• Title/Summary/Keyword: user Modeling

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Development of a smart cane concept for guiding the visually impaired - focused on design thinking learning practices for students - (시각장애인을 위한 길 안내용 스마트 지팡이 콘셉트 개발)

  • Park, Hae Rim;Lee, Min Sun;Yang, Ho Jung
    • Journal of Service Research and Studies
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    • v.13 no.1
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    • pp.186-200
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    • 2023
  • This study aims to improve the usability of the white cane, which is walking equipment that most local visually impaired people use and carry when going out, and to contribute to the prevention of safety accidents and the walking rights of visually impaired people by providing improvement and resolution measures for the problems identified. Also, this study is a study on the visually impaired, primarily targeting the 1st to 2nd degree visually impaired people, who cannot go out on their own without walking equipment such as a white cane, corresponding to 20% among approximately 250,000 blind and low vision people in the Korean population. In the study process, the concept has been developed from the user's point of view in order that the white cane becomes a real help in the walking step of the visually impaired and the improvement of usability of the white cane, the main walking equipment for the visually impaired, are done by problem identification through the Double Diamond Model of Design Thinking (Empathize → Define → Ideate → Prototype → Test (verify)). As a result of the investigation in the process of Empathy, a total of five issues was synthesized, including an increase in the proportion of the visually impaired people, an insufficient workforce situation to help all the visually impaired, an improvement and advancement of assistive devices essential for the visually impaired, problems of damage, illegal occupation, demolition, maintenance about braille blocks, making braille block paradigms for the visually impaired and for everyone. In Ideate and Prototype steps, situations derived from brainstorming were grouped and the relationship were made through the KJ method, and specific situations and major causes were organized to establish the direction of the concept. The derived solutions and major functions are defined in four categories, and representative situations requiring solutions and major functions are organized into two user scenarios. Ideas were visualized by arranging the virtual Persona and Customer Journey Map according to the situation and producing a prototype through 3D modeling. Finally, in the evaluation, the final concept derived is a device such a smart cane for guidance for the visually impaired as ① a smart cane emphasizing portability + ② compatibility with other electronic devices + ③ a product with safety and convenience.

Clickstream Big Data Mining for Demographics based Digital Marketing (인구통계특성 기반 디지털 마케팅을 위한 클릭스트림 빅데이터 마이닝)

  • Park, Jiae;Cho, Yoonho
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.22 no.3
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    • pp.143-163
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    • 2016
  • The demographics of Internet users are the most basic and important sources for target marketing or personalized advertisements on the digital marketing channels which include email, mobile, and social media. However, it gradually has become difficult to collect the demographics of Internet users because their activities are anonymous in many cases. Although the marketing department is able to get the demographics using online or offline surveys, these approaches are very expensive, long processes, and likely to include false statements. Clickstream data is the recording an Internet user leaves behind while visiting websites. As the user clicks anywhere in the webpage, the activity is logged in semi-structured website log files. Such data allows us to see what pages users visited, how long they stayed there, how often they visited, when they usually visited, which site they prefer, what keywords they used to find the site, whether they purchased any, and so forth. For such a reason, some researchers tried to guess the demographics of Internet users by using their clickstream data. They derived various independent variables likely to be correlated to the demographics. The variables include search keyword, frequency and intensity for time, day and month, variety of websites visited, text information for web pages visited, etc. The demographic attributes to predict are also diverse according to the paper, and cover gender, age, job, location, income, education, marital status, presence of children. A variety of data mining methods, such as LSA, SVM, decision tree, neural network, logistic regression, and k-nearest neighbors, were used for prediction model building. However, this research has not yet identified which data mining method is appropriate to predict each demographic variable. Moreover, it is required to review independent variables studied so far and combine them as needed, and evaluate them for building the best prediction model. The objective of this study is to choose clickstream attributes mostly likely to be correlated to the demographics from the results of previous research, and then to identify which data mining method is fitting to predict each demographic attribute. Among the demographic attributes, this paper focus on predicting gender, age, marital status, residence, and job. And from the results of previous research, 64 clickstream attributes are applied to predict the demographic attributes. The overall process of predictive model building is compose of 4 steps. In the first step, we create user profiles which include 64 clickstream attributes and 5 demographic attributes. The second step performs the dimension reduction of clickstream variables to solve the curse of dimensionality and overfitting problem. We utilize three approaches which are based on decision tree, PCA, and cluster analysis. We build alternative predictive models for each demographic variable in the third step. SVM, neural network, and logistic regression are used for modeling. The last step evaluates the alternative models in view of model accuracy and selects the best model. For the experiments, we used clickstream data which represents 5 demographics and 16,962,705 online activities for 5,000 Internet users. IBM SPSS Modeler 17.0 was used for our prediction process, and the 5-fold cross validation was conducted to enhance the reliability of our experiments. As the experimental results, we can verify that there are a specific data mining method well-suited for each demographic variable. For example, age prediction is best performed when using the decision tree based dimension reduction and neural network whereas the prediction of gender and marital status is the most accurate by applying SVM without dimension reduction. We conclude that the online behaviors of the Internet users, captured from the clickstream data analysis, could be well used to predict their demographics, thereby being utilized to the digital marketing.

A Study on Switching Intention of Mobile Telecommunication Service User: Focused on Group Differences Based on Innovativeness (이동통신 서비스 이용자의 전환의도에 관한 연구: 개인 혁신성에 따른 집단 간의 차이를 중심으로)

  • Oh, Jong-Chul;Yoon, Sung-Joon
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.19 no.1
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    • pp.9-21
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    • 2009
  • Recently, the researches to explain Switching Behavior through Theory of Planned Behavior have been discovered. Many researches say that System factors of mobile telecommunication service(MTS) is positively associated with Switching Intention. But There is no difference of system factors between mobile telecommunication services because of IT technique Development. Thus, this study investigated whether switching cost and alternative's attractiveness influence switching intention concerning mobile telecommunication service by adopting Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) as an underlying theoretical premise. The study also attempted to determine the moderating effects of personal innovativeness on switching intention. For these purposes the author has developed several hypotheses as follows: H-1. The switching cost of different MTS is associated with the attitude of MTS which is using. H-2. The switching cost of different MTS is associated with the subjective norm of MTS which is using. H-3. The switching cost of different MTS is associated with the perceived behavior control of MTS which is using. H-4. The alternative's attractiveness of different MTS is associated with the attitude of MTS which is using. H-5. The alternative's attractiveness of different MTS is associated with the subjective norm of MTS which is using. H-6. The alternative's attractiveness of different MTS is associated with the perceived behavior control of MTS which is using. H-7. The switching cost of different MTS is associated with the switching intention. H-8. The alternative's attractiveness of different MTS is associated with the switching intention. H-9. The attitude of MTS is associated with the switching intention. H-10. The subjective norm of MTS is associated with the switching intention. H-11. The perceived behavior control of MTS is associated with the switching intention. H-12. The personal innovativeness has been a moderating effects to switching intention. Data has been collected from 403 respondents for this study using a questionnaire method. The survey for the actual analysis of the research was done and analyzed with the customers who have an experience of using Mobile telecommunication service and the samples were selected among the middle and high school students who live in Seoul area, the university students who live in Seoul, Gyeonggi and Chungcheng Provinces, and the ordinary workers who are working in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. The survey was done for 23 days from March 28, 2008 through April 12, 2008. The positive analysis was done with SPSS 12.0K statistics package and visual PLS program using the analysis techniques of frequency analysis, reliability analysis, correlation analysis and factor analysis. In addition, structural equation modeling was conducted using AMOS 5.0. The data was analyzed by frequency analysis using SPSS 12.0 and structural equation modeling using AMOS 5.0. The result of the overall model analysis is as follows: Chi-Square=378.306, d.f.=107, p-value=0.0, GFI=.904, AGFI= 0.863, IFI= 0.939, NFI= 0.917, RMSEA= 0.079, TLI= 0.922. The results of the overall model analysis were coherent. The following study results were revealed: First, switching cost was related positively to attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavior control, three components of TPB. Second, alternative's attractiveness was related negatively to subjective norm but positively to perceived behavior control. Third, switching cost and attitude was related negatively to switching intention, while perceived behavior control was related positively to switching intention. Finally, the study found the moderating effects of personal innovativeness on switching intention. Based on the results, the study offers marketing strategic implications for mobile telecommunication service industry.

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A study of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Speaker's Development Process in Terms of Social Constructivism: Focused on the Products and Periodic Co-revolution Process (인공지능(AI) 스피커에 대한 사회구성 차원의 발달과정 연구: 제품과 시기별 공진화 과정을 중심으로)

  • Cha, Hyeon-ju;Kweon, Sang-hee
    • Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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    • v.22 no.1
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    • pp.109-135
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    • 2021
  • his study classified the development process of artificial intelligence (AI) speakers through analysis of the news text of artificial intelligence (AI) speakers shown in traditional news reports, and identified the characteristics of each product by period. The theoretical background used in the analysis are news frames and topic frames. As analysis methods, topic modeling and semantic network analysis using the LDA method were used. The research method was a content analysis method. From 2014 to 2019, 2710 news related to AI speakers were first collected, and secondly, topic frames were analyzed using Nodexl algorithm. The result of this study is that, first, the trend of topic frames by AI speaker provider type was different according to the characteristics of the four operators (communication service provider, online platform, OS provider, and IT device manufacturer). Specifically, online platform operators (Google, Naver, Amazon, Kakao) appeared as a frame that uses AI speakers as'search or input devices'. On the other hand, telecommunications operators (SKT, KT) showed prominent frames for IPTV, which is the parent company's flagship business, and 'auxiliary device' of the telecommunication business. Furthermore, the frame of "personalization of products and voice service" was remarkable for OS operators (MS, Apple), and the frame for IT device manufacturers (Samsung) was "Internet of Things (IoT) Integrated Intelligence System". The econd, result id that the trend of the topic frame by AI speaker development period (by year) showed a tendency to develop around AI technology in the first phase (2014-2016), and in the second phase (2017-2018), the social relationship between AI technology and users It was related to interaction, and in the third phase (2019), there was a trend of shifting from AI technology-centered to user-centered. As a result of QAP analysis, it was found that news frames by business operator and development period in AI speaker development are socially constituted by determinants of media discourse. The implication of this study was that the evolution of AI speakers was found by the characteristics of the parent company and the process of co-evolution due to interactions between users by business operator and development period. The implications of this study are that the results of this study are important indicators for predicting the future prospects of AI speakers and presenting directions accordingly.

Twitter Issue Tracking System by Topic Modeling Techniques (토픽 모델링을 이용한 트위터 이슈 트래킹 시스템)

  • Bae, Jung-Hwan;Han, Nam-Gi;Song, Min
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.20 no.2
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    • pp.109-122
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    • 2014
  • People are nowadays creating a tremendous amount of data on Social Network Service (SNS). In particular, the incorporation of SNS into mobile devices has resulted in massive amounts of data generation, thereby greatly influencing society. This is an unmatched phenomenon in history, and now we live in the Age of Big Data. SNS Data is defined as a condition of Big Data where the amount of data (volume), data input and output speeds (velocity), and the variety of data types (variety) are satisfied. If someone intends to discover the trend of an issue in SNS Big Data, this information can be used as a new important source for the creation of new values because this information covers the whole of society. In this study, a Twitter Issue Tracking System (TITS) is designed and established to meet the needs of analyzing SNS Big Data. TITS extracts issues from Twitter texts and visualizes them on the web. The proposed system provides the following four functions: (1) Provide the topic keyword set that corresponds to daily ranking; (2) Visualize the daily time series graph of a topic for the duration of a month; (3) Provide the importance of a topic through a treemap based on the score system and frequency; (4) Visualize the daily time-series graph of keywords by searching the keyword; The present study analyzes the Big Data generated by SNS in real time. SNS Big Data analysis requires various natural language processing techniques, including the removal of stop words, and noun extraction for processing various unrefined forms of unstructured data. In addition, such analysis requires the latest big data technology to process rapidly a large amount of real-time data, such as the Hadoop distributed system or NoSQL, which is an alternative to relational database. We built TITS based on Hadoop to optimize the processing of big data because Hadoop is designed to scale up from single node computing to thousands of machines. Furthermore, we use MongoDB, which is classified as a NoSQL database. In addition, MongoDB is an open source platform, document-oriented database that provides high performance, high availability, and automatic scaling. Unlike existing relational database, there are no schema or tables with MongoDB, and its most important goal is that of data accessibility and data processing performance. In the Age of Big Data, the visualization of Big Data is more attractive to the Big Data community because it helps analysts to examine such data easily and clearly. Therefore, TITS uses the d3.js library as a visualization tool. This library is designed for the purpose of creating Data Driven Documents that bind document object model (DOM) and any data; the interaction between data is easy and useful for managing real-time data stream with smooth animation. In addition, TITS uses a bootstrap made of pre-configured plug-in style sheets and JavaScript libraries to build a web system. The TITS Graphical User Interface (GUI) is designed using these libraries, and it is capable of detecting issues on Twitter in an easy and intuitive manner. The proposed work demonstrates the superiority of our issue detection techniques by matching detected issues with corresponding online news articles. The contributions of the present study are threefold. First, we suggest an alternative approach to real-time big data analysis, which has become an extremely important issue. Second, we apply a topic modeling technique that is used in various research areas, including Library and Information Science (LIS). Based on this, we can confirm the utility of storytelling and time series analysis. Third, we develop a web-based system, and make the system available for the real-time discovery of topics. The present study conducted experiments with nearly 150 million tweets in Korea during March 2013.

The Effect of Meta-Features of Multiclass Datasets on the Performance of Classification Algorithms (다중 클래스 데이터셋의 메타특징이 판별 알고리즘의 성능에 미치는 영향 연구)

  • Kim, Jeonghun;Kim, Min Yong;Kwon, Ohbyung
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.26 no.1
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    • pp.23-45
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    • 2020
  • Big data is creating in a wide variety of fields such as medical care, manufacturing, logistics, sales site, SNS, and the dataset characteristics are also diverse. In order to secure the competitiveness of companies, it is necessary to improve decision-making capacity using a classification algorithm. However, most of them do not have sufficient knowledge on what kind of classification algorithm is appropriate for a specific problem area. In other words, determining which classification algorithm is appropriate depending on the characteristics of the dataset was has been a task that required expertise and effort. This is because the relationship between the characteristics of datasets (called meta-features) and the performance of classification algorithms has not been fully understood. Moreover, there has been little research on meta-features reflecting the characteristics of multi-class. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to empirically analyze whether meta-features of multi-class datasets have a significant effect on the performance of classification algorithms. In this study, meta-features of multi-class datasets were identified into two factors, (the data structure and the data complexity,) and seven representative meta-features were selected. Among those, we included the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI), originally a market concentration measurement index, in the meta-features to replace IR(Imbalanced Ratio). Also, we developed a new index called Reverse ReLU Silhouette Score into the meta-feature set. Among the UCI Machine Learning Repository data, six representative datasets (Balance Scale, PageBlocks, Car Evaluation, User Knowledge-Modeling, Wine Quality(red), Contraceptive Method Choice) were selected. The class of each dataset was classified by using the classification algorithms (KNN, Logistic Regression, Nave Bayes, Random Forest, and SVM) selected in the study. For each dataset, we applied 10-fold cross validation method. 10% to 100% oversampling method is applied for each fold and meta-features of the dataset is measured. The meta-features selected are HHI, Number of Classes, Number of Features, Entropy, Reverse ReLU Silhouette Score, Nonlinearity of Linear Classifier, Hub Score. F1-score was selected as the dependent variable. As a result, the results of this study showed that the six meta-features including Reverse ReLU Silhouette Score and HHI proposed in this study have a significant effect on the classification performance. (1) The meta-features HHI proposed in this study was significant in the classification performance. (2) The number of variables has a significant effect on the classification performance, unlike the number of classes, but it has a positive effect. (3) The number of classes has a negative effect on the performance of classification. (4) Entropy has a significant effect on the performance of classification. (5) The Reverse ReLU Silhouette Score also significantly affects the classification performance at a significant level of 0.01. (6) The nonlinearity of linear classifiers has a significant negative effect on classification performance. In addition, the results of the analysis by the classification algorithms were also consistent. In the regression analysis by classification algorithm, Naïve Bayes algorithm does not have a significant effect on the number of variables unlike other classification algorithms. This study has two theoretical contributions: (1) two new meta-features (HHI, Reverse ReLU Silhouette score) was proved to be significant. (2) The effects of data characteristics on the performance of classification were investigated using meta-features. The practical contribution points (1) can be utilized in the development of classification algorithm recommendation system according to the characteristics of datasets. (2) Many data scientists are often testing by adjusting the parameters of the algorithm to find the optimal algorithm for the situation because the characteristics of the data are different. In this process, excessive waste of resources occurs due to hardware, cost, time, and manpower. This study is expected to be useful for machine learning, data mining researchers, practitioners, and machine learning-based system developers. The composition of this study consists of introduction, related research, research model, experiment, conclusion and discussion.

Location Service Modeling of Distributed GIS for Replication Geospatial Information Object Management (중복 지리정보 객체 관리를 위한 분산 지리정보 시스템의 위치 서비스 모델링)

  • Jeong, Chang-Won;Lee, Won-Jung;Lee, Jae-Wan;Joo, Su-Chong
    • The KIPS Transactions:PartD
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    • v.13D no.7 s.110
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    • pp.985-996
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    • 2006
  • As the internet technologies develop, the geographic information system environment is changing to the web-based service. Since geospatial information of the existing Web-GIS services were developed independently, there is no interoperability to support diverse map formats. In spite of the same geospatial information object it can be used for various proposes that is duplicated in GIS separately. It needs intelligent strategies for optimal replica selection, which is identification of replication geospatial information objects. And for management of replication objects, OMG, GLOBE and GRID computing suggested related frameworks. But these researches are not thorough going enough in case of geospatial information object. This paper presents a model of location service, which is supported for optimal selection among replication and management of replication objects. It is consist of tree main services. The first is binding service which can save names and properties of object defined by users according to service offers and enable clients to search them on the service of offers. The second is location service which can manage location information with contact records. And obtains performance information by the Load Sharing Facility on system independently with contact address. The third is intelligent selection service which can obtain basic/performance information from the binding service/location service and provide both faster access and better performance characteristics by rules as intelligent model based on rough sets. For the validity of location service model, this research presents the processes of location service execution with Graphic User Interface.

The Effect of Paid YouTube Channel Membership Motivation on Usage Satisfaction and Continuance Intention: Based on Consumption Value Theory (유료 유튜브 채널멤버십 이용동기가 이용만족과 지속이용의도에 미치는 영향: 소비가치이론을 기반으로)

  • Chengnan Jiang;Ji Yoon Kwon;Sung-Byung Yang
    • Journal of Service Research and Studies
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    • v.13 no.2
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    • pp.181-203
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    • 2023
  • YouTube exhibits a hybrid personality, incorporating traits of both over-the-top (OTT) and personal broadcasting platforms. However, limited research has investigated these hybrid characteristics, particularly in the context of paid YouTube channel memberships. Therefore, building upon consumption value theory and prior literature, this study examines the influence of consumption value factors associated with paid YouTube channel memberships on usage satisfaction and continuance intention. Specifically, the study identifies four perceived consumption value factors (functional, social, emotional, and epistemic values) within the paid YouTube channel membership context and assesses their impact on usage satisfaction and continuance intention. Additionally, the study explores the moderating role of conditional value (the experience of watching live streams on paid YouTube channels) in these relationships. Data was collected via an online survey from Korean adults who subscribed to multiple paid YouTube channel memberships, resulting in 274 responses. The proposed hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling (SEM). The SEM results indicate that all four consumption value factors significantly influence usage satisfaction, with usage satisfaction in turn positively affecting continuance intention. Furthermore, the study reveals that conditional value moderates the relationships between functional/emotional values and usage satisfaction, as well as between usage satisfaction and continuance intention. This study is the first to focus on YouTube channel paid memberships, which encompass characteristics from both OTT and personal broadcasting platforms. It is anticipated that this research will offer insights to personal broadcasters and stakeholders regarding the motivational factors that impact user satisfaction and encourage subscriptions to channel memberships.

The Relationships among Social Influence, Use-Diffusion, Continued Usage and Brand Switching Intention of Mobile Services (사회적 영향력과 모바일 서비스의 사용-확산, 그리고 지속적 사용 및 상표 전환의도 간의 관계에 대한 연구)

  • Sang-Hoon Kim;Hyun Jung Park;Bang-Hyung Lee
    • Asia Marketing Journal
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    • v.12 no.3
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    • pp.1-24
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    • 2010
  • Typically, marketing literature on innovation diffusion has focused on the pre-adoption process and only a few studies explicitly examined consumers' post-adoption behavior of innovative mobile services. Besides, prior use diffusion research has considered the variables that determine the consumers' initial adoption in explaining the post adoption usage behavior. However, behavioral sciences and individual psychology suggest that social influences are a potentially important determinant of usage behavior as well. The purpose of this study is to investigate into the effects of network factor and brand identification as social influences on the consumers' use diffusion or continued usage intention of a mobile service. Network factor designates consumer perception of the usefulness of a network, which embraces the concept of network externality and that of critical mass. Brand identification captures distinct aspects of social influence on technology acceptance that is not captured by subjective norm in situations where the technology use is voluntary. Additionally, this study explores the effect of the use diffusion on the brand switching intention, a generally unexplored form of post-adoption behavior. There are only a few empirical studies in the literature addressing the issue of IT user switching. In this study, the use diffusion comprises of rate of use and variety of use. The research hypotheses are as follows; H1. Network factor will have a positive influence on the rate of use of mobile services. H2. Network factor will have a positive influence on variety of use of mobile services. H3. Network factor will have a positive influence on continued usage intention. H4. Brand identification will have a positive influence on the rate of use. H5. Brand identification will have a positive influence on variety of use. H6. Brand identification will have a positive influence on continued usage intention. H7. Rate of use of mobile services are positively related to continued usage intention. H8. Variety of Use of mobile services are positively related to continued usage intention. H9. Rate of use of mobile services are negatively related to brand switching intention. H10. Variety of Use of mobile services are negatively related to brand switching intention. With the assistance of a marketing service company, a total of 1023 questionnaires from an online survey were collected. The survey was conducted only on those who have received or given a mobile service called "Gifticon". Those who answered insincerely were excluded from the analysis, so we had 936 observations available for a further stage of data analysis. We used structural equation modeling and overall fit was good enough (CFI=0.933, TLI=0.903, RMSEA=0.081). The results show that network factor and brand identification significantly increase the rate of use. But only brand identification increases variety of use. Also, network factor, brand identification and the use diffusion are positively related to continued usage intention. But the hypotheses that the use diffusion are positively related to brand switching intention were rejected. This result implies that continued usage intention cannot guarantee reducing brand switching intention.

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Consumer's Negative Brand Rumor Acceptance and Rumor Diffusion (소비자의 부정적 브랜드 루머의 수용과 확산)

  • Lee, Won-jun;Lee, Han-Suk
    • Asia Marketing Journal
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    • v.14 no.2
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    • pp.65-96
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    • 2012
  • Brand has received much attention from considerable marketing research. When consumers consume product or services, they are exposed to a lot of brand related stimuli. These contain brand personality, brand experience, brand identity, brand communications and so on. A special kind of new crisis occasionally confronting companies' brand management today is the brand related rumor. An important influence on consumers' purchase decision making is the word-of-mouth spread by other consumers and most decisions are influenced by other's recommendations. In light of this influence, firms have reasonable reason to study and understand consumer-to-consumer communication such as brand rumor. The importance of brand rumor to marketers is increasing as the number of internet user and SNS(social network service) site grows. Due to the development of internet technology, people can spread rumors without the limitation of time, space and place. However relatively few studies have been published in marketing journals and little is known about brand rumors in the marketplace. The study of rumor has a long history in all major social science. But very few studies have dealt with the antecedents and consequences of any kind of brand rumor. Rumor has been generally described as a story or statement in general circulation without proper confirmation or certainty as to fact. And it also can be defined as an unconfirmed proposition, passed along from people to people. Rosnow(1991) claimed that rumors were transmitted because people needed to explain ambiguous and uncertain events and talking about them reduced associated anxiety. Especially negative rumors are believed to have the potential to devastate a company's reputation and relations with customers. From the perspective of marketer, negative rumors are considered harmful and extremely difficult to control in general. It is becoming a threat to a company's sustainability and sometimes leads to negative brand image and loss of customers. Thus there is a growing concern that these negative rumors can damage brands' reputations and lead them to financial disaster too. In this study we aimed to distinguish antecedents of brand rumor transmission and investigate the effects of brand rumor characteristics on rumor spread intention. We also found key components in personal acceptance of brand rumor. In contextualist perspective, we tried to unify the traditional psychological and sociological views. In this unified research approach we defined brand rumor's characteristics based on five major variables that had been found to influence the process of rumor spread intention. The five factors of usefulness, source credibility, message credibility, worry, and vividness, encompass multi level elements of brand rumor. We also selected product involvement as a control variable. To perform the empirical research, imaginary Korean 'Kimch' brand and related contamination rumor was created and proposed. Questionnaires were collected from 178 Korean samples. Data were collected from college students who have been experienced the focal product. College students were regarded as good subjects because they have a tendency to express their opinions in detail. PLS(partial least square) method was adopted to analyze the relations between variables in the equation model. The most widely adopted causal modeling method is LISREL. However it is poorly suited to deal with relatively small data samples and can yield not proper solutions in some cases. PLS has been developed to avoid some of these limitations and provide more reliable results. To test the reliability using SPSS 16 s/w, Cronbach alpha was examined and all the values were appropriate showing alpha values between .802 and .953. Subsequently, confirmatory factor analysis was conducted successfully. And structural equation modeling has been used to analyze the research model using smartPLS(ver. 2.0) s/w. Overall, R2 of adoption of rumor is .476 and R2 of intention of rumor transmission is .218. The overall model showed a satisfactory fit. The empirical results can be summarized as follows. According to the results, the variables of brand rumor characteristic such as source credibility, message credibility, worry, and vividness affect argument strength of rumor. And argument strength of rumor also affects rumor intention. On the other hand, the relationship between perceived usefulness and argument strength of rumor is not significant. The moderating effect of product involvement on the relations between argument strength of rumor and rumor W.O.M intention is not supported neither. Consequently this study suggests some managerial and academic implications. We consider some implications for corporate crisis management planning, PR and brand management. This results show marketers that rumor is a critical factor for managing strong brand assets. Also for researchers, brand rumor should become an important thesis of their interests to understand the relationship between consumer and brand. Recently many brand managers and marketers have focused on the short-term view. They just focused on strengthen the positive brand image. According to this study we suggested that effective brand management requires managing negative brand rumors with a long-term view of marketing decisions.

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