• Title/Summary/Keyword: research instruments

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Comparison of Raw versus Relative scores in the Assessment of Coping Patterns in Chronic Arthritis Patients (만성관절염 환자의 대응양상정도와 관련변수 분석 -원점수와 상대점수를 이용한 비교-)

  • Chun, Chung-Ja;Mun, Mi-Suk
    • Journal of muscle and joint health
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    • v.3 no.1
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    • pp.90-103
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    • 1996
  • The purpose of this paper is to compare two approach to assessment of coping patterns. The sampling method was a purposive sampling technique. The study participants were out patients 113 of rheumatoid arthritis center of one University hospitals in Seoul. Datas were collected from Nov. 13 to Nov. 24, 1995. The instruments used for this study were Graphic Rating Scales of pain, The Beck Depression Inventory and Coping Patterns tool. The collected data were analyzed for frequency, means, SD, factor analysis., Pearsons' correlations and ANOVA. The results were summerized as follows ; 1. When raw scores were used : there were not correlation in all three coping patterns. 2. When relative scores were used : there were significantly correlated in all three coping patterns. 1) Active coping and Positive-cognitive coping (r=-0.352, p< 0.0001) 2) Positive-cognitive coping and Negative-cognitive coping (r=-0.594, p< 0.0001) 3) Active coping and Negative-cognitive coping(r=-0.544, p< 0.0001) The results of this research with relative scales provided more insight into the correlation in all three coping patterns. 3. Pearsons' Correlations were computed for each coping pattern, age, pain level, duration of pain and BDI. 1) Using raw score : (1) Active coping was significantly related to pain level(sensory score ; r=0.268, p<0.05, affective score ; r=0.266, p< 0.05) (2) Positive-cognitive coping was significantly related to age (r=-0.252, p< 0.05), pain level (sensory score ; r= -0.244, p< 0.05) (3) Negative-cognitive coping was significantly related to depression level (r=0.312 p< 0.0001). 2) Using relative score (1) Active coping was significantly related to pain level(sensory score ; r=0.299, p<0.05, affective score ; r=0.246, p< 0.05) (2) Positive-cognitive coping was significantly related to age (r= -0.187, P< 0.05), pain level (sensory score ; r=-0.317, p<0.0001, affective score : r=-0.305, p<0.0001) and depression level(-0.339, p<0.0001)) (3) Negative-cognitive coping was significantly related to depression. level(r=0.313, p<0.0001). 4. When raw and realtive coping scores were compared to those of age groups, religious groups and BDI level(high, middle, low) ; 1) Using raw score : (1) Active coping : there were not significantly difference (2) Positive-cognitive coping ; 20-39 age group and 50-59age group had significantly higher scores than over 60age group. BDI-low level group had significantly higher scores than other groups. (3) Negative-cognitive coping : 20-39age group and over 60age group had significantly higher scores than 40-49age group. Non-religious group had significantly higher scores than christian group. BDI-high level group had significantly higher scores than other groups. 2) Using relative score : (1) Active coping : over 60 age group had significantly higher scores than 20-39 age group and 40-49age group had significantly higher scores than 20-39 age group (2) Positive-cognitive coping ; 40-49age group, 20-39age group and 50-59age group had significantly higher scores than over 60age group. Christian group had significantly higher scores than non-religious group. BDI-low level group had significantly higher scores than other groups. (3) Negative-cognitive coping ; Non-religious group had significantly higher scores than christian group and buddhistic group. BDI-high level group had significantly higher scores than other groups. The current data suggest that relative scores may yield a different perspective on coping patters than raw scores. The use of relative scores reveals the relation clearly, without its being blurred statistically by the effect of other coping strategies or being relegated to a partial correlation. The use of relative scores holds promise for delineating the relations between ways of coping and health-related behavior.

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Paragon of people circling the pagoda of Woljeongsa Temple and performance of its cultural inheritance (월정사 탑돌이의 전형과 공연문화)

  • Lee, Chang-sik
    • (The) Research of the performance art and culture
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    • no.36
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    • pp.751-781
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    • 2018
  • Task of circling the pagoda of Waljeongsa(Woljeongsa Tabdori) is the major intangible cultural heritage with representativeness and historical meaning as a Buddhism culture, one of the Buddhism folk plays, which was firstly played after the liberation. Woljeongsa Tabdori holds significant designation importance in terms of Buddhism folklore heritage with Korean unique tradition and identity of Gangwon-do province. Temples are demonstrating Tabdori nationwide but Woljeongsa Tabdori is the unique case that systematically inherits the culture based on the designation of being intangible cultural heritage. That is why it is needed to focus on the cultural and internal value of Woljeongsa Tabdori. Tabdori is the integrated symbol of Buddhism respect and worship to the Buddha and pagoda. It is hard to presume the originality of Woljeongsa Tabdori: given the history of Woljeonsa temple, it lies into Goguryeo traditional play and Bokhui(Pagoda circling folk play) in Silla era. It fits into the courtesy of Circumambulating Stupa considering Moon in Goguryo mural, background of Odaesan Hwaeom thought/tripitaka and essence of Octagonal 9-story stone pagoda. At the first stage of Tabdori, Buddhist musical instruments such as Buddhism temple bell, singing bowl, cloud-shaped gong and wooden-fish. However, later, Samhyeon Yukgak has been added and then, Boyeom and Bakpaljeongjinga were singing: it could be interpreted that it was a pure Buddhist ceremony but it has become to have traditional aspect and been spread to the public. The origin of Woljeongsa Tabdori is related to the explanation of Circumambulating Stupa that experiences the glory of the ending ceremony. When a temple has a rite, the Buddhists make an offering to the Buddha. At that time, Buddhist prayer, sermon and chant are followed. After the rite, the Buddhists are circling the pagoda with the monks while praying for Buddhist charity and making their own wishes. It prays not only going after death to Nirvana of the one but also national prosperity and the welfare of the people for peaceful reign. As the temple holds bigger rites, many Buddhists gather and the Tabdori was a success. The scene of circling the pagoda and making own wishes in line with the Buddhist sermon was solemn. The idea on changes and convergence of Woljeongsa Tabdori requires strategic inheritance to promote the transmission while maintaining the paragon and purpose of designating the cultural heritage and reviving its identity. Korean Tabdori was held in Buddha's birthday in April and the mid-autumn day. Tabdori is a memorial service type Buddhist ceremony that once the monk holds the Buddhist rosary, circles the pagoda and sings the great mind and charity of the Buddha, Buddhists follow the step, lighting the lantern, circling the pagoda and praying for the gentle and easy death. Transmission education of the successor, diversified approach of the expert's advice and discourse on the revival of the origin should be reinforced in phases.

A New Relationship between Poetry and Music - music as Creative Principle of Poetry in Mallarmé's World (시와 음악 간의 새로운 관계 - 말라르메에게 있어 시 창작원리로서의 음악)

  • Do, Yoon-Jung
    • Cross-Cultural Studies
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    • v.44
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    • pp.211-237
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    • 2016
  • This paper seeks to explore the new relationship between music and poetry established in the beginning of the Modern Era. This was a period when reading silently was the dominant culture rather than reading aloud and orality was limited due to the emergence of literacy and print culture. A poet sensitive to the characteristics of the period, $Mallarm{\acute{e}}$ created his own concept of music and new creative principles of poetry from it. We analyze his "Divigation" and letters, in particular, the "Crisis of vers", "Music and Literature", "Mystery in the letters", and "About the book." Firstly, $Mallarm{\acute{e}}$ connects music with the mystery and the sacred: the mystery surrounds the music and the music is oriented with the sacred. The sanctity is that of the human race and has existed within humans since the beginning. Transposing the characteristics of this music to the poetry is his first creative principle of poetry. However, $Mallarm{\acute{e}}$ called music a totality of relationships that exist between objects without reducing the dimension to only the instruments or the sound. His definition is abstract, regarding music as a complete rhythm, the atmosphere and the air. Secondly, we have the question of how to realize music in a poem. As the music is surrounded by the mystery, $Mallarm{\acute{e}}$ can transpose the sacred to a poem in mysterious ways. This leads to his second principle of poetry: make a poem as a structure. In other words, 'musically', based on the disappearance of real objects and the initiative of the poet, he created a structure with only the words. We can create an acoustic structure but $Mallarm{\acute{e}}$ created a visible structure to overcome the incompleteness of the sound of a word in the diffusion of print culture. In this manner, the use of silence as much as sound and the use of visual as much as aural components were introduced in poetry as important motifs and the essentials of creation. This new relationship between poetry and music and the creative principles drawn from it appear to be the areas to which attention should be focused in the research of poetry.

On Securing Continuity of Long-Term Observational Eddy Flux Data: Field Intercomparison between Open- and Enclosed-Path Gas Analyzers (장기 관측 에디 플럭스 자료의 연속성 확보에 대하여: 개회로 및 봉폐회로 기체분석기의 야외 상호 비교)

  • Kang, Minseok;Kim, Joon;Yang, Hyunyoung;Lim, Jong-Hwan;Chun, Jung-Hwa;Moon, Minkyu
    • Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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    • v.21 no.3
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    • pp.135-145
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    • 2019
  • Analysis of a long cycle or a trend of time series data based on a long-term observation would require comparability between data observed in the past and the present. In the present study, we proposed an approach to ensure the compatibility among the instruments used for the long-term observation, which would allow to secure continuity of the data. An open-path gas analyzer (Model LI-7500, LI-COR, Inc., USA) has been used for eddy covariance flux measurement in the Gwangneung deciduous forest for more than 10 years. The open-path gas analyzer was replaced by an enclosed-path gas analyzer (Model EC155, Campbell Scientific, Inc., USA) in July 2015. Before completely replacing the gas analyzer, the carbon dioxide ($CO_2$) and latent heat fluxes were collected using both gas analyzers simultaneously during a five-month period from August to December in 2015. It was found that the $CO_2$ fluxes were not significantly different between the gas analyzers under the condition that the daily mean temperature was higher than $0^{\circ}C$. However, the $CO_2$ flux measured by the open-path gas analyzer was negatively biased (from positive sign, i.e., carbon source, to 0 or negative sign, i.e., carbon neutral or sink) due to the instrument surface heating under the condition that the daily mean temperature was lower than $0^{\circ}C$. Despite applying the frequency response correction associated with tube attenuation of water vapor, the latent heat flux measured by the enclosed-path gas analyzer was on average 9% smaller than that measured by the open-path gas analyzer, which resulted in >20% difference of the sums over the study period. These results indicated that application of the additional air density correction would be needed due to the instrument heat and analysis of the long-term observational flux data would be facilitated by understanding the underestimation tendency of latent heat flux measurements by an enclosed-path gas analyzer.

The Landscape Meaning and Literary Group Culture Carved in Danguedae and Samgaeseokmun of Imshil (임실(任實) 단구대(丹丘臺)와 삼계석문(三溪石門)에 새긴 의미경관과 단구구로회(丹丘九老會)의 아회(雅會)문화)

  • Lee, Hyun-Woo;Lee, Jung-Han;Rho, Jae-Hyun
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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    • v.29 no.4
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    • pp.170-181
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    • 2011
  • This Research will explore the meaning indicated in the landscape meaning and feature of literary group culture, focusing in Gurujeong(九老亭: pavilion for nine elders) and Samgaeseokmun(三溪石門: stone gate in three valleys) located in Dundeok-myun, Imshil-gun, and will seek to understand the implications by studying the cultural landscape spread out in the area. The place where Gurojeong and Samgaeseokmun is located is the meeting point of the three valleys, Dunnam stream, Osu stream, and Yul stream, which is the main location to view the beautiful scenery, which has the nickname as the dwelling place of a celestial being. Especially, based on the description of old maps, "Samgae(three valleys)" and "Samgaeseokmun" possesses significance as a landmark and shows a characteristic feature of landscape structures of low hills. Dangugurohwe(丹丘九老會: nine elders gathering on the dwelling of a celestial being) originated from Hyangsangurohwe(香山九老會: gathering of nine elders on a fragrant mountain), where Baekgeoi(白居易) of China was one of the main people. This group was organized by nine elders over the age of 60 desiring to view the scenery of Doyeonmyeong. The group enhanced the literary spirit on the low hill, erecting a tower, and enjoying the beautiful scenery changing every season with scholars from the same region. This phenomenon seems to have been formed upon the positive response to gatherings of elders, which were prevalent in the Joseon Dynasty. If the internal idea pursued by the group was "longevity," the external idea pursued can be summarized as "the spirit the respect for the elders." Naming the groups as 'Dangudae(place where the celestial being lives), Guseondong(valley of seeking a celestial life), Bangjangsan(mountain of a high priest), and Daecheondae(place of communicating with God) was likely a device to introspect oneself and symbolize one's life process. Furthermore, the reason Samgaeseokmun, which is an imitation of Choi, Chiwon's work, was built near Soyocheo, was probably to yearn the celestial land and based on the desire to follow Choi, Chiwon, who was the most self-fulfilling being presumed to have become a celestial being by practicing the pursuit of freedom, escaping from the reality. After tracing the symbolizing meaning of the four letters carved in the left side of the stone wall of Dangudae, the conclusion that this place was not only a place for literary gatherings of the nine elders of Saseong(four families), but was a place where the celestial being dwelled could be inferred. Corresponding with Dangudae and Gurojeong, which are places where the order of human and nature is harmonized and where its meaning associated with the location intensifies, arouses strong bond, can be said to be the symbol of the traces of celestial beings where the spirits of attachment to a certain place is embedded. The acts performed in Dangugurohwe were those of traditional leisure including strolling, viewing the scenery, drinking, composing poems, and playing instruments, and sometimes listening to stories, tea ceremony, prayers, and fishing were added, which indicates that the gathering had a strong tendency towards pastoral and hermit life.

The Music Policies of the Kings of Joseon Dynasty - Focus on Seongjong, Jungjong, and Injo - (조선 중기 국왕의 음악정책 - 성종·중종·인조를 중심으로 -)

  • Song, Ji-won
    • (The) Research of the performance art and culture
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    • no.34
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    • pp.315-353
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    • 2017
  • This study examined the music policies of the three kings, Seongjong, Jungjong, and Injo, who were in power for about 200 years from the late 15th century to the early 17th century. These three kings deserve attention in musical history for different reasons. Sungjong published "Gugjooryeui"(1474), "Gyeong-gugdaejeon"(1476), and "Aghaggwebeom"(1493), the typical etiquette books, law books, and musical books that take the most important position in the history of Joseon, so his direction of music policy deserves attention. Jungjong was the king who rose to the throne after there was a revolt against Yeonsangun's tyranny. Injo ascended to the throne by starting a military coup d'etat himself. One may wonder how the aspect of music policies developed by a king, who was crowned by a revolt, is different from other cases. As each of these three kings had different background of enthronement and the contents of music policies in the royal family also developed with different emphasis, this study examined each aspect separately. Sungjong emphasized the importance of music and regarded it important to cultivate officials who know music. To this end, he gave a special order to Yejo(the office of protocol) and this study tried to clarify the contents first. In addition, this study examined the process, contents, and meaning of various modification works related to the revision of the lyrics used in the ceremonies. Jungjong supplemented the institutional aspects of music. This is the result of expressing the will to correct the anomalous and reckless music policies of the period of Yeonsangun. In addition, many words in the lyrics had been about Buddhist doctrines and love songs between male and female, so there were efforts to reform these. As for the period of Injo, this study examined the music policies that were made in the process of resolving the crisis after the war. It was a time when court musicians were scattered after two times of war and it was not possible to hold the national ritual properly, so music policies in this period were different from the ones in stable era. This study covered discussions on the measures to collect lost instruments and scattered musicians. It also looked at how the restoration effort was made in the situation that the music used in ancestral rites was abolished.

A Comparative Study on the Concept of Light Presented in Elementary School Science Curriculum and Textbooks in Korea, the US, China, and Japan (한국, 미국, 중국, 일본의 초등학교 과학 교육과정과 교과서에 제시된 빛 관련 개념에 관한 비교 연구)

  • Lee, Jiwon;Kim, Jung Bog
    • Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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    • v.41 no.2
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    • pp.283-294
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    • 2022
  • Although the concept of light is important in the elementary school curriculum, substantial research suggests that students and teachers have difficulties in understanding it. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the reasons for these difficulties-whether it is due to the content or due to the presentation method of contents, structure, and expression. The national curriculum and textbooks of Korea, the US, China, and Japan were comparatively analyzed from the following perspectives: 1) key concepts of light, 2) structure of light units in the textbook, 3) materials, light sources, and optics used in light units. Consequently, there were differences between countries in their inclusion of the concept of light in the curriculum. In particular, the Korean curriculum studies the concept of refraction by a convex lens, whereas the concept of light, light source, and vision is not introduced. Furthermore, countries also differed in their structuring of units. The Korean curriculum was presented segmentally by concept rather than structured according to core ideas or perspectives, and the connection between concepts was unclear. In addition, there were differences between the countries in materials, light sources, and optical instruments to explain key concepts. On using light, the US curriculum provides a purpose and uses light to achieve it, and China and Korea understand the concept. It was divided into the method of using the material to deepen. Based on the results of this analysis, the implications for the elementary science curriculum in Korea were derived as follows. First, it is necessary to introduce concepts sequentially and organize them so that the connection between concepts is well expressed. Second, it is necessary to introduce light and light sources as the predominant concepts. Third, it is necessary to include the principle of seeing objects. Fourth, it is necessary to adjust the material and content level of the refraction concept included in the light and lens unit. Fifth, an integrated approach is required because light has a deep connection with various concepts included in the elementary science curriculum.

A Validating Academic Engagement as a Multidimensional Construct for Korean College Students: Academic Motivation, Engagement, and Satisfaction (대학생용 학업참여 척도(UWES-S)의 타당화: 학업동기, 참여 및 만족도의 구조적 관계)

  • Choo, Huntaek;Sohn, Wonsook
    • Korean Journal of School Psychology
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    • v.9 no.3
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    • pp.485-503
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    • 2012
  • Academic engagement has been known as a strong predictor of students' cognitive and affective outcomes in an educational context. Despite increasing interest and theoretical usefulness of this construct, a few researchers seem to be interested in the validation of instruments to measure academic engagement for Korean students. Thus, this study would like to introduce one of academic scales widely used, UWES-S(Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-Student) (Schaufeli et al., 2002a: 2002b) and to validate the UWES-S for Korean college students. To validate the Korean version of the UWES-S, 651 college students (285 for Field Trial, 366 for Main Study) were used. The procedure is as follows. First, we used an integrated adaptation procedure to produce a Korean version of the UWES-S. Second, EFA(exploratory factor analyses) was applied to explore the factor structure of the UWES-S on the field trial data. Third, the psychometric properties of the UWES-S items were examined by graded response model(GRM). Also CFA(confirmatory factor analysis) was used to examine its internal construct validity for the data from the main study. Finally, the external validity of the UWES-S was scrutinized with the related variables such as academic motivation and satisfaction. As a result, the Korean version of the UWES-S with 13 items was accepted that the four items were excluded from its original version. Second, the internal validity was supported that the 3 factor CFA model(vigor, dedication, absorption) fit the data well. Third, we supported the partial mediation model that academic engagement played as a mediating variable between academic motivation(internal/external) and academic satisfaction. Finally, the differences between a validation of UWES-S for Korean college and high school students, the necessity of construct equivalence testing, and direction for future research of scale validating were discussed.

A Study on Startups' Dependence on Business Incubation Centers (창업보육서비스에 따른 입주기업의 창업보육센터 의존도에 관한 연구)

  • Park, JaeSung;Lee, Chul;Kim, JaeJon
    • Korean small business review
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    • v.31 no.2
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    • pp.103-120
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    • 2009
  • As business incubation centers (BICs) have been operating for more than 10 years in Korea, many early stage startups tend to use the services provided by the incubating centers. BICs in Korea have accumulated the knowledge and experience in the past ten years and their services have been considerably improved. The business incubating service has three facets : (1) business infrastructure service, (2) direct service, and (3) indirect service. The mission of BICs is to provide the early stage entrepreneurs with the incubating service in a limited period time to help them grow strong enough to survive the fierce competition after graduating from the incubation. However, the incubating services sometimes fail to foster the independence of new startup companies, and raise the dependence of many companies on BICs. Thus, the dependence on BICs is a very important factor to understand the survival of the incubated startup companies after graduation from BICs. The purpose of this study is to identify the main factors that influence the firm's dependence on BICs and to characterize the relationships among the identified factors. The business incubating service is a core construct of this study. It includes various activities and resources, such as offering the physical facilities, legal service, and connecting them with outside organizations. These services are extensive and take various forms. They are provided by BICs directly or indirectly. Past studies have identified various incubating services and classify them in different ways. Based on the past studies, we classify the business incubating service into three categories as mentioned above : (1) business infrastructure support, (2) direct support, and (3) networking support. The business infrastructure support is to provide the essential resources to start the business, such as physical facilities. The direct support is to offer the business resources available in the BICs, such as human, technical, and administrational resources. Finally, the indirect service was to support the resource in the outside of business incubation center. Dependence is generally defined as the degree to which a client firm needs the resources provided by the service provider in order to achieve its goals. Dependence is generated when a firm recognizes the benefits of interacting with its counterpart. Hence, the more positive outcomes a firm derives from its relationship with the partner, the more dependent on the partner the firm must inevitably become. In business incubating, as a resident firm is incubated in longer period, we can predict that her dependence on BICs would be stronger. In order to foster the independence of the incubated firms, BICs have to be able to manipulate the provision of their services to control the firms' dependence on BICs. Based on the above discussion, the research model for relationships between dependence and its affecting factors was developed. We surveyed the companies residing in BICs to test our research model. The instrument of our study was modified, in part, on the basis of previous relevant studies. For the purposes of testing reliability and validity, preliminary testing was conducted with firms that were residing in BICs and incubated by the BICs in the region of Gwangju and Jeonnam. The questionnaire was modified in accordance with the pre-test feedback. We mailed to all of the firms that had been incubated by the BICs with the help of business incubating managers of each BIC. The survey was conducted over a three week period. Gifts (of approximately ₩10,000 value) were offered to all actively participating respondents. The incubating period was reported by the business incubating managers, and it was transformed using natural logarithms. A total of 180 firms participated in the survey. However, we excluded 4 cases due to a lack of consistency using reversed items in the answers of the companies, and 176 cases were used for the analysis. We acknowledge that 176 samples may not be sufficient to conduct regression analyses with 5 research variables in our study. Each variable was measured through multiple items. We conducted an exploratory factor analysis to assess their unidimensionality. In an effort to test the construct validity of the instruments, a principal component factor analysis was conducted with Varimax rotation. The items correspond well to each singular factor, demonstrating a high degree of convergent validity. As the factor loadings for a variable (or factor) are higher than the factor loadings for the other variables, the instrument's discriminant validity is shown to be clear. Each factor was extracted as expected, which explained 70.97, 66.321, and 52.97 percent, respectively, of the total variance each with eigen values greater than 1.000. The internal consistency reliability of the variables was evaluated by computing Cronbach's alphas. The Cronbach's alpha values of the variables, which ranged from 0.717 to 0.950, were all securely over 0.700, which is satisfactory. The reliability and validity of the research variables are all, therefore, considered acceptable. The effects of dependence were assessed using a regression analysis. The Pearson correlations were calculated for the variables, measured by interval or ratio scales. Potential multicollinearity among the antecedents was evaluated prior to the multiple regression analysis, as some of the variables were significantly correlated with others (e.g., direct service and indirect service). Although several variables show the evidence of significant correlations, their tolerance values range between 0.334 and 0.613, thereby demonstrating that multicollinearity is not a likely threat to the parameter estimates. Checking some basic assumptions for the regression analyses, we decided to conduct multiple regression analyses and moderated regression analyses to test the given hypotheses. The results of the regression analyses indicate that the regression model is significant at p < 0.001 (F = 44.260), and that the predictors of the research model explain 42.6 percent of the total variance. Hypotheses 1, 2, and 3 address the relationships between the dependence of the incubated firms and the business incubating services. Business infrastructure service, direct service, and indirect service are all significantly related with dependence (β = 0.300, p < 0.001; β = 0.230, p < 0.001; β = 0.226, p < 0.001), thus supporting Hypotheses 1, 2, and 3. When the incubating period is the moderator and dependence is the dependent variable, the addition of the interaction terms with the antecedents to the regression equation yielded a significant increase in R2 (F change = 2.789, p < 0.05). In particular, direct service and indirect service exert different effects on dependence. Hence, the results support Hypotheses 5 and 6. This study provides several strategies and specific calls to action for BICs, based on our empirical findings. Business infrastructure service has more effect on the firm's dependence than the other two services. The introduction of an additional high charge rate for a graduated but allowed to stay in the BIC is a basic and legitimate condition for the BIC to control the firm's dependence. We detected the differential effects of direct and indirect services on the firm's dependence. The firms with long incubating period are more sensitive to indirect service positively, and more sensitive to direct service negatively, when assessing their levels of dependence. This implies that BICs must develop a strategy on the basis of a firm's incubating period. Last but not least, it would be valuable to discover other important variables that influence the firm's dependence in the future studies. Moreover, future studies to explain the independence of startup companies in BICs would also be valuable.

Factors Affecting International Transfer Pricing of Multinational Enterprises in Korea (외국인투자기업의 국제이전가격 결정에 영향을 미치는 환경 및 기업요인)

  • Jun, Tae-Young;Byun, Yong-Hwan
    • Korean small business review
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    • v.31 no.2
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    • pp.85-102
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    • 2009
  • With the continued globalization of world markets, transfer pricing has become one of the dominant sources of controversy in international taxation. Transfer pricing is the process by which a multinational corporation calculates a price for goods and services that are transferred to affiliated entities. Consider a Korean electronic enterprise that buys supplies from its own subsidiary located in China. How much the Korean parent company pays its subsidiary will determine how much profit the Chinese unit reports in local taxes. If the parent company pays above normal market prices, it may appear to have a poor profit, even if the group as a whole shows a respectable profit margin. In this way, transfer prices impact the taxable income reported in each country in which the multinational enterprise operates. It's importance lies in that around 60% of international trade involves transactions between two related parts of multinationals, according to the OECD. Multinational enterprises (hereafter MEs) exert much effort into utilizing organizational advantages to make global investments. MEs wish to minimize their tax burden. So MEs spend a fortune on economists and accountants to justify transfer prices that suit their tax needs. On the contrary, local governments are not prepared to cope with MEs' powerful financial instruments. Tax authorities in each country wish to ensure that the tax base of any ME is divided fairly. Thus, both tax authorities and MEs have a vested interest in the way in which a transfer price is determined, and this is why MEs' international transfer prices are at the center of disputes concerned with taxation. Transfer pricing issues and practices are sometimes difficult to control for regulators because the tax administration does not have enough staffs with the knowledge and resources necessary to understand them. The authors examine transfer pricing practices to provide relevant resources useful in designing tax incentives and regulation schemes for policy makers. This study focuses on identifying the relevant business and environmental factors that could influence the international transfer pricing of MEs. In this perspective, we empirically investigate how the management perception of related variables influences their choice of international transfer pricing methods. We believe that this research is particularly useful in the design of tax policy. Because it can concentrate on a few selected factors in consideration of the limited budget of the tax administration with assistance of this research. Data is composed of questionnaire responses from foreign firms in Korea with investment balances exceeding one million dollars in the end of 2004. We mailed questionnaires to 861 managers in charge of the accounting departments of each company, resulting in 121 valid responses. Seventy six percent of the sample firms are classified as small and medium sized enterprises with assets below 100 billion Korean won. Reviewing transfer pricing methods, cost-based transfer pricing is most popular showing that 60 firms have adopted it. The market-based method is used by 31 firms, and 13 firms have reported the resale-pricing method. Regarding the nationalities of foreign investors, the Japanese and the Americans constitute most of the sample. Logistic regressions have been performed for statistical analysis. The dependent variable is binary in that whether the method of international transfer pricing is a market-based method or a cost-based method. This type of binary classification is founded on the belief that the market-based method is evaluated as the relatively objective way of pricing compared with the cost-based methods. Cost-based pricing is assumed to give mangers flexibility in transfer pricing decisions. Therefore, local regulatory agencies are thought to prefer market-based pricing over cost-based pricing. Independent variables are composed of eight factors such as corporate tax rate, tariffs, relations with local tax authorities, tax audit, equity ratios of local investors, volume of internal trade, sales volume, and product life cycle. The first four variables are included in the model because taxation lies in the center of transfer pricing disputes. So identifying the impact of these variables in Korean business environments is much needed. Equity ratio is included to represent the interest of local partners. Volume of internal trade was sometimes employed in previous research to check the pricing behavior of managers, so we have followed these footsteps in this paper. Product life cycle is used as a surrogate of competition in local markets. Control variables are firm size and nationality of foreign investors. Firm size is controlled using dummy variables in that whether or not the specific firm is small and medium sized. This is because some researchers report that big firms show different behaviors compared with small and medium sized firms in transfer pricing. The other control variable is also expressed in dummy variable showing if the entrepreneur is the American or not. That's because some prior studies conclude that the American management style is different in that they limit branch manger's freedom of decision. Reviewing the statistical results, we have found that managers prefer the cost-based method over the market-based method as the importance of corporate taxes and tariffs increase. This result means that managers need flexibility to lessen the tax burden when they feel taxes are important. They also prefer the cost-based method as the product life cycle matures, which means that they support subsidiaries in local market competition using cost-based transfer pricing. On the contrary, as the relationship with local tax authorities becomes more important, managers prefer the market-based method. That is because market-based pricing is a better way to maintain good relations with the tax officials. Other variables like tax audit, volume of internal transactions, sales volume, and local equity ratio have shown only insignificant influence. Additionally, we have replaced two tax variables(corporate taxes and tariffs) with the data showing top marginal tax rate and mean tariff rates of each country, and have performed another regression to find if we could get different results compared with the former one. As a consequence, we have found something different on the part of mean tariffs, that shows only an insignificant influence on the dependent variable. We guess that each company in the sample pays tariffs with a specific rate applied only for one's own company, which could be located far from mean tariff rates. Therefore we have concluded we need a more detailed data that shows the tariffs of each company if we want to check the role of this variable. Considering that the present paper has heavily relied on questionnaires, an effort to build a reliable data base is needed for enhancing the research reliability.