• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.11-18
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• 2022

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of brand equity on customer purchase decision (CPD) of products for retailers distribution (RB) in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam. There are five elements in the brand equity model such as brand awareness, brand association, brand loyalty, perceived quality, and pricing policy. Research design, data and methodology: Qualitative methodology was used for exploring the research model and variables. The survey was conducted to collect data from 251 respondents who bought products at RB in Ho Chi Minh city, which is based on a Likert scale. The collected data were analyzed with the reliability of the scale, exploratory factor analysis, and research hypothesis testing by SPSS 22. Results: The results obtained revealed that brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality, and pricing policy have a significant impact on CPD for RB. Furthermore, the results showed that perceived quality is the most significant component in influencing CPD at retailers. Conclusions: From the research results, some management implications that RB should focus on are perceived quality, choice of pricing policies and strategies, brand building and development to attract more customers as well as enhance its image to improve customers' purchasing decisions of products at retail distributors chain.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.10
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• pp.187-212
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• 2002

Vietnams urban middle class is strongly value oriented in its shopping behavior. They want fairly good quality and service, but they also factor price into their considerations. In terms of retail patronage, they demand convenience, good service, attractive display, and especially want extensive choice. Brands must be present in multiple types of outlet, or fragile brand loyalties can be broken. Mini supermarkets have become an important part of the retail scene in the past decade, and have successfully introduced the supermarket concept to Vietnam. Many consumers are integrating mini supermarkets into their regular shopping, and are willing to pay the higher prices to gain the benefits of such shopping. However, the mini supermarkets do not adequately meet some of the things they expect from supermarkets. Large supermarkets are just entering the market, and are likely to capture much of the current mini supermarket customer base.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.269-277
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• 2010

Previous studies have shown that the most important factor affecting customer loyalty in the service industry is service quality. However, on the subject of whether service quality has a direct or indirect effect on customer loyalty, scholars' views apparently vary. Some studies suggest that service quality has a direct and fundamental influence on customer loyalty (Bai and Liu, 2002). However, others have shown that service quality not only directly affects customer loyalty, it also has an indirect impact on customer loyalty by influencing customer satisfaction and perceived value (Cronin, Brady, and Hult, 2000). Currently, there are few domestic articles that specifically address the relationship between service quality and customer loyalty in the mobile communication industry. Moreover, research has studied customer loyalty as a whole variable, rather than breaking it down further into multiple dimensions. Based on this analysis, this paper summarizes previous study results, establishes an effect mechanism model among service quality, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty in the mobile communication industry, and presents a statistical test on model assumptions by using customer investigation data from Heilongjiang Mobile Company. It provides theoretical guidance for mobile service management based on the discussion of the hypothesis test results. For data collection, the sample comprised mobile users in Harbin city, and the survey was taken by random sampling. Out of a total of 300 questionnaires, 276 (92.9%) were recovered. After excluding invalid questionnaires, 249 remained, for an effective rate of 82.6 percent for the study. Cronbach's ${\alpha}$ coefficient was adapted to assess the scale reliability, and validity testing was conducted on the questionnaire from three aspects: content validity, construct validity. and convergent validity. The study tested for goodness of fit mainly from the absolute and relative fit indexes. From the hypothesis testing results, overall, four assumptions have not been supported. The ultimate affective relationship of service quality, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty is demonstrated in Figure 2. On the whole, the service quality of the communication industry not only has a direct positive significant effect on customer loyalty, it also has an indirect positive significant effect on customer loyalty through service quality; the affective mechanism and extent of customer loyalty are different, and are influenced by each dimension of service quality. This study used the questionnaires of existing literature from home and abroad and tested them in empirical research, with all questions adapted to seven-point Likert scales. With the SERVQUAL scale of Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1988), or PZB, as a reference point, service quality was divided into five dimensions-tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy-and the questions were simplified down to nineteen. The measurement of customer satisfaction was based mainly on Fornell (1992) and Wang and Han (2003), ending up with four questions. Based on the study’s three indicators of price tolerance, first choice, and complaint reaction were used to measure attitudinal loyalty, while repurchase intention, recommendation, and reputation measured behavioral loyalty. The collection and collation of literature data produced a model of the relationship among service quality, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty in mobile communications, and China Mobile in the city of Harbin in Heilongjiang province was used for conducting an empirical test of the model and obtaining some useful conclusions. First, service quality in mobile communication is formed by the five factors mentioned earlier: tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. On the basis of PZB SERVQUAL, the study designed a measurement scale of service quality for the mobile communications industry, and obtained these five factors through exploratory factor analysis. The factors fit basically with the five elements, indicating the concept of five elements of service quality for the mobile communications industry. Second, service quality in mobile communications has both direct and indirect positive effects on attitudinal loyalty, with the indirect effect being produced through the intermediary variable, customer satisfaction. There are also both direct and indirect positive effects on behavioral loyalty, with the indirect effect produced through two intermediary variables: customer satisfaction and attitudinal loyalty. This shows that better service quality and higher customer satisfaction will activate the attitudinal to service providers more active and show loyalty to service providers much easier. In addition, the effect mechanism of all dimensions of service quality on all dimensions of customer loyalty is different. Third, customer satisfaction plays a significant intermediary role among service quality and attitudinal and behavioral loyalty, indicating that improving service quality can boost customer satisfaction and make it easier for satisfied customers to become loyal customers. Moreover, attitudinal loyalty plays a significant intermediary role between service quality and behavioral loyalty, indicating that only attitudinally and behaviorally loyal customers are truly loyal customers. The research conclusions have some indications for Chinese telecom operators and others to upgrade their service quality. Two limitations to the study are also mentioned. First, all data were collected in the Heilongjiang area, so there might be a common method bias that skews the results. Second, the discussion addresses the relationship between service quality and customer loyalty, setting customer satisfaction as mediator, but does not consider other factors, like customer value and consumer features, This research will be continued in the future.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.24 no.3 s.89
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• pp.133-142
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• 2006

The objective of this study is to analyze domestic air passengers' preferences for selecting domestic airline company. By the analytic hierarchy process(AHP) method, we tried to measure the weight of the qualitative factors objectively and scientifically. The overall results indicate that domestic air passengers place more weight on airport service factor than other service factors for selecting domestic airline. Also, reservation/ticketing and in-flight service factors are equivalent to airport service factor. These priorities are differently shown followed by passengers' income. Therefore, airline companies need to formulate the differentiated strategy and customer-oriented marketing plan based on identified customer needs.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.204-216
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• 2018

This study explored the factors that decided to choose buffet restaurant. We have identified and recently, developed event factors that are of increasing importance. The event factor demonstrated the relationship between customer satisfaction and behavioral intention. As a result, the event factors had a positive effect on customer satisfaction and behavioral intention. In this study, event factors were derived and measurement questions were developed using semiotic analysis. The developed measurement questions were tested and surveyed to demonstrate the scale.

• Journal of the Korea Fashion and Costume Design Association
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.89-101
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• 2011

The economy blocking and price competitiveness caused by globalization has generated an on-going controversy of global sourcing among high-priced luxury brands. The consumers in the global market purchase luxury goods based on both craftsmanship and the reputation of luxury brands. Factors such as the origin, brand and pricing can affect the intention of consumers to buy luxury goods. This study analyzed the optimum brand combination using conjoint analysis. The analysis was based on the selection of origin, brand name and price as extrinsic factors among attributes of customer choice. These factors were subdivided into Italian and Chinese origins, Gucci, Prada, and Miu Miu in terms of brand names, and 450,000, 750,000, and 1,500,000 Won in terms of price levels. The result showed that origin was considered the most important factor followed by brand name and pricing. This tendency tells us that customers consider origin, brand name and price in that order when purchasing luxury brands. In regards to each factor, respondents preferred Italian to Chinese origins, the Gucci to Miu Miu brand name, and 750,000 to 450,000 won for price level. Generally, women in their 20s and 30s preferred products from advanced nations at a medium-level price.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.121-135
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• 2009

The pattern of liquor consumers started to change as the well-being trend and great interest in health have risen for the last few years. In particular, consumption of wine is gradually increasing with the findings revealing that drinking proper amount of wine is good for preventing various adult diseases such as sclerosis of the arteries, heart disease and aging. Accordingly, this study aims at understanding the importance of wine buyers' choice attributes when buying and drinking wine in order to contribute to satisfying customers, popularizing wine and expanding its base. From December 1 to 31 in 2008, it made a survey on natives and weekly settled population living in Seoul area who had bought wine at a wine retail shop with literature and positive researches. It made an application of SPSS 12.0 to analyze the importance of wine buyers' choice attribution based on the demographical characteristics and use behavior with such analysis methods as the frequency analysis, the factor analysis, the reliability test, ANOVA and multiple regression. The results are summarized as follows. First, it showed that there are significant differences between buying and drinking wine by producing countries, buying places, prices, companions except for the number of drinking times, drinking places, and information sources. Second, it showed that wine buyers' choice attributes such as brand characteristics and effects on health have a positive effect on customer satisfaction.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.111-125
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• 2000

To compare the differences in the recognition on hospital utilization and satisfaction, 368 hospital employees and 485 patients were selected in four hospitals in Seoul and Kyung-gi do. The survey was done using a constructed form of checklist from Apr. 30 to May 10, 1999. And the results are as follows: l. Gaining knowledge of hospitals available among hospital employees differed from that of patients. When finding out about sources of information concerning hospitals, direct visit to the hospital was recognized to be the main factor for the hospital employees in contrast to the patients' recognition which were mass media, personal involvement of job related workplace and recommendations from other hospitals. There was no difference between university and general hospitals. 2. The factors that concern which hospital to choose there was a difference between hospital employees and patients. Hospital employees recommended their own hospital solely based on the reason that it was their work place. On the other hand, the patients made a choice based on the type of medical staff, transportation available and whether it was a university hospital or not. There was no difference between university and general hospitals. 3. The recognition of employees concerning hospital image of a hospital between hospital employees and patients was different. In university hospitals, the employees recognized the name value of university hospital and cooperation as most important, whereas the patients thought convenience, kindness were the main factors. Patients considered general hospitals to be more convenient. There was some difference between university and general hospitals. For university hospitals employees' recognition was higher and for the general hospital patients' recognition is higher on hospital image. 4. The recognition of employees was different from that of patients' on hospital satisfaction. The patients' satisfaction was higher than that of employees'. There was no difference between university and general hospitals. Based on the above findings, the employees' recognition on hospital utilization and satisfaction was different from that of the patients, but there was no difference between university and general hospitals. In both groups choice of hospital was associated with satisfaction. Results showing difference between employees' and patients' recognition can be applied to implement customer-oriented attitude and be used as a baseline data for internal-external marketing planning of hospital management. The study may be limited in that the results cannot be generalized due to its small sample size and not being able to reflect demographic variables and life style. Further studies to investigate the difference of hospital utilization and hospital satisfaction will be necessary to define demographic characteristics and recognition of employees which influences patients' hospital satisfaction.

• Journal of the Korea Knowledge Information Technology Society
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.11-23
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• 2018

This paper empirically investigates the factors that influence the consumer choice of an app market based on the rational choice theory. The app market is the only channel where a consumer can buy smartphone apps, which give various functional convenience and are considered to be a major contributor to the proliferation of smartphones. Analyses of 281 questionnaires show that usability and structural guarantees as benefit factors significantly influence the app market choice. From the cost perspectives, both monetary and non-monetary conversion costs are found to significantly influence the app market choice. On the other hand, customer trust, information quality, and market image were found to have no significant effect on app market selection. In particular, Korean app market platform providers (KT, LG U +) seem to be superior in terms of structural guarantees, such as customer center operation and damage compensation regulations, compared to overseas app market platform operators (Google). However, in the case of the Google App Market, it is pre-installed on all Android phones, so it is not inconvenient to install additional apps to use other app market. This is disadvantageous to domestic app market platform operators, and it is necessary to establish a policy solution point. In terms of operator costs, both monetary and non-monetary conversion costs have a significant impact on app market choice. In particular, non-monetary conversion costs have a negative impact on Korean app market platform operators. It can be explained that the service expectation level of the domestic app market is low and it is recognized that the time cost factor such as membership is large for new users to use. It seems to be necessary to improve the domestic app market business. Meanwhile, extant research on smartphone apps focuses on the purchase of apps themselves, but not on the selection of the app market itself. In order to fill in this gap, this study focuses on the determinants of app market selection, including the characteristics of an app market and the switching costs.

• 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.