980). We conducted cross-national comparative research using the TAM model, which empirically verified the relationship between the factors that affect attitudes - perceived usefulness, ease of use, perceived pleasure, perceived risk, innovativeness, and perceived level of knowledge management - and attitudes toward HSDPA service. We also verified the relationship between attitudes and usage intention for the purpose of developing more effective methods of management for HSDPA service providers. For this research, 346 questionnaires were distributed among 350 students in the Republic of Korea. Because 26 of the returned questionnaires were inconsistent or had missing data, 320 questionnaires were used in the hypothesis tests. In UK, 192 of the total 200 questionnaires were retrieved, and two incomplete ones were discarded, bringing the total to 190 questionnaires used for statistical analysis. The results of the overall model analysis are as follows: Republic of Korea x2=333.27(p=0.0), NFI=0.88, NNFI=0.88, CFI=0.91, IFI=0.91, RMR=0.054, GFI=0.90, AGFI=0.84, UK x2=176.57(p=0.0), NFI=0.88, NNFI=0.90, CFI=0.93, IFI=0.93, RMR=0.062, GFI=0.90, AGFI=0.84. From the results of the hypothesis tests of Korean consumers about the relationship between factors that affect intention to use HSDPA services and attitudes, we can conclude that perceived usefulness, ease of use, pleasure, a high level of knowledge management, and innovativeness promote positive attitudes toward HSDPA mobile phones. However, ease of use and perceived pleasure did not have a direct effect on intention to use HSDPA service. This may have resulted from the fact that the use of video phones is not necessary for everyday life yet. Moreover, it has been shown that attitudes toward HSDPA video phones are directly correlated with usage intention, which means that perceived usefulness, ease of use, pleasure, a high level of knowledge management, and innovativeness. These relationships form the basis of the intention to buy, contributing to a situation in which consumers decide to choose carefully. A summary of the results of the hypothesis tests of European consumers revealed that perceived usefulness, pleasure, risk, and the level of knowledge management are factors that affect the formation of attitudes, while ease of use and innovativeness do not have an effect on attitudes. In particular, with regard to the effect value, perceived usefulness has the largest effect on attitudes, followed by pleasure and knowledge management. On the contrary, perceived risk has a smaller effect on attitudes. In the Asian model, ease of use and perceived pleasure were found not to have a direct effect on intention to use. However, because attitudes generally affect the intention to use, perceived usefulness, pleasure, risk, and knowledge management may be considered key factors in attitude development from which usage intention arises. In conclusion, perceived usefulness, pleasure, and the level of knowledge management have an effect on attitude formation in both Asian and European consumers, and such attitudes shape these consumers' intention to use. Furthermore, the hypotheses that ease of use and perceived pleasure affect usage intention are rejected. However, ease of use, perceived risk, and innovativeness showed different results. Perceived risk had no effect on attitude formation among Asians, while ease of use and innovativeness had no effect on attitudes among Europeans.

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