Surfactant-wrapped separation methods of metallic and semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) can result in large changes in intrinsic physical and chemical properties due to electronic interactions between a nanotube and a surfactant. Our approach to synthesize SWCNTs with an electronic feature relied on utilizing carbon nanorings, [n] cycloparaphenylenes ([n]CPPs), which are the fundamental unit of armchair type SWCNTs (a-SWCNTs) that possess a metallic feature without any surfactants. To obtain long tubular structures from [n]CPPs, the host-guest complexes formed with well-aligned [n]CPP hosts and various fullerene guests on a silicon substrate were pyrolyzed under an ethanol gas flow at a high temperature with focused-ultraviolet laser irradiation. The pyrolyzed [n]CPPs were observed to transform from nanorings to tubular structures with 1.5–1.7 nm diameters corresponding to the employed diameter of [n]CPPs. Our approach suggests that [n]CPPs are useful for structure-controlled synthesis of SWCNTs.
A simple, but effective means of tailoring the physical and chemical properties of carbon materials should be secured. In this sense, chemical doping by incorporating boron or nitrogen into carbon materials has been examined as a powerful tool which provides distinctive advantages over exohedral doping. In this paper, we review recent results pertaining methods by which to introduce boron atoms into the sp2 carbon lattice by means of high-temperature thermal diffusion, the properties induced by boron doping, and promising applications of this type of doping. We envisage that intrinsic boron doping will accelerate both scientific and industrial developments in the area of carbon science and technology in the future.
With the development of technology, e-learning has already become popular. According to the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (2016), the total number of e-learning business owners is 1,639, while the market size is 3.4876 trillion won, meaning that it increased by about 1.5 trillion won compared to the market size of 1.9 trillion in 2008. The utilization rate is 58.7%, which is increasing every year.
Currently, college students who are actively using e-learning are Net Generation. The Net Generation means a generation that has encountered and has been using digital since birth (Topscott, 2008). As the Net Generation is familiar with the computer, they can use e-learning services without any difficulty. In addition, according to Kim et al. (2014), college students' computer self-efficacy and the score for e-learning acceptance attitude appeared to be significantly higher
Unlike the Net Generation that has been familiar with computers and the Internet since birth, the middle-aged and older generation aged between 40 and 50 is the generation to learn about digital media in order to adapt to the changed age (Lee et al., 2012). Although the middle-aged and older generation is not familiar with the use of the Internet and computers, the proportion of using e-learning by the middle-aged and older generation is increasing recently. In the 50s, the e-learning use rate is only 37%, but it is also the generation that growth rate is highest when compared with last year. Among the reasons for not using the e-learning in the middle-aged and older generation, 'interested but not aware of how to use it' was ranked #1 as 26.9% and 24.9%, respectively. In addition, future intentions to use the e-learning by users who do not use it among the middle-aged and older generation between 40 and 50 were 67.4% and 75.2%, respectively, showing that many non-users had intentions to use the e-learning in the future (National IT Industry Promotion Agency, 2016). This shows that the interest and demand for the e-learning in the middle-aged and older generation is high, but those who are in the generation are having difficulty accessing it.
As the current middle-aged and older generation who was born in the baby boomer generation is getting closer to retirement, it has a great interest in preparing for old age. Especially in the aging society like now, the 50s are the ages that distinguish between 'ambiguous middle age' and 'extended old age' and that are the time to prepare for life in old age, and the intention of reemployment of the middle-aged and older generation for the preparation of the later years is gradually increasing. In the case of the middle-aged and older generation who is currently looking for re-first because there is not enough old-age income (Kang, 2016). In addition, subsequent re-employment is mainly done in small micro business, skill-related work, and simple labor. Therefore, there is an increasing demand for the preparation for the re-employment as a civil servant who is available to prepare for his/her old age. However, compared to the younger generations in their 20s and 30s, the middle-aged and older students feel a great deal of difficulty in preparing themselves for the civil service examination because they have not studied for a long time, along with technical difficulties.
In terms of the quality of Internet e-learning lecture services, it is expected that there will be differences between the younger generation and the middle-aged and older generation due to technical factors and academic factors. Specifically, adult learners are more mature have more diverse needs and expectations, and before anything else, however, they have a sense of responsibility for home and work compared with regular college students. At the same time, they have a clear desire for learning according to specific goals. It has also been found that there are differences in the level of the use of learning strategies depending on the learners' gender, age, and academic background. Therefore, this study has a purpose of comparing the differences in the e-learning acceptance/satisfaction between the middle-aged and older generation and net generation on the basis of technical factors and academic factors by investigating differences in perception and satisfaction with the e-learning and by analyzing the value satisfaction according to age.
Internet communication technology has encouraged social services and media industry to develop in various aspects. Web drama is one of them, which is characterized by mobility, immediacy, and personality, and provided with popular contents regardless of time or place. In addition, it includes various themes such as work, romance, thriller, zombie, and homosexuality.
This study aims to examine what web drama characteristics affect consumer behavior. Data was collected from university students in south korea. who are main viewers of web drama.
The respondents to this study consist of random sample respondents from college students in their 20s. A total of 200 samples were surveyed, and a voluntary participant. The data are analyzed by the SPSS 21.0.
Short running time, convenience, contents diversity, accessibility, review, and grade are defineded as characteristics of web drama. Acording to the analysis of data. Web drama characteristics have a positive impact on reuse intention. Consumer engagement mediates the relationship between web drama characteristics and reuse intention. PPL moderates the relationship between web drama characteristics and reuse intention.
The results of this study are expected to provide both the researchers and marketing practitioners with the framework to understand why and how web drama works on watching intention.
The term of culture industry was first presented by Adorno and Horkheimer. In the Culture Industry Theory, culture was explained as products of media (TV, Newspaper, Radio) and markets which were constantly adjusting consumption. And now the culture developed more industrialized in television dramas, movies, pop songs and their associated celebrities and their SNS, TV programs and fashion styles. The customer, especially Young Generation is involved in culture industry more widely, conveniently and closely, such as Web Series. The consumption of Web Series increased with multipliers especially the popular culture in Asia and Young Generation. Accompanied by developing rapidly, fierce competition happened in Web Series Industry. The purpose of this study is exploring what motivations drive Young Generation to Wen Series. This study will try to explore a measurement system of the equity of Web Series based on customer equity theory for estimating the future competitiveness and figure out what motivations drive customer’s perception of Web Series.
Certification labeling is a system which confirms the quality and appropriateness of pr oducts according to the standard set. It is usually evaluated by the third party to assure being reliability. Certification labeling can be used as one of the important sources of i nformation when consumers evaluate the products. Especially, certification labeling gi ves customers trust and confidence about products because the label can be the signali ng that the quality of the products is good. Although certification labeling influences p urchase decision making, many consumers do not trust the labels because of insufficie nt information of certification and distrust in the certifications. As consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about environment and wellbeing, manufacturers are turning a convention product into the production of a sustain able product. Sustainable certification can be environmental cues to evaluate a sustain able product based on the categorization inference. The aim of this research is the inte raction effect among sustainable cues on purchase intention. Consumers tend to perceive organic label of products as high-price. Thus, although they concern environment and well-being, they tend to purchase conventional products more than an organic product. In addition, an organic label can have a positive influence on perceived risk, and then perceived risk may affect purchase intention. However, the product with organic label including traceability may have a negative impact on perceived risk. Therefore, perceived risk can mediate the relationship between the interaction between organic label of products and traceability and purchase intention.
While the portion of manufacturing in the global economy has steadily decreased for past a few decades, that of the service sector has steadily increased. Manufacturing industry needs to have a more competitive strategy in a hyper-competitive environment. More recently, the concept of servitization based ICT has emerged, which is the strategy to increase effectiveness and efficiency of products or services. Servitization is defined as “the offer of integrated packages of products, services, support, self-service, and knowledge to add value to the company’s core business,” according to Vandemerwe and Rada (1988). Servitization is to add the new service function to the existing equipment or the hardware-oriented product in the aspect of a product. Productization is to complement the limitations such as intangibility, inseparability, perishability, variability in the element of service. The two concepts have been regarded as distinctive concepts. In recent years, however, these two ideas have been integrated into a single idea of servitization. Good-dominant logic is based on the idea that the product provides customers with the value which they desire. In the vein, manufacturing products is a productive activity that creates value and increases the wealth of the nation. Therefore, the service may be perceived as being less productive. Service-dominant logic, however, is not a value-in-exchange between a company and a customer but a value-in-use which means “the evaluation of the service experience (i.e., the individual judgment of the total of all the functional and emotional experience outcomes).” In service-dominant logic, service is shown as the means of innovation through systematic methodological procedures including organization, people, and information technology by knowledge. As the concept of customers became more and more important, the product needs to be integrated with service. The research on servitization is expanding to various similar concepts such as product-service system, service science, servicing, and so on. Most of the previous research is focused on service type classification at the strategic level or service at the enterprise level. Moreover, most of them are exploratory research. Despite the need for a deeper understanding of customer needs, the research on servitization in the light on customers is sparse. The purpose of this study is as follows: First, define the concept of servitization experience and develop a tool to measure the servitization experience. Second, in order to verify the construct validity of the servitization experience, we examined whether the servitization experience affects the outcome variables such as value, commitment, retention intention. In order to develop a measurement tool for the servitization experience, the following process was carried out. First, concept and questionnaire items were derived from related studies. Second, field expert interviews were conducted to verify questionnaire items. Third, interviews with academic experts were conducted to verify whether they could be used as actual questionnaire items. Fourth, the questionnaires were collected and the collected data were analyzed to verify the reliability and validity of the measurement tools. The sample for empirical analysis was college students in their 20s and 30s, and a total of 150 responded to the questionnaire. First, reliability analysis and validity analysis were conducted to refine the questionnaire items. Structural equation modeling was performed using the refined Servitization experience questionnaire and a model was constructed using the servitization experience as an exogenous variable, with value, commitment, and retention intention as endogenous variables. As a result of the empirical analysis, it is confirmed that the sub - factors of servitization experience consist of four types of integrated product and service, customized servitization, relational servitization and playful servitization. Reliability and validity were satisfied. Through this study, we can contribute to the empirical study of servitization by developing a scale to measure servitization experience. Thus, the purposes of this study are to identify the servitization experience factors that companies should consider in marketing strategy, to grasp the relationship between servitization and customer retention.
Despite the importance of retail atmospherics documented in the literature, little empirical research has been done on the issue of what specific aspects of retail atmospherics can enhance experiential marketing. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study is to compare the effect of product display (lifestyle vs. product-centric) on consumer satisfaction and retail patronage intentions. In so doing, this study examines the mediating role of hedonic shopping experiences operationalized through 3 separate subdimensions (i.e., brand experience, shopping enjoyment, and cognitive pleasure) while controlling a brand effect (i.e., testing two types of product display in a single brand context). Demminga et al. (2012) state that lifestyle display is a cross-merchandised, integrated, aesthetically attractive theme or scene through which consumers could envisage themselves in the scene or nature. On the other hand, product-centric display does not necessarily present a coherent theme. Instead, this type of product display is frequently used in a traditional retail format focuses on merchandise presentation appealing to target customers (Foster and Mclelland, 2015). This study was conducted using two product display stimuli: lifestyle and product-centric displays in the context of a specialty apparel store, Anthropologie. One image of Anthropologie was selected as a lifestyle display because it contained a thematic prop, which illustrates a natural scenario in that store. The results showed that the lifestyle display creates higher brand experience, shopping enjoyment, cognitive pleasure, satisfaction, time spent, and patronage intentions compared to the product centric display. This study provides empirical evidence supporting the importance of experiential marketing. Theoretically, this study demonstrates that lifestyle display could be applied in an apparel store. Rather than focusing only on products retailers could easily develop thematic props in a store because they are easy to set up, cost-effective, and less time-consuming. By setting up a lifestyle display, retailers could easily differentiate their brands from other competing brands.
Introduction
Recent years have witnessed a rapid growth in peer to peer (P2P) sharing-service businesses such as Uber and Airbnb. In P2P sharing-service businesses, goods or services are provided by customers (peers) rather than by service firms, who act simply as an intermediary between customers. One customer acts as a service-providing customer (SPC), and the other as a service-receiving customer (SRC). P2P sharing-service firms have no direct control over an SPC’s quality of service provided to an SRC. Further, both SPCs and SRCs are customers to the firm, and therefore firms are concerned with the quality of service provided not only to SRCs but also to SPCs. In the P2P sharing-service context, particularly in the case of services serving the needs of diverse travelers (e.g., Uber or Airbnb), SPCs and SRCs can be people of different genders and races, which can cause them to feel socially distant from each other. Since SPCs are not professional service employees, they may not know how to cope with the social distance, which can result in uncomfortable service experience for both SPCs and SRCs. The more similar to the SPC an SRC feels, the more comfortable the SRC is likely to feel, which can lead to higher service satisfaction. Yet, few studies examined how such social distance can be reduced. This study is intended to fill this gap in the research. Specifically, we propose that an SPC’s form of address for SRC can moderate the effect of the incongruence in gender and race on an SRC’s perceived social distance.
Theoretical Development
Social distance refers to the level of acceptance people have of others outside of their own social group or class (Bogardus, 1928). It is a measure of perceived difference (or distance) between groups. In the context of the P2P sharing service, SRCs and SPCs can be from diverse social groups. When an SRC encounters an SPC from a social group that is different from theirs, the SRC can feel socially distant from the SPC. Immediate differences an SRC can identify upon meeting an SPC is demographic such as gender, age and race. In this study, we first propose that the difference (incongruence) in gender, age and race makes an SRC feel socially distant from an SPC. Social distance is closely related with similarity (Osbeck & Moghaddam, 1997; Liviatan, Trope & Liberman, 2009). In the context of mentoring, the higher the perceived and actual similarity a portage feels with a mentor, the higher the level of the portage liking and satisfaction for the mentor and with the mentoring service (Ensher, 1997). Matching gender and race between a mentor and a portage positively influenced self-reported grade point average, efficacy and confidence of a portage (Blake-Beard et al. 2011). Race was well demonstrated to influence social distance (Triandis & Triandis, 1960). Taken together, we conjecture that the effect of the difference in gender and race on social distance will apply to the P2P sharing service context and propose the following hypothesis:
H1: The incongruence in gender and race between an SRC and an SPC will make SRCs feel more socially distant from SPCs compared to the case of congruence. We propose in this study that the form of address for SRCs by SPCs can influence the level of social distance SRCs feel because of the incongruence in gender and race. The relationship between forms of address and social distance has been proposed (Brown, 1965). Intimate terms of address is associated with intimate relationship. Intimate terms of address is inversely proportional to social distance (Keshavarz, 2001). Calling someone by the first name is related with friendliness (Brown, 1961). The use of first name is positively associated with closeness in relationship (Brown, 1965). An empirical study in the healthcare context showed that most patients preferred to be addressed by the first name (as opposed to last name) (Gillette, Filak & Thorne, 1984). Taken together, we propose the following:
H2: Intimate forms of address by the SPC for the SRC will reduce the level of social distance caused by the incongruence in gender and race. We propose that the level of perceived social distance influences the level of comfort SRCs feel with the SPC during the service delivery. The negative effect of social distance on the level of interaction comfort has been shown (Paswan & Ganesh, 2005). In the context of service encounters where customers feel cultural differences, psychological distance was shown to influence comfort negatively (Weiermair, 2000). Since social distance is a dimension of psychological distance (Trope & Liberman, 2011), we propose the effect of social distance on comfort as following:
H3: Reduced social distance will lead to a higher level of comfort. The effect of social distance on comfort can vary by customers. In this study, we propose that the effect is moderated by the customer’s motive for the purchase of the P2P sharing service. There are largely four movies for customers who participate in collective consumptions (i.e., sharing service): economic motive, social motive, hedonic motive, and the motive to reduce risks and responsibilities (Benoit, Baker, Bolton, Gruner & Kandampully, 2017). Economic motives are associated with reducing expenses, and social motives are with meeting other people (e.g. more authentic travel) (Benoit et al., 2017). Hedonic motives are related with “accessing products that are exciting or normally out of reach” while motives to reduce risks and responsibilities are related with “no burdens of ownership, option to preview a product for potential purchase” (Benoit et al., 2017). According to a research in the context of P2P accommodations, cost saving, familiarity, trust, and utility are determinants of satisfaction with a sharing option. Thus, we propose that customer motives moderate the effect of social distance on comfort (Möhlmann, 2015).
H4: The effect of social distance on comfort vary by customer motives for purchase.
When feeling comfortable, people are more likely to trust, feel satisfied, and commit themselves, which can help improve relationship (Spake, Beatty, Brockman & Crutchfield. 2003). Comfort positively influences perceived service quality and satisfaction (Dabholkar, Shepherd & Thorpe, 2000). Comfort influences satisfaction positively (Paswan & Ganesh, 2005). In the P2P sharing-service context, SRCs’ evaluation of SPCs are carried out by reviews. Customer reviews of SPCs’ services are vitally important for both SRCs and SPCs. Reviews help other SRCs to identify desirable SPCs (Ert, Fleischer & Magen, 2016) and SPCs to receive feedback for their service quality improvement. Therefore, we propose the following:
H5: Comfort leads to SRC’s intention to write good reviews.
Data Collection
Data will be collected from American consumers who have used Uber at least once in the past one year through an online scenario-based survey using a 2 (genders: male vs. female) x 3 (races: white vs. yellow vs. black) x 3 (forms of address: no address vs. first name vs. last name) between-subject experimental design. Hypotheses will be tested by an analysis of variance and a structural equation modeling analysis. In the analyses, the potential effects of trust, familiarity, community belonging, utility (Möhlmann, 2015) and age will be controlled.
Implications
Findings of this study will reveal the importance of reducing social distance that SRCs feel during encounters with SPCs. Of many possible ways to reduce social distance between SRCs and SPCs, the result of this study will show that SPCs’ use of appropriate form of address to SRCs is effective. Further, it will show that the effect of social distance on customer comfort can vary by the purpose of the use of the sharing service. These findings will offer P2P service firms insights on how to help SPCs offer more comfortable services to SRCs and as a result receive positive reviews from SRCs.
Every year consumers spend billions of dollars on impulse purchases across the globe. Noticeably, occasions for impulse buying have been expanding due to new technologies and the growth of e-commerce that enhanced both the consumer’s accessibility to products and the ease of purchase transactions (e.g., one-click purchase) (Strack and Deutsch 2006). For instance, the retail store have become ubiquitous—being present on our desktop, in our mailbox, on our phone, in subway platform, in gas station kiosks—and reaching every street corner in our neighborhood. Such ubiquitous nature of mobile commerce combined with the introduction of IT devices (e.g., smartphones, tablets) makes consumers even more vulnerable to the sudden, powerful, and persistent urge to buy something instantly (i.e. impulse buying) (Rook 1987; Watson et al. 2002; Danaher et al. 2015). From the perspective of firms, this indicates that marketing opportunities to influence shopper attitudes and behavior can emerge at any point in the shopping cycle from the couch in a person’s living room to the shopping cart in mobile devices and media (Shankar et al. 2010; 2011). While impulse buying has been a well-known approach to explaining empirical deviations from the rational choice model in the literature (Strack et al. 2006), previous researchers have mainly focused on antecedents of impulsive behaviors, such as mood (Rook and Gardner 1993), self-construal (Zhang and Shrum 2009), chronic goals (Ramanathan and Menon 2006) and consumers’ self-loneliness (Sinha and Wang 2013). However, relatively little has been studied on what factors drive consumers to purchase products impulsively and how firms can utilize marketing activities (e.g., 4Ps) to engage consumers in such behavior. There exist a few studies paying attention to the interaction of individual characteristics and marketing variables for impulse buying (e.g., Bell et al. 2010; Inman et al. 2009; Narasimhan et al. 1996) but several issues still can arise from measurement problems, self-selection, lack of marketing variables, and limited breadth of product categories. In particular, researchers have used the term ―unplanned‖ purchases exchangeably with impulse purchases despite a conceptual distinction between the two terms: impulse buying is defined with three key components; unplanned, difficult to control, and resulting in emotional response (Rook 1987). In other words, mostly all impulse purchases are unplanned, but not all unplanned purchases are impulse buys and we cannot rule out other alternative explanations (e.g., it is a ―reminder‖ purchase based on true needs). In this study, therefore, we aim to differentiate two terms and investigate the consumers’ impulsive purchase behaviors using the actual behavioral data with respect to product characteristics, customer demographics, timing and controllable marketing activities such as advertising. We obtained the data from one of the leading TV shopping channels in Korea on 2,657 products and 17,848 air time slots covering a broader range of both hedonic and utilitarian products including electronics, food, fashion, home appliances, and so on (7.8 million orders and 2 million order cancels). Unlike typical supermarket shopping where consumers can actively search products, programming on TV shopping channels are shown randomly to viewers which helps us rule out self-selection problems. Most importantly, distinct from previous studies, we use an objective measure for impulse buying by exploiting the actual order placement and subsequent order cancellation (i.e., regret with retrospective judgment about purchase decisions). We find that product characteristics are the primary factors explaining the half (60.5%) of impulse purchase ratio variations followed by marketing variables (20.4%), and timing fixed effects (10.9%). Interestingly, we find little evidence of consumer demographics (1%) as a driver for impulsive buying behavior. Consequently, we focus on the interplay between product categories and marketing activities. Specifically, we classified the product categories into utilitarian and hedonic on the basis of the gross product categories and investigated the roles of two main marketing activities: advertising and price promotion. We find that the informative and persuasive roles of advertising (Akerberg 2003; Mehta et al. 2004) lead to a U-shaped effect on impulse purchases over time as the informative role attenuates over time but the persuasive role increases over time. While utilitarian products are more likely to be influenced by informative role of advertising and hedonic goods are more likely to be influenced by persuasive role of advertising, we detect that the U shape would be moved to the left (right) with a price discount (increase). In other words, price information does not change over time but the persuasive role increases over time with a price discount. Hence, our results can provide managerial insights for retailers and manufacturers to utilize point-of-sale marketing tactics and to improve their shopper engagement strategies to trigger impulse purchases.
As customer loyalty becomes a key to the profitability, companies in game industry have shifted its marketing focus from acquisition to retention of customers. The present study investigates the factors presumably affecting reacquisition of the lost customers using actual transactional data. The research interest lies in not just regaining the lost customers but also keeping them. One of the objectives of the current paper is to figure out who would “stay alive” (i.e. keep using the service) after responding to the reacquisition campaign. Since few customers actively respond to a reacquisition campaign, the distribution of the response measurement is highly skewed. To handle this problem, this study uses “quantile regression (QR)” method in estimating the model. For the analyses of gamers’ real behavior, a dataset on one of the most successful online games in Korea, Sudden Attack, was utilized. This study focused on the customers who became inactive, i.e., no log-ins, during the 12-week period of April 19th to July 11th, 2012. Some of them returned when the win-back campaign was conducted beginning July 12th until August 8th (“Period 1”), and others didn’t. And further, some of those who returned stayed active (i.e., logged in) during the 4-week period after the campaign was over (“Period 2”), and others left again. In each of the four cases, a random sample of 1,000 users was drawn for the analysis. The estimation model includes four sets of variables: demographic variables (age, location), RFM variables (recency, frequency, monetary value), behavioral variables (level, experience, number of chats, kill per death ratio), and social variables (number of friends, number of gifts). The analyses confirmed their linear and/or non-linear effects in Period 1(win-back) and Period 2 (retention).
Introduction
The trade-off between cost leadership strategy and differentiation strategy is of importance and presents a key challenge to exporters because it is intrinsically related to innovation (Gebauer, 2008; O’Cass et al., 2014). Nevertheless, resources are limited, and firms must make choices in their allocation and determine the extent to which they will emphasize one strategy over another (Danneels, 2007; Lant, Milliken, & Batra, 1992). Although the individual roles of product strategies or innovation capabilities on export performance have attracted considerable attention (e.g., Hortinha, Lages, & Lages, 2011; Lages, Silva, & Styles, 2009), few studies have assessed their integrating impact - that is, the difference in the strengths of the relationships between cost leadership or differentiation strategy and innovation. Drawing on resource based view, we examine how innovation capabilities related with the relationship between cost leadership and differentiation strategies and exporters’ performance. Thus, we consider the moderating role of two distinct capabilities - exploratory innovation and exploitative innovation - on the relationships between product strategies and export performance. Exploratory innovation includes activities aimed to enter new product-market domains, while exploitative innovation activities improve existing product-market domains (He & Wong, 2004). The objectives of this study are to explore (1) impacts of cost leadership strategy and differentiation strategy on export performance, (2) moderating effects of exploitative and exploratory innovation capability on the relationship between product strategy and export performance, and (3) these relationships in the context of a comparison of Korean and Japanese exporters. Most empirical research about product strategy and innovation capability has been conducted in Western-based context. This means that managers operating in non-Western business environments have only Western-based empirical evidence to help them develop strategies for managing levels of market orientation in their international businesses. However, non-Western business cultures may be different from those found in Western firms, and therefore generalizing studies of exporting behavior from Western to non-Western business contexts may be misleading. Indeed, it is noted that there is a need for more studies into the transferability of Western research to the Asian business setting (Ambler, Styles, & Xiucun, 1999). Thus, in order to fill this imbalance, the purpose of this study is to attempt to investigate product strategy and innovation capability of Korean and Japanese firms in international markets.
Conceptual background
Porter (1980) argues that a firm can achieve a higher level of performance over a rival in one of two ways: either it can supply an identical product or service at a lower cost, or it can supply a product or service that is differentiated in such a way that the customer is willing to pay a price premium that exceeds the additional cost of the differentiation. A cost leadership strategy is designed to produce goods or services more cheaply than competitors by stressing efficient scale of operation. When a firm designs, produces, and sells a comparable product more efficiently than its competitors as well as its market scope is industry-wide, it means that the firm is carrying out the cost leadership strategy successfully (Campbell-Hunt, 2000). Thus, the primary thing for a firm seeking competitively valuable way by reducing cost is to concentrate on maintaining efficiency through all activities in order to effectively control every expense and find new sources of potential cost reduction (Dess & Davis, 1984). The differentiation strategy provides value to customers with the unique attributes or perceptions of uniqueness, and characteristics of a firm’s product other than cost. The firm pursuing differentiation seeks to be unique in its industry along some dimension that is valued by customers, which means investing in product R&D and marketing (Porter, 1980). Rather than cost reduction, a firm using the differentiation needs to concentrate on investing in and developing such things that are distinguishable and customers will perceive (Gebauer, 2008). Overall, the essential success factor of differentiation in terms of strategy implementation is to develop and maintain innovativeness, creativeness, and organizational learning within a firm (Dess & Davis, 1984; O’Cass et al., 2014; Porter, 1985). A firm’s ability to compete in the long term may lie in its ability to integrate product strategy and its existing capabilities, while at the same time developing fundamentally new ones (Lavie & Rosenkopf, 2006). Simultaneous investments in the exploitation of existing product innovation capabilities and the exploration of new ones may help create a competitive advantage (Soosay & Hyland, 2008). Organizational learning represents the development of knowledge that influences behavioral changes and leads to enhanced performance (Crossan, Lane, & White, 1999; Fiol & Lyles, 1985). Product innovation is a tool for organizational learning and, thus, a primary means of achieving its strategic renewal (Danneels, 2002; Dougherty, 1992; O’Cass et al., 2014). Exploration pertains more to new knowledge - such as the search for new products, ideas, markets, or relationships; experimentation; risk taking; and discovery - while exploitation pertains more to using the existing knowledge and refining what already exists; it includes adaptation, efficiency, and execution (March, 1991). Exploration and exploitation compete for the same resources and efforts in the firm. With a focus on exploring potentially valuable future opportunities, the firm decreases activities linked to improving existing competences (Levinthal & March, 1993; March, 1991). In contrast, with a focus on exploiting existing products and processes, the firm reduces development of new opportunities. However, firms must develop both exploratory and exploitative capabilities because returns from exploration are uncertain, often negative, and attained over the long run, while exploitation generates more positive, proximate, and predictable returns (Levinthal & March, 1993; March, 1991; Özsomer & Gençtürk, 2003). Researchers haveshown that both types of learning are essential to enhancing firm performance (Leonard-Barton, 1992; March, 1991). In this study, we use exploration and exploitation to describe two innovation-related capabilities that are critical elements on the relationship between product strategies and export performance.
Hypotheses
A firm that successfully pursues a cost leadership strategy emphasizes “aggressive construction of efficient-scale facilities, vigorous pursuit of cost reductions from experience, tight cost and overhead control, avoidance of marginal customer accounts, and cost minimization in areas like R&D, service, sales force, advertising, and so on” (Porter, 1980: 35). In addition, with a cost leadership strategy, firms focus on reducing costs through operational efficiency. The associated positional advantage is a cost advantage pertaining to the firms’ value offering and is based on the product’s price–perceived value proposition in the export market. On the other hand, a firm that pursues a differentiation strategy may attempt to create a unique image in the minds of customers that its products are superior to those of its competitors (Miller, 1988). Moreover, a firm may pursue a differentiation strategy by creating a perception in the minds of customers that its products possess characteristics that are unique from those of its competitors in terms of differences in design, physical attributes/features, and durability (Gebauer, 2008). Differentiation strategy aims to generate more outwardly focused product innovations that offer customers product differences that shape a distinctive value offering that is more responsive to their needs (Hughes, Martin, Morgan, & Robson, 2010; O’Cass et al., 2014). The associated positional advantage is a product or market differentiation advantage pertaining to the superior brand, quality, design, and product features that differentiate the firms’ value proposition from its competitors in the export market. Firms that position their products in a manner that co-aligns with their “home country competitive advantages” will, on average, tend to perform better than those that do not. The impact of home-country advantages is lessening over time as firms develop firm-specific global core competencies to replace home-country advantages. The corporate climate in Japanese firms is characterized by worker participation and long term employment. These factors not only tend to increase costs, but also may have a positive effect on product quality through better employee motivation and more knowledgeable workers. Japanese firms have the highest labor and taxation costs and a demand base that is more quality than price sensitive. This creates a home-country environment that favors higher quality. Therefore, Japanese firms most easily achieved a strategic fit with their home country business environment by pursuing a differentiation strategy. On the other hand, Korean firms tend to focus innovation on small, incremental improvements in process and product development, exploiting experience effects. Over time, this focus results in higher quality for Korean products and lower costs, thus creating the potential for Korean firms to use a cost leadership strategy. Moreover, Korea’s capital markets (which offer inexpensive capital below short-term market rates), a demand base that is price sensitive, and the Korean corporate culture’s emphasis on low prices all contribute to an environment favoring lower cost and lower price strategy.
Hypothesis 1: Cost leadership strategy pursued by Korean firms is positively associated with export performance, compared to Japanese firms.
Hypothesis 2: Differentiation strategy pursued by Japanese firms is positively associated with export performance, compared to Korean firms.
From the generation of new ideas through to the launch of a new product, exploration and exploitation play a vital role in product innovation (Rothaermel & Deeds, 2004). Organizations can decide to use existing organizational competences to realize short-term results, or create new competences that may foster the development of innovations in the longer term (Atuahene-Gima, 2005). Both types of capabilities are considered to be dynamic in nature (Winter, 2003), given that their purpose is to transform existing resources into new functional competences that provide a better match for the firm's environment (Voss, Sirdeshmukh, & Voss, 2008). Although both exploitative and exploratory capabilities related to cost leadership and differentiation strategies, because of those different roles of capabilities in innovation process, the effects of those innovation capabilities on the relationship between product strategy and export performance might be different. In case of cost leadership strategy, firms focus on using and developing existing capabilities, promoting improvements in existing components and building on existing technological elements (Benner & Tushman, 2003; Rust et al., 2002). Similarly, exploitative innovation is aimed at improving existing product-market domains. The cost leadership strategy creates value through existing competences or competences that have been slightly modified (Voss et al., 2008). It promotes a routine-based and repetitive approach to organizational changes (Rust et al., 2002). Because exploitative innovation builds on existing knowledge and extends existing products and services for existing customers (Soosay & Hyland, 2008), exploitative capabilities helps firms pursuing cost leadership strategy to reap the benefits of improvement they make to their products and to continue making incremental improvements (Brucks, Zeithaml, & Naylor, 2000), which are designed to allow the firm to continue its superior performance (Griffin, 1997). Compared to cost leadership strategy, differentiation strategy is characterized by radical change, risk and experimentation and that allows for the creation of new methods, relationships, and products. Because exploration focuses mainly on trying to create variety, to adapt and hence exploit ever-decreasing windows of opportunity (Soosay & Hyland, 2008), this capability is more beneficial to the kind of product innovativeness to the firm (Augusto & Coelho, 2009). When exporters pursue differentiation strategy for acquiring new knowledge and developing new products and services, exploratory capability helps to engage new insight into the design of new features and benefits of a given product, that product is guaranteed to contain new ideas (Cho & Pucik, 2005; Yalcinkaya et al., 2007). In contrast with exploitation aimed at improving existing product-market domains, explorative innovation requires fundamental changes in the way an organization operates and represents a clear departure from existing practices (Menguc & Auh, 2006).
Hypothesis 3: Exploitative innovation capability moderates the relationship between cost leadership strategy and export performance positively.
Hypothesis 4: Exploratory innovation capability moderates the relationship between differentiation strategy and export performance positively.
Results
This study conducted survey data from Korean and Japanese exporters, regarding to product strategy, innovation capability, and export performance. 223 usable questionnaires were obtained in Korea, and 124 usable questionnaires were obtained in Japan. With regard to number of years of international experience, international experience averaged 15 (S.D. = 23.54) for Korean samples and 37.95 (S.D. = 21.90) for Japanese samples. In addition, export intensity by total sales over exporting sales averaged 15 (S.D. = 23.54) for Korean samples and 36.91 (S.D. = 26.15) for Japanese samples. Using survey data from Korean and Japanese exporters, the findings indicate that cost leadership strategy enhance export performance for Korean firms. On the other hand, for Japanese firms, differentiation strategy is more related on export performance positively. Moreover, exploitative innovation capability strengthens the relationship between cost leadership strategy and export performance, while exploratory innovation capability enhances the link between differentiation strategy and export performance for both Korean and Japanese firms.
Discussion
Focusing on product strategy through the application of the RBV has provided theoretical insights as well as empirical evidence as to which capabilities are required to achieve these critical product strategy outcomes. The support from this study provides further evidence of the usefulness of applying the RBV to the export setting and should encourage researchers to examine the other aspects of export strategy. Based on organizational learning perspective, in addition, this study found that exploratory and exploitative innovation capability are essential to the firm because they act as vehicles for renewing product strategy to achieve superior export performance. By considering product strategy with exploration and exploitation simultaneously, we present a new perspective of the roles of these product strategies in the development of firms’ innovation capabilities. Our results indicate that cost leadership and differentiation strategy are pivotal in ensuring a proper balance between exploratory and exploitative innovations. Furthermore, this study found that different effects of product strategies on export performance in line with home country competitive advantages. Understanding the nature of marketing strategies employed by Korean and Japanese firms as well as its different effects may provide a useful reference point for exporters from other emerging countries in Asia. One of the main implications for managers is that both exploratory and exploitative product competences should consider in parallel when developing product strategy. The findings underscore the need for managers to invest in cost leadership and differentiation strategy to ensure the development of exploration and exploitation. Therefore, resource allocation decisions should, consider the firm's needs for innovation capabilities and, on the other hand, be guided by the firm’s product strategy. Exporters operate in highly complex environments, characterized by high levels of technological and market uncertainties and highly diverse and dispersed customers (Kleinschmidt et al., 2007; Mohr & Sarin, 2009). Therefore, in addition to the product strategy toward the development of innovations using state-of-the-art technologies, managers of these firms need a similarly strong focus on understanding both current and potential exporting markets. By acknowledging the need for product strategy, managers can ensure the balanced innovation capabilities.
Augmented reality (AR) generates a enhanced and augmented reality by coupling virtual and real worlds. AR facilitates primary features: a permutation of real and virtual worlds, real-time interaction and an exact 3D process of virtual and real objects. AR offers a new level of interaction between their products and consumers by engaging them in a totally new environment. This study identifies the current state of AR marketing and future research directions. Concentrated on the marketing value of AR, the study enlightens the concept of AR marketing value, the role of value sharing, and opportunities and challenges creating customer value in the AR platforms.
Recently, the studios in Hollywood introduces mobile games based on the storyline of movies for promotional purpose. With wide exposure of such games, managers could expect raised market awareness and purchase intention toward movies set to be released. Among the movie-themed mobile games, at the same time, not a few games have made financial success as the box office scores of the original movie increases. Thus, managers should deal with the promotional mobile app and the target product simultaneously on the belief of reciprocal relationship between them. If the dynamic relation is true then, finding deterministic factors of mobile game performance has practical significance to make positive consequences for both products. Branded entertainment is defined as “the integration of advertising into entertainment content, whereby brands are embedded into storylines of a film, television program, or other entertainment medium” (Hudson and Hudson 2006). Wise et. al. (2008) states that the advergame, a videogame designed around a brand, is one form of branded entertainment. Additionally, Sood and Drèze (2006) examined film sequels as brand extension of experiential goods based on the reality that Hollywood brands movies. In this vein, movie-themed mobile games can be contemplated as a new practice of branded entertainment. To test the research hypotheses, we collected 43 pairs of a movie and a movie-themed mobile game. Among 300 movies in the annual top 100 U.S. domestic box office chart from 2012 to the end of October 2014, films having more than one promotional mobile game were selected. The data on mobile game were limited to the Apple’s App Store for consistency. For data collection, we utilized multiple archival sources such as boxofficemojo.com, metacritic.com, imdb.com, and appannie.com. The objective of this research is to investigate the impact of movie-themed mobile games on the performance of original movies and the characteristics leading mobile game success. We developed a simultaneous equation system to discover the interdependent relationship between mobile game ranking and movie sales. This study is one of the first empirical investigation demonstrating reciprocal relationship between promotional game app and its target product. The results show that mobile games perform profit generating function as well as promotional function, thus suggesting managers to deal with mobile game more strategic way.
Introduction
Many extant studies in the strategic management literature show that a firm’s network influences its innovation outcomes (Ahuja, Lampert, & Tandon, 2008). Networks are characterized by strong and weak ties in terms of the combination of the amount of time, intensity, intimacy, and reciprocal services (Granovetter, 1973). There is, however, a continuing debate about the relative advantages of strong and weak ties. These equivocal findings suggest that the relationship between tie strength and a firm’s innovation outcome is complex, and call for a more detailed examination of this relationship. The implications of networks for a firm’s innovation outcomes are quite significant. Nevertheless, the majority of research studies still examine networks using simple dyadic relationships (e.g., Capaldo, 2007). In reality, a firm’s networks are composed of more than a single dyadic relationship and are much more complex. Thus, dyadic approaches are limited in providing understanding of networks on a firm’s innovation performance. As such, we will take the perspective of a focal firm in a triad network. While still relatively simple, the triad network approach allows us to identify key relationships previously unexplored in network tie configuration, and to shed light on the equivocal results in the extant literature. Specifically, we will examine the position of the strong or weak ties among the firms, and also whether the strong or weak ties are adjacent or non-adjacent to the focal firm. Breakthrough innovation is defined as the basic invention, which leads to the evolution of many subsequent technological developments (Ahuja & Lambert, 2001). This definition suggests that novel and unique knowledge is required to create breakthrough innovation. Indeed, recent research shows that firms need novel knowledge created by network partners to create breakthrough innovation (e.g., Srivastava & Gnyawali, 2011). As such, we investigate how different levels of novel and diverse knowledge arising from the position of network ties impact a focal firm’s breakthrough innovation. Nevertheless, obtaining diverse and novel knowledge from networks does not guarantee the creation of successful breakthrough innovation. A firm needs a capability to learn, absorb and integrate the new knowledge into its works, which is its absorptive capacity. Thus, we examine the moderating role of a firm’s absorptive capacity on the relationship between the impact of the configurations arising from the position of strong/weak ties and a firm’s breakthrough innovation in a triad network relationship.
Conceptual Framework
We posit six different types of network configurations based on tie strength and position of strong/weak ties that are adjacent or non-adjacent to the focal firm in a triad (Figure 1). For example, Configuration 1 has three strong ties and Configuration 6 has three weak ties. Configuration 2 has two strong ties that are adjacent to a focal firm and one weak tie that is non-adjacent to a focal firm in a triad. Importantly, we use two theories (i.e., network theor and relational theory) to elaborate the impact of six configurations on a firm’s breakthrough innovation, considering the tie strength, the position of strong/weak ties, and whether the strong or weak ties are adjacent or non-adjacent to the focal firm. The first of these is network theory. Network theory and relational theory assert different effects of strong versus weak ties on a firm’s breakthrough innovation. To resolve the ambiguities in the literature on this issue, we combine network theory and relational theory and investigate the implication of the position of the strong or weak ties. We argue that the position of strong/weak ties must be considered to explain the impact of tie strength on firm breakthrough innovation in a triad context. For example, Configuration 2 has two strong ties adjacent to focal firm and one weak tie non-adjacent to focal firm (Figure 1). The non-adjacent weak tie provides potential for diverse and novel knowledge and reduced knowledge redundancy. Also, adjacent two strong ties provide the benefits of commitment and trust, and rich information flow. Additionally, these adjacent strong ties facilitate the transfer of novel knowledge generated from the non-adjacent weak tie. Thus, we argue that Configuration 2 has a potentially positive influence on firm breakthrough innovation. Configuration 5 has two adjacent weak ties and one non-adjacent strong tie. The non-adjacent strong tie has high knowledge redundancy and high trust and commitment between the two actors B and C (Figure 1). The non-adjacent strong tie between B and C induces potential opportunistic tendencies toward focal firm and inhibits information sharing with the focal firm. This indicates that the two firms form an alliance to the detriment of the focal firm. Further, adjacent weak ties provide novel and diverse information while maintaining less commitment and trust with the focal firm. Importantly, diverse information from adjacent weak ties is degraded because of the knowledge redundancy generated by non-adjacent strong tie between B and C. Thus, we argue that Configuration 5 has potentially negative influence on firm breakthrough innovation. The above discussion suggests that one cannot determine which type of network ties will tend create a firm’s breakthrough innovation simply by counting the numbers of weak and strong ties in the configurations. One must also consider the position of the strong and weak ties within the network and the focal firm’s absorptive capacity. For example, though there is a high level of knowledge redundancy created by the non-adjacent strong tie in Configuration 5, if the focal firm has strong ability to learn, the focal firm can still capture and use the limited new knowledge, depending on its absorptive capacity. Next, we explain how firm’s absorptive capacity influences the relationship between six configurations and breakthrough innovation.
Methods
We will collect a full sample of data from three main data sources: alliance data from the Securities Data Company (SDC) on Joint and Alliances, patent data from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) U.S. Patent Citation 1997-2016, and financial data from COMPUSTAT. The initial sample will consist of all firms that announced a triad of strategic alliance firms across industries from 1997 to 2016 in the United States.
Implications
Our study makes two key contributions. First, we investigate the impact of various triad strong/weak tie network configurations on a firm’s breakthrough innovation. We test various effects accrued from the position of strong/weak ties that are adjacent or non-adjacent to a focal firm on the focal firm’s breakthrough innovation in the triad network. By examining these relationships, we uncover critical implications of the tie strength previously unexplored in the network literature. We provide conceptual advancement of Granovetter’s notion of the strength of weak ties, showing the importance of the position of strong or weak ties as a critical driver to influence a firm’s breakthrough innovation. Second, we investigate how a focal firm’s absorptive capacity moderates the impact of network configurations on a firm’s breakthrough innovation. This provides a more precise and fine-grained understanding of how a firm’s capability to absorb outside knowledge influences the relationship between network configurations and a focal firm’s breakthrough innovation. Combined, our two contributions help to resolve some of the equivocal results in the extant literature regarding the effects of strong or weak ties on breakthrough innovation.
Introduction Recently, the popularization of mobile devices has been changing the pattern of customers’ life. In the online market, the distribution market has been also expanding from PC-based online to mobile shopping using smart phones. As the shopping market using mobile has grown rapidly in the developing smart age, the interest of home shopping is moving toward mobile media. Through the home shopping company's web site and mobile application, live broadcasting, real-time communication service, and other customers’ review are performed at the same time. Home shopping customers who have questions or inquiries about products are meeting salespeople through home shopping mobile application and real-time communication service. The significance of this study is to present effective strategies for connecting live home shopping and real-time communication of mobile application, thereby enabling customers to make smart consumption. Through this service, home shopping company can perceive customers’ needs as well as form cocreation value with customers. In addition, home shopping company aims to provide a more useful and effective method in the process of providing real-time communication service by checking the form of customers participating in real-time communication service. Theoretical Development Although there are many prior researches on adaptive selling on salespeople in offline, research on effective sales strategies of live home shopping and real-time communication using application has not yet been conducted. Nowadays, many customers' purchasing methods are moving from offline to online. Therefore, by referring to similarities between virtual world and actual society in Internet space studied in many previous studies, we would like to find out whether the offline advantage of "adaptive selling tactics" in the sales field can be applied to on-line. Adaptive selling means changing sales behavior throughout the interaction or interaction with the customer based on perceived information about the sales situation. Salespeople need to change their sales behavior in order to meet each sales situation or individual customer's desires. Adaptive selling can be said to modify the communication style and content according to the customer's desire (Weitz, Sujan & Sujan, 1986; Spiro & Weitz, 1990). The main reason for the co-creation value activities of companies and customers is that the marketing paradigm is shifting from good-dominant logic to service-dominant logic (Lusch & Vargo, 2006). This means that new value creation areas of new product development are expanding as customers participate in various decision-making related to the companies (Payne, Storbacka & Frow, 2008). To realize the value proposition, a firm must co-create value with its customers by means of direct interaction (Grönroos & Voima, 2013). Research Design The contents of this study are as follows. First, we divide the adaptive selling strategies of salespeople in real life into live home shopping and mobile application roles, and then examine whether live home shopping and mobile application affect customer trust. In previous study, Frazier and Summers (1984) proposed six tactics – information exchange, recommendation, request, threats, promises, and legalistic pleas, and Richard et al. (2006) proposed another six tactics. Anderson and Weitz (1989) define trust as one party’s belief that its needs will be fulfilled in the future by actions undertaken by the other party. Second, we investigate the effect of customer trust on home shopping commitment relationship. Ganesan (1994) defined relationship commitment as the desire to develop stability of relationship, the belief that the relationship is sustainable, and the willingness to make short-term sacrifices to maintain the relationship. Through this process, we are able to confirm the possibility of replacing actual meeting with tool called online real - time communication. Third, we want to find out the effect of home shopping commitment relationship on brand commitment relationship. Even if the same brand product, we can know the effect of commitment relationship depending on home shopping company. Finally, we are going to find out how to create co-creation values with customers by real-time communication service to solve the questions and problems of customers immediately. The creation of co-creation values between customers and companies can increase the success rate of new product development that reflects the core needs of customers and reduce resources such as corporate marketing and R & D, which can ultimately serve as a driving force for creating sustainable competitive advantage (Vernette & Hamdi-kidar, 2013).
Across two experiments, this study provides support for the concept that money and time are marked by psychologically distinct constructs. As temporal distance increases, preferences are more likely to be based on the value associated with a high-level construal of options than the value associated with a low-level construal of options. That is, as potential contributors are asked to donate later, high-level featured resources (i.e., time) take focal precedent over low-level ones (i.e., money) in judging preference for donation methods. This study also found that the match effect between temporal distance and construal-level holds only when the level of attitude toward NPO is relatively favorable. However, donation intention is enhanced under mismatch conditions when the level of attitude is less favorable. That is, when potential contributors hold relatively less favorable attitudes toward the NPO, those who are requested to make an expediting decision of donation are more likely to have higher intention to donate with a high-level construal resource. This study attributed the finding to the shift of people’s focal resource through their level of attitude toward the NPO. Unlike the previous research, which focused mainly on how temporal distance influences individuals’ construal levels to result in different donation behaviors, this study investigates the relationship between donation resources and temporal distance. The results from the research provide empirical evidence that temporal distance can have impact on individuals’ preference of the types of donation resources. Given that the features of donation resources can be related temporal distance, this research can shed light on how temporal construal theory can be used in charitable-giving contexts. Additionally, while considerable number of temporal construal studies have investigated the impact of the match effect on the attitude toward a brand, this study explores the role of attitude toward the organization on the interaction effect of temporal distance and construal levels. The findings from this study can provide an opportunity for better understanding of temporal construal theory.
Racism has changed its form over the decades and has become more subtle and indirect than the blatant forms in the past (Gaertner & Dovidio, 2005; Sue et al., 2007; Sue, 2010; Tropp & Molina, 2012). As a result, it is becoming more difficult for minority groups to identify and call them out (Sue et al., 2007). Subtle racism can be detrimental to minority groups in that they can deteriorate performances and when accumulated, they can have negative consequences such as mental and physical health problems (Sue et al., 2007; Sue, 2010; Ong et al., 2013). Recognizing the issues regarding subtle racism, the research questions were the following: (1) Are there differences in the experience of indirect discrimination in a retail context between racial minorities and majorities?; (2) Do minorities use different strategies to solve these situations and why?; and (3) What are the consequences of subtle discrimination in the retail environment? To test the research questions, a total of 599 participants were recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk. Participants were randomly assigned to read either a racial microaggression scenario or a control scenario (a scanner unable to read a discount coupon) and they were asked to select why the incident happened to them. Further, they were asked to answer how they felt after reading the scenario and then respond to the outcome variables repatronage intention, word of mouth, and complaint intention. The findings of the study showed that Asians tend to attribute their racial identity as to why retail employees maltreated them. While Caucasians would simply state that an employee was busy or would not put much thought as to why a service failure occurred, Asians were more burdened by the thought that their race was an issue. After an employee showed subtle discriminations, Asians experienced less positive emotions than Caucasians, which resulted in them deciding to avoid the retail store. This may be due to their belief that they have less control over the situation and would rather not confront the employee or a manager on the issue. Implications and future research directions are discussed.
The frequent accidents of workplace in Korea make workers consider their more than before. This research aims to investigate the effect of safety climate on safety behavio rs and job satisfaction based on the mediational model to drive proactive and complia nce safety behaviors. The conceptual model of safety behaviors focuses on company’s safety behaviors perceived by workers. The model explains how organizational safety climate affect safety outcomes, compliance safety behaviors and proactive safety behaviors, through the mechanism of situational related factors and personal related factors. In this study, it is proposed that safety knowledge of workers and communication styles moderate the effect of safety climate on compliance safety behaviors and proactive safety behaviors. The data were collected by Korean workers using survey and analyzed by AMOS 22.0.
Mobile shopping motivations affects the interaction between mobile shoppers and mobile retailers. This study examines how mobile shopping motivations affect value co-creation, customer equity drivers, and customer lifetime value through a structural equation model. Mobile shopping motivations as mobile shoppers’ needs are time saving, right purchase and money saving. To meet mobile shoppers’ needs, mobile shoppers, mobile retailers, and other customers are willing to collaborate. Value co-creation that Yi and Gong (2013) scaled includes customer participation behaviour such as information seeking, information sharing, responsible behaviour, and personal interaction, and customer citizenship behaviour such as feedback, helping, advocacy, and tolerance. The results indicate that mobile shopping motivations are significant determinants of value co-creation behaviours, implying that mobile shopping motivations are driving factors of value co-creation. Customer participation behaviour has significant effects on value equity and brand equity while customer citizenship behaviour shows positive effects on brand equity and relationship. As for customer lifetime value, relationship equity has significant positive effect, while value and brand equity had no significant influence. This study also shows that mobile shopping motivations affect both value equity and relationship equity of mobile shopping apps by improving information sharing, responsible behaviour, and personal interaction, feedback, helping, and advocacy. Value equity and relationship equity also have significant effects on customer lifetime value. The authors discuss the theoretical and managerial implications for their findings.