• Title/Summary/Keyword: time factor

Search Result 9,896, Processing Time 0.045 seconds

New Normality in the Asia-Pacific Region: Beijing between Moscow and Washington (Новая нормальность в АТР: Пекин между Москвой и Вашингтоном)

  • Sergey A. Lukonin;Sung Hoon Jeh
    • Analyses & Alternatives
    • /
    • v.7 no.1
    • /
    • pp.229-258
    • /
    • 2023
  • For the main countries of the Asia-Pacific region, the United States, China and Russia, a situation of "new normality" is emerging. Moreover, for each of the countries, this "new normality" has its own meaning. For the United States, this is an aggravation of the military confrontation with China in the Taiwan Strait. For China, this is an increase in the degree of rivalry with the United States and a slowdown in the pace of economic development with a very high probability of their decline in the future. For Russia, this is an almost complete curtailment of relations with the United States against the background of a special military operation and imposed sanctions. These nuances, in addition to the results of the 20th CPC Congress, will determine the main trends in Sino-American and Sino-Russian relations. It seems that China's attitude towards Russia will not change against the background of the Ukrainian crisis. Beijing will maintain a position of "benevolent neutrality" towards Moscow. At the same time, the balance between "goodwill" and "neutrality" may vary depending on the scope of Sino-Russian cooperation. For example, in the economic sphere, Chinese companies will be afraid to cooperate with Russian partners for fear of secondary sanctions. However, in general, Russia will retain its importance for China as the strongest anti-American pole. In relations with the United States, China will continue to firmly defend its interests, while at the same time not excluding the normalization of relations with Washington in certain areas of cooperation: strategic stability, non-traditional threats, ecology, etc. In general, the decisions of the 20th CPC Congress do not allow us to say either in favor or against the idea of China's readiness to resume dialogue with the United States in the post-congress period. Sino-American relations, as noted above, have their own logic and will probably continue to develop within its framework. However, so are Sino-Russian relations. Within the framework of these logics, Beijing seems to continue to balance between the two vectors of its foreign policy. On the one hand, this is the development of bilateral cooperation with Russia in order to strengthen its own negotiating positions in the confrontation with the United States: military cooperation with an emphasis on joint exercises, political cooperation based on anti-Americanism, economic cooperation with an eye to the risks of secondary sanctions. On the other hand, it is unacceptable for China to recognize the collapse of Ukraine, the inadmissibility of a direct military clash with the United States and the extreme undesirability of further aggravation of relations with the United States on the factor of Chinese friendship with Russia.

A study on solar radiation prediction using medium-range weather forecasts (중기예보를 이용한 태양광 일사량 예측 연구)

  • Sujin Park;Hyojeoung Kim;Sahm Kim
    • The Korean Journal of Applied Statistics
    • /
    • v.36 no.1
    • /
    • pp.49-62
    • /
    • 2023
  • Solar energy, which is rapidly increasing in proportion, is being continuously developed and invested. As the installation of new and renewable energy policy green new deal and home solar panels increases, the supply of solar energy in Korea is gradually expanding, and research on accurate demand prediction of power generation is actively underway. In addition, the importance of solar radiation prediction was identified in that solar radiation prediction is acting as a factor that most influences power generation demand prediction. In addition, this study can confirm the biggest difference in that it attempted to predict solar radiation using medium-term forecast weather data not used in previous studies. In this paper, we combined the multi-linear regression model, KNN, random fores, and SVR model and the clustering technique, K-means, to predict solar radiation by hour, by calculating the probability density function for each cluster. Before using medium-term forecast data, mean absolute error (MAE) and root mean squared error (RMSE) were used as indicators to compare model prediction results. The data were converted into daily data according to the medium-term forecast data format from March 1, 2017 to February 28, 2022. As a result of comparing the predictive performance of the model, the method showed the best performance by predicting daily solar radiation with random forest, classifying dates with similar climate factors, and calculating the probability density function of solar radiation by cluster. In addition, when the prediction results were checked after fitting the model to the medium-term forecast data using this methodology, it was confirmed that the prediction error increased by date. This seems to be due to a prediction error in the mid-term forecast weather data. In future studies, among the weather factors that can be used in the mid-term forecast data, studies that add exogenous variables such as precipitation or apply time series clustering techniques should be conducted.

One-Dimensional Consolidation Simulation of Kaolinte using Geotechnical Online Testing Method (온라인 실험을 이용한 카올리나이트 점토의 일차원 압밀 시뮬레이션)

  • Kwon, Youngcheul
    • KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
    • /
    • v.26 no.4C
    • /
    • pp.247-254
    • /
    • 2006
  • Online testing method is one of the numerical experiment methods using experimental information for a numerical analysis directly. The method has an advantage in that analysis can be conducted without using an idealized mechanical model, because mechanical properties are updated from element test for a numerical analysis in real time. The online testing method has mainly been used for the geotechnical seismic engineering, whose major target is sand. A testing method that may be applied to a consolidation problem has recently been developed and laboratory and field verifications have been tried. Although related research thus far has mainly used a method to update average reaction for a numerical analysis by positioning an element tests at the center of a consolidation layer, a weakness that accuracy of the analysis can be impaired as the thickness of the consolidation layer becomes more thicker has been pointed out regarding the method. To clarify the effectiveness and possible analysis scope of the online testing method in relation to the consolidation problem, we need to review the results by applying experiment conditions that may completely exclude such a factor. This research reviewed the results of the online consolidation test in terms of reproduction of the consolidation settlement and the dissipation of excess pore water pressure of a clay specimen by comparing the results of an online consolidation test and a separated-type consolidation test carried out under the same conditions. As a result, the online consolidation test reproduced the change of compressibility according effective stress of clay without a huge contradiction. In terms of the dissipation rate of excess pore water pressure, however, the online consolidation test was a little faster. In conclusion, experiment procedure needs to improve in a direction that hydraulic conductivity can be updated in real time so as to more precisely predict the dissipation of excess pore water pressure. Further research or improvement should be carried out with regard to the consolidation settlement after the end of the dissipation of excess pore water pressure.

Influence of Smart Work on Job Satisfaction among Employees in the Financial Sector : The Mediating Role of Work-Life Balance (Smart Work가 금융권 종업원의 직무만족에 미치는 영향 : 워라밸의 매개효과 )

  • Lee, Sung-seop;Dong, Hak-lim
    • Journal of Venture Innovation
    • /
    • v.7 no.3
    • /
    • pp.25-43
    • /
    • 2024
  • The rapid advancement of the 4th Industrial Revolution and the ongoing effects of COVID-19 significantly accelerated the adoption of smart work practices, especially in the financial sector. This study aimed to empirically investigate the impact of smart work on job satisfaction among employees in this industry. Specifically, the study examined the effects of time flexibility and workplace flexibility (as quantitative elements of smart work) and work autonomy (as a qualitative element) on job satisfaction. Additionally, the study explored the impact of technostress factors, including techno-overload, techno-invasion, and techno-complexity. Using data from 250 valid survey responses collected from financial sector employees, the study employed structural equation modeling (SEM) with AMOS to analyze the relationships. The findings revealed that time flexibility and work autonomy positively influenced job satisfaction, with work autonomy being the most significant predictor. Conversely, techno-overload and techno-invasion negatively affected job satisfaction. However, workplace flexibility and techno-complexity did not show a significant relationship with job satisfaction, possibly due to the already established norms in the financial sector, where remote work and high-level technology usage were standard practices. A critical aspect of the study was the examination of work-life balance as a mediating factor. The analysis confirmed that work-life balance mediated the relationship between work autonomy, techno-overload, techno-invasion, and job satisfaction. This suggested that maintaining a balance between work and personal life was crucial for enhancing job satisfaction in smart work environments, particularly in the financial sector. Effective management of technostress was essential to preserving this balance and improving overall employee satisfaction. These findings contributed to the academic understanding of how smart work practices and technostress impacted job satisfaction. They offered practical insights for financial sector organizations seeking to optimize smart work environments by emphasizing the importance of work-life balance and carefully managing technostress factors.

Comparison of Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) Models for Lettuce Leaf Width and Length Prediction (상추잎 너비와 길이 예측을 위한 합성곱 신경망 모델 비교)

  • Ji Su Song;Dong Suk Kim;Hyo Sung Kim;Eun Ji Jung;Hyun Jung Hwang;Jaesung Park
    • Journal of Bio-Environment Control
    • /
    • v.32 no.4
    • /
    • pp.434-441
    • /
    • 2023
  • Determining the size or area of a plant's leaves is an important factor in predicting plant growth and improving the productivity of indoor farms. In this study, we developed a convolutional neural network (CNN)-based model to accurately predict the length and width of lettuce leaves using photographs of the leaves. A callback function was applied to overcome data limitations and overfitting problems, and K-fold cross-validation was used to improve the generalization ability of the model. In addition, ImageDataGenerator function was used to increase the diversity of training data through data augmentation. To compare model performance, we evaluated pre-trained models such as VGG16, Resnet152, and NASNetMobile. As a result, NASNetMobile showed the highest performance, especially in width prediction, with an R_squared value of 0.9436, and RMSE of 0.5659. In length prediction, the R_squared value was 0.9537, and RMSE of 0.8713. The optimized model adopted the NASNetMobile architecture, the RMSprop optimization tool, the MSE loss functions, and the ELU activation functions. The training time of the model averaged 73 minutes per Epoch, and it took the model an average of 0.29 seconds to process a single lettuce leaf photo. In this study, we developed a CNN-based model to predict the leaf length and leaf width of plants in indoor farms, which is expected to enable rapid and accurate assessment of plant growth status by simply taking images. It is also expected to contribute to increasing the productivity and resource efficiency of farms by taking appropriate agricultural measures such as adjusting nutrient solution in real time.

A study on the distribution basis and aspect of teachers holding additional school health (양호겸직교사의 배치근거 및 분포양상)

  • Lee, Jeong Yim
    • Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
    • /
    • v.2 no.1
    • /
    • pp.58-90
    • /
    • 1989
  • This study was attempted to contribute to the development of school health by providing the basic data about the distribution basis and distribution aspect of teachers holding additional school health that are in charge of school health business in parimary schools, middle schools and high schools without any nurse-teacher. This study analyzed literatures about the history, related laws, organization and professional manpower of school health. The emphasis was set on the distribution basis of theachers holding additional school health. The results of this study are as following: 1. The school health of the world dates to the late 18th century in Europe where was free supplying with food for poor children. The school health of Korea orginated from smallpox vaccination which was executed with appearance of modern schools in the late 19th century. 2. The related laws of school health began as a part of Education Law with was constituted in 1949. By the School Health Law constituted in 1967 and the enforcement ordinance of School Health made firm the legal basis of school health. 3. The administrative organs of school health are the Ministry of Education in center and each Board of Education in cities and provinces. For the first time in 1979, the department of school health was established in the organization of the Ministry of Education. And at about the same time of establishment of the department of school health, health section was established in the department of social physical-training in locality. 4. In the manpower of school health which was presented in the related statute of school health, there are the ward chief of education, the superintendent of educational affair, of cities and districts, the mayors, the governors of provinces, the school managers, the principals, the school doctors, the school pharmacists, and the nurse-teachers, including teachers holding additional school health as the practical manpower of school health. 5. In order to get some information on distribution aspect of teachers additional school health, this study made up a questionnaire from August 3 to August 11, 1988. The subjects of this study were 212 leachers who took part in the yearly training for teachers holding additional school health from Kyunggi province, Chungbuk province and Jeonbuk province. The results of the questionnaire are as following: 1. The distribution percentages of teachers holding additional school health according to each Board of Education wich schools are subject to, are as following:70.1% (Kyunggi), 76.5% (Chungbuk), and 81.4% (Jeonbuk). There was a significant difference. The distribution percentages of teachers holding additional school health according to the school levels of 3 provinces are as following: 74.1% (Primary schools), 77.8% (Middle schools), 76.7% (High schools). There were little significant differences. 2. The distribution according to the general characteristics of the subject schools: There were 64.2 percent of primary schools and 35.8 percent of middle schools among 212 schools. 91. 5 percent of schools were located in districts. Public schools formed 55.7% and then national schools were higher in percentage than private schools. 58.5 percent of schools had 1-9 classes, 64.6 percent of schools had 101-500 students, and 90 percents of schools had 1-20 teachers. In considering student sex, the coed school showed the high distribution percentage (Primary schools : 100%, Middle schools: 81.6%). 3. The distribution according to the characteristics of teachers holding additional school health: 93.3 percent of teachers were female, and more than 60 percent of teachers were 20-29 years old. As the age got higher, the percentage became lower. There were little significant differences by marital status. In considering their educational status, 86.8 percent of teachers in primary schools were from teacher's colleges, and 64.5 percent of teachers in middle schools were from education colleges. In considering teaching career, 46.7 percent of teachers had teaching career of less than 2 years. 73.6 percent of teachers had held additional school health for less than one year. More than 80 percent of teachers had participated in the training one time or twice. More than 70 percent of teachers had 1-2 additional jobs except for the school health business. The motivation to hold additional school health is most caused by mandatory order, which accounts for more than 80.0 percent. In considering interesting degree concerning school health, lukewarm answer is the highest of 62.7 percent, followed by affirmative answer of 23.6 percent. In considering their contentment degree respecting additional school health job, "discontent or very discontent"is the highest of 47.6 percent. As a descontent reason of additional school health job, overwork is the highest factor of 37.9 percent. Among addiitional school health job, the most difficult affair is nursing service to be 34.0 percent, followed by health education of 31.6 percent. It testify the need of professional. The source of knowledge about school health has been acquired from masscommunication or private health experience, which account for as much as 56.1 percent. It shows seriousness of lack of professionalism. With regard to neccessity of school health experts, 95.8 percent represents absolute need. With above consideration of study results, I propose as follows : 1. I propose that the authorities concerned unify and improve statute respecting current school health which has not been steadfastly supporting school health business by ambiguity of expression and dualization. 2. I propose that the authorities concerned give the school manager, school staffs and parents of students educational chance with which they can acknowledge the importance of school health and in which they can participate as well as set up alternative policy plan to be albe to vitalize school health committee. 3. I propose that administrative organization practicable to taking totally charge of school health business is established within the Ministry of Education. 4. I propose that the authorities concerned back up and cooperate in an attempt by make school health better and desirable toward development by way of appointing qualitied health teachers on the basis of legally regular teacher staffs.

  • PDF

Sex- and age group-specific associations between intakes of dairy foods and pulses and bone health in Koreans aged 50 years and older: Based on 2008~2011 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (50세 이상 한국인의 성·연령군별 우유류와 두류 섭취량과 골 건강과의 관련성 : 2008~2011 국민건강영양조사 자료를 이용하여)

  • Seo, Hyun-Bi;Choi, Young-Sun
    • Journal of Nutrition and Health
    • /
    • v.49 no.3
    • /
    • pp.165-178
    • /
    • 2016
  • Purpose: This study was performed to examine associations of intakes of milk and dairy products, pulses, and soy foods with bone health in Koreans aged 50 yr and older. Methods: A total of 3,201 men and 3,581 women aged 50 yr and older who participated in the 2008~2011 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were grouped by sex and age groups of 50~64 yr and 65 yr and older. Subjects within each sex and age group were divided into three bone health groups: normal, osteopenia, and osteoporosis groups based on bone mineral density. Intakes of nutrients and foods derived from 24-hour recall data were compared among three bone health groups. Associations between intake frequencies of foods, including milk, yogurt, tofu, or soy milk, and osteoporosis risk were evaluated based on confounding risk factor-adjusted logistic regression. Results: Calcium intake was in the order of normal, osteopenia, and osteoporosis in men (p < 0.01) and women (p < 0.05) aged 50~64 yr as well as in men aged 65 yr and older (p < 0.001). In women aged 50~64 yr, intake of milk and dairy products was lower in the osteoporosis group (p < 0.01) as compared with the osteopenia group. Intake of pulses or tofu was not significantly different among bone health groups. Odds ratio (OR) for milk intake frequency (${\geq}2$ times/week) compared to intake frequency less than 1 time/month was 0.45 (95% CI 0.24~0.85, p for trend = 0.022) in men aged 65 yr and older. The OR for yogurt intake frequency (1 time/month~1 time/week) was 0.47 (95% CI 0.30~0.73, p for trend = 0.019) in women aged 50~64 yr. Intake frequency of tofu or soy milk was not associated with reduced risk of osteoporosis in all groups. Conclusion: Dairy food intake was significantly associated with bone health, and its effect was sex- and age group-specific, whereas soy food intake was not. Dietary intervention to prevent osteoporosis would be effective for women aged 50~64 yr old and for men aged 65 yr and older.

A Study on the Use of GIS-based Time Series Spatial Data for Streamflow Depletion Assessment (하천 건천화 평가를 위한 GIS 기반의 시계열 공간자료 활용에 관한 연구)

  • YOO, Jae-Hyun;KIM, Kye-Hyun;PARK, Yong-Gil;LEE, Gi-Hun;KIM, Seong-Joon;JUNG, Chung-Gil
    • Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
    • /
    • v.21 no.4
    • /
    • pp.50-63
    • /
    • 2018
  • The rapid urbanization had led to a distortion of natural hydrological cycle system. The change in hydrological cycle structure is causing streamflow depletion, changing the existing use tendency of water resources. To manage such phenomena, a streamflow depletion impact assessment technology to forecast depletion is required. For performing such technology, it is indispensable to build GIS-based spatial data as fundamental data, but there is a shortage of related research. Therefore, this study was conducted to use the use of GIS-based time series spatial data for streamflow depletion assessment. For this study, GIS data over decades of changes on a national scale were constructed, targeting 6 streamflow depletion impact factors (weather, soil depth, forest density, road network, groundwater usage and landuse) and the data were used as the basic data for the operation of continuous hydrologic model. Focusing on these impact factors, the causes for streamflow depletion were analyzed depending on time series. Then, using distributed continuous hydrologic model based DrySAT, annual runoff of each streamflow depletion impact factor was measured and depletion assessment was conducted. As a result, the default value of annual runoff was measured at 977.9mm under the given weather condition without considering other factors. When considering the decrease in soil depth, the increase in forest density, road development, and groundwater usage, along with the change in land use and development, and annual runoff were measured at 1,003.5mm, 942.1mm, 961.9mm, 915.5mm, and 1003.7mm, respectively. The results showed that the major causes of the streaflow depletion were lowered soil depth to decrease the infiltration volume and surface runoff thereby decreasing streamflow; the increased forest density to decrease surface runoff; the increased road network to decrease the sub-surface flow; the increased groundwater use from undiscriminated development to decrease the baseflow; increased impervious areas to increase surface runoff. Also, each standard watershed depending on the grade of depletion was indicated, based on the definition of streamflow depletion and the range of grade. Considering the weather, the decrease in soil depth, the increase in forest density, road development, and groundwater usage, and the change in land use and development, the grade of depletion were 2.1, 2.2, 2.5, 2.3, 2.8, 2.2, respectively. Among the five streamflow depletion impact factors except rainfall condition, the change in groundwater usage showed the biggest influence on depletion, followed by the change in forest density, road construction, land use, and soil depth. In conclusion, it is anticipated that a national streamflow depletion assessment system to be develop in the future would provide customized depletion management and prevention plans based on the system assessment results regarding future data changes of the six streamflow depletion impact factors and the prospect of depletion progress.

The Influence of Store Environment on Service Brand Personality and Repurchase Intention (점포의 물리적 환경이 서비스 브랜드 개성과 재구매의도에 미치는 영향)

  • Kim, Hyoung-Gil;Kim, Jung-Hee;Kim, Youn-Jeong
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
    • /
    • v.17 no.4
    • /
    • pp.141-173
    • /
    • 2007
  • The study examines how the environmental factors of store influence service brand personality and repurchase intention in the service environment. The service industry has been experiencing the intensified competition with the industry's continuous growth and the influence from rapid technological advancement. Under the circumstances, it has become ever more important for the brand competitiveness to be distinctively recognized against competition. A brand needs to be distinguished and differentiated from competing companies because they are all engaged in the similar environment of the service industry. The differentiation of brand achievement has become increasingly important to highlight certain brand functions to include emotional, self-expressive, and symbolic functions since the importance of such functions has been further emphasized in promoting consumption activities. That is the recent role of brand personality that has been emphasized in the service industry. In other words, customers now freely and actively express their personalities or egos in consumption activities, taking an important role in construction of a brand asset. Hence, the study suggests that it is necessary to disperse the recognition and acknowledgement that the maintenance of the existing customers contributes more to boost repurchase intention when it is compared to the efforts to create new customers, particularly in the service industry. Meanwhile, the store itself can offer a unique environment that may influence the consumer's purchase decision. Consumers interact with store environments in the process of,virtually, all household purchase they make (Sarel 1981). Thus, store environments may encourage customers to purchase. The roles that store environments play are to provide informational cues to customers about the store and goods and communicate messages to stimulate consumers' emotions. The store environments differentiate the store from competing stores and build a unique service brand personality. However, the existing studies related to brand in the service industry mostly concentrated on the relationship between the quality of service and customer satisfaction, and they are mostly generalized while the connective studies focused on brand personality. Such approaches show limitations and are insufficient to investigate on the relationship between store environment and brand personality in the service industry. Accordingly, the study intends to identify the level of contribution to the establishment of brand personality made by the store's physical environments that influence on the specific brand characteristics depending on the type of service. The study also intends to identify what kind of relationships with brand personality exists with brand personality while being influenced by store environments. In addition, the study intends to make meaningful suggestions to better direct marketing efforts by identifying whether a brand personality makes a positive influence to induce an intention for repurchase. For this study, the service industry is classified into four categories based on to the characteristics of service: experimental-emotional service, emotional -credible service, credible-functional service, and functional-experimental service. The type of business with the most frequent customer contact is determined for each service type and the enterprise with the highest brand value in each service sector based on the report made by the Korea Management Association. They are designated as the representative of each category. The selected representatives are a fast-food store (experimental-emotional service), a cinema house (emotional-credible service), a bank (credible-functional service), and discount store (functional-experimental service). The survey was conducted for the four selected brands to represent each service category among consumers who are experienced users of the designated stores in Seoul Metropolitan City and Gyeonggi province via written questionnaires in order to verify the suggested assumptions in the study. In particular, the survey adopted 15 scales, which represent each characteristic factor, among the 42 unique characteristics developed by Jennifer Aaker(1997) to assess the brand personality of each service brand. SPSS for Windows Release 12.0 and LISREL were used in the analysis of data verification. The methodology of the structural equation model was used for the study and the pivotal findings are as follows. 1) The environmental factors ware classified as design factors, ambient factors, and social factors. Therefore, the validity of measurement scale of Baker et al. (1994) was proved. 2) The service brand personalities were subdivided as sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication, and ruggedness, which makes the use of the brand personality scales by Jennifer Aaker(1997) appropriate in the service industry as well. 3) One-way ANOVA analysis on the scales of store environment and service brand personality showed that there exist statistically significant differences in each service category. For example, the social factors were highest in discount stores, while the ambient factors and design factors were highest in fast-food stores. The discount stores were highest in the sincerity and excitement, while the highest point for banks was in the competence and ruggedness, and the highest point for fast-food stores was in the sophistication, The consumers will make a different respond to the physical environment of stores and service brand personality that are inherent to the corresponding service interface. Hence, the customers will make a different decision-making when dealing with different service categories. In this aspect, the relationships of variables in the proposed hypothesis appear to work in a different way depending on the exposed service category. 4) The store environment factors influenced on service brand personalities differently by category of service. The factors of store's physical environment are transferred to a brand and were verified to strengthen service brand personalities. In particular, the level of influence on the service brand personality by physical environment differs depending on service category or dimension, which indicates that there is a need to apply a different style of management to a different service category or dimension. It signifies that there needs to be a brand strategy established in order to positively influence the relationship with consumers by utilizing an appropriate brand personality factor depending on different characteristics by service category or dimension. 5) The service brand personalities influenced on the repurchase intention. Especially, the largest influence was made in the sophistication dimension of service brand personality scale; the unique and characteristically appropriate arrangement of physical environment will make customers stay in the service environment for a long time and will lead to give a positive influence on the repurchase intention. 6) The store environment factors influenced on the repurchase intention. Particularly, the largest influence was made on the social factors of store environment. The most intriguing finding is that the service factor among all other environment factors gives the biggest influence to the repurchase intention in most of all service types except fast-food stores. Such result indicates that the customers pay attention to how much the employees try to provide a quality service when they make an evaluation on the service brand. At the same time, it also indicates that the personal factor is directly transmitted to the construction of brand personality. The employees' attitude and behavior are the determinants to establish a service brand personality in the process of enhancing service interface. Hence, there should be a reinforced search for a method to efficiently manage the service staff who has a direct contact with customers in order to make an affirmative improvement of the customers' brand evaluation at the service interface. The findings suggest several managerial implications. 1) Results from the empirical study indicated that store environment factors have a strong positive impact on a service brand personality. To increase customers' repurchase intention of a service brand, the management is required to effectively manage store environment factors and create a friendly brand personality based on the corresponding service environment. 2) Mangers and researchers must understand and recognize that the store environment elements are important marketing tools, and that brand personality influences on consumers' repurchase intention. Based on such result of the study, a service brand could be utilized as an efficient measure to achieve a differentiation by enforcing the elements that are most influential among all other store environments for each service category. Therefore, brand personality established involving various store environments will further reinforce the relationship with customers through the elevated brand identification of which utilization to induce repurchase decision can be used as an entry barrier. 3) The study identified the store environment as a component of service brand personality for the store's effective communication with consumers. For this, all communication channels should be maintained with consistency and an integrated marketing communication should be executed to efficiently approach to a larger number of customers. Mangers and researchers must find strategies for aligning decisions about store environment elements with the retailers' marketing and store personality objectives. All ambient, design, and social factors need to be orchestrated so that consumers can take an appropriate store personality. In this study, the induced results from the previous studies were extended to the service industry so as to identify the customers' decision making process that leads to repurchase intention and a result similar to those of the previous studies. The findings suggested several theoretical and managerial implications. However, the situation that only one service brand served as the subject of analysis for each service category, and the situation that correlations among store environment elements were not identified, as well as the problem of representation in selection of samples should be considered and supplemented in the future when further studies are conducted. In addition, various antecedents and consequences of brand personality must be looked at in the aspect of the service environment for further research.

  • PDF

The Effects of Online Service Quality on Consumer Satisfaction and Loyalty Intention -About Booking and Issuing Air Tickets on Website- (온라인 서비스 품질이 고객만족 및 충성의도에 미치는 영향 -항공권 예약.발권 웹사이트를 중심으로-)

  • Park, Jong-Gee;Ko, Do-Eun;Lee, Seung-Chang
    • Journal of Distribution Research
    • /
    • v.15 no.3
    • /
    • pp.71-110
    • /
    • 2010
  • 1. Introduction Today Internet is recognized as an important way for the transaction of products and services. According to the data surveyed by the National Statistical Office, the on-line transaction in 2007 for a year, 15.7656 trillion, shows a 17.1%(2.3060 trillion won) increase over last year, of these, the amount of B2C has been increased 12.0%(10.2258 trillion won). Like this, because the entry barrier of on-line market of Korea is low, many retailers could easily enter into the market. So the bigger its scale is, but on the other hand, the tougher its competition is. Particularly due to the Internet and innovation of IT, the existing market has been changed into the perfect competitive market(Srinivasan, Rolph & Kishore, 2002). In the early years of on-line business, they think that the main reason for success is a moderate price, they are awakened to its importance of on-line service quality with tough competition. If it's not sure whether customers can be provided with what they want, they can use the Web sites, perhaps they can trust their products that had been already bought or not, they have a doubt its viability(Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Malhotra, 2005). Customers can directly reserve and issue their air tickets irrespective of place and time at the Web sites of travel agencies or airlines, but its empirical studies about these Web sites for reserving and issuing air tickets are insufficient. Therefore this study goes on for following specific objects. First object is to measure service quality and service recovery of Web sites for reserving and issuing air tickets. Second is to look into whether above on-line service quality and on-line service recovery have an impact on overall service quality. Third is to seek for the relation with overall service quality and customer satisfaction, then this customer satisfaction and loyalty intention. 2. Theoretical Background 2.1 On-line Service Quality Barnes & Vidgen(2000; 2001a; 2001b; 2002) had invented the tool to measure Web sites' quality four times(called WebQual). The WebQual 1.0, Step one invented a measuring item for information quality based on QFD, and this had been verified by students of UK business school. The Web Qual 2.0, Step two invented for interaction quality, and had been judged by customers of on-line bookshop. The WebQual 3.0, Step three invented by consolidating the WebQual 1.0 for information quality and the WebQual2.0 for interactionquality. It includes 3-quality-dimension, information quality, interaction quality, site design, and had been assessed and confirmed by auction sites(e-bay, Amazon, QXL). Furtheron, through the former empirical studies, the authors changed sites quality into usability by judging that usability is a concept how customers interact with or perceive Web sites and It is used widely for accessing Web sites. By this process, WebQual 4.0 was invented, and is consist of 3-quality-dimension; information quality, interaction quality, usability, 22 items. However, because WebQual 4.0 is focusing on technical part, it's usable at the Website's design part, on the other hand, it's not usable at the Web site's pleasant experience part. Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Malhorta(2002; 2005) had invented the measure for measuring on-line service quality in 2002 and 2005. The study in 2002 divided on-line service quality into 5 dimensions. But these were not well-organized, so there needed to be studied again totally. So Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Malhorta(2005) re-worked out the study about on-line service quality measure base on 2002's study and invented E-S-QUAL. After they invented preliminary measure for on-line service quality, they made up a question for customers who had purchased at amazon.com and walmart.com and reassessed this measure. And they perfected an invention of E-S-QUAL consists of 4 dimensions, 22 items of efficiency, system availability, fulfillment, privacy. Efficiency measures assess to sites and usability and others, system availability measures accurate technical function of sites and others, fulfillment measures promptness of delivering products and sufficient goods and others and privacy measures the degree of protection of data about their customers and so on. 2.2 Service Recovery Service industries tend to minimize the losses by coping with service failure promptly. This responses of service providers to service failure mean service recovery(Kelly & Davis, 1994). Bitner(1990) went on his study from customers' view about service providers' behavior for customers to recognize their satisfaction/dissatisfaction at service point. According to them, to manage service failure successfully, exact recognition of service problem, an apology, sufficient description about service failure and some tangible compensation are important. Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Malhorta(2005) approached the service recovery from how to measure, rather than how to manage, and moved to on-line market not to off-line, then invented E-RecS-QUAL which is a measuring tool about on-line service recovery. 2.3 Customer Satisfaction The definition of customer satisfaction can be divided into two points of view. First, they approached customer satisfaction from outcome of comsumer. Howard & Sheth(1969) defined satisfaction as 'a cognitive condition feeling being rewarded properly or improperly for their sacrifice.' and Westbrook & Reilly(1983) also defined customer satisfaction/dissatisfaction as 'a psychological reaction to the behavior pattern of shopping and purchasing, the display condition of retail store, outcome of purchased goods and service as well as whole market.' Second, they approached customer satisfaction from process. Engel & Blackwell(1982) defined satisfaction as 'an assessment of a consistency in chosen alternative proposal and their belief they had with them.' Tse & Wilton(1988) defined customer satisfaction as 'a customers' reaction to discordance between advance expectation and ex post facto outcome.' That is, this point of view that customer satisfaction is process is the important factor that comparing and assessing process what they expect and outcome of consumer. Unlike outcome-oriented approach, process-oriented approach has many advantages. As process-oriented approach deals with customers' whole expenditure experience, it checks up main process by measuring one by one each factor which is essential role at each step. And this approach enables us to check perceptual/psychological process formed customer satisfaction. Because of these advantages, now many studies are adopting this process-oriented approach(Yi, 1995). 2.4 Loyalty Intention Loyalty has been studied by dividing into behavioral approaches, attitudinal approaches and complex approaches(Dekimpe et al., 1997). In the early years of study, they defined loyalty focusing on behavioral concept, behavioral approaches regard customer loyalty as "a tendency to purchase periodically within a certain period of time at specific retail store." But the loyalty of behavioral approaches focuses on only outcome of customer behavior, so there are someone to point the limits that customers' decision-making situation or process were neglected(Enis & Paul, 1970; Raj, 1982; Lee, 2002). So the attitudinal approaches were suggested. The attitudinal approaches consider loyalty contains all the cognitive, emotional, voluntary factors(Oliver, 1997), define the customer loyalty as "friendly behaviors for specific retail stores." However these attitudinal approaches can explain that how the customer loyalty form and change, but cannot say positively whether it is moved to real purchasing in the future or not. This is a kind of shortcoming(Oh, 1995). 3. Research Design 3.1 Research Model Based on the objects of this study, the research model derived is

    . 3.2 Hypotheses 3.2.1 The Hypothesis of On-line Service Quality and Overall Service Quality The relation between on-line service quality and overall service quality I-1. Efficiency of on-line service quality may have a significant effect on overall service quality. I-2. System availability of on-line service quality may have a significant effect on overall service quality. I-3. Fulfillment of on-line service quality may have a significant effect on overall service quality. I-4. Privacy of on-line service quality may have a significant effect on overall service quality. 3.2.2 The Hypothesis of On-line Service Recovery and Overall Service Quality The relation between on-line service recovery and overall service quality II-1. Responsiveness of on-line service recovery may have a significant effect on overall service quality. II-2. Compensation of on-line service recovery may have a significant effect on overall service quality. II-3. Contact of on-line service recovery may have a significant effect on overall service quality. 3.2.3 The Hypothesis of Overall Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction The relation between overall service quality and customer satisfaction III-1. Overall service quality may have a significant effect on customer satisfaction. 3.2.4 The Hypothesis of Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty Intention The relation between customer satisfaction and loyalty intention IV-1. Customer satisfaction may have a significant effect on loyalty intention. 3.2.5 The Hypothesis of a Mediation Variable Wolfinbarger & Gilly(2003) and Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Malhotra(2005) had made clear that each dimension of service quality has a significant effect on overall service quality. Add to this, the authors analyzed empirically that each dimension of on-line service quality has a positive effect on customer satisfaction. With that viewpoint, this study would examine if overall service quality mediates between on-line service quality and each dimension of customer satisfaction, keeping on looking into the relation between on-line service quality and overall service quality, overall service quality and customer satisfaction. And as this study understands that each dimension of on-line service recovery also has an effect on overall service quality, this would examine if overall service quality also mediates between on-line service recovery and each dimension of customer satisfaction. Therefore these hypotheses followed are set up to examine if overall service quality plays its role as the mediation variable. The relation between on-line service quality and customer satisfaction V-1. Overall service quality may mediate the effects of efficiency of on-line service quality on customer satisfaction. V-2. Overall service quality may mediate the effects of system availability of on-line service quality on customer satisfaction. V-3. Overall service quality may mediate the effects of fulfillment of on-line service quality on customer satisfaction. V-4. Overall service quality may mediate the effects of privacy of on-line service quality on customer satisfaction. The relation between on-line service recovery and customer satisfaction VI-1. Overall service quality may mediate the effects of responsiveness of on-line service recovery on customer satisfaction. VI-2. Overall service quality may mediate the effects of compensation of on-line service recovery on customer satisfaction. VI-3. Overall service quality may mediate the effects of contact of on-line service recovery on customer satisfaction. 4. Empirical Analysis 4.1 Research design and the characters of data This empirical study aimed at customers who ever purchased air ticket at the Web sites for reservation and issue. Total 430 questionnaires were distributed, and 400 were collected. After surveying with the final questionnaire, the frequency test was performed about variables of sex, age which is demographic factors for analyzing general characters of sample data. Sex of data is consist of 146 of male(42.7%) and 196 of female(57.3%), so portion of female is a little higher. Age is composed of 11 of 10s(3.2%), 199 of 20s(58.2%), 105 of 30s(30.7%), 22 of 40s(6.4%), 5 of 50s(1.5%). The reason that portions of 20s and 30s are higher can be supposed that they use the Internet frequently and purchase air ticket directly. 4.2 Assessment of measuring scales This study used the internal consistency analysis to measure reliability, and then used the Cronbach'$\alpha$ to assess this. As a result of reliability test, Cronbach'$\alpha$ value of every component shows more than 0.6, it is found that reliance of the measured variables are ensured. After reliability test, the explorative factor analysis was performed. the factor sampling was performed by the Principal Component Analysis(PCA), the factor rotation was performed by the Varimax which is good for verifying mutual independence between factors. By the result of the initial factor analysis, items blocking construct validity were removed, and the result of the final factor analysis performed for verifying construct validity is followed above. 4.3 Hypothesis Testing 4.3.1 Hypothesis Testing by the Regression Analysis(SPSS) 4.3.2 Analysis of Mediation Effect To verify mediation effect of overall service quality of and , this study used the phased analysis method proposed by Baron & Kenny(1986) generally used. As shows, Step 1 and Step 2 are significant, and mediation variable has a significant effect on dependent variables and so does independent variables at Step 3, too. And there needs to prove the partial mediation effect, independent variable's estimate ability at Step 3(Standardized coefficient $\beta$eta : efficiency=.164, system availability=.074, fulfillment=.108, privacy=.107) is smaller than its estimate ability at Step 2(Standardized coefficient $\beta$eta : efficiency=.409, system availability=.227, fulfillment=.386, privacy=.237), so it was proved that overall service quality played a role as the partial mediation between on-line service quality and satisfaction. As
    shows, Step 1 and Step 2 are significant, and mediation variable has a significant effect on dependent variables and so does independent variables at Step 3, too. And there needs to prove the partial mediation effect, independent variable's estimate ability at Step 3(Standardized coefficient $\beta$eta : responsiveness=.164, compensation=.117, contact=.113) is smaller than its estimate ability at Step 2(Standardized coefficient $\beta$eta : responsiveness=.409, compensation=.386, contact=.237), so it was proved that overall service quality played a role as the partial mediation between on-line service recovery and satisfaction. Verified results on the basis of empirical analysis are followed. First, as the result of , it shows that all were chosen, so on-line service quality has a positive effect on overall service quality. Especially fulfillment of overall service quality has the most effect, and then efficiency, system availability, privacy in order. Second, as the result of , it shows that all were chosen, so on-line service recovery has a positive effect on overall service quality. Especially responsiveness of overall service quality has the most effect, and then contact, compensation in order. Third, as the result of and , it shows that and all were chosen, so overall service quality has a positive effect on customer satisfaction, customer satisfaction has a positive effect on loyalty intention. Fourth, as the result of and , it shows that and all were chosen, so overall service quality plays a role as the partial mediation between on-line service quality and customer satisfaction, on-line service recovery and customer satisfaction. 5. Conclusion This study measured and analyzed service quality and service recovery of the Web sites that customers made a reservation and issued their air tickets, and by improving customer satisfaction through the result, this study put its final goal to grope how to keep loyalty customers. On the basis of the result of empirical analysis, suggestion points of this study are followed. First, this study regarded E-S-QUAL that measures on-line service quality and E-RecS-QUAL that measures on-line service recovery as variables, so it overcame the limit of existing studies that used modified SERVQUAL to measure service quality of the Web sites. Second, it shows that fulfillment and efficiency of on-line service quality have the most significant effect on overall service quality. Therefore the Web sites of reserving and issuing air tickets should try harder to elevate efficiency and fulfillment. Third, privacy of on-line service quality has the least significant effect on overall service quality, but this may be caused by un-assurance of customers whether the Web sites protect safely their confidential information or not. So they need to notify customers of this fact clearly. Fourth, there are many cases that customers don't recognize the importance of on-line service recovery, but if they would think that On-line service recovery has an effect on customer satisfaction and loyalty intention, as its importance is very significant they should prepare for that. Fifth, because overall service quality has a positive effect on customer satisfaction and loyalty intention, they should try harder to elevate service quality and service recovery of the Web sites of reserving and issuing air tickets to maximize customer satisfaction and to secure loyalty customers. Sixth, it is found that overall service quality plays a role as the partial mediation, but now there are rarely existing studies about this, so there need to be more studies about this.

  • PDF

  • (34141) Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information, 245, Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon
    Copyright (C) KISTI. All Rights Reserved.