• Asia Marketing Journal
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• 제15권4호
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• pp.61-101
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• 2014

This study investigates when and how disagreements in online customer ratings prompt more favorable product evaluations. Among the three metrics of volume, valence, and variance that feature in the research on online customer ratings, volume and valence have exhibited consistently positive patterns in their effects on product sales or evaluations (e.g., Dellarocas, Zhang, and Awad 2007; Liu 2006). Ratings variance, or the degree of disagreement among reviewers, however, has shown rather mixed results, with some studies reporting positive effects on product sales (e.g., Clement, Proppe, and Rott 2007) while others finding negative effects on product evaluations (e.g., Zhu and Zhang 2010). This study aims to resolve these contradictory findings by introducing preference heterogeneity as a possible moderator and causal attribution as a mediator to account for the moderating effect. The main proposition of this study is that when preference heterogeneity is perceived as high, a disagreement in ratings is attributed more to reviewers' different preferences than to unreliable product quality, which in turn prompts better quality evaluations of a product. Because disagreements mostly result from differences in reviewers' tastes or the low reliability of a product's quality (Mizerski 1982; Sen and Lerman 2007), a greater level of attribution to reviewer tastes can mitigate the negative effect of disagreement on product evaluations. Specifically, if consumers infer that reviewers' heterogeneous preferences result in subjectively different experiences and thereby highly diverse ratings, they would not disregard the overall quality of a product. However, if consumers infer that reviewers' preferences are quite homogeneous and thus the low reliability of the product quality contributes to such disagreements, they would discount the overall product quality. Therefore, consumers would respond more favorably to disagreements in ratings when preference heterogeneity is perceived as high rather than low. This study furthermore extends this prediction to the various levels of average ratings. The heuristicsystematic processing model so far indicates that the engagement in effortful systematic processing occurs only when sufficient motivation is present (Hann et al. 2007; Maheswaran and Chaiken 1991; Martin and Davies 1998). One of the key factors affecting this motivation is the aspiration level of the decision maker. Only under conditions that meet or exceed his aspiration level does he tend to engage in systematic processing (Patzelt and Shepherd 2008; Stephanous and Sage 1987). Therefore, systematic causal attribution processing regarding ratings variance is likely more activated when the average rating is high enough to meet the aspiration level than when it is too low to meet it. Considering that the interaction between ratings variance and preference heterogeneity occurs through the mediation of causal attribution, this greater activation of causal attribution in high versus low average ratings would lead to more pronounced interaction between ratings variance and preference heterogeneity in high versus low average ratings. Overall, this study proposes that the interaction between ratings variance and preference heterogeneity is more pronounced when the average rating is high as compared to when it is low. Two laboratory studies lend support to these predictions. Study 1 reveals that participants exposed to a high-preference heterogeneity book title (i.e., a novel) attributed disagreement in ratings more to reviewers' tastes, and thereby more favorably evaluated books with such ratings, compared to those exposed to a low-preference heterogeneity title (i.e., an English listening practice book). Study 2 then extended these findings to the various levels of average ratings and found that this greater preference for disagreement options under high preference heterogeneity is more pronounced when the average rating is high compared to when it is low. This study makes an important theoretical contribution to the online customer ratings literature by showing that preference heterogeneity serves as a key moderator of the effect of ratings variance on product evaluations and that causal attribution acts as a mediator of this moderation effect. A more comprehensive picture of the interplay among ratings variance, preference heterogeneity, and average ratings is also provided by revealing that the interaction between ratings variance and preference heterogeneity varies as a function of the average rating. In addition, this work provides some significant managerial implications for marketers in terms of how they manage word of mouth. Because a lack of consensus creates some uncertainty and anxiety over the given information, consumers experience a psychological burden regarding their choice of a product when ratings show disagreement. The results of this study offer a way to address this problem. By explicitly clarifying that there are many more differences in tastes among reviewers than expected, marketers can allow consumers to speculate that differing tastes of reviewers rather than an uncertain or poor product quality contribute to such conflicts in ratings. Thus, when fierce disagreements are observed in the WOM arena, marketers are advised to communicate to consumers that diverse, rather than uniform, tastes govern reviews and evaluations of products.

• Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
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• 제35권4호
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• pp.101-110
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• 2007

This study developed a new model for evaluating activities related to PL(Product Liability), with which our domestic enterprises can more easily assess the actual status of the management of PL than as they could do before. In addition, this model was designed to make the evaluation can be done focusing on the Product safety management cycle, unlike the other PL evaluation models. This model consists of 3 evaluation domains such as evaluations of planning, implementation, and assessment and taking action regarding product safety management. In order to verify that this evaluation model meets its objectives, the researcher directly conducted evaluations of activities related to PL in 3 companies specializing in electric home appliances through visiting them.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• 제36권11호
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• pp.1222-1236
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• 2012

This study examined the effects of product recommendation services as an atmosphere for online mass customization shopping sites on consumers' cognitive and affective responses. We conducted a between-subject experimental study using a convenience sample of college students. A total of 196 participants provided usable responses for structural equation modeling analysis. The findings of the study support the S-O-R model for a product recommendation system as an element of the shopping environment with an influence on OMC product evaluations and arousal. The results showed that OMC product recommendation service positively affected cognitive and affective responses. The findings of the study suggest that OMC retailers might pay attention to the affective and cognitive responses of consumers through product recommendation services that can enhance product evaluations and OMC usage intentions.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• 제22권8호
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• pp.1099-1110
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• 1998

The perceived quality is a concept considered from the consumer's perspective. So it is differ from the objective determination of product quality. Thus the consumer perception of quality is a subjective judgement of an individual and an overall feeling on the characteristics which includes the product's reliability, performance and so on. In terms of product perception, consumers utilize the product cues in evaluating the product's quality before the purchase and the cues reflecting the quality can be classifisied into intrinsic and extrinsic ones. When the quality perception is limited to the purchase situation, purchase decision dependent on surrogate indicators such as price, are inclined to increase due to the lack of information. Therefore in this study the perceived quality of apparel is controled to the purchase situation in order to examine the consumer's reaction to the price cues and for the convenience of the exploratory investigation. As a result of the empirical study, consumers show differences in quality and value perceptions to the product with the same price depending on the perception whether the price is high or low. The apparel quality evaluation process goes through the steps of "product attributes - perceived quality - perceived value - purchase intention".

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Machine Tool Engineers
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• 제16권1호
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• pp.19-25
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• 2007

Items and methods of synchronous type AC servo motor's performance evaluation were researched. Through the research, nine items of performance evaluations were selected from study of IEC standards and domestic technical reports. Using the proposed evaluation items and methods, performance evaluations were carried out into two domestic products and one foreign product for analysis of what results means. The results show that the proposed items of performance evaluations are reasonable and proper for performance evaluations of AC servo motors.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• 제20권3호
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• pp.493-501
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• 1996

An understanding of consumers' evaluative processes and the consumer variables that influence cross-cultural evaluations of foreign products is essential to effectively penetrate international markets. This study compared consumers in two developing countries, Korea and Mexico, regarding their product evaluations and purchase intentions for US Levi's jeans. Both Korean and Mexican consumers are generally quality and price conscious. Korean consumers appeared to be more value-conscious than Mexican consumers. Mexican consumers exhibited high level of brand and prestige conscious behavior. Findings in this study support that culture bound consumer characteristics vary from country to country resulting in differences in perception of quality, value and purchase intentions for a particular product. The perception of product quality differs from perception of value and subsequent willingness to buy. For a comprehensive understanding of consumer purchase behavior, the impact of value-conscious attitude on percetion of quality and on purchase intentions should be examined.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• 제15권3호
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• pp.67-92
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• 2005

This study investigates the influence of the mother brand's product types on the consumers' brand evaluations on consistent and inconsistent brand extensions. The study shows that brand extensions consistent with the mother brand's product type have better brand evaluations than inconsistent brand extensions. The study also shows that brand extensions consistent with utilitarian mother products are much more important than consistent brand extensions with hedonic mother brands. Furthermore, results show that the types of consumer involvement influence the consumers' brand evaluations by interacting with types of mother brands and consistency of brand extensions.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• 제13권5호
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• pp.61-70
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• 2015

Purpose - This study investigates whether the effectiveness of self trait-advertisement versus communion-focused advertisement on product evaluations depends on a type of pride felt as ambient emotion. It also explores whether the mediating roles of cognitive and affective response to the effect of the advertisement type on product evaluation are moderated by types of pride such as hubristic pride or authentic pride. Research Design, Data, and Methodology - This research uses a restaurant service as the experimental object and employs a 2 (pride type: hubristic pride vs. authentic pride) × 2 (advertisement type: self trait-focused advertisement versus communion-focused advertisement) between-subjects design, with cognitive response and affective response as within-subject. Each experimental group consisted of 40 undergraduate students assigned to participate in the experiment. One questionnaire from the authentic pride and self-trait focused advertisement group and two questionnaires from the hubristic pride and communion-focused advertisement group were removed due to answer errors, resulting in a participant number of 157. The author conducts a 2 (pride type: hubristic pride vs. authentic pride) × 2 (advertisement type: self trait-focused advertisement versus communion-focused advertisement) ANOVA on advertised product evaluations, and to better understand the interaction effects, also conducts separate analysis of the hubristic and the authentic pride groups. Additionally, the study conducts mediated moderation analysis to check the mediation role difference of the cognitive response and the affective response to each advertisement on the interaction effects on product evaluations between the hubristic and the authentic pride groups. Results - The findings indicate that participants in the hubristic pride group more positively evaluate the product in self-trait focused advertisement, whereas participants in the authentic pride group more positively evaluate the product in communion-focused advertisements. In addition, the mediating role of cognitive response on the positive interaction effect of advertisement type and pride type on product evaluation is partially moderated by the pride type. However, the mediating role of affective response on the positive interaction effect of advertisement type and pride type on the product evaluation is not moderated by the pride type. Conclusions - The results of this study contribute to advertisement theory development by exploring interaction effects of ambient pride type and advertisement type on product evaluation, as well as to the theory of consumer behavior by exploring how pride type moderates the mediating roles of cognitive response on the positive interaction effect of advertisement type and pride type on product evaluation. From the perspective of the current research, advertisers should research what kinds of events consumers have experienced to increase the effectiveness of their advertisements, and use self-trait advertisements when consumers are grouped under ambient hubristic pride, and use communion-focused advertisements when consumers are grouped under ambient authentic pride. However, future research is necessary to discover the reasons why the mediating role of affective response to advertisements in the interaction effects of pride type and advertisement type on product evaluation is not moderated by pride type.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• 제43권1호
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• pp.1-16
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• 2019

This study explores the effect of hashtag type on consumer response via evaluations of SNS fashion influencer and information in the context of fashion product communication. The moderating effect of perceived fit between hashtag content and fashion product image on information evaluation was also investigated. An online survey was conducted, and responses from 152 Instagram users were collected. The results indicated that hashtag type (informative vs storytelling) affects the evaluations of influencer and information. First, the informative hashtag has a positive effect on influencer's expertise and usefulness of information. Meanwhile, storytelling type has a positive effect on the familiarity of the influencer. This study also verified the mediated paths from hashtag type to consumer response through the evaluations of SNS fashion influencer and information. The influencer's expertise and familiarity mediated the effect of hashtag type on consumer response. In the information evaluation, only the mediating effect of usefulness was significant. Finally, the high condition of the perceived fit between hashtag content and fashion product image was found to highly evaluate the trust of information. This study extends the scope of fashion communication research from various angles by examining the role of the hashtag as a new type of information source.

• International Journal of Costume and Fashion
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• 제10권2호
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• pp.15-36
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• 2010

This study aims to examine if a consumer's evaluations of and purchase intentions towards textiles and apparel-related cultural products are influenced by their culture, as indicated by their nationalities. Additionally, several psychological variables, such as novelty-seeking tendency, world-mindedness, and familiarity with Northeast Asian culture were included in the analyses to compare the relative importance of cultural influences with the importance of individual characteristics. To conduct a quantitative analysis, we collected data from 400 female consumers in two countries: 200 from the USA and 200 from China. Key findings showed that, nationality and novelty-seeking were found to have a strong influence on purchase intention when product evaluation variables were not included. Evaluation of appearance and Northeast Asian design emerged highly significant predictors of purchase intention for Korean cultural products, regardless of the product type. Cross cultural comparative research on cultural product evaluations is extremely rare. This study focused on groups of consumers residing in the US and China and asked them to evaluate a series of textiles and apparel-related cultural products produced in Korea.