• 한국노년학
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.831-848
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to analyse the family caregivers' stress pathways by types of long term care services for the elderly, and then to discuss the findings of analysis. For this research, primary caregivers that provide care the elderly requiring long term care services sanctioned by National Health Insurance Corporation were drawn and surveyed. Among collected data, data for 258 primary caregivers by type of long term care services were used for this study. The results of this study can be summarized as follows. First, on average, the elders that utilize care service in institutions for the elderly were higher proportion of women, older, higher rate of bereavement, more children than the elders that utilize in-home care service, but some cases were vice-versa. Second, the elders that utilize care service in institutions more ADL dependency, higher proportion of severe dementia or severe stroke, higher care rank by National Health Insurance Corporation than the elders that utilize in-home care service on average. Third, primary caregivers with elders that utilize in-home care service were higher proportion of women, older, lower education level, higher rate of spouse and daughter-in-law in relationship with care recipient, less health, lower income than primary caregivers with elders that utilize care service in institutions. Fourth, subjective indicators representing caregivers' reactions to caregiving for the elderly significantly impact on caregivers' stress(ie, depression), and pathway of caregivers' stress are differentiated by type of long term care services. Fifth, stressors that have direct impacts on depression as caregiving family are differentiated by type of long term care services. Therefore, policies or programs to reduce negative mental health or stress of caregivig families should be designed differently by reflecting pathway of various stressors and stress by use types of long term care services for the elderly.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.495-507
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• 2023

Teachers often encounter challenges in supporting students with question generation and the development of investigation plans in sensemaking activities. A primary challenge stems from the ambiguity surrounding how students apply their conceptual understandings in this process. This study aims to explore how students apply their conceptual understandings to generate questions and design investigation processes in a sensemaking activity. Two types of student group activities were identified and examined for comparison: One focused on designing a process to achieve the goal of sensemaking, and the other focused on following the step-by-step scientific inquiry procedures. The design of investigation process in each group was concretized with epistemic criteria used for evaluating the designs. The students' use of conceptual understandings in discussions around each was then examined. The findings reveal three epistemic criteria employed in generating questions and designing investigation processes. First, the students examined the interestingness of natural phenomena, using their conceptual understandings of the structure and function of entities within natural phenomena to identify a target phenomenon. This process involved verifying their existing knowledge to determine the need for new understanding. The second criterion was the feasibility of investigating specific variables with the given resources. Here, the students relied on their conceptual understandings of the structure and function of entities corresponding to each variable to assess whether each variable could be investigated. The third epistemic criterion involved examining whether the factors of target phenomena expressed in everyday terms could be translated into observable variables capable of explaining the phenomena. Conceptual understandings related to the function of entities were used to translate everyday expressions into observable variables and vice versa. The students' conceptual understanding of a comprehensive mechanism was used to connect the elements of the phenomenon and use the elements as potential factors to explain the target phenomenon. In the case where the students focused on carrying out step-by-step procedures, data collection feasibility was the sole epistemic criterion guiding the design. This study contributes to elucidating how the process of a sensemaking activity can be developed in the science classroom and developing conceptual supports for designing sensemaking activities that align with students' perspectives.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.53 no.spc
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• pp.96-102
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• 2008

This study was carried out to examine agronomic characteristics and seed qualities of 827 Korean soybean landraces according to the collecting areas. Agronomic characteristics and seed qualities was examined according to the localities by weather characteristics. Days to flowering was the longest (mean 70.9 days) in the northwest seashore, and the most short in the south inland (mean 63.8 days). Growth days was the longest in the Gyeongbuk inland (mean 136.0 days), and the most short in the mountain-high (mean 132.8 days). The stem height was the most short in the north-west seashore (mean 81.3 cm), and in the south seashore (mean 58.8 cm). The seed weight of 100 seeds was the lightest in the north-west seashore (mean 17.1 g), and the heaviest in the south-west seashore (mean 21.5 g). The crude protein contents was the lowest in the north-west seashore (mean 40.1%), the highest in the south seashore (mean 42.8%), and vice versa in the crude oil. The contents of sucrose and oligo-saccharide was the highest 5.8% and 8.6%, respectively, in the mountain-high, and the lowest 4.8% and 7.6% in the Gyeongbuk inland and south seashore, respectively. Among the iso-flavone contests, the contents of genistein and total was the highest, $635.6\;{\mu}g/g$ and $1258.1\;{\mu}g/g$, respectively, in the mountain inland, and the lowest $319.2\;{\mu}g/g$ and $835.3\;{\mu}g/g$ in the south-west seashore. The contents of glycitein was the highest $124.3\;{\mu}g/g$ in the south seashore.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.89-97
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• 2010

This study researches the effects of common features on a no-choice option with respect to regulatory focus theory. The primary interest is in three factors and their interrelationship: common features, no-choice option, and regulatory focus. Prior studies have compiled vast body of research in these areas. First, the "common features effect" has been observed bymany noted marketing researchers. Tversky (1972) proposed the seminal theory, the EBA model: elimination by aspect. According to this theory, consumers are prone to focus only on unique features during comparison processing, thereby dismissing any common features as redundant information. Recently, however, more provocative ideas have attacked the EBA model by asserting that common features really do affect consumer judgment. Chernev (1997) first reported that adding common features mitigates the choice gap because of the increasing perception of similarity among alternatives. Later, however, Chernev (2001) published a critically developed study against his prior perspective with the proposition that common features may be a cognitive load to consumers, and thus consumers are possible that they are prone to prefer the heuristic processing to the systematic processing. This tends to bring one question to the forefront: Do "common features" affect consumer choice? If so, what are the concrete effects? This study tries to answer the question with respect to the "no-choice" option and regulatory focus. Second, some researchers hold that the no-choice option is another best alternative of consumers, who are likely to avoid having to choose in the context of knotty trade-off settings or mental conflicts. Hope for the future also may increase the no-choice option in the context of optimism or the expectancy of a more satisfactory alternative appearing later. Other issues reported in this domain are time pressure, consumer confidence, and alternative numbers (Dhar and Nowlis 1999; Lin and Wu 2005; Zakay and Tsal 1993). This study casts the no-choice option in yet another perspective: the interactive effects between common features and regulatory focus. Third, "regulatory focus theory" is a very popular theme in recent marketing research. It suggests that consumers have two focal goals facing each other: promotion vs. prevention. A promotion focus deals with the concepts of hope, inspiration, achievement, or gain, whereas prevention focus involves duty, responsibility, safety, or loss-aversion. Thus, while consumers with a promotion focus tend to take risks for gain, the same does not hold true for a prevention focus. Regulatory focus theory predicts consumers' emotions, creativity, attitudes, memory, performance, and judgment, as documented in a vast field of marketing and psychology articles. The perspective of the current study in exploring consumer choice and common features is a somewhat creative viewpoint in the area of regulatory focus. These reviews inspire this study of the interaction possibility between regulatory focus and common features with a no-choice option. Specifically, adding common features rather than omitting them may increase the no-choice option ratio in the choice setting only to prevention-focused consumers, but vice versa to promotion-focused consumers. The reasoning is that when prevention-focused consumers come in contact with common features, they may perceive higher similarity among the alternatives. This conflict among similar options would increase the no-choice ratio. Promotion-focused consumers, however, are possible that they perceive common features as a cue of confirmation bias. And thus their confirmation processing would make their prior preference more robust, then the no-choice ratio may shrink. This logic is verified in two experiments. The first is a $2{\times}2$ between-subject design (whether common features or not X regulatory focus) using a digital cameras as the relevant stimulus-a product very familiar to young subjects. Specifically, the regulatory focus variable is median split through a measure of eleven items. Common features included zoom, weight, memory, and battery, whereas the other two attributes (pixel and price) were unique features. Results supported our hypothesis that adding common features enhanced the no-choice ratio only to prevention-focus consumers, not to those with a promotion focus. These results confirm our hypothesis - the interactive effects between a regulatory focus and the common features. Prior research had suggested that including common features had a effect on consumer choice, but this study shows that common features affect choice by consumer segmentation. The second experiment was used to replicate the results of the first experiment. This experimental study is equal to the prior except only two - priming manipulation and another stimulus. For the promotion focus condition, subjects had to write an essay using words such as profit, inspiration, pleasure, achievement, development, hedonic, change, pursuit, etc. For prevention, however, they had to use the words persistence, safety, protection, aversion, loss, responsibility, stability etc. The room for rent had common features (sunshine, facility, ventilation) and unique features (distance time and building state). These attributes implied various levels and valence for replication of the prior experiment. Our hypothesis was supported repeatedly in the results, and the interaction effects were significant between regulatory focus and common features. Thus, these studies showed the dual effects of common features on consumer choice for a no-choice option. Adding common features may enhance or mitigate no-choice, contradictory as it may sound. Under a prevention focus, adding common features is likely to enhance the no-choice ratio because of increasing mental conflict; under the promotion focus, it is prone to shrink the ratio perhaps because of a "confirmation bias." The research has practical and theoretical implications for marketers, who may need to consider common features carefully in a practical display context according to consumer segmentation (i.e., promotion vs. prevention focus.) Theoretically, the results suggest some meaningful moderator variable between common features and no-choice in that the effect on no-choice option is partly dependent on a regulatory focus. This variable corresponds not only to a chronic perspective but also a situational perspective in our hypothesis domain. Finally, in light of some shortcomings in the research, such as overlooked attribute importance, low ratio of no-choice, or the external validity issue, we hope it influences future studies to explore the little-known world of the "no-choice option."

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.15
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• pp.33-59
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• 1974

A series of experiments were conducted at Crop Experiment Station from 1968 to 1971 to obtain basic information on effects of selection on yield of wheat varieties. Heritability estimates, correlation and path coefficients computed for yield and yield related characters from fixed variety groups-Korean, U.S., and Japan; early and late-$F_2$ and $F_3$ generations were studied. The same estimates for fixed variety groups grown under different fertilizer levels and years were also studied. The results were summarized as follow: 1. Three variety groups classified by their origins as Korea, United States and Japan showed high heritability estimates for heading date, plant height and spike length. The heritability estimates for grain number per spike and 1, 000 grain weight were moderate and those for the number of spikes per plant and grain yield were low. Very low estimates of heritability were obtained for grain number per spike and yield of variety group from the Unites States. 2. High genotypic correlation coefficients between 1, 000 grain weight and yield were obtained for all variety groups originated from Korea, United States and Japan and early variety group, except late variety group. The genotypic correlation coefficients between grain number per spike and yield were also high for all variety groups except variety group originated from the United States. 3. The direct effects of 1, 000 grain weight in terms of path-coefficients to yield were high for all variety groups except late variety group. 4. High genotypic correlation coefficients were obtained between 1, 000 grain weight and yield in $F_2$ from. two crosses. The same degree of genotypic correlation coefficients were obtained between grain number per spike and yield, although slight differences in its magnitude were found depending upon the cross combination. 5. The analysis of path-coefficients in $F_2$ shows that the direct effects of yield components to yield were negligible. 6. The characters that showed high genotypic correlation coefficients with yield in $F_3$ were 1, 000 gnain weight and grain number per spike. These characters showed also high direct effects to yield. 7. No great variations of heritability estimates for heading date, plant height and spike length were obtained for either fertilizer responsive or non responsive variety group due to fertilizer levels applied. 8. Heritability estimates of 1, 000 grain weight in fertilizer responsive group and yield in fertilizer nonresponsive group were high as level of fertilizer increased. 9. Heritability estimates for grain number per spike and 1, 000 grain weight of fertilizer non-responsive-group were higher than those of fertilizer. responsive group. 10. Genotypic corretation coefficients between yield and 1, 000 grain weight in fertilizer responsive group were getting lower as the level of fertilizer increased and those in fertilizer non-responsive group were vice versa. 11. Genotypic correlation coefficient between yield and spike number per plant in fertilizer responsive group was high. However, the genotypic correlation coefficient between yield and spike number per plant in fertilizer non-responsive group was low. 12. The direct effects of 1, 000 grain weight to yield were higher than other yield components either in fertilizer responsive or non-responsive group regardless of levels of fertilizer applied. The spike number per plant, however, was high only when high level of fertilizers were applied to fitilizer responsive group. 13. Slight variations of heritability estimates for heading dates, plant height, spike length, grain number per spike and 1, 000 grain weight were obtained between years. However, the spike number per plant with low heritabilility showed great variation between years. 14. The character that showed high genotypic correlation coefficients with yield in two years was 1, 000 grain weight, and this character was also high in direct effect to yield in terms of path-coefficients. 15. From the above experimental results, it might be concluded that 1, 000 grain weight would be one of the most important characters to increase the effects of selection for yield in wheat breeding in Korea.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.19 no.11
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• pp.1538-1546
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• 2009

This study was conducted to estimate the in vitro fermentation characteristics and in situ degradabilities of total mixed rations fermented by the synbiotic co-cultures composed of various anaerobic microorganisms in the rumen of cow. Seventy two TMR bags (4 treatments $\times$ 6 fermentation days $\times$ 3 replications) were manufactured for in vitro and in situ experiments. The experiment was composed of four treatments including the control, the mould and bacteria synbiotics (T1), the mould and yeast synbiotics (T2) and the bacteria and yeast synbiotics (T3). Each treatment had six fermentation days (1, 3, 5, 7, 14, 21 day) with three replications. Two rumen cannulated Holstein cows (550 ㎏ of mean body wt) were used for in situ trial, and a total of 96 nylon bags were retrieved from the rumen according to eight fermentation times (1, 3, 6, 9, 18, 24, 48 and 72 hr). The mean fermentation temperatures of TMRs by supplementation of anaerobic micoorganism co-cultures ranged from $22.97^{\circ}C$ to $26.07^{\circ}C$, and tended to increase steadily during the entire period. pH values of the F-TMRs ranged from 4.39 to 4.98 and tended to decrease with the extension of the fermentation period, and decreased by supplementation of synbiotics (p<0.05). The ammonia concentrations of F-TMRs were not affected by addition of synbiotic co-cultures during the early fermentation period (within 7 days), but was lowest (p<0.05) in T3 during the late fermentation periods (after 14 days). Lactic acid concentration of F-TMR was lowest in T3 at 1 day of fermentation, but was not different from treatments in the other fermentation days. Microbial growth rates of F-TMR reached a peak at 7 days of fermentation, and afterward tended to decrease. In in situ experiment, the DM disappearance rates were higher in T1 than the control during early fermentation times (within 3 hours), but was vice versa at 48 hours of fermentation (p<0.05). There was no significant difference in effective DM degradability among treatments. NDF and ADF disappearance rates in situ were similar to those of DM. From the above results, the supplementation of synbiotics, particularly the mould and bacteria synbiotics, resulted in improving the pH and concentration of lactic acid of F-TMR as parameters of fermentation compare to the control, and also had higher in situ disappearance rates of DM, NDF and ADF than the control at early fermentation time. However, effective DM degradability was not affected by supplementation of synbiotics.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.8
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• pp.29-37
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• 1967

Citrus fruits of ten varieties grown in Chaeju island and a few other fruits for the comparison were analyzed to determined the contents of crude fat, crude fiber, total carbohydrates, macroelements and ash. Acids and sugars in fruit juices were also determined and the characteristic of neutralization of fruit juices were investigated. 1. The per cent of edible part of citrus fruits having the range of 48.5(Daingwoochi) to 72(Onju) were lower than that of other fruits. It was lower by about 8 per cent than that of the same variety produced in U.S.A. It was shown that the amount of rind per fruit might be increased in the citrus fruit grown in the low annual temperature. 2. The content of crude protein were around 1% and higher than other's. The contents of crude fat were below 0.1% in three varieties and over 0.1 in others. The contents of crude fiber were between 0.3 to 0.8% and the fruits with the high content of crude protein were inclined to have the high content of crude fiber and it was also shown that the low annual temperature was inclined to increase the amount of crude fiber per fruit. 3. The amount of total acid were from 19.5 m.e per 100 g of fresh fruit in Byongkyul to 44.2 m.e in Daingwoochi. The high percentage of titrable acid was over 90 in two sour varieties, Daingwoochi and Hakyul having pH below 3 and the high content of total acid. These two varieties were above 10 in the ratio of total acid in the edible part to the total acid in the rind(total acid in edible part/total acid in the rind). The content of combined acid was lower than that of titrable acid in the edible part and vice versa in the rind. 4. Navel was highest as 12.82% in the total sugar content and the lowest content was 4.9% of Hakyul. The contents of reducing sugar in the citrus fruits were about half of that in other fruits. The ratio of total sugar to titrable acid (sugar/acid: the grade of sweet taste) were lower than foreign products . 5. From the titration curves of fruit juices the characteristic of neutralization of juices could be grouped in three types, and other values, that is, pH, the content of total acid, the percentage of combined acid, the ratio of total acids in edible part and rind, the content of sugar, and the grade of sweet taste were also devided into the same three categories. 6. The contents of macroelements were different along to the each part of fruit. The content, in the seed were high and the ones in the rind were low. The contents of each element were in the order of $K_2O>N>P_2O_5{\gtrless}CaO{\gtrless}MgO$ in the edible part, $K_2O>N>CaO>P_2O_5{\gtrless}MgO$ in the rind, $N>K_2O>P_2O_5>CaO>MgO$ in the seed. The content of potassium was especially high in Marumeru and Hakyul and the content of calcium in citrus fruit was higher than others.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.2913-2924
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• 1973

This study was to investigate the drying mechanism of stratified soil by investigating 'effects of the upper soil on moisture loss of the lower soil and vice versa' and at the same time by examining how the drying progressed in the stratified soils with bare surface and with vegetated surface respectively. There were six plots of the stratified soils with bare surface($A_1- A_6$ plot) and the same other six plots($B_1- B_5$ plot), with vegetated surface(white clover). These six plots were made by permutating two kinds of soils from three kinds of soils; clay loam(CL). Sandy loam(SL). Sand(s). Each layer was leveled by saturating sufficient water. Depth of each plot was 40cm by making each layer 20cm deep and its area. $90{\times}90(cm^2)$. The cell was put at the point of the central and mid-depth of the each layer in the each plot in order to measure the soil moisture by using OHMMETER. soil moisture tester, and movement of soil water from out sides was cut off by putting the vinyl on the four sides. The results obtained were as follow; 1. Drying progressed from the surface layer to the lower layer regardless of plots. There was a tendency thet drying of the upper soil was faster than that of the lower soil and drying of the plot with vegetated surface was also faster than that of the plot with bare surface. 2. Soil moisture was recovered at approximately the field capacity or moisture equivalent by infiltration in the course of drying, when there was a rainfall. 3. Effects of soil texture of the lower soil on dryness of the upper soil in the stratified soil were explained as follows; a) When the lower soil was S and the upper, CL or SL, dryness of the upper soils overlying the lower soil of S was much faster than that overlying the lower soil of SL or CL, because sandy soil, having the small field capacity value and playing a part of the layer cutting off to some extent capillary water supply. Drying of SL was remarkably faster than that of CL in the upper soil. b) When the lower soil was SL and the upper S or CL, drying of the upper soil was the slowest because of the lower SL, having a comparatively large field capacity value. Drying of CL tended to be faster than that of S in the upper soil. c) When the lower soil was CL and the upper S or SL, drying of the upper soil was relatively fast because of the lower CL, having the largest field capacity value but the slowest capillary conductivity. Drying of SL tended to be faster than that of S in the upper soil. 4. According to a change in soil moisture content of the upper soil and the lower soil during a day there was a tendency that soil moisture contents of CL and SL in the upper soil were decreased to its minimum value but that of S increased to its maximum value, during 3 hours between 12.00 and 15.00. There was another tendency that soil moisture contents of CL, SL and S in the lower soil were all slightly decreased by temperature rising and those in a cloudy day were smaller than those in a clear day. 5. The ratio of the accumulated soil moisture consumption to the accumulated guage evaporation in the plot with vegetated surface was generally larger than that in the plot with bare surface. The ratio tended to decrease in the course of time, and also there was a tendency that it mainly depended on the texture of the upper soil at the first period and the texture of the lower soil at the last period. 6. A change in the ratio of the accumulated soil moisture consumption was larger in the lower soil of SL than in the lower soil of S. when the upper soil was CL and the lower, SL and S. The ratio showed the biggest figure among any other plots, and the ratio in the lower soil plot of CL indicated sligtly bigger than that in the lower soil plot of S, when the upper soil was SL and the lower, CL and S. The ratio showed less figure than that of two cases above mentioned, when the upper soil was S and the lower CL and SL and that in the lower soil plot of CL indicated a less ratio than that in the lower soil plot of SL. As a result of this experiments, the various soil layers wero arranged in the following order with regard to the ratio of the accumulated soil moisture consumption: SL/CL>SL/S>CL/SL>CL/S$\fallingdotseq$S/SL>S/CL.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.83-98
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• 2012

In a market where new and used cars are competing with each other, we would run the risk of obtaining biased estimates of cross elasticity between them if we focus on only new cars or on only used cars. Unfortunately, most of previous studies on the automobile industry have focused on only new car models without taking into account the effect of used cars' pricing policy on new cars' market shares and vice versa, resulting in inadequate prediction of reactive pricing in response to competitors' rebate or price discount. However, there are some exceptions. Purohit (1992) and Sullivan (1990) looked into both new and used car markets at the same time to examine the effect of new car model launching on the used car prices. But their studies have some limitations in that they employed the average used car prices reported in NADA Used Car Guide instead of actual transaction prices. Some of the conflicting results may be due to this problem in the data. Park (1998) recognized this problem and used the actual prices in his study. His work is notable in that he investigated the qualitative effect of new car model launching on the pricing policy of the used car in terms of reinforcement of brand equity. The current work also used the actual price like Park (1998) but the quantitative aspect of competitive price promotion between new and used cars of the same model was explored. In this study, I develop a model that assumes that the cross elasticity between new and used cars of the same model is higher than those amongst new cars and used cars of the different model. Specifically, I apply the nested logit model that assumes the car model choice at the first stage and the choice between new and used cars at the second stage. This proposed model is compared to the IIA (Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives) model that assumes that there is no decision hierarchy but that new and used cars of the different model are all substitutable at the first stage. The data for this study are drawn from Power Information Network (PIN), an affiliate of J.D. Power and Associates. PIN collects sales transaction data from a sample of dealerships in the major metropolitan areas in the U.S. These are retail transactions, i.e., sales or leases to final consumers, excluding fleet sales and including both new car and used car sales. Each observation in the PIN database contains the transaction date, the manufacturer, model year, make, model, trim and other car information, the transaction price, consumer rebates, the interest rate, term, amount financed (when the vehicle is financed or leased), etc. I used data for the compact cars sold during the period January 2009- June 2009. The new and used cars of the top nine selling models are included in the study: Mazda 3, Honda Civic, Chevrolet Cobalt, Toyota Corolla, Hyundai Elantra, Ford Focus, Volkswagen Jetta, Nissan Sentra, and Kia Spectra. These models in the study accounted for 87% of category unit sales. Empirical application of the nested logit model showed that the proposed model outperformed the IIA (Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives) model in both calibration and holdout samples. The other comparison model that assumes choice between new and used cars at the first stage and car model choice at the second stage turned out to be mis-specfied since the dissimilarity parameter (i.e., inclusive or categroy value parameter) was estimated to be greater than 1. Post hoc analysis based on estimated parameters was conducted employing the modified Lanczo's iterative method. This method is intuitively appealing. For example, suppose a new car offers a certain amount of rebate and gains market share at first. In response to this rebate, a used car of the same model keeps decreasing price until it regains the lost market share to maintain the status quo. The new car settle down to a lowered market share due to the used car's reaction. The method enables us to find the amount of price discount to main the status quo and equilibrium market shares of the new and used cars. In the first simulation, I used Jetta as a focal brand to see how its new and used cars set prices, rebates or APR interactively assuming that reactive cars respond to price promotion to maintain the status quo. The simulation results showed that the IIA model underestimates cross elasticities, resulting in suggesting less aggressive used car price discount in response to new cars' rebate than the proposed nested logit model. In the second simulation, I used Elantra to reconfirm the result for Jetta and came to the same conclusion. In the third simulation, I had Corolla offer $1,000 rebate to see what could be the best response for Elantra's new and used cars. Interestingly, Elantra's used car could maintain the status quo by offering lower price discount ($160) than the new car ($205). In the future research, we might want to explore the plausibility of the alternative nested logit model. For example, the NUB model that assumes choice between new and used cars at the first stage and brand choice at the second stage could be a possibility even though it was rejected in the current study because of mis-specification (A dissimilarity parameter turned out to be higher than 1). The NUB model may have been rejected due to true mis-specification or data structure transmitted from a typical car dealership. In a typical car dealership, both new and used cars of the same model are displayed. Because of this fact, the BNU model that assumes brand choice at the first stage and choice between new and used cars at the second stage may have been favored in the current study since customers first choose a dealership (brand) then choose between new and used cars given this market environment. However, suppose there are dealerships that carry both new and used cars of various models, then the NUB model might fit the data as well as the BNU model. Which model is a better description of the data is an empirical question. In addition, it would be interesting to test a probabilistic mixture model of the BNU and NUB on a new data set.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.39-63
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• 2012

Previous studies of reward programs have generally focused on designing the best programs for consumers and suggested that consumers' perception of the value of reward programs can vary according to the type of reward program (e.g., hedonic vs. utilitarian and direct vs. indirect) and its timing (e.g., immediate vs. delayed). These studies have typically assumed that consumers' preference for reward programs has a positive effect on brand loyalty. However, Dowling and Uncles (1997) pointed out that this preference does not necessarily foster brand loyalty. In this regard, the present study verifies this assumption by examining the effects of consumers' perception of the value of reward programs on their brand loyalty. Although reward programs are widely used by online shopping malls, most studies have examined the conditions under which consumers are most likely to value loyalty programs in the context of offline shopping. In the context of online shopping, however, consumers' preferences may have little effect on their brand loyalty because they have more opportunities for comparing diverse reward programs offered by many online shopping malls. That is, in online shopping, finding attractive reward programs may require little effort on the part of consumers, who are likely to switch to other online shopping malls. Accordingly, this study empirically examines whether consumers' perception of the value of reward programs influences their brand loyalty in the context of online shopping. Meanwhile, consumers seek utilitarian and/or hedonic value from their online shopping activity(Jones et al., 2006; Barbin et al., 1994). They visit online shopping malls to buy something necessary (utilitarian value) and/or enjoy the process of shopping itself (hedonic value). In this sense, reward programs may reinforce utilitarian as well as hedonic value, and their effect may vary according to the type of reward (utilitarian vs. hedonic). According to Chaudhuri and Holbrook (2001), consumers' perception of the value of a brand can influence their brand loyalty through brand trust and affect. Utilitarian value influences brand loyalty through brand trust, whereas hedonic value influences it through brand affect. This indicates that the effect of this perception on brand trust or affect may be moderated by the type of reward program. Specifically, this perception may have a greater effect on brand trust for utilitarian reward programs than for hedonic ones, whereas the opposite may be true for brand affect. Given the above discussion, the present study is conducted with three objectives in order to provide practical implications for online shopping malls to strategically use reward program for establishing profitable relationship with customers. First, the present study examines whether reward programs can be an effective marketing tool for increasing brand loyalty in the context of online shopping. Second, it investigates the paths through which consumers' perception of the value of reward programs influences their brand loyalty. Third, it analyzes the effects of this perception on brand trust and affect by considering the type of reward program as a moderator. This study suggests and empirically analyzes a new research model for examining how consumers' perception of the value of reward programs influences their brand loyalty in the context of online shopping. The model postulates the following 10 hypotheses about the structural relationships between five constructs: (H1) Consumers' perception of the value of reward programs has a positive effect on their program loyalty; (H2) Program loyalty has a positive effect on brand loyalty; (H3) Consumers' perception of the value of reward programs has a positive effect on their brand trust; (H4) Consumers' perception of the value of reward programs has a positive effect on their brand affect; (H5) Brand trust has a positive effect on program loyalty; (H6) Brand affect has a positive effect on program loyalty; (H7) Brand trust has a positive effect on brand loyalty; (H8) Brand affect has a positive effect on brand loyalty; (H9) Consumers' perception of the value of reward programs is more likely to influence their brand trust for utilitarian reward programs than for hedonic ones; and (H10) Consumers' perception of the value of reward programs is more likely to influence their brand affect for hedonic reward programs than for utilitarian ones. To test the hypotheses, we considered a sample of 220 undergraduate students in Korea (male:113). We randomly assigned these participants to one of two groups based on the type of reward program (utilitarian: transportation card, hedonic: movie ticket). We instructed the participants to imagine that they were offered these reward programs while visiting an online shopping mall. We then asked them to answer some questions about their perception of the value of the reward programs, program loyalty, brand loyalty, brand trust, and brand affect, in that order. We also asked some questions about their demographic backgrounds and then debriefed them. We employed the structural equation modeling (SEM) method with AMOS 18.0. The results provide support for some hypotheses (H1, H3, H4, H7, H8, and H9) while providing no support for others (H2, H5, H6, H10) (see Figure 1). Noteworthy is that the path proposed by previous studies, "value perception → program loyalty → brand loyalty," was not significant in the context of online shopping, whereas this study's proposed path, "value perception → brand trust/brand affect → brand loyalty," was significant. In addition, the results indicate that the type of reward program moderated the relationship between consumers' value perception and brand trust but not the relationship between their value perception and brand affect. These results have some important implications. First, this study is one of the first to examine how consumers' perception of the value of reward programs influences their brand loyalty in the context of online shopping. In particular, the results indicate that the proposed path, "value perception → brand trust/brand affect → brand loyalty," can better explain the effects of reward programs on brand loyalty than existing paths. Furthermore, these results suggest that online shopping malls should place greater emphasis on the type of reward program when devising reward programs. To foster brand loyalty, they should reinforce the type of shopping value that consumers emphasize by providing them with appropriate reward programs. If consumers prefer utilitarian value to hedonic value, then online shopping malls should offer utilitarian reward programs and vice versa.