본 연구는 중국 시장에서 소비자 세계주의가 외국 브랜드 구매 행위에 미치는 영향이 브랜드 원산지와 명성에 따라 달라질 수 있음을 검증하는 연구이다. 구체적으로 세계주의 성향이 높은 소비자는 상대적으로 소비자 적대감이 높은 원산지의 브랜드와 문화적 이질성이 높은 원산지의 브랜드를 수용하는 경향이 높은지를 살펴본다. 동시에 소비자 세계주의의 혁신성과 관련하여서도, 세계주의 성향이 높은 소비자는 인지도가 낮은 외국 브랜드에 대한 선호도가 높은지도 검증한다. 중국 소비자를 대상으로 실험 설계를 통한 소비자 세계주의의 효과를 검증한 결과, 위의 차별적 효과가 확인되 었다. 흥미로운 점은 세계주의 성향이 높은 소비자는 서양권 브랜드는 선호하나, 문화적으로 유사한 동양권 브랜 드, 특히 유명 브랜드에 대한 선호도는 높지 않는 것으로 발견되었다.

This study investigated Korean college students’ performance as measured by two different vocabulary assessment tools (the Productive Vocabulary Levels Test (PVLT) and the Productive Vocabulary Use Task (PVUT)) and the relationship these assessments have with students’ writing proficiency. A total of 72 students participated in the study. The students were asked to take the PVLT and the PVUT and write an essay. They were also asked to write a reflection paper to assist in examining what kinds of processes they go through in vocabulary production for both tests. The results of the study indicated that the students’ ability to produce vocabulary and the number of lexical errors displayed in the results of the two different assessment tools were highly contingent on the test format. The students produced more target words in the PVLT since they were helped by clues of a few given initial letters of the target items. On the other hand, the students produced more alternatives than target words when allowed to choose words freely in the PVUT. As for the relationship between the students’ performance on the assessment tests and their writing proficiency, the results of the study showed that the students with a higher proficiency produced a higher number of correct target items and left fewer words unanswered in both tests. This study explores the possibility of using an alternative assessment tool and suggests that careful interpretation of the results of the different tests should be associated with assessment purposes.

현재 우리가 살고 있는 세계는 기상이변으로 재해에 대해 예측하기 어렵지만 조선시대에는 더욱 어려웠을 것으로 예상된다. 1662년 부사 허목이 쓴 『陟州誌』 에는 17세기 중기 삼척 기후에 대한 일면이 서술되어 있고, 또 沈宜昇이 쓴 『삼척군지』에는 삼척의 기후에 대하여 기술하고 있다. 삼척지역은 이상기후와 그로 인한 자연재해가 빈번하게 발생하였고, 이러한 자연재해는 농업생산과 식량부족 현상을 초래하였다. 『陟州先生案』은 다른 지방의 읍 선생안과는 달리 내용이 다양하고 풍부하다. 그러므로 본 글은 『陟州先生案』을 통해 삼척지역에 대한 자연 재해를 좀 더 면밀히 살펴볼 수 있었으며 자연재해에 대한 府使·民의 대응도 검토하였다.

In order to identify effective approaches for creating more viral Facebook posts, this research conducted an empirical content analysis of leading Korean brands' Facebook fan-pages (Samsung Mobile, SK Telecom, Kia Motors, and POSCO). Their distinctive visual storytelling and communication patterns were investigated as effective user engagement triggers. Through analysis of the research results, it was statistically proved that the different industrial attributes of the four brands, which are primarily characterized by their product (or service) types, affect their Facebook posting patterns by showing different engaging rates (measured by like, comment, and share metrics). In addition, the user engagement rates of the posts were influenced by their visual storytelling factors (i.e. ad objective, value scale, and visual media types). In line with these statistical findings, the distinctive visual storytelling strategies of the four brands were identified. Moreover, competitive and uncompetitive visual storytelling tactics were suggested according to the ad objectives and visual media types on Facebook.

본 연구는 항공기 및 자동차 기술의 융합과 파급이 자동차 기업의 성과에 미친 영향을 분석한다. 구체적으로 본 연구는 항공기 관련 기술을 도입한 자동차 기업들의 재무 성과 변화를 측정하여 분석한다. 이를 위해 본 연구는 자동차 기업들이 항공기 기술과 관련 된 특허 변수들을 활용하는 정도와 방식을 측정하고, 이 변수들이 자동차 관련 기업들의 시장가치와 매출액에 미치는 영향을 분석한다. 분석 결과, 자동차 기업이 항공기 관련 기술을 활용할수록 시장가치가 상승하였다. 반면, 항공기 기술의 활용과 자동차 기업의 매출액 간에 는 유의미한 관계가 발견되지 않았다. 이는 항공기 관련 기술의 보유 및 사용이 상품 시장에서 직접적인 매출액 증가 보다는 금융 시장을 통해 기업의 기술력에 대한 신호 기능을 수행 하고 있음을 시사한다.

The global apparel market is estimated to increase from US$1,105 billion in 2012 to US$2,110 billion in 2025 (Statista, 2014), with women’s wear accounting for approximately 55% of the total within the United Kingdom (UK) (Verdict, 2015). In 2013 and 2014 market research performed by Mintel identified the ‘shopping experience’ as one of the key factors in women’s shopping habits, noting that consumers aged 16-24, in particular, tended to browse online but to buy in-store, still seeing shopping for clothes as a day out with friends (Mintel, 2013). Nevertheless, the growing influence of social media was noted, and by 2015 this age group had overtaken the 25-34 year olds to become the main online clothes shoppers. Despite this, young people aged 16-24, all of whom potentially qualify as digital natives, still show a preference for shopping in-store (Mintel, 2015), although preliminary research indicates that more of them are now shopping alone than with friends. This suggests that there has been a shift in consumer shopping habits within the youth sector, with less importance being placed on the shopping experience. Given that, this study aims to explore the social media behaviours of the youngers aged between 18-24 with a particular focus on fashion consumption. Crowd sourcing has been identified as an emerging practice found in several sectors including fashion (Yeomans, 2013). Preliminary research suggests that the shift is just a perceived one and that technology savvy young fashion consumers are using smart-technology to upload ‘chelfies’ (‘selfies direct from the changing rooms’) to crowd source opinion about proposed purchases (Soar and Torn, 2015), using social media to replace ‘physical friends’ with ‘digital friends’. To explore this phenomenon further, this study employs qualitative research method and uses semi-structured interviews. The result of this research provides evidence of crowd sourcing behaviours via social media, as well as indicates the complex communication mechanism that embeds within fashion consumption among the generation of the youth.

The goal of this study is to get a better understanding of the relationship between online customer reviews (OCRs), product returns and sales after returns in online fashion. Furthermore, we generate deeper insights about the moderating role of mobile shopping usage, product involvement and brand equity in this context. We answer our research questions by empirically analyzing a unique data set from a European fashion e-commerce company. This study links a wide range of transaction data (2.5 billion page clicks, 46 thousand different products, 700 brands, 40 product categories, 72 million sold and 33 million returned items) with a large set of OCRs (0.9 million). Our results show that positive OCRs can lead to higher sales, lower returns, and better conversion rates. Considering higher search costs on mobile devices, we reveal a weaker impact of OCRs in the mobile than in the desktop sales channel. Furthermore, in line with involvement theory, we see a significant impact of product involvement in this context such as the influence of positive OCRs is stronger for high-involvement products than vice versa. Moreover, we find strong support for statements from brand signaling literature, that OCRs matter more for weak than for strong brands.

Physical appearance is the most readily available visual cue in first impression situations and can thus influence the judgments and subsequent behavior of the perciever. Clothing has been singled out by many researchers as a powerful aspect of physical appearance that is highly expressive in nature. However most clothing and first impression studies either have forcefully categorized clothing choices into broad categories (e.g., casual look, sporty look, professional look, etc.) or have been manipulated to best represent the clothing category or self-identity of the wearer. Also, to this day, there has not been any research on the everyday sportswear choices of sports participants and thier communicative aspects. Along these lines, the current study is, based on person perception and social identity theory, an attempt to provide some insight as to the signaling aspects of sportswear as well as how these signals are percieved and interpreted to make first impression judgments by observers. More specifically, the study looks to compare the intentions and human brand personality of sportswear consumers with judgments made by percievers about the social identity, self-identity and personality traits of the wearer in a first impression setting. Repeated Measures of Aanlysis of Variance (ANOVA) was employed to test the differences between self and others perception. Results are discussed, among with the limitations of the study and directions for future research.

This exploratory research focuses on variety-seeking behavior in the e-commerce (EC) apparel market. The author introduces the causes of switching behavior through exploring different attributes such as product category, price range, and brand. The author discusses the definition of variety-seeker within relatively high price, high involvement, and less frequency category. Next, the author proposes a practical methodology to find different types of variety-seekers from transaction data and customer databases. Finally, the author identifies the characteristics of variety-seekers, including mobile device behavior and psychographics of customers. Having reviewed previous research, in this study, the author focuses on: (1) research of variety-seeking that leans toward the low price, low-involvement, and high-frequency category, (2) define and distinguish variables of variety-seeking, especially in fashion and EC websites, and (3) use of mobile channels in variety-seeking. Researchers and practitioners have studied variety-seeking behavior since the latter half of the 20th century. One of the earliest studies of variety-seeking behavior is by Tucker (1964), who proposed the exploratory behavior concept. Since then, variety-seeking behavior has been extensively researched, and it is considered the antithesis of brand loyalty. As introduced by Assael (1987), in his matrix on buying behavior types, variety-seeking occurs as a low-involvement behavior and in a relatively low-priced category (e.g., Inman, 2001). Therefore, the research on variety-seeking in a higher priced category, like fashion, is a relatively novel approach, when compared to other categories of consumer goods. Meanwhile, there are many variables in general transaction data and customer databases, such as product category and group level (large, medium, and small), brand, product attribute (color, size, gender), price, time, and store. However, much of the previous research considered brand-switching as a clue for distinguishing variety-seeking. Thus, there is little research that has considered every database variable, and defined variety-seeking in the fashion category. Recently, new research focusing on the apparel industry and EC websites has been published. For example, Ko, Kim, and Lee (2009) discussed mobile shopping for fashion products, where they proposed the concept of information-seeking. However, their research was based on questionnaires. For this review, discussing and developing a methodology to analyze variety-seeking in the EC fashion industry was necessary. Distinguishing variety-seekers in this area might be useful for retailers or manufacturers for category management or line expansion (e.g., Inman 2001). This study uses transaction data from fashion EC sites obtained from the 2016 Data Analytics Competition, which was sponsored by the Joint Association Study Group of Management Science. There were over 550,000 purchasing transactions, and approximately one million records of units purchased from April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2016. The number of customers was approximately 100,000, out of which around 3,000 answered the psychographic questionnaire. Every product was classified into 24 large groups and 226 small groups. The data covered approximately 6,500 brands across 900 shops. In this study, the author conducts three analyses. First, the author introduces the types of variety-seeking behavior into the data, which produces a distribution that resembles the shape of the Pareto distribution in terms of sales or frequency. Second, the author discusses how to distinguish variety-seekers. Brand-switching is the most important criterion of variety-seeking behavior; however, the author includes concepts such as price-seeking, category expansion, and purchase interval. Finally, the author introduces characteristics of variety-seekers with demographic and psychographic variables in order to discuss the factors that determine variety-seekers. For example, using large group switching and sales, the author distinguishes the variety-seekers (over 3,000 customers, that is, 3%). From analyzing demographic and psychographic variables, the author, then, attempts to specify the reasons for variety-seeking in the fashion category. Finally, the author confirms the differences between mobile device and PC channels. In the age of customer experience management, use of mobile device has an important role. The author demonstrates the relationship between mobile device use and variety-seeking behavior. However, this research has certain limitations. First, this exploratory research does not adopt a rigorous hypothesis testing approach. The second limitation pertains to data—if the author had web access log data and real channel purchase data, other indicators could have been calculated. However, despite these limitations, this research makes theoretical and practical contributions. First, using fashion EC website data, variety-seeking behavior could be observed in relatively high price and high-involvement categories. Second, the author proposes a simple method to distinguish variety-seekers. EC sites, in general, may have similar databases; therefore, this research has application possibilities. Third, the author explains how psychographic characteristics and mobile channel usage of variety seekers could be beneficial for further research on variety-seeking behavior.

Ever since sustainable development was brought up in the United Nation in 1987, sustainability has been one of the top priorities in the policy making process of different governments as well as different companies. Despite the fact that different industries have been putting efforts in promoting sustainability in their business, little effort was initially shown in the luxury industry. The sector has been regularly criticized by the general public for its lack of sustainable development imperatives. This has led to an extensive discussion in the academic field on whether luxury and sustainable development are by nature compatible or not. Some scholars suggest that the two concepts are indeed able to co-exist as they share many similarities. They suggest that virtual rarity is the key to increase the motivation of luxury consumers for sustainable luxury purchase. However, no further studies have concerned the relation between virtual rarity and sustainable luxury. It is the objective of the present paper to challenge this hypothesis, confronting it with the market perspective. Studying the views of Western regular luxury consumers towards the two concepts should ultimately help luxury managers design more efficient, and hopefully effective, strategies to promote sustainability in their companies. To achieve this objective, the paper is organized into the following parts. First, a thorough literature review helps defining the concepts of virtual rarity and of sustainable luxury, and ultimately merges both. Then, the qualitative methodology to conduct the study is explained, along with a detailed description of the methods used for data collection and data analysis. The paper then focuses on the most important theoretical and managerial findings, still acknowledging further research developments due to research limitations.

The global society is overwhelmed by growing social inequality and environmental pollution. Especially, the fashion industry has been linked to hazardous clothing wastes and exploitation of labor in poor countries. We acknowledge that the sustainability philosophy could be an alternative governing principle that can lead us to a better future for the fashion industry. This study investigates brain responses of fashion professionals and consumers as they are presented with sustainable fashion of luxury and SPA brands. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the whole brain responses of participants were measured and analyzed to reveal how their brain responses differ depending on fashion products’ brand type and certification mark. We build an online education platform for professionals and lay consumers on the subject of sustainable fashion. Brain responses are measured from both groups of professionals and consumers while they are exposed to sustainable fashion products of luxury and SPA brands. A group of subjects watch the online educational program while under the counterpart condition subjects see another video of the same length, unrelated to sustainability. BOLD measures are acquired using Siemens 3T scanner and analyzed using SPM 12 software. We find selective brain activation patterns that can distinguish the educated group from the uneducated ones. The practical implication of this study is that we must do our best to build a sustainability education program which can motivate professionals and consumers effectively, by stimulating both cognitive and affective bases of behavioral change.

The approach will be to study the fast evolving use of technology in fashion, especially related to creating innovative materials in the clothing business. From discussing nano technology as well as embedded sensors, we shall try to take a look at the evolution of technology in fashion garment construction. Special mention will be given to companies like Intel who are working with designers to create innovative fabrics and material prototypes. We shall also touch upon the use of technology to create unique and rare products that cannot be recreated and hence have a lot of value associated with them.

The Chinese fashion market, which has typically been dominated by luxury brands, is expanding more into mid- to low-end fashion brands including global SPA (Specialty retailer of private label apparel) brands. This change in the Chinese fashion market is due to the growth of the middle class in China. The advance of the Chinese middle class is attributed to the fact that the wages of large city workers is improving due to the development of various industries, particularly IT. Recently, the Chinese government has initiated an anti-corruption movement, which has led to the prohibition of luxury goods consumption, and so the interest of Chinese potential fashion consumers has moved to the mid-to low-end fashion products imported from developed countries. In addition, young Chinese consumers' positive attitude toward online shopping is favorable for foreign mid-to low-end brands. These changes in the tastes of Chinese fashion consumers are favorable for Korean fashion brands in particular for several reasons. First, the Korean fashion industry does not have a history of producing luxury brands, but does produce many good mid- to low-end fashion brands. In addition, Chinese tend to consider Korean fashion and food culture as more developed and preferable due to the success of the Korean wave. Lastly, it is easy for Korean practitioners to offer online shopping and customer service. The emergence of mid- to low-end fashion brands started in Korea in the late 2000s when global SPA brands entered the market. Unlike Korea's soho brands, which are based on the "No-brand" strategy, global SPA brands have actually shaken up the market by offering reasonable prices for Korean domestic brand products that are of similar quality. Since then, consumers’ willingness to pay for clothing has been reduced even further in the Korean market even though the low-growth trend in the economy has stabilized. So, it is very important to analyze and study the consumption tendency for low and mid-priced fashion brands among both Chinese and Korean consumers. The purpose of this study was to investigate how Chinese and Korean consumers perceive the personality of mid- and low-priced fashion brands and how such personality affects brand loyalty, commitment, and perceived quality. Brand personality is a vital area of research since fashion products are a type of consumer good that is consumed by users close to the body and which can express the self and the personality to others. Aaker (1997) developed a brand personality measurement scale consisting of five dimensions which many researchers have used in exploring the brand personality dimension in various industries. In the study of fashion in particular, the dimension of brand personality has been explored and its effects have been analyzed. However, most of the research has focused on luxury or high priced brands. Also, the research has not compared cultures such as China and Korea in this regard. Therefore, this study explored how Chinese and Korean consumers perceive some of the mid- to low-end priced brands originating in Europe and Korea. Also, the research examined how multiple dimensions of brand personality affected perceived quality, commitment, and brand loyalty. This study assumed that perceived quality and commitment may mediate the relationship between brand personality dimensions and loyalty. In order to conduct quantitative research, this study adopted scales from the previous literature to measure the variables used in the research model. A professional online research company conducted the survey, which was designed to be administered only to potential consumers of mid-and low-priced fashion brands who had purchased one or both European and Korean brands which were suggested in the survey. Also, gender (female), residential area (Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai), and age (21-39 years old) were controlled for. In this research, the European origin brand was the global SPA (Zara, H & M, ONLY), and there were eight Korean brands, including “Style Nanda,” which is popular in China (Refer to Table 1). The data collected on the 250 Korean and 250 Chinese participants were analyzed using statistical package SPSS 20.0. The brand personality dimension was explored using factor analysis which applied Varimax rotation based on the principle component method. As a result, even though the items included were found to be somewhat different according to the country and origin of the brand, the brand personality dimensions of the European global brands turned out to be similar and reflected “TRENDY, SINCERITY, AND COMPETENCE.” Also, Chinese consumers’ perception of brand personality in Korean brands was found to be similar to their perception of European brands. However, Korean consumers’ perception of Korean brands, which are of course their own brands, was more diverse reflecting “TRENDY, SINCERITY, COMPETENCE, AND OUTGOING.” This seems to be because Korean consumers may have had more chance to experience Korean brands either online or offline through visiting stores or being exposed to a variety of marketing communications. Thus, because there are more Korean brands than European, Korean consumers may be able to have an accurate perception of the personality of Korean brands. The conceptual model of the current research includes the relationships among multiple dimensions of brand personality in perceived quality, commitment, and loyalty. Also, the mediating effect of quality and commitment between brand personality and loyalty was examined. In order to test the hypotheses, hierarchical multiple regression using SPSS was analyzed and is described in Table 2 in relation to European brands and in Table 3 in relation to Korean brands. As expected, brand personality dimensions that were found to be a significant factor in perceived quality, commitment, and loyalty were likely to vary based on Chinese or Korean perceptions. For Korean consumers’ perception of global brands, while TRENDY was likely to be the most powerful personality dimension forming brand loyalty, its impact on loyalty seemed not to be mediated by quality but rather by commitment. Also, the influences of COMPETENCE on loyalty were mediated by quality and commitment. For Chinese consumers’ perception of global brands, the impacts of SINCERITY as well as TRENDY on loyalty were found to be mediated by quality and commitment. In addition, COMPETENCE seemed to have a rather direct impact on quality, commitment, and loyalty without a mediating effect. For local brands, Korean consumers did not seem to rely on brand personality or commitment when considering brand loyalty. Since the R2 did not improve at all with adding mediating factors such as quality and commitment, there was found to be no mediating effects in the Korean cases for local brands. In particular, while TRENDY directly impacted loyalty, OUTGOING was found to be significant only in its impact on quality. On the other hand, all three dimensions of local brand personality turned out to be significant influencers on loyalty and quality for Chinese consumers. The impact of TRENDY and COMPETENCE on loyalty seems to be mediated by quality and commitment. In this study, we found that mid- to low-end fashion brands seemed to reflect valid brand personality according to the brand’s origin (global vs. local) as well as consumers’ culture (Chinese vs. Korean). Also, the effect of brand personality dimension was different. This study contributes to the study of brand personality and the Chinese fashion market by comparing a conceptual model of the consumption behavior of Chinese and Korean consumers in relation to mid and low-priced fashion brands and brand awareness formation. In particular, the research revealed differences between Chinese and Korean consumers, suggesting different approaches for Korean fashion practitioners who are planning on entering China, which has not only a similar market to that of Korea but also one that is familiar to Korean practitioners.

Despite its innovative and avant-garde reputation, the luxury industry initially began showing a very low commitment to new online marketing tools and it held a conservative approach to selling when compared to other sectors. Nowadays, the context has dramatically changed and luxury brands are approaching with an increasing interest social networks as well as the online selling. This research aims to clarify the current strategic approaches of the players in the different luxury markets towards the social commerce phenomenon, from both a theoretical and an empirical point of view. The purpose is to test a framework that can be used to classify luxury companies’ strategies regarding social media adoptions based on actual theories on social media. Four strategies related to the social media adoption by luxury brands have been identified: the Social brand ambassadors strategy class (low promotional content percentage and low social commerce score) includes those brands that use social media for entertainment and user engagement; the Social showcases strategy (high promotional content percentage and low social commerce score) includes those brands that use their social accounts as online catalogues; the Social infotainers strategy (low promotional content percentage and high social commerce score) includes those brands that scored high in social commerce, mainly because of the provision of informative content and brand–consumer interactions, but they were linked to more entertainment-oriented actions rather than product-related ones. Finally, the Social sellers strategy (high promotional content percentage and high social commerce score) includes those brands that have integrated social commerce into their online strategies and have subsequently exploited the potential of social media to drive online and offline sales. The database is built using original data from a content analysis of 100 luxury brands’ postings on five different social media platforms – namely Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest. The total final sample included 12,132 Facebook posts, 21,216 tweets on Twitter, 1,105 YouTube videos, 10,138 Instagram pictures/videos, and 117,359 Pinterest pictures. The main findings are the following: luxury brands adopt at this stage the Social brand ambassadors and Social showcases approaches; brands belonging to the perfumery, cosmetics, jewelry and watches markets show a more developed attitude towards the social commerce; in other luxury markets, such as wine and spirits, brands still adopt a Social Brand Ambassador strategy, while managers should increase the promotional content in order develop the social commerce. The Fashion & Accessories brands show a positive relationship between the percentage of promotional content and social commerce score. This means that social commerce adoptions depend on the single brand’s strategic choices, ranging from low adoption to best practices. In general, social commerce is still not widespread; many luxury fashion brands, while presenting new collections during fashion weeks, focused on fashion shows, backstage events, and celebrities, rather than really promoting the new product lines with materials, availability, and purchasing indications. This social media approach is mainly focused on increasing brand awareness rather than increasing social commerce. If managers aim at increasing social commerce they should add direct call to action and link the contents to e-commerce market place. Automotive brands are concentrated in the Social showcases area; This sector encounters natural limitations in the introduction of social commerce due to the difficulty of selling products through the digital channel; many brands have, however, devised strategies to approach their users during the purchasing process prior to the actual transaction to take advantage of the increasing ROPO phenomenon. Conversely, the Perfumes & Cosmetics sector shows a highly fragmented approach to social commerce. The content analysis based on single post contents has shown that actually the contents are based on pictures of the products, or the brand, information on events, and a large and increasing presence of video posts based storytelling about the history of the product and the brand heritage; the most social commerce oriented posts are picture or video focused on the product. The commercial contents that aim at developing the see now, buy now approach are mainly based on video shows.