• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.1-30
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• 2009

The purpose of this study is to investigate the direct and indirect modes of influences environmental dynamism exerts on opportunism, one of important relationship factors. This study particularly delves into the indirect modes of influence in terms of control strategy (control mechanism) and control structure (bureaucratic structuring). To this end, a survey research has been conducted of 200 suppliers in business relationships with Korean hypermarket retailers. An analysis of the collected data indicates that while environmental dynamism has a positive influence on the control mechanisms such as monitoring and incentives, it does not have a negative influence on the control structure such as participation. And then it has a positive influence on the opportunism of suppliers. In addition, participation has a negative influence on the opportunism, but monitoring and incentives do not have a negative influence on it. This study discusses how both retailers and their suppliers should respond to the domestic retail business environment with highly dynamic characteristics, in order to achieve a long-term win-win partnership with one another. It also presents ideas to retailers with regard to what kinds of management strategies and management efforts required to effectively control the opportunism of suppliers.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.123-133
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• 2016

Purpose - Understanding how service convenience drives shopping performance is imperative for retailers such as department and large discount stores. Retailers have to enhance shopping productivity by reducing the costs of shopping, as convenience triggers customers' perceived shopping value, leading to customer satisfaction, and ultimately patronage behavior. Consumers, generally considering time as a scarce resource, are more sensitive to the time costs of tasks in regard to shopping trip, differently from forming perceptions of convenience in time orientation. Therefore, this study attempts to examine the moderating effects of consumers' time orientation on the relationships among service convenience of retailers and shopping performances such as shopping value and service performances. Research design, data, and methodology - The department and discount store chains were chosen as the point of analysis in this study. Data were collected from a survey of real-life consumers and all respondents were screened to ensure only those who had visited in the department and discount store chains within past six month prior to the day of data collection. Out of 600 self-reported surveys that were distributed, a total of 530 responses were returned and after excluding 20 incomplete responses, the final sample size was 510. The three hypotheses were proposed and tested in this study. The one hypothesis was on the moderating effects of time orientation for the effects of service convenience on shopping value (hedonic and utilitarian shopping value). The other two hypotheses were on the comparisons between high and low time-oriented customers with the effects in shopping value from service performance. Hierarchical moderated regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses. Results - The results suggest that the effect of service convenience on utilitarian shopping value and the positive effect of utilitarian shopping value on customer satisfaction are greater in low time orientation than high time orientation customers. Conversely, when customers are highly oriented toward time, the effects of hedonic shopping value on customer satisfaction and revisit intention are greater than for customers who are lowly oriented toward time. Conclusions - This study has two-fold significance. First, this study contributes to the consumer behavior and services marketing literature by incorporating customers' time orientation into the service convenience-shopping performance. Although the effect of service convenience on shopping performance might differ from customers' perceptions concerning shopping, there has been little investigation or comparison between customers' perception on time. This study is a first attempt to consider how the effects of service convenience on shopping value and service performance vary with differing levels of customers' time orientation. This study advances prior studies by showing that the service convenience-shopping value and service convenience-service performance relationships vary across different combinations of the customer's time orientation. The findings of this study suggest that the retailers need to enhance the experiential aspects of the stores for their high time-oriented customers. Conversely, for the low time-oriented customers, the retailers should boost the visual distinctiveness and ease of store navigation.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.103-111
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• 2016

Purpose - Many variables are needed for brand loyalty such as brand attitude, brand attachment, brand love and brand commitment. Thus, we should manage these all variables successfully for strong and differentiated brand equity. This study aims to identify the process of how the brand value propositions affect the brand attitude and brand attachment. This study specially conceptualizes that not only utilitarian value and hedonic value influence the brand attitude but also hedonic value influences the brand attachment. This study focuses on the moderating role of consumer involvement such as cognitive involvement and affective involvement in the causal relationships among brand value propositions, brand attitude, and brand attachment. Research design, data, and methodology - The five hypotheses were proposed and tested in this study. Three hypotheses were about the relationship among the brand value propositions(utilitarian value and hedonic value), brand attitude, and brand attachment. The other two hypotheses were about the moderating effect on consumer involvement in the causal relationships among brand value propositions, brand attitude, and brand attachment. Research data were collected from the students of universities located in Daejeon-Si and Chungchungnam-Do. For the purpose of test the hypotheses empirically, the 208 responses were used. We utilized SPSS18.0 for statistical analysis such as reliability test, factor analysis, and regression analysis. Results - The results show that the utilitarian value and hedonic value have influence on the brand attitude positively. The results also show that the hedonic value has influence on the brand attachment positively. We found that there is a moderating effect on the cognitive involvement in the relationship between the utilitarian value and the brand attitude. However, there is no moderating effect on the affective involvement in the relationship between the hedonic value and brand attachment. In Summary, 4 of 5 hypotheses in this study were supported and 1 hypothesis was not supported. We should identify the reason why the hypothesis 5, the moderating effect of the affective involvement in the relationship between the hedonic value and brand attachment, was rejected in this empirical analysis. Conclusions - Both the utilitarian value and the hedonic value that propose a brand are important for brand attitude. Specially, the hedonic value is important for brand attachment. Companies should provide the consumers with both the utilitarian value and the hedonic value in a balanced way for their favorable brand attitude and strong brand attachment. In the retail industry, the balance between the utilitarian value and the hedonic value is important in that there are many product brands and store brands providing consumers with various benefit and values. Also, there are possibilities that the causal relationships among brand value propositions, brand attitude and brand attachment are moderated by consumer involvement such as cognitive involvement and affective involvement. Companies should understand and consider consumer involvement for their efficient and effective brand management decision making.

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.49-77
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• 2007

The purpose of this study is to examine a relationship between the headquarters and the sales offices of a car manufacturing company by comparing their channel types. It examines how the level of communication and commitment of sales offices on their headquarters differently affects some mediating effects between participation and relationship performance. It also tries to find out what kind of mechanisms are needed in order to improve the relationship. Through the data analysis of a total of 200 sales offices which are directly managed stores and agency stores by a domestic car manufacturing company, the following conclusions were reached: Participation, one of the variables in bureaucratic structuring, influences all dimensions of communication. Also, it has found that communication dimensions influence commitment dimensions differently by the type of channels, and commitment dimensions influence relationship performance by the type of channels. Recently, import car makers are accelerating their moves in the domestic market, and the importance of a customer-oriented retail innovation and a relationship management in an auto manufacturing industry is increasing. This study will give an useful suggestion on how to improve a long term relationship of distributors through an enhancement of communication and commitment.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.41-50
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• 2013

Purpose - Inducing consumers' behavioral intent to use an outlet shopping center is a critical issue for managers since it can be used as a guide for developing marketing strategies. Low prices could lead to a growth in retail purchases, but there might also be a positive relationship between prices and customer perceptions of product quality. The extent to which consumers use price as a predictor of quality may differ according to the availability of important alternative cues such as brand, store name, and identity salience triggered by the store. Consumers can obtain non-economic benefits from marketing exchanges that go beyond basic economic achievement. We argue that identity salience can play a crucial mediating role when consumers, acting as exchange partners, seek to obtain social benefits. This study shows that identity salience could mediate the relationship between identity salience-inducing factors such as multi-finality, prestige and role performance, and consumers' behavioral intent to use an outlet shopping center. Research design, data and methodology - The survey was conducted on college students enrolled in marketing classes. A total of 200 questionnaires were distributed, of which only 194 were returned. After five incomplete questionnaires were excluded, a final sample of 189 was used for empirical analysis. Using a covariance structural analysis in Amos17, we confirmed the fit of the research model and estimated its parameters by using the maximum likelihood method. Results - The results of the hypotheses testing are as follows. First, both identity salience and economic benefits have positive effects on the behavioral intent to use an outlet shopping center. Second, role performance, prestige, and multi-finality have positive effects on identity salience. Finally, the additive analysis of the direct effects of identity salience-inducing factors shows that the role performance, prestige, and multi-finality factors have no direct effects on the behavioral intent to use an outlet shopping center, suggesting that identity salience plays a positive mediating role. Conclusions - This study informs marketers that not only price but shoppers' identity salience directly affects their intent to visit an outlet shopping center. To strengthen shoppers' identity salience, marketers should find ways to help shoppers fulfill their multiple social roles, realize their multiple goals, and achieve prestige. In other words, outlet shopping centers must improve their personal service environment in order to enhance their employees' service quality and assist the execution of multi-finality by minimizing the perceived costs (e.g., travel time, effort) associated with shopping trips, thus making it easier for consumers to combine visits to multiple stores in outlet shopping centers and buy the items required for their consumption goals. Outlet shopping centers must also offer assortments with both breadth and depth in order to help consumers play the social roles their social networks have given them.

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.73-97
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• 2005

The importance of emotional factors like as product aesthetics, branding strategies and service quality is increasing in today's marketplace. At the point of fashion product purchases, emotional factor is mainly related to personal selling. Rasearches related to job aptitudity of fashion salesperson are necessary as their role becoming more serious. This study was designed (1) to determine factors of job aptitudity of fashion salesperson; and (2) to examine relations between job aptitudity of fashion salesperson and other variables: demographics, job statistics, fashion involvement fashion innovativeness, ongoing information searching and job satisfaction. As a result, job aptitudty of fashion salesperson was determined into six dimensions by factor analysis: product knowledge, professionalism, involvement to the present profession, marketing cooperator, customer orientation and self management. Marketing cooperator and product knowledge was relatively !ow compared to other aptitudity factors. This finding suggests that the special education programs including textile/fashion product knowledge and value of field information for fashion salesperson is needed to enhance the integrated fashion marketing. The job aptitudity of salesperson was correlated with fashion involvement, fashion innovativeness, ongoing information searching, and job satisfaction. The job aptitudity-related scales which showed significant relation to job aptitudity in this study could be used as the index to examine the job aptitudity of potential employees of fashion retail company.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.47-58
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• 2015

Purpose - This study aims to seek determinants of department store sales commission rates under consignment contracts based on transaction cost theory, the power-dependence view, and the resource-based view. A consignment contract is a unique contract where the retailer, over a given period, takes possession of goods owned by a supplier, promotes the sales of these goods, and receives a profit share from their sales. Under this contract, the supplier owns the goods until they are sold. In department stores in South Korea, over 70% of overall sales comes through consignment contracts. In other words, this is the most popular contract agreement between large retailers and vendors in South Korea. Consignment contracts yield high profits to department stores with minimal sales uncertainty, stock cost, and marketing investment. Many suppliers believe the consignment contract commission rates are too high. However, department stores disagree. They state that the commissions are not high as they generate new value for the suppliers by accumulating up-to-date merchandise and supporting various marketing programs on their behalf. Recently, consignment contracts have been critically examined and scrutinized by politicians, mass media, and the public of Korea. This study further intends to derive implications reflecting both buyer and seller perspectives as well as offer insights to policy makers in making appropriate decisions. Research design, data, and methodology - To verify the proposed research model and test hypotheses, the authors selected 164 suppliers, which currently have relationships with department stores. This study carefully investigated the reliability, content validity, convergent validity, and discriminant validity of the proposed model. The data were analyzed using SPSS 18.0 and AMOS structural equation modeling program Results - For the transaction cost theory and the power-dependence view, the results indicated that product diversity and demand volatility had a positive impact on the sales dependence on a department store. Dependence in turn had a positive effect on the sales commission under the consignment contract. Based on the resource-based view, the department store's marketing capability, the supplier's perception toward merchandising, and supporting activities could enhance the department store's channel leadership in the buyer-seller relationship. Subsequently, the channel leadership had a positive effect on the sales commission. However, product complexity had no relationship with department store dependence. Conclusions - This is the first empirical research that investigates the determinants of sales commissions under consignment contracts in the domestic retail industry. This study reveals several theoretical and practical implications for both marketing scholars and marketers. In terms of theoretical implication, this study integrated and enlarged certain theoretical background, such as transaction cost theory, the power-dependence view, and the resource-based view, to explain the determinants of sales commissions under consignment contracts that include sales revenue. From a business management viewpoint, this research offers useful insights for policy makers by applying two different perspectives, both the manufacturer and the retailer, in terms of the sales commission issue under a consignment contract.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.15-27
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• 2011

Although a huge number of academic researchers have paid considerable attention to exploring both the degree to which store image influences retailer brand customers and how to develop store personality, they have overlooked the contemporary retail context in which retailers have developed many different types of retailer brands, that is, price-oriented or quality-oriented retailer brands. Rather than focusing on the latter, much literature has looked at the former. Accordingly, even though there are many articles related to store image, a few authors have shown their interest in identifying the extent to which store personality affects customers purchasing retailer brands at lower prices. As a result, their efforts have been to illustrate the relationship between store image and consumer behaviours buying retailer brands. In that multiple retailers over the world such as E-Mart, Lotte-Mart, Tesco Korea and Tesco UK have actively introduced not only the quality-focused retailer brands that quality is better than, or equal to national brands, and prices are slightly higher than, or equal to them, but also price-focused retailer brands, academicians should make an effort to investigate how store image affects customers purchasing a quality-oriented retailer brand, comparing with previous research results. That is why the authors illustrate the extent to which store personality components influence retailer brand customers, including particularly quality-oriented retailer brand customers through an empirical research. By adopting a questionnaire method as a research technique to illuminate the relationship between store image components and retailer brand customers, research validity increases and further, data gathered through a field survey are analysed through a few statistic analysis methods, in order to minimise statistical deviations. Compared with the prior research concentrated on price-focused retailer brands, the authors have significantly shed light on customer behaviours purchasing retailer brand products with higher quality. When it comes to store personality components, the research suggests the following five items: merchandise attributes, services, physical facilities, promotions, and institutional image, considering the subcomponents mentioned by the previous research. Proposing the conceptual research model which those elements are differently hypothesised, according to retailer brand types: PR (Price-oriented Retailer brand) and QR (Quality-oriented Retailer brand), the research is proceeded. Through empirical research, the authors found that amongst the five items, only promotion influenced retailer brand customers in the Korean retailing marketplace, unlike other countries explored by many researchers, such as UK. Although much literature emphasises that those elements are closely related to retailer brand buying proneness, it is completely not fit to the Korean market. Also, research findings provide new insights into the degree of store image effects on retailer brand customers for academiciansand practitioners. Whether the retailer brand development program that a retailer has carried simultaneously both price-focused and quality-focused retailer brand types is practically profitable should be explored in the future.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.29-42
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• 2011

With the many advantages of the internet, online shopping has become one of the fastest growing types of retail businesses. However, internet-based firms are much more firmly required to retain existing customers rather than secure new ones, and to make them revisit the site by strengthening trust and loyalty, thereby improving profits and outrivaling competitors. Commitment is an essential part of successful long-term relationships between buyers and sellers. Although commitments by both parties in an exchange can provide the foundation for the development of relational social norms, disproportionate commitments can lead to opportunism by the less committed partner. Moreover, flow, which is characterized by intense concentration and enjoyment, was found to be significantly linked with exploratory use behavior, which in turn was linked to the extent of computer use. The level of flow was, itself, determined by the individual's sense of being in control, and the level of challenge perceived in maneuvering a website. Website attractiveness goes hand in hand with the attractiveness of an internet shopping mall, and it can be conceptualized as the persuasive effectiveness of a message by the use of familiarity, favor, similarity, etc. It occurs when information receivers try to achieve self-satisfaction when they actually or emotionally identify themselves with an information source. This study investigates the relationship between the perceived system characteristics of an internet shopping mall and the loyalty of online consumers, and it examines how perceived website attractiveness and flow play mediating roles between the perceived system characteristics of an internet shopping mall and the affective commitment in the context of a clothes internet shopping mall. For these purposes, a structural model comprising several variables was developed. That model was tested with an analysis of moment structure (AMOS) using data from respondents who had purchased clothing through the internet during the past three months. In this model, the perceived system characteristics of an internet shopping mall, such as familiarity, reputation, uniqueness, positive emotions, self-efficacy, and interactivity, were proposed to affect the website's attractiveness and flow, and lead to a higher affective commitment over time. Thus, the perceived website attractiveness and flow were proposed as core mediating variables between perceived system characteristics and affective commitment. The results of a reliability test using Cronbach's Alpha, and a confirmatory factor analysis warranted using unidimensionality for the measures for each construct. In addition, the nomological validity of the measures was warranted from the results of a correlation analysis. The results of empirical analyses indicated that systematic attributes resulting in website attractiveness and user's characteristics, thereby triggering customers' flow, play a crucial role in inducing customers' affective commitment, and a user's characteristics are twice as important as systematic attributes in this study. Moreover, familiarity, reputation, and uniqueness all have a significant effect on website attractiveness, and the research showed that uniqueness took the first place, and that familiarity and reputation followed in order of magnitude. The fact that reputation was not the most important factor that affects the attractiveness of an internet shopping mall, with uniqueness or familiarity having a greater impact, suggests much deeper implications. Finally, positive emotion, self-efficacy, and interactivity all have a significant effect on customers' flow. In particular, the fact that positive emotion, compared to self-efficacy or interactivity, has much more impact on flow is very suggestive.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.145-156
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• 2018

Unlike the past, when distributors distributed games through retail stores, they are now selling digital content, which is based on online distribution channels. This study analyzes the effects of eWOM (electronic Word of Mouth) on sales volume of game sold on Steam, an online digital content distribution channel. Recently, data mining techniques based on Big Data have been studied. In this study, emotion index of eWOM is derived by emotional analysis which is a text mining technique that can analyze the emotion of each review among factors of eWOM. Emotional analysis utilizes Naive Bayes and SVM classifier and calculates the emotion index through the SVM classifier with high accuracy. Regression analysis is performed on the dependent variable, sales variation, using the emotion index, the number of reviews of each game, the size of eWOM, and the user score of each game, which is a rating of eWOM. Regression analysis revealed that the size of the independent variable eWOM and the emotion index of the eWOM were influential on the dependent variable, sales variation. This study suggests the factors of eWOM that affect the sales volume when Korean game companies enter overseas markets based on steam.