• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.199-207
• /
• 2010

For us, there is virtually no distinction between being a responsible citizen and a successful business... they are one and the same for Wal-Mart today." ~ Lee Scott, al-Mart CEO after the 2005 Katrina disaster; cited in Green to Gold (Esty and Winston 2006). Lee Scott's statement signaled a new era in sustainability as manufacturers and retailers around the globe watched the world's largest mass merchandiser confirm its intentions with respect to sustainability. For decades, the environmental movement has grown, slowly bleeding over into the corporate world. Companies have been born, products have been created, academic journals have been launched, and government initiatives have been undertaken - all in the pursuit of sustainability (Peattie and Crane 2005). While progress has been admittedly slower than some may desire, the emergence and entrance of environmentally concerned mass merchandisers has done much to help with sustainable efforts. To better understand this movement, we incorporate the perspectives of both executives and consumers involved in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry. This research relies on three underlying themes: (1) Conceptual and anecdotal evidence suggests that companies undertake sustainability initiatives for a plethora of reasons, (2) The number of sustainability initiatives continues to increase in the consumer packaged goods industries, and (3) That it is, therefore, necessary to explore the role that sustainability plays in the minds of consumers. In light of these themes, surveys were administered to and completed by 143 college students and 101 business executives to assess a number of variables in regards to sustainability including willingness-to-pay, behavioral intentions, attitudes, willingness-to-pay, and preferences. Survey results indicate that the top three reasons why executives believe sustainability to be important include (1) the opportunity for profitability, (2) the fulfillment of an obligation to the environment, and (3) a responsibility to customers and shareholders. College students identified the top three reasons as (1) a responsibility to the environment, (2) an indebtedness to future generations, and (3) an effective management of resources. While the rationale for supporting sustainability efforts differed between college students and executives, the executives and consumers reported similar responses for the majority of the remaining sustainability issues. Furthermore, when we asked consumers to assess the importance of six key issues (healthcare, economy, education, crime, government spending, and environment) previously identified as important to consumers by Gallup Poll, protecting the environment only ranked fourth out of the six (Carlson 2005). While all six of these issues were identified as important, the top three that emerged as most important were (1) improvements in education, (2) the economy, and (3) health care. As the pursuit and incorporation of sustainability continues to evolve, so too will the expected outcomes. New definitions of performance that reflect the social/business benefits as well as the lengthened implementation period are relevant and warranted (Ehrenfeld 2005; Hitchcock and Willard 2006). We identified three primary categories of outcomes based on a literature review of both anecdotal and conceptual expectations of sustainability: (1) improvements in constituent satisfaction, (2) differentiation opportunities, and (3) financial rewards. Within each of these categories, several specific outcomes were identified resulting in eleven different outcomes arising from sustainability initiatives. Our survey results indicate that the top five most likely outcomes for companies that pursue sustainability are: (1) green consumers will be more satisfied, (2) company image will be better, (3) corporate responsibility will be enhanced, (4) energy costs will be reduced, and (5) products will be more innovative. Additionally, to better understand the interesting intersection between the environmental "identity" of a consumer and the willingness to manifest that identity with marketplace purchases, we extended prior research developed by Experian Research (2008). Accordingly, respondents were categorized as one of four types of green consumers (Behavioral Greens, Think Greens, Potential Greens, or True Browns) to garner a better understanding of the green consumer in addition to assisting with a more effective interpretation of results. We assessed these consumers' willingness to engage in eco-friendly behavior by evaluating three options: (1) shopping at retailers that support environmental initiatives, (2) paying more for products that protect the environment, and (3) paying higher taxes so the government can support environmental initiatives. Think Greens expressed the greatest willingness to change, followed by Behavioral Greens, Potential Greens, and True Browns. These differences were all significant at p<.01. Further Conclusions and Implications We have undertaken a descriptive study which seeks to enhance our understanding of the strategic domain of sustainability. Specifically, this research fills a gap in the literature by comparing and contrasting the sustainability views of business executives and consumers with specific regard to preferences, intentions, willingness-to-pay, behavior, and attitudes. For practitioners, much can be gained from a strategic standpoint. In addition to the many results already reported, respondents also reported than willing to pay more for products that protect the environment. Other specific results indicate that female respondents consistently communicate a stronger willingness than males to pay more for these products and to shop at eco-friendly retailers. Knowing this additional information, practitioners can now have a more specific market in which to target and communicate their sustainability efforts. While this research is only an initial step towards understanding similarities and differences among practitioners and consumers regarding sustainability, it presents original findings that contribute to both practice and research. Future research should be directed toward examining other variables affecting this relationship, as well as other specific industries.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.347-365
• /
• 1995

A survey was conducted to study perception and attitudes of health workers towards health center's activities and organization of health services, from August 15 to September 30, 1994. The study population was 310 health workers engaged in seven urban health centers in Taegu City area. A questionnaire method was used to collect data and response rate was 81.3 percent or 252 respondents. The following are summaries of findings: Profiles of study population: Health workers were predominantly female(62.3%); had college education(60.3%); and held medical and nursing positions(39.6%), technicians(30.6%) and public health/administrative positions(29.8%). Perceptions on health center's resources: Slightly more than a half(51.1%) of respondents expressed that physical facilities of the centers are inadequate; equipments needed are short(39.0%); human resource is inadequate(44.8%); and health budget allocated is insufficient(38.5%) to support the performance of health center's activities. Decentralization and health services: The majority revealed that the decentralization of government system would affect the future activities of health centers(51.9%) which may have to change. However, only one quarter of respondents(25.4%) seemed to view the decentralization positively as they expect that it would help perform health activities more effectively. The majority of the respondents(78.6%) insisted that the function and organization of the urban health centers should be changed. Target workload and job satisfaction: A large proportion (43.3%) of respondents felt that present target setting systems for various health activities are unrealistic in terms of community needs and health center's situation while only 11.1 percent responded it positively; the majority(57.5%) revealed that they need further training in professional fields to perform their job more effectively; more than one third(35.7%) expressed that they enjoy their professional autonomy in their job performance; and a considerable proportion (39.3%) said they are satisfied with their present work. Regarding the personnel management, more worker(47.3%) perceived it negatively than positive(11.5%) as most of workers seemed to think the personnel management practiced at the health centers is not fair or justly done. Health services rendered: Among health services rendered, health workers perceived the following services are most successfully delivered; they are, in order of importance, Tb control, curative services, and maternal and child health care. Such areas as health education, oral health, environmental sanitation, and integrated health services are needed to be strengthening. Regarding the community attitudes towards health workers, 41.3 percent of respondents think they are trusted by the community they serve. New areas of concern identified which must be included in future activities of health centers are, in order of priority, health care of elderly population, home health care, rehabilitation services, and such chronic diseases control programs as diabetes, hypertension, school health and mental health care. In conclusion, the study revealed that health workers seemed to have more negative perceptions and attitudes than positive ones towards organization and management of health services and activities performed by the urban health centers where they are engaged. More specifically, the majority of health workers studied revealed to have the following areas of health center's organization and management inadequate or insufficient to support effective performance of their health activities: Namely, physical facilities and equipments required are inadequate; human and financial resources are insufficient; personnel management is unsatisfactory; setting of service target system is unrealistic in terms of the community needs. However, respondents displayed a number of positive perceptions, particularly to those areas as further training needs and implementation of decentralization of government system which will bring more autonomy of local government as they perceived these change would bring the necessary changes to future activities of the health center. They also displayed positive perceptions in their job autonomy and have job satisfactions.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.89-117
• /
• 2018

The Korean companies are intensifying competition with not only domestic companies but also foreign companies in globalization. In this environment, it is essential activities not only for large companies but also Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to get and develop the core competency. Particularly, SMEs that are inferior to resources of various aspects, such as financial resources etc., can make innovation through effective R&D investment. And then, SMEs can occupy a competency and can be survive at the environment. Conventionally, the method of "self-development" by using only the internal resources of the company has been dominant. Recently, however, R&D method through cooperation, also called "Open Innovation", is emerging. Especially SMEs are relatively short of available internal resources. Therefore, it is necessary to utilize technology and resources through cooperation with external companies(such as joint development or contract development etc.) rather than self-development R&D. In this context, we confirmed the effect of SMEs' factors on sales in Korea. Specifically, the factors that SMEs hold are classified as 'Technical characteristic', 'Company competency', and 'R&D activity' and analyzed how they influence the sales achieved as a result of R&D. The analysis was based on a two-year statistical survey conducted by the Korean government. In addition, we confirmed the influence of the factors on the sales according to the R&D method(Self-Development vs. Open Innovation), and also observed the influence change in 29 industrial categories. The results of the study are summarized as follows: First, regression analysis shows that twelve factors of SMEs have a significant effect on sales. Specifically, 15 factors included in the analysis, 12 factors excluding 3 factors were found to have significant influence. In the technical characteristic, 'imitation period' and 'product life cycle' of the technology were confirmed. In the company competency, 'R&D led person', 'researcher number', 'intellectual property registration status', 'number of R&D attempts', and 'ratio of success to trial' were confirmed. The R&D activity was found to have a significant impact on all included factors. Second, the influence of factors on the R&D method was confirmed, and the change was confirmed in four factors. In addition, these factors were found that have different effects on sales according to the R&D method. Specifically, 'researcher number', 'number of R&D attempts', 'performance compensation system', and 'R&D investment' were found to have significant moderate effects. In other words, the moderating effect of open innovation was confirmed for four factors. Third, on the industrial classification, it is confirmed that different factors have a significant influence on each industrial classification. At this point, it was confirmed that at least one factor, up to nine factors had a significant effect on the sales according to the industrial classification. Furthermore, different moderate effects have been confirmed in the industrial classification and R&D method. In the moderate effect, up to eight significant moderate effects were confirmed according to the industrial classification. In particular, 'R&D investment' and 'performance compensation system' were confirmed to be the most common moderating effect by each 12 times and 11 times in all industrial classification. This study provides the following suggestions: First, it is necessary for SMEs to determine the R&D method in consideration of the characteristics of the technology to be R&D as well as the enterprise competency and the R&D activity. In addition, there is a need to identify and concentrate on the factors that increase sales in R&D decisions, which are mainly affected by the industry classification to which the company belongs. Second, governments that support SMEs' R&D need to provide guidelines that are fit to their situation. It is necessary to differentiate the support for the company considering various factors such as technology and R&D purpose for their effective budget execution. Finally, based on the results of this study, we urge the need to reconsider the effectiveness of existing SME support policies.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
• /
• v.14 no.5
• /
• pp.61-78
• /
• 2019

This study is about the effect of the founder's self-efficacy on the sales of the founding company by focusing on the factors that are currently emphasized in the founding education. In particular, this paper starts from the consciousness of the problem that the education that is being implemented to achieve the purpose of successful start-up among various government-based start-up support projects is failing to produce many start-up failures. Entrepreneurs cannot be assessed by objective financial data, but there is a high degree of uncertainty that should be determined based on their personal and learning abilities. In addition, many previous studies, which are likely to be successful when there is a high self-efficacy in a specific field due to the influence of factors such as personal experience or learning, will answer the direction of support for start-up companies. This study focuses on the impact of the founder's self-efficacy on the sales of the founding firms, especially the sales that are the key to the survival of the founding firms. This study has six major studies. First, to analyze whether the self-efficacy of entrepreneurs with respect to entrepreneurship affects the sales of entrepreneurs. Second, to analyze whether the self-efficacy of entrepreneurs with respect to market orientation affects the sales of entrepreneurs. Analysis of whether the founder's self-efficacy affects the sales of the founding firms. Fourth, analysis of whether the founder's self-efficiency affects the sales of the founding firms' understanding of management environment changes. An analysis of whether efficacy affects the sales of a start-up company, and sixth, an analysis of whether the founder's self-efficacy of business model building ability affects the sales of a start-up company. As a result of the empirical analysis, this study found that the self-efficacy of entrepreneurs on product differentiation capability and business model building capacity had a positive influence on the sales of entrepreneurs. The self-efficacy had a positive effect on self-efficacy, and the customer orientation had a positive effect on self-efficacy on business model building capacity. Also, it was confirmed that a path exists between the components of self-efficacy and that self-efficacy through the path has a positive effect on the sales of the start-up company. Therefore, the results of this study suggest the implications of establishing such a path and strengthening self-efficacy to create the survival and start-up performance of a start-up company if the goal of the start-up company is to survive when implementing various support projects for the start-up company.

• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
• /
• v.18
• /
• pp.135-183
• /
• 2003

Aerospace force is a determining factor in a modem war. The combat field is expanding to space. Thus, the legitimacy of establishing aerospace force is no longer an debating issue, but "how should we establish aerospace force" has become an issue to the military. The standard limiting on the military use of space should be non-aggressive use as asserted by the U.S., rather than non-military use as asserted by the former Soviet Union. The former Soviet Union's argument is not even strongly supported by the current Russia government, and realistically is hard to be applied. Thus, the multi-purpose satellite used for military surveillance or a commercial satellite employed for military communication are allowed under the U.S. principle of peaceful use of space. In this regard, Air Force may be free to develop a military surveillance satellite and a communication satellite with civilian research institute. Although MTCR, entered into with the U.S., restricts the development of space-launching vehicle for the export purpose, the development of space-launching vehicle by the Korea Air Force or Korea Aerospace Research Institute is beyond the scope of application of MTCR, and Air Force may just operate a satellite in the orbit for the military purpose. The primary task for multi-purpose satellite is a remote sensing; SAR sensor with high resolution is mainly employed for military use. Therefore, a system that enables Air Force, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, and Agency for Defense Development to conduct joint-research and development should be instituted. U.S. Air Force has dismantled its own space-launching vehicle step by step, and, instead, has increased using private space launching vehicle. In addition, Military communication has been operated separately from civil communication services or broadcasting services due to the special circumstances unique to the military setting. However, joint-operation of communication facility by the military and civil users is preferred because this reduces financial burden resulting from separate operation of military satellite. During the Gulf War, U.S. armed forces employed commercial satellites for its military communication. Korea's participation in space technology research is a little bit behind in time, considering its economic scale. In terms of budget, Korea is to spend 5 trillion won for 15 years for the space activities. However, Japan has 2 trillion won annul budget for the same activities. Because the development of space industry during initial fostering period does not apply to profit-making business, government supports are inevitable. All space development programs of other foreign countries are entirely supported by each government, and, only recently, private industry started participating in limited area such as a communication satellite and broadcasting satellite, Particularly, Korea's space industry is in an infant stage, which largely demands government supports. Government support should be in the form of investment or financial contribution, rather than in the form of loan or borrowing. Compared to other advanced countries in space industry, Korea needs more budget and professional research staff. Naturally, for the efficient and systemic space development and for the prevention of overlapping and distraction of power, it is necessary to enact space-related statutes, which would provide dear vision for the Korea space development. Furthermore, the fact that a variety of departments are running their own space development program requires a centralized and single space-industry development system. Prior to discussing how to coordinate or integrate space programs between Agency for Defense Development and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, it is a prerequisite to establish, namely, "Space Operations Center"in the Air Force, which would determine policy and strategy in operating space forces. For the establishment of "Space Operations Center," policy determinations by the Ministry of National Defense and the Joint Chief of Staff are required. Especially, space surveillance system through using a military surveillance satellite and communication satellite, which would lay foundation for independent defense, shall be established with reference to Japan's space force plan. In order to resolve issues related to MTCR, Air Force would use space-launching vehicle of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute. Moreover, defense budge should be appropriated for using multi-purpose satellite and communication satellite. The Ministry of National Defense needs to appropriate 2.5 trillion won budget for space operations, which amounts to Japan's surveillance satellite operating budges.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
• /
• v.43 no.1
• /
• pp.40-53
• /
• 2015

To train the manpower to meet the requirements of the industrial field, the introduction of the National Qualification Frameworks(hereinafter referred to as NQF) was determined in 2001 by National Competency Standards(hereinafter referred to as NCS) centrally of the Office for Government Policy Coordination. Also, for landscape architecture in the construction field, the "NCS -Landscape Architecture" pilot was developed in 2008 to be test operated for 3 years starting in 2009. Especially, as the 'realization of a competence-based society, not by educational background' was adopted as one of the major government projects in the Park Geun-Hye government(inaugurated in 2013) the NCS system was constructed on a nationwide scale as a detailed method for practicing this. However, in the case of the NCS developed by the nation, the ideal job performing abilities are specified, therefore there are weaknesses of not being able to reflect the actual operational problem differences in the student level between universities, problems of securing equipment and professors, and problems in the number of current curricula. For soft landing to practical curriculum, the process of clearly analyzing the gap between the current curriculum and the NCS must be preceded. Gap analysis is the initial stage methodology to reorganize the existing curriculum into NCS based curriculum, and based on the ability unit elements and performance standards for each NCS ability unit, the discrepancy between the existing curriculum within the department or the level of coincidence used a Likert scale of 1 to 5 to fill in and analyze. Thus, the universities wishing to operate NCS in the future measuring the level of coincidence and the gap between the current university curriculum and NCS can secure the basic tool to verify the applicability of NCS and the effectiveness of further development and operation. The advantages of reorganizing the curriculum through gap analysis are, first, that the government financial support project can be connected to provide quantitative index of the NCS adoption rate for each qualitative department, and, second, an objective standard is provided on the insufficiency or sufficiency when reorganizing to NCS based curriculum. In other words, when introducing in the subdivisions of the relevant NCS, the insufficient ability units and the ability unit elements can be extracted, and the supplementary matters for each ability unit element per existing subject can be extracted at the same time. There is an advantage providing directions for detailed class program and basic subject opening. The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Employment and Labor must gather people from the industry to actively develop and supply the NCS standard a practical level to systematically reflect the requirements of the industrial field the educational training and qualification, and the universities wishing to apply NCS must reorganize the curriculum connecting work and qualification based on NCS. To enable this, the universities must consider the relevant industrial prospect and the relation between the faculty resources within the university and the local industry to clearly select the NCS subdivision to be applied. Afterwards, gap analysis must be used for the NCS based curriculum reorganization to establish the direction of the reorganization more objectively and rationally in order to participate in the process evaluation type qualification system efficiently.

• Journal of National Security and Military Science
• /
• s.9
• /
• pp.313-340
• /
• 2011

The National Defense Reformation bill of "National Defense Reformation 2020" which have been constantly disputed and reformed by the government went through various levels of complementary measures after the North Korean sinking on the Republic of Korea (ROK) Naval Vessel "Cheonan". The final outcome of this reform is also known as the 307 Plan and this was announced on the 8th March. The reformed National Defense Reformation is to reduce the number of units and military personnel under the military structure reformation. However, in order for us to undertake successful National Defense Reformation, the use of privatized civilian resources are essential. Therefore according to this theory, the ROK Ministry of National Defense (MND) have selected the usage of privatized resources as one of the main core agenda for the National Defense Reformation management procedures, and under this agenda the MND plans to further expand the usage of private Especially the MND plans to minimize the personnel resources applied in non-combat areas and in turn use these supplemented personnel with optimization. In order to do this, the MND have initiated necessary appropriate analysis over the whole national defense section by understanding various projects and acquisition requests required by each militaries and civilian research institutions. However for efficient management of privatized civilian resources, first of all, those possible efficient private resources which can achieve optimization will need to be identified, and secondly continuous systematic reinforcements will need to be made in private resource usage legislations. Furthermore, we would need to consider the possibility of labor disputes because of privatization expansion. Therefore, full legal and systematic complementary measures are required in all possible issue arising areas which can affect the combat readiness posture. There is another problem of huge increase in operational expenses as reduction of standby forces are only reducing the number of soldiers and filling these numbers with more cost expensive commissioned officers. However, to overcome this problem, we would need to reduce the number of positions available for active officers and fill these positions with military reserve personnel who previously had working experiences with the related positions (thereby guaranteeing active officers re-employment after completing active service). This would in tum maintain the standards of combat readiness posture and reduce necessary financial budgets which may newly arise. The area of maintenance, supply, transportation, training & education duties which are highly efficient when using privatized resources, will need to be transformed from military management based to civilian management based system. For maintenance, this can be processed by integrating National Maintenance Support System. In order for us to undertake this procedure, we would need to develop maintenance units which are possible to be privatized and this will in turn reduce the military personnel executing job duties, improve service quality and prevent duplicate investments etc. For supply area, we will need to establish Integrated Military Logistics Center in-connection with national and civilian logistics system. This will in turn reduce the logistics time frame as well as required personnel and equipments. In terms of transportation, we will need to further expand the renting and leasing system. This will need to be executed by integrating the National Defense Transportation Information System which will in turn reduce the required personnel and financial budgets. Finally for training and education, retired military personnel can be employed as training instructors and at the military academy, further expansion in the number of civilian professors can be employed in-connection with National Defense Reformation. In other words, more active privatized civilian resources will need to be managed and used for National Defense Reformation.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.65-71
• /
• 2008

The purpose of this study was to examine people's awareness of health insurance in a bid to help improve the management of dental health insurance coverage. The subjects in this study were 1,036 people who included experts in that field and medical consumers. The findings of the study were as follows: 1. In regard to the demographic characteristics of the expert group including gender and age, the female experts outnumbered the males, as the former accounted for 84.7 percent. And the experts in their 20s made up the largest age group, followed by the 30-39 age group and those in their 40s. As to the demographic characteristics of the medical consumers, the rates of the men and women stood at 49.8 percent and 50.2 percent respectively, which were similar. By age, the largest number of the medical consumers were in their 20s, followed by in their 30s and in their 40s. 2. Concerning opinions on the procurement of finance for health insurance, many respondents in both groups agreed that the health insurance coverage should be enlarged by securing more finance, and that items involved in the coverage should be prioritized again. Regarding a means of securing financial resources, the experts placed the most emphasis on extended budgetary support from the government, followed by establishing a social security system and budget compilation by local governments. The medical consumers attached the most importance to extended budgetary backing from the government, followed by budget compilation by local governments and determining contribution according to income level. 3. As for general view of the dental health insurance, the experts believed that the amounts of copayment and self-payment by the insured were appropriate(2.47), and they found the number of benefitted items to be proper(2.29) as well. The medical consumers thought that the benefit percentage of the dental health insurance in the overall health insurance budget was appropriate(2.26), and they also considered the number of benefitted items adequate(2.16). But this group didn't give a lot of marks to the appropriateness of those things. 4. As to perception about the dental health insurance, both groups took a similar view of it. Specifically, they felt the strong need for a dental health insurance system. In terms of satisfaction level, both groups were dissatisfied with it, and there was a strong tendency for them to be discontented with the health insurance coverage.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
• /
• v.6 no.4
• /
• pp.437-453
• /
• 2006

To analyze dental hygienists and other manpower at dental care service institutions where a dental coordinator was working among about 200 dental care service institutions in Seoul, Gyeonggi Province, and Incheon as of June 2005 for contents of training for dental coordinators, opinions of qualification of dental coordinators, present and future services provided by dental coordinators, and awareness of dental coordinators and to provide basic data about future services, roles, and cultivation of dental coordinators, a survey was conducted and 216 copies returned were analyzed, obtaining the following results. 1. 83.8 percent needed an educational program for dental coordinators as an educational content; 41.7% had awareness of the educational content; and 83.8 percent insisted that over the intermediate level of curricula should be taken. Dental coordinator cultivation institutions identified included the institution under the control of the Korean Dental Hygienists Association and the education center for the department of dental hygiene; 76.9% insisted that an appropriate qualifying examination should be necessary. They suggested the central government department and the local government as a certification institution; 39.4% insisted that financial support for the education should be provided by financing education alone. Only 28.7% experienced dental coordinator education and 73.1% hoped to serve as a dental coordinator. They were found to expect a rise in payment(64.4%) and in the title(46.8%) after completion of the educational program. 2. 66.2% saw a dental hygienist as the most appropriate for a dental coordinator; clinical career (39.4%) and practical capacity(29.2%) were suggested as requirements for a dental coordinator; and a period of over three years(47.2%) was suggested for appropriate dental career. 3. Dental coordinators' present services included 'reservation management' for customer management, 'staff service training' for organization management, 'understanding of customer reception attitudes and actions' for self-management, 'hospital information management' for hospital marketing, 'acceptance' for hospital affairs management, and 'hospital environment management' for hospital facilities management; their future services included 'acquisition of ability to use a foreign language' for self-management, followed by 'staff service training' for organization management, 'training and counseling' for customer management, 'acquisition of counseling capacity' for self-management, 'complaining customer reception' for customer management, and 'marketing strategy implementation' for hospital marketing. 4. After comparing dental hygienists and other manpower in terms of dental coordinators' future services, dental hygienists showed interest in 'acquisition of ability to use a foreign language,' 'staff service training,' 'complaining customer reception,' and 'acquisition of counseling capacity' while other manpower showed interest in 'acquisition of ability to use a foreign language,' 'document data management,' 'acquisition of basic service manner,' 'acquisition of counseling capacity,' 'manpower management,' 'establishment and evaluation of a marketing strategy,' and 'education and counseling.' 5. As for awareness of dental coordinators, they were thought of as helpful in improving image of a dental clinic; it was found that continuous training should be necessary to develop dental coordinators' capacity; dental coordinators' services should be important and contribute to patients' qualitative satisfaction.

• Journal of Distribution Research
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.49-71
• /
• 2010

Franchise businesses in South Korea have contributed to economic growth and job creation, and its growth potential remains very high. However, despite such virtues, domestic franchise businesses face many problems such as the instability of franchisor's business structure and weak financial conditions. To solve these problems, the government enacted legislation and strengthened franchise related laws. However, the strengthening of laws regulating franchisors had many side effects that interrupted the development of the franchise business. For example, legal regulations regarding franchisors have had the effect of suppressing the franchisor's leadership activities (e.g. activities such as the ability to advocate the franchisor's policies and strategies to the franchisees, in order to facilitate change and innovation). One of the main goals of the franchise business is to build cooperation between the franchisor and the franchisee for their combined success. However, franchisees can refuse to follow the franchisor's strategies because of the current state of franchise-related law and government policy. The purpose of this study to explore the effects of franchisor's leadership style on franchisee's commitment in a franchise system. We classified leadership styles according to the path-goal theory (House & Mitchell, 1974), and it was hypothesized and tested that the four leadership styles proposed by the path-goal theory (i.e. directive, supportive, participative and achievement-oriented leadership) have different effects on franchisee's commitment. Another purpose of this study to explore the how the level of franchisee's self-efficacy influences both the franchisor's leadership style and franchisee's commitment in a franchise system. Results of the present study are expected to provide important theoretical and practical implications as to the role of franchisor's leadership style, as restricted by government regulations and the franchisee's self-efficacy, which could be needed to improve the quality of the long-term relationship between the franchisor and franchisee. Quoted by Northouse(2007), one problem regarding the investigation of leadership is that there are almost as many different definitions of leadership as there are people who have tried to define it. But despite the multitude of ways in which leadership has been conceptualized, the following components can be identified as central to the phenomenon: (a) leadership is a process, (b) leadership involves influence, (c) leadership occurs in a group context, and (d) leadership involves goal attainment. Based on these components, in this study leadership is defined as a process whereby franchisor's influences a group of franchisee' to achieve a common goal. Focusing on this definition, the path-goal theory is about how leaders motivate subordinates to accomplish designated goals. Drawing heavily from research on what motivates employees, path-goal theory first appeared in the leadership literature in the early 1970s in the works of Evans (1970), House (1971), House and Dessler (1974), and House and Mitchell (1974). The stated goal of this leadership theory is to enhance employee performance and employee satisfaction by focusing on employee motivation. In brief, path-goal theory is designed to explain how leaders can help subordinates along the path to their goals by selecting specific behaviors that are best suited to subordinates' needs and to the situation in which subordinates are working (Northouse, 2007). House & Mitchell(1974) predicted that although many different leadership behaviors could have been selected to be a part of path-goal theory, this approach has so far examined directive, supportive, participative, and achievement-oriented leadership behaviors. And they suggested that leaders may exhibit any or all of these four styles with various subordinates and in different situations. However, due to restrictive government regulations, franchisors are not in a position to change their leadership style to suit their circumstances. In addition, quoted by Northouse(2007), ssubordinate characteristics determine how a leader's behavior is interpreted by subordinates in a given work context. Many researchers have focused on subordinates' needs for affiliation, preferences for structure, desires for control, and self-perceived level of task ability. In this study, we have focused on the self-perceived level of task ability, namely, the franchisee's self-efficacy. According to Bandura (1977), self-efficacy is chiefly defined as the personal attitude of one's ability to accomplish concrete tasks. Therefore, it is not an indicator of one's actual abilities, but an opinion of the extent of how one can use that ability. Thus, the judgment of maintain franchisee's commitment depends on the situation (e.g., government regulation and policy and leadership style of franchisor) and how it affects one's ability to mobilize resources to deal with the task, so even if people possess the same ability, there may be differences in self-efficacy. Figure 1 illustrates the model investigated in this study. In this model, it was hypothesized that leadership styles would affect the franchisee's commitment, and self-efficacy would moderate the relationship between leadership style and franchisee's commitment. Theoretically, quoted by Northouse(2007), the path-goal approach suggests that leaders need to choose a leadership style that best fits the needs of subordinates and the work they are doing. According to House & Mitchell (1974), the theory predicts that a directive style of leadership is best in situations in which subordinates are dogmatic and authoritarian, the task demands are ambiguous, and the organizational rule and procedures are unclear. In these situations, franchisor's directive leadership complements the work by providing guidance and psychological structure for franchisees. For work that is structured, unsatisfying, or frustrating, path-goal theory suggests that leaders should use a supportive style. Franchisor's Supportive leadership offers a sense of human touch for franchisees engaged in mundane, mechanized activity. Franchisor's participative leadership is considered best when a task is ambiguous because participation gives greater clarity to how certain paths lead to certain goals; it helps subordinates learn what actions leads to what outcome. Furthermore, House & Mitchell(1974) predicts that achievement-oriented leadership is most effective in settings in which subordinates are required to perform ambiguous tasks. Marsh and O'Neill (1984) tested the idea that organizational members' anger and decline in performance is caused by deficiencies in their level of effort and found that self-efficacy promotes accomplishment, decreases stress and negative consequences like depression and emotional instability. Based on the extant empirical findings and theoretical reasoning, we posit positive and strong relationships between the franchisor's leadership styles and the franchisee's commitment. Furthermore, the level of franchisee's self-efficacy was thought to maintain their commitment. The questionnaires sent to participants consisted of the following measures; leadership style was assessed using a 20 item 7-point likert scale developed by Indvik (1985), self-efficacy was assessed using a 24 item 6-point likert scale developed by Bandura (1977), and commitment was assessed using a 6 item 5-point likert scale developed by Morgan & Hunt (1994). Questionnaires were distributed to Korean optical franchisees in Seoul. It took about 20 days to complete the data collection. A total number of 140 questionnaires were returned and complete data were available from 137 respondents. Results of multiple regression analyses testing the relationships between the each of the four styles of leadership shown by the franchisor as independent variables and franchisee's commitment as the dependent variable showed that the relationship between supportive leadership style and commitment ($\beta$=.13, p<.001),and the relationship between participative leadership style and commitment ($\beta$=.07, p<.001)were significant. However, when participants divided into high and low self-efficacy groups, results of multiple regression analyses showed that only the relationship between achievement-oriented leadership style and commitment ($\beta$=.14, p<.001) was significant in the high self-efficacy group. In the low self-efficacy group, the relationship between supportive leadership style and commitment ($\beta$=.17, p<.001),and the relationship between participative leadership style and commitment ($\beta$=.10, p<.001) were significant. The study focused on the franchisee's self-efficacy in order to explore the possibility that regulation, originally intended to protect the franchisee, may not be the most effective method to maintain the relationships in a franchise business. The key results of the data analysis regarding the moderating role of self-efficacy between leadership behavior style as proposed by path-goal and commitment theory were as follows. First, this study proposed that franchisor should apply the appropriate type of leadership behavior to strengthen the franchisees commitment because the results demonstrated that supportive and participative leadership styles by the franchisors have a positive influence on the franchisee's level of commitment. Second, it is desirable for franchisor to validate the franchisee's efforts, since the franchisee's characteristics such as self-efficacy had a substantial, positive effect on the franchisee's commitment as well as being a meaningful moderator between leadership and commitment. Third, the results as a whole imply that the government should provide institutional support, namely to put the franchisor in a position to clearly identify the characteristics of their franchisees and provide reasonable means to administer the franchisees to achieve the company's goal.