Introduction Understanding political brands is a pertinent concern for the British Crown Dependency of Guernsey. Guernsey is a Channel Island, part of the British Isles yet not a member of the European Union. In addition, Guernsey currently has a nonpolitical party system and all thirty-eight Members of Parliament [otherwise known as Deputies] are independent figures. Further, deputies stand as individuals, and members often form informal alliances repeatedly referred to as collections of constantly changing coalitions of support or ‘quasi-political parties’ Guernsey is set to hold an island-wide referendum by March 2018 on the island’s electoral process, moving from seven constituencies to one island-wide constituency. The Guernsey Government believe the 2018 referendum will impact the way Members of Parliament are elected and envisage the creation and introduction of ‘political parties’, or formal alliances in anticipation for the 2020 General Election. The creation and introduction of political parties [political brands] on Guernsey would be unprecedented to the current-historic political environment of a non-party system structured by independent, individual politicians. Further, it is unknown whether the creation and introduction of political ‘party’ brands would have the same appeal, benefits and success compared with independent ‘individual’ political brands. This presents a unique opportunity for the proposed piece of research, which will have an impact as to whether political parties [political party brands] are desired by Guernsey’s elected representatives and Guernsey citizens-voters, and if so, how will new political parties be created and conceptualised. However, in order to address this we need to frame the study within the sub-discipline of political branding. The application of commercial branding theory to politics is nothing new (O’Cass and Voola 2011; O’Shaughnessy and Baines 2009; Rutter et al. 2015). There is a shared understanding that political parties, pressure groups, politicians, candidates and campaigns can be conceptualised as ‘brands’ (Guzman and Sierra 2009; Needham and Smith 2015; Peng and Hackley 2009; Pich et al. 2016; Scammell 2015; Smith 2009). Further, the sub-discipline of political branding has become a ‘critical’ and ‘priority’ issue that warrants continued attention (Speed et al. 2015). The application of branding to politics has been described as the most appropriate way to understand the political ‘product’ and a mechanism to frame the deconstruction process to understand the political promise put forward by political actors (Scammell 2015). Political brands are complex, multi-layered entities which are often difficult to unbundle (Lees-Marshment 2009; Lock and Harris 1996; Phipps et al. 2010). Further, political brands are powerful tools used as a short-cut mechanism to deconstruct the rational and irrational elements of the political offering (Scammell 2015). This is reinforced with continued calls for future research to focus on generating deeper insight into how political brands are developed and understood particularly in new settings and contexts (Needham and Smith 2015; Nielsen 2016; Ormrod and Henneberg 2011; Pich and Dean 2015; Scammell 2015; Speed et al. 2015). Subsequently, the objectives of this study are to: - Investigate how current non-party political brands create, develop and communicate their brand identity from the perspective of elected representatives - Explore how current non-party political brand image is understood from the perspective of Guernsey voters - Ascertain whether elected representatives and Guernsey voters desire political ‘party’ brands for the 2020 General Election. Theoretical Background Political brands can be considered a trinity of elements including the party, leader and policy (Butler et al. 2011; Davies and Mian 2010; Pich and Dean 2015; Speed et al. 2015). The trinity of elements need to ensure clear identification and differentiation from political competitors (Ahmed et al. 2015; Nielsen 2016; O’Cass and Voola 2011; Smith 2008). In addition, effective political brands should be strong, appealing, trustworthy, offer resonance, act as a decision making driver which in turn will support strategy development and build awareness in the mind of voters-citizens (Ahmed et al. 2015; Baines and Harris 2011; O’Cass and Voola 2011). However, the existing literature has tended to focus on ‘party’ political systems and overlooked political brands from non-party political systems where all candidates and politicians are independent candidates and representatives. Nevertheless, what about other typologies of political brands like in non-party systems? In addition, the existing body of knowledge has not explained how political brands exist or develop without the ‘party’ element from the trinity. This proposition is supported the demand for more depth and understanding on political brands especially non-party ‘individual’ political brands [elected representatives] (French and Smith 2010; O’Cass and Voola 2011; Peng and Hackley 2009; Scammell 2015). Despite the calls for more research in this area, there are a few studies that have investigated ‘individual’ political brands. More specifically, studies have focused on politicians or candidates from political ‘parties’ in terms of brand personality, equity, identity or image and often compared ‘corporate’ and ‘individual’ political brands (Cwalina and Falkowski 2014; De Landtsheer and De Vries 2015; Milewicz and Milewicz 2014; Smith and Spotswood 2013; Speed et al. 2015). For example, Smith and Spotswood (2013) comparatively considered the brand equity of the UK Liberal Democrat Party from a corporate and individual-local perspective. Smith and Spotwood (2013) highlighted that successful political brands whether corporate or local-individual) communicated clear expectations, focused values, believable promises to constituents, which is often easier at a local rather than national level. Further, Smith and Spotwood (2013) argued that successful corporate political brands would depend on consistency between corporate and local-individual political brands. However, the work by Smith and Spotswood (2013) was developed from speeches, articles and other discourse rather than from the personal perspective of internal stakeholders. Therefore, more depth and understanding from a multi-stakeholder perspective would reveal greater insight into the individual-local political brand particularly in non-party contexts. Existing political branding research primarily adopts either an internal (Busby and Cronshaw 2015; Cwalina and Falkowski 2014; de Landtsheer and Vries 2015; Milewicz and Milewicz 2014; Smith and Spotswood 2013) or external perspective to frame studies (French and Smith 2010; Peng and Hackley 2009; Phipps et al. 2010). More specifically, research devoted to an internal ‘brand identity’ perspective directs its attention to the political party, candidate or politician. Brand identity can be conceptualised as the current intended projection formulated and communicated by the brand’s creator with the aim of attempting to establish a desired identity in the mind of the consumer (de Chernatony 2007; Kapferer 2008). Further, brand identity can be seen as a useful approach to generate a deep understanding from an internal standpoint and capture the ‘central ideas of a brand and how the brand communicates these ideas to stakeholders’ (de Chernatony 2007:45; Ross and Harradine 2011; Saaksjarvi and Samiee 2011). In contrast, research focusing on an external ‘brand image’ perspective considers the political offering from a citizen-voter orientation (Needham and Smith 20015; Nielsen 2016; O’Cass 2001). Brand image can be considered as the current-immediate associations perceived and formulated in the mind of the consumer, which is often out of control of the brand’s creator (Nandan 2005; Rekom et al. 2006). In addition, brand image is externally created, and manifested through unique associations and perceptions, experiences and expectations linked to physical and intangible elements of a brand (Bosch et al. 2006a; Nandan 2005). Therefore, future research should attempt to capture insight into how political brands develop and communicate identity and how political brands are understood from an internal [revealed by the politician] and external perspective [revealed by the voter] (Baines et al. 2014; Needham and Smith 2015; O’Cass and Voola 2011; Pich and Dean 2015). However, how can we actually comprehend current political brand identity and political brand image? One study that explored an ‘internal-relational orientation’ of several individual political brands was the work by Pich and Dean (2015). Pich and Dean (2015) explored the internal brand identity of UK Conservative Party politicians prior the 2010 UK General Election with the support of Kapferer’s brand identity prism (Kapferer 2008). Further, the work by Pich and Dean (2015) not only revealed the complex related yet distinct nature of individual political brands and their relationship with their ‘corporate Conservative Party’ political brand but also demonstrated the problematic nature of applying the brand identity prism in its original form to deconstruct the internal orientation of a political brand. Pich and Dean (2015) concluded with a revised framework known as the ‘political brand identity network’ and challenged future studies to consider this as a workable tool to understand individual political brands from an internal-relational perspective. However, Pich and Dean (2015) concluded that the ‘political brand identity network’ could also support the understanding of external brand image. Therefore, could the ‘political brand identity network’ aid the exploration of internal political brand identity and external political brand image of non-party political brands? Responding to this gap in the body of knowledge, this research will explore the internal brand identity of an ‘individual’ political brand from the perspective of elected representatives and investigate the external brand image of non-party political brand from the perspective of Guernsey voters. In addition, this study will assess the operationalisation of the ‘political brand identity network’ put forward by Pich and Dean (2015). Further, responding to the challenge from Pich and Dean (2015), this study will assess the usability of the political brand identity network to understand non-party political brand identity and political brand image. This will address the limited development of ‘appropriate models’ and frameworks that can be used to assist political entities in understanding their offering and support strategy development (Nielsen 2015; O’Cass and Voola 2011; Ormrod 2011; Scammell 2015). Confusion and advancement can be addressed by building on existing research by assessing existing models and frameworks in comparison with new settings and contexts (Nielsen 2016; O’Cass 2001; O’Cass and Voola 2011; Ormrod and Henneberg 2011; Scammell 2015; Speed et al. 2015). Research Design As this study aims to explore non-party political brands from a multi-stakeholder perspective, a qualitative interpretivist approach is adopted (Creswell 2007; Welch et al. 2011). This is consistent with the calls across the political branding discipline for more exploratory empirical research (French and Smith 2010; O’Cass and Voola 2011; Peng and Hackley 2009; Scammell 2015). This study will involve two stages. Stage one involves twenty-one semi-structured interviews with current elected Deputies. Deputies from across the eight districts of Guernsey namely; Vale, Vale-West, St Sampson, St Peter Port-North, St Peter Port-South, South East, West and Castel (www.gov.gg) have been selected. Interviews will last between 60-90 minutes and will be conducted by the researchers from March 2018-May 2018. Stage two involves twelve focus group discussions with Guernsey citizens-voters. Focus group discussions will be organised according to voter age group following the conventional approach adopted by research organisitions such as YOUGOV and IPSOS-MORI to explore political brand image. More specifically, this study will adopt purposive sampling framework and Guernsey citizens will be grouped from 18-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64 and 65+ and each group will serve to frame each focus group discussion (Gillham 2005; Malhotra and Birks 2003). Focus group discussions will be conducted July-September 2018. Pilot interviews and focus group discussions were conducted in October 2017 to assess the usability of the interview-focus group schedules and aided developmentrefinement (Gillham 2005). The ‘political brand identity network’ (Pich and Dean 2015) serves as a conceptual framework to provide some structure the interviews-focus group discussions and be incorporated into the interview-focus group schedules (Gillham 2005; Zikmund 2003).Transcripts from the semi-structured interviews and the focus group discussions will be thematically analysed with the support of Butler- Kisber’s (2010) two-stage analytical approach. Findings The findings from stage one of the study will generate insight on how current nonparty political brands create, develop and communicate their brand identity from the perspective of elected representatives. For example, the findings will highlight how non-party political brands create-develop communication strategies and tactics, the significance of individual political personality as a tool to provide differentiation and whether personal values are used to characterise the brands (Ahmed et al. 2015; Nielsen 2016; O’Cass and Voola 2011; Smith 2008). The findings from stage two of the study will reveal how current non-party political brand image is understood from the perspective of Guernsey voters. For example, the insights linked to political brand image will reveal consistencies and incoherencies with communicated identity and awareness of communication strategies-tactics, personality characteristics and personal-cultural values of Deputies (Pich and Dean 2015). Stage two will also reveal understanding as to whether Guernsey citizens-voters desire political ‘party’ brands. This will address the third objective of the study. This in turn will highlight the ideal conceptualised political brand for Guernsey developed from a multi-stakeholder perspective. Discussion This study will also reveal the relationships between current Deputies and constituents, personal-working relationships with stakeholders across government departments and understanding of attitudes and opinions of political issues such as the introduction of parties. This in turn will introduce first-hand accounts of current non-party political brand identities. In addition, this stage will reveal if the ‘party’ dimension is the only missing element from the triad and provide understanding of the relevance of the ‘policy’ and ‘leader-politician’ dimensions (Butler et al. 2011; Davies and Mian 2010; Pich and Dean 2015; Speed et al. 2015). Further, this study will provide understanding into the relationships between voters and Deputies and highlight the perceptions, associations and imagery Guernsey voters ascribe to non-party political brands (Bosch et al. 2006a; Nandan 2005). This research will also reveal understanding as to whether Guernsey citizens-voters desire political ‘party’ brands. This in turn could result in a reconceptualization of political brands, which extends the political brand triad (Butler et al. 2011; Davies and Mian 2010; Pich and Dean 2015; Speed et al. 2015). Further, a revised definition could be tailored to the unique setting of island communities and this could have implications to other jurisdictions with non-traditional political brands. Finally, the applied findings will address the challenge put forward by Pich and Dean (2015) to assess the usability of the ‘brand identity network’ as a mechanism to explore internal political brand identity and external political brand image. This will go some way in addressing the limited number of ‘appropriate frameworks’ than can be used to assist researchers to understand brands and develop strategies to address any inconsistencies or misalignment between communicated identity and understood image (Nielsen 2015; O’Cass and Voola 2011; Ormrod 2011; Scammell 2015; Speed et al. 2015). Conclusion Subsequently, this study will seek to understand how independent elected representatives currently create and develop political brand identity and explore how Guernsey voters understand political brand image of non-party brands. Further, the findings will highlight a contribution to practice. For example, this study will reveal implications of the introduction of political ‘party’ brands to the prospective of an island-wide voting environment from the perspective of internal [Deputies] and external [citizens-voters] stakeholders. This research will offer internal political stakeholders insight into the perceptions, attitudes and opinions of external citizensvoters in terms of prospective political ‘party’ brands, desired configuration of political ‘party’ brands and highlight whether political ‘party’ brands have a role to play in the reformed electoral process on Guernsey. Further, the findings will offer internal political stakeholders the opportunity to design, create and develop their political brands in line with the wants and needs of the electorate, which in turn should strengthen political engagement, maintain personal relationships between politicians-voters and allow for the establishment of a tailored approach to political brand management in non-traditional political environments. Further, the findings will have a direct impact on the debate as to how Guernsey’s electoral process develops following the 2018 Island Wide Referendum and legislates prior the 2020 Guernsey General Election. The findings will also have implications beyond non-party systems of government for example it may offer existing party-systems of government practical methods and initiatives to strengthen voter engagement and develop stakeholder relationships across jurisdictions and constituencies. This study will also contribute to academic theory. For example, the addressed objectives will offer the researchers an opportunity reconceptualise political brands particularly in non-traditional contexts based on deep insight from the perspectives of citizens-voters, which in turn will allow the sub-discipline of political branding to advance-develop as an area of study (Needham and Smith 20015; Nielsen 2016; O’Cass 2001; Pich et al. 2016; Scammel 2015). In addition, this study will address explicit calls for future research in this area by outlining how independent political brands exist or develop without the ‘party’ element from the trinity assess the applicability of the ‘trinity’ concept to new jurisdictions. Finally, this study will assess the applicability of the ‘political brand identity network’ (Pich and Dean 2015) as a tool to explore internal political brand identity and external political brand image of non-party political brands from a multi-stakeholder perspective.

“If you‟re ever found yourself wondering what to do during an annoyingly long layover (hi, hello, all of us), „get Botox‟ will soon join your list of possibilities – at least if you‟re traveling in South Korea”(MacKenzie, 2017). Introduction Cosmetic surgery has become a new attraction for Chinese tourists to visit Korea. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Korea, 27,646 of 127,648 Chinese medical tourists who visited Korea in 2016 did so to obtain cosmetic surgery (Nam, 2017). This paper presents how external desire influenced the socio-historical development of the cosmetic surgery tourism in South Korea, focusing on Chinese crossborder consumption. In analyzing this relatively new phenomenon, we identified two intertwined desires. Specifically, while popularity of cosmetic surgery in South Korea is driven by the desire of individual Chinese consumers to obtain symbolic capital by achieving so-called K-beauty, this directly supports the collective desire of the Korean nation to construct a new Korean-ness. This trend has led to the promotion of Medical Korea, aiming to erase the former image of uncool industrial emerging country. In examining these complex practices, we employed the conception of “nation-ness” (Taylor, 1997) to elucidate the renewal of Korean national identity in the medical tourism industry and the global marketplace (Anderson, 1991; Appadurai, 1996; Lee, 2017). This paper commences with a brief outline of the socio-historical development of cosmetic surgery in Asian societies. We then discuss the connection of beauty and social capital among the Chinese consumer society and how Korean‟s cosmetic surgery industry has become the icon site for the achieving the ideal beauty. The paper closes with an illustration of the inter-relationship between the emerging consumer desire for beauty and the reconstruction of Korean-ness. Cosmetic surgery in contemporary asian consumer society Drawing on Giddens‟s (1991) notion of reflexivity, Belk (1988) and other consumer researchers have revealed that consumers consider their body as their possession and a reflection of their self. Consequently, some see it as a resource for constructing their desired identity through cosmetic surgeries (Askegaard, Gertsen, & Langer, 2002; Schouten, 1991; Thompson & Hirschman, 1995). While this phenomenon has mostly been examined in the context of contemporary Western consumer society, it is increasingly becoming more widespread. Such practices have resulted in human body no longer being viewed as a biological entity, but rather as “the finest consumption object” that can be further refined if needed (Baudrillard, 2005, p. 129). Altering one‟s body has traditionally been considered a taboo in many Asian cultures. In ancient Chinese society, there was a general perception that our bodies, down to a single hair and a flake of skin, are given to us by our parents. Therefore, any modification to the way our body looks and functions would be considered disrespectful to one‟s parents (Hua, 2013). However, in the world of cable TV and mass-circulation of Hollywood movies, in which social media has become an indispensable part of everyday life for most individuals, it is not surprising that Western beauty ideals have emerged as a dominant reference for the rest of the world. As the Westernized values and lifestyles become more easily accessible through media, they challenge these former social norms. Consequently, Asian women are increasingly seeking body modifications, such as plastic surgery, in an attempt to attain the elusive ideal beauty. In her research on body alternations, Orbach (2011) reported that 50 percent of teenage girls in South Korea planned to alter their faces or bodies through plastic surgery. According to the available evidence, in 2011, South Korea was rated first in the world in terms of the per capita ratio of aesthetic plastic surgeries (Shin, 2011). The success of South Korea‟s plastic surgery industry then made the country one of the best site for body alternations in the global beauty marketplace. Chinese desire for new face: beauty as capital Although it directly counters old Confucian doctrine of not tampering with one‟s body for filial piety, cosmetics surgery is very popular in China. In her book Buying Beauty, Hua (2013) noted that the increasingly brutal competition for jobs has prompted Chinese women to regard beauty as capital. It is thus not uncommon for Chinese parents to finance their daughters‟ cosmetic surgery, as they have come to perceive a pretty face as a worthwhile long-term investment, as it may increase the future career and/or marriage prospects of their daughters. For this reason, Chinese women are undergoing cosmetic surgery at a much younger age than do their Western counterparts. “Being good-looking is capital” has become the epitome of Chinese young girls. They consider attractive appearance that a cosmetic surgery may proffer as a form of capital, which they believe can give them a competitive advantage in the increasingly fierce job market (Hua, 2013). This attitude is prevalent among women, as gender and appearance discrimination is widespread in Chinese job market even in occupations where outward appearance usually has no relevance, such as civil service and government institutions (Hua, 2013). Owing to the increasingly widespread access to popular and social media and TV as a result of China reopening its doors, Chinese beauty standards have changed, whereby the perception of ideal image is heavily influenced by Western movies, pop culture, and the fashion and beauty industry (Hua, 2013). As Luo‟s (2012) research demonstrated, however, these newly adopted Western beauty ideals are coming into conflict with those that have traditionally been held by the Chinese. Yet, as Li et al. (2007) have shown, not all recent changes to the perceptions of and attitudes toward external appearance can be attributed to the Western influence. In their cross-cultural study on skin-whitening practices in four Asian markets, the authors reported that the desire for “white skin” in many Asian cultures (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Indian) has a long history. Saraswati (2010) concurred with this finding, stating that, in the non-Western context, the desire for “whiteness” cannot be equated to the desire for “Caucasian whiteness,” implying that the concept of whiteness may be context-dependent. This tension seems to be relieved by the adoption of Korean beauty ideal, which blends the Western and Korean physical traits and has resulted in Hallyu or the Korean Wave. Since the late 1990s, the term “Hallyu” has been used to describe the influx of South Korean popular culture in Asia. Korean TV dramas, movies, and popular music (K-pop) have in recent decades become staples in Asian markets formerly dominated by Japan and Hong Kong (Seabrook, 2012). Since the Korean Wave hit China, the visual appearance, fashion trends, hairstyle choices, and make-up styles of Korean stars have become highly popular. Consequently, many Chinese people regard Korea as the cosmetic surgery hub of Asia, as Korean beauty is admired by Chinese people who thus aspire to attain it by undergoing various surgical and non-surgical procedures. This growing trend was spurred by the success of the TV drama, Jewel in the Palace, which resulted in the popularity of the lead actress Lee Young Ae among Chinese women, who would ask plastic surgeons to make them look like her (Hua, 2013). The popularity of Korean pop culture and the widespread adoption of the Korean beauty ideals can be interpreted as counter-standard against the Western beauty. Yet, as Hua (2013) and others argue, the rise of Korean influence in the Asian markets can also be viewed as an indication of the submission to the Western beauty imperialism. This tension exists, as their Mongolian heredity with more prominent noses and lighter skins than other Asians gives Koreans certain “Western” features (Fairclough, 2005). The new face and desire for the new national identity Not long ago, Korea had the reputation as an emerging industrial nation that manufactures low-cost cars and appliances (Fairclough, 2005; Seabrook, 2012). South Korea has a long history and reputation as an industrial hub in East Asia. Some of the top global brands, such as Samsung, Hyundai, and LG, began as the key manufacturing partners of Western brands in the early and mid-twentieth century. Korea is also often associated with the Korean War, as described in US motion pictures, such as MASH (Preminger & Altman,1970). However, in the late 1990s, this image began to change with the increasing popularity of aforementioned Hallyu entertainment contents (Fairclough, 2005). In fact, the latest “Korean Wave” has ushered a brand-new transnational representation of Korea into the global marketplace. Following a highly successful cultural Hallyu, Korea has recently launched medical Hallyu, promoting cosmetic surgery (Eun, 2013). In the 2000s, Korean cosmetic surgery emerged as a successful byproduct of the Korean Wave. This growing trend has since become a source of great national pride in South Korea (Holliday, Bell, Cheung, Jones, & Probyn, 2015). While Korean entertainment products were generating enormous revenues, cosmetic surgery was recognized as a profitable addition to the already lucrative export industry, as foreign tourists were willing to travel to the country in order to undergo operations that would make them look like Korean Hallyu stars. In recognition of this change in attitudes towards physical appearance and beauty ideals, “Korean cosmetic surgery” (Hanshi zhengxing) and “Korean-style beauty” (Hanshi meirong) became key words in the cosmetic surgery advertisements in China (Davies & Han, 2011). Cosmetic surgery clinics in the trendiest Gangnam and Apgujeong districts of Seoul often provide medical tourism packages targeting foreign tourists coming from China and other Southeast Asian countries (Eun, 2013). As Hallyu boasts a creative integration of the Western and Korean elements in its entertainment contents (Shim, 2006), Korean cosmetic surgeons are attempting to achieve the same. According to a doctor that took part in Shim‟s (2009) study, Korean surgeons have the best skills to operate on Asian patients, as they have smaller physique and denser subcutaneous tissues compared to their Western counterparts. Although Korean surgeons used to travel to the U.S. to obtain training for the popular procedures, such as eyelid surgery, they subsequently modified the American techniques, realizing that they were inappropriate for the “Korean Body.” For instance, removing too much fat from the eyelids created an unnatural Western eyes that were not suitable for Korean facial structure. Such specialism, which is now internationally recognized, makes aspirant youths from neighboring China and Korean diaspora more than willing to travel to Korea to undergo elective cosmetic procedures that would improve their visual appearance (Holliday, Bell, Cheung, Jones, & Probyn, 2015). The Korean government‟s active support for the export of cultural products has also helped the proliferation of cosmetic surgery tourism. In 2009, the Korean National Assembly passed an amendment to the medical law, enabling hospitals to advertise their services and promote medical tourism (Eun, 2013). Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), a subsidiary organization of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, runs an online medical tourism platform website, visitmedicalkorea.com, to provide foreign tourists with information about Korean medical tourism. It also supports the overseas marketing of companies and hospitals as a means of attracting more tourists to the country (Korea Tourism Organization, n.d.). While the KTO website is not solely dedicated to cosmetic surgery tourism, Visit Medical Korea‟s website boasts the massive number of cosmetic surgery operations performed every year in Korea. The country is now the third largest cosmetic surgery market after the U.S. and Brazil, as the recognition of the high skill level of Korean surgeons and their use of modern technology motivates many individuals to visit Korea for their beauty enhancement (Korea Tourism Organization and Korea Health Industry Development Institute, n.d.). The fact that Korea has achieved economic progress through rapid modernization but did not give up many of its traditions is another allure to many Asian tourists (Fairclough, 2005). This is emphasized in the promotional video published by KTO through the juxtaposition of the beauty of traditional porcelain making inherited from Joseon dynasty with cutting edge medical technology and skills of Korean medical industry (Korea Tourism Organization, 2016). Conclusion: renewing “Korean-ness” in the global marketplace Desire to be beautiful and prolong one‟s youth is not unique to modern times. Yet, medical advances now make even extending one‟s height by breaking and separating the thigh bone to prompt growth possible. While this sounds scary and can be highly dangerous, it is a very popular operation in Shanghai. Cosmetic surgery is no doubt a popular service high on many Chinese consumers‟ list. Although it may be cynical to say that our desire for beautiful body is perpetuated and exploited by the style industries, it is true that the beauty, cosmetic, fashion, media, and celebrity industries are playing an important role in shaping our beauty standards and promoting the ideal body size/shape in the contemporary marketplace (Orbach, 2011). In this study, we connected Chinese consumers‟ desire for new facial features with the emerging plastic surgery tourism in South Korea as an exemplar of the reconstruction of national identity. The term “nation-ness” is comprehensive and links disparate phenomena, such as nation, nationalism, and nationality by including “everything from the bureaucratic fact of citizenship to the nationalist‟s mythical construction of nation as an eternal entity” (Taylor, 1997, p. 277). In this study, we argued that cosmetic surgery has become a new Korean national identity, which is not solely reflected in the rise of Korean beauty and style in the Pan-Asian (Cayla & Eckhardt, 2008) or even global marketplace. The new identity has also inherited the techno-industrial past, as the preciseness and high quality of Korean “industry” are valuable traits to transfer to this new medical field. In this paper, we demonstrated that the creation and promotion of ideal beauty and body is part of a broader political strategy, in which governments, corporations, and key cultural stakeholders are actively, and sometimes collectively, shaping and monitoring individuals‟ bodily practices.

This research was conducted to examine the national identity and consumer behavior of the Hungarian minority’s young generation in Romania3. We may use the results for interpreting groups as segments with different type and level of national identity and forming of marketing-mix that fits to their national identity consciousness.

Theoretical Background Online tribalism is an unofficial network in virtual community due to common interests and affiliation to a topic, a belief, a figure, a ritual, or a culture (A. Taute and Sierra 2014, Badrinarayanan, Sierra and Taute 2014, Hamilton and Hewer 2010). In an interconnected world, consumers influence each other by initiating, spreading, appraising, receiving and internalising beliefs via social network and shape self - attitude and information status (Hilder 2004). These widely-existing phenomena suggest more efforts to be completed to address the gaps in knowledge in the following aspects: First, the information dissemination process should be understood with a stronger support of quantifying approaches to bring forward a systematic understanding to accommodate a wide range of drives for the complex social learning and assimilating procedure (Feliciani, Flache and Tolsma 2017, Macy et al. 2003, Huet, Deffuant and Jager 2008). For example, many qualitative research such as digital anthropology and netnography abound to explain the motivations, process, and outcomes of disseminating messages in the texture of social group (Flache and Macy 2011, Granovetter 1977). As the consequence, many tentative explanations have attempted to focus on the utilities of information circulation (Dupor, Kitamura and Tsuruga 2010, Gruhl et al. 2004, Kim and Baek 2014) and social influences (Gupta and Kim 2004, Kim and Baek 2014) but ended up with only incapability of modelling and quantifying the process. Within this trend, notably, two factors underpinning the changes in virtual community, i.e., individual’s information utility, motivation of seeking for conformity, remains a secret. In addition, it’s unclear that why and how active customers behave different from inactive ones from a perspective of information flow and social learning. Second, there is a lack of knowledge of how the intrinsic connections and dialectical dynamic between self-solicited individuals take place and adapt in the growth and evolution. With the tool of digitals, paradoxically, the essential ambiguity of digital openness and closure (Phelps et al. 2004), viability and tribalism (A. Taute and Sierra 2014, Badrinarayanan et al. 2014, Hamilton, Schlosser and Chen 2017), enculturation and acculturation, devastatingly remains under-investigated. Among these various perspectives to explain and model the dynamics of online community and social learning, there should exist a general framework that combines decisive bases of recipients and senders with various motives and constraints, with both subjectivity and objectivity. Opinion dissemination can therefore be understood not only as an objective procedure, but also with subjective intervention of participants where cognitive, psychological, and sociocultural factors intertwine to influence the collective learning pattern. Thirdly, some contextual findings are to be tested how the conditional relations may be established under different social settings. For example, theories show that engaged consumers usually exhibit enhanced consumer loyalty, satisfaction, empowerment, connection, emotional bonding, trust and commitment. However, literature rarely provide an answer that within a social group, how are traditions, patterns, communications, rewards, and punishments formed and evolved to lead to either conformity or dispute. To address the above gaps, this research adopts an interactive approach to deconstruct information into inputs (motivation, potential), action (interpersonal connection), and output (utility and identity). This research delivers several simulated experiments to identify how the evolution of customer opinions evolves out various patterns of self-efficacy and social recognition. The author assembles four aspects of input variables, including information utility, accordance utility, self-efficacy, and social status of consumers, and test the overall information prosperity and propensity of the social earning with different activeness levels. Findings The analytical firstly results show that active individuals exist in social group as the information hubs to dismiss the information and share a higher level of delight of owning knowledge and over time, become similar in knowledge standard. Consequently, a wider connection with and influence on mass audience of active members usually lead to a higher psychographic gain of attitudinal accordance compared with inactive and isolated ones in group. Secondly, at the individual level, the author found that the activeness in tribal group obviously result in a higher level of both self-recognition and social recognition on average. This pattern is consistent with vast literature in ethnography. And the relation between the activeness level and the self- and social-recognition level is positive. While at the aggregate level, it’s investigated that active individuals of online tribes have a stronger inclination, evidenced by a stronger propensity of spreading message, to further generate messages to impact other more profoundly when compared with inactive ones. The simulation experiment also indicated that a few contextual relations between variables, e.g., information-based and accordance -based delights, self-recognition and social recognition, information prosperity and transmission propensity, etc., moderated by the member activeness. It’s also found that extreme active individuals have a much higher marginal increase in accordance originated from the growing information volume owned in the process of influencing the society. Not coincidentally, their overall social recognition and attitudinal accordance from the group are significantly higher by the growth of personal knowledge. Conclusions This research contributes to the literature on the drives of tribal dynamics and its’ consequences on the changes of information valence and attitudinal changes and further to this, how the engagement level of individuals will influence these micro and macro outcomes. Notably, by adopting a self-reasoning method, the motives and outcomes are incorporated in a simulated method to develop not only the individual and the aggregate level of outcomes. This study also bears methodological significance by examining a series of hypotheses under the setting of a simulated online community. These findings suggest a series of contextual causality moderated between the characteristics, intentions and actions.

The key objectives of the research is to examine the impacts of consumption community and underlying motivations for joining consumption communities in consuming masculine products among Korean female consumers. This study is the first to link a consumption community to social identity theory. To find an answer to our research questions, the study uses Korean Harley Davidson female riders who ride the American heavy motorcycle in a consumption community to answer the research questions. Harley Davidson is an icon of masculine products due to the size and the powerful engine of the motorcycle. A hermeneutic approach is adopted to understand Korean female consumers’ motivations in joining consumption communities and their perceptions about riding a Harley Davidson motorcycle. A hermeneutic method uses personal in-depth interviews to elicit the behaviors, values, and motivations that researchers are trying to understand (Kozinets, 2001; Thompson et al., 1994). The hermeneutic method is appropriate when researchers are attempting to understand motivations, values and beliefs deeply embedded in a person’s mind (Thompson et al., 1994).

This study explores the effect of moral identity on attitude toward and purchase intention of upcycled fashion products by comparing purchasers and non-purchasers. Data from 127 purchasers and 307 non-purchasers collected through a survey was analyzed using descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis, model invariance check, and multiple-group comparison tests using Amos 23.0. Results indicate consumers with purchase experiences of upcycled fashion products showed a higher level of moral identity (internalization and symbolization), positive attitude toward upcycled fashion products, and purchase intention than did consumers with no purchase experience. In model tests, internalization affected attitude toward purchasing upcycled fashion products, whereas symbolization affected purchase intention, regardless of purchase experience. The effect of symbolization on purchase intention was consistent with prior studies focusing on charity behaviors that are highly visible to others. These findings demonstrate that fashion products are visible and symbolic, so it should be carefully considered in ethical consumption studies. From these results, researchers may obtain insights on the process of how consumers apply moral identity to their purchase intention regarding upcycled fashion products. Likewise, marketers may enhance satisfaction of consumers with a high level of symbolization by putting special tags and logos that clearly highlight the products’ upcycled nature.

Purpose: This study aimed to observe coping strategies and career identity in nursing students, and examine the influence of coping strategy on career identity. Methods: Data from 329 third- and fourth-year nursing students was collected using structured self-reports questionnaires for two months. Descriptive statistics were calculated and the data analyzed with independent t-tests, Pearson correlation coefficients, and hierarchical multiple regression. Results: The nursing students scored highest on the passive coping style of hopeful thinking. Positive coping strategies were positively correlated with career identity. The final regression model showed that coping strategy and satisfaction with the participant’s major accounted for 37.6% of the variance in predictions of career identity, with problem-focused coping strategy as the single most influential factor. Conclusion: These findings suggest that a range of active efforts are needed to increase the use of problem-focused coping strategies to improve the career identity of nursing students.

조직구성원들은 조직의 핵심 인적자원으로서 관리된다. 구성원들이 직무탈진(burnout)을 경험하는 빈 도가 점차 늘어나고 있는 상황에서, 조직관리자나 연구자들이 직무탈진과 그에 따른 자아정체성 위반 (identity violation)을 연구해야 할 필요가 늘어나고 있다. 본 논문에서는 직무탈진과 자아정체성 위반의 상호작용효과를 중심으로 조직구성원의 공정성 인식을 연구한다. 조직에서 행복하지 않은 구성원들은 조직에 대한 공정성 인식이 악화되고 그들의 인적자원을 조직성과를 위해 발휘하려고 하지 않을 것이다. 따라서 조직시민행동과 같은 직무외성과가 악화된다. 다양한 분야의 한국기업에서 328명의 구성원들과 그들의 상사, 조직으로부터 자료를 수집하였다. 가설검증을 위해 위계적회귀분석과 부트스트래핑(bootstrapping) 을 수행하였다. 분석결과 정서적으로 탈진한 구성원이 자아정체성 위반을 경험할 경우 상호작용공정성인식(interactional justice perception)이 악화되고, 그 결과 조직시민행동에 참여하는 비율이 줄어들었다. 연 구결과를 바탕으로 시사점과 연구의 한계점 및 향후 연구방향이 논의 되었다. 본 논문을 통해 조직에서 불행한 구성원의 인식과 행동방식을 밝힘으로써 인적자원관리 연구분야에 기여하였다. 직무탈진과 자아 정체성위반은 인적자원의 활용을 막고 공정성 인식을 악화시킴으로써 조직시민행동을 약화시킨다. 따라 서 본 논문은 관리자들로 하여금 인적자원의 정신적 건강과 행복을 적극적으로 관리해 줌으로써 성과에 기여할 수 있음을 제시하였다.

The participants in this study recognized English as a global language and also felt obligation to make the Korean language and culture globalized in the future. Further empirical research into identity and EFL learning in Jeju will help to reveal how the increasingly important status of Korean and the Korean language might intertwine with the experience of Korean students who are learning English.

본 연구는 차별이나 동화(동일성)의 강제와 같은 형태의 타자 지배적 폭력을 부정하고, 타자 존중을 지향하는 ‘그리스도인 아이덴티 티’가 어떤 것이야 하는지에 대해 레비나스의 타자윤리학을 참조하면서 예수의 선교활동에서 찾는 것을 그 목적으로 한다. 본고에서는 타자 지배가 가동되는 메커니즘이나 타자 존중을 지향하는 주체에 대해 레비나스 등의 주장을 검토한 후, 선한 사마리아인의 비유를 중심으로 고찰하면서 논의를 전개한다. 본고의 결론은, 그리스도인 아이덴티티의 핵심은 속성(민족/인종, 성차, 종교 등)에 근거하는 아이덴티티와는 다른 ‘이웃 아이덴티티’이며, 그리스도인에게는 타자 지배를 부정하고 타자 존중을 지향하는 아이덴티티가 이러한 이웃 아이덴티티와 그것으로써 더욱 의로운 것으로 계속 변용되어 가는 속성의 아이덴티티라는 이중 구조로 이루어지고 있다는 것이다.

Sociocultural and demographic shifts have resulted in a changing perception of older age. Older women, historically subjected to age-ordering rules of dress, have increasingly refused to be marginalized fashion consumers and have been striving to construct a more positive age identity. Although studies have examined consumers’ negotiation of marginalized identities, age identity has not received much attention as a type of marginalized identity. This study argues that Pinterest acts as a platform for identity work by allowing older women to creatively reconstruct their sense of self by saving images and organizing them into thematic boards. Drawing on symbolic interactionism theory and notions of digital self-presentation, this paper seeks to explore the discursive practices that older women employ on Pinterest to resist ageist fashion discourses. The sample consisted of 15 fashion-oriented Pinterest profiles of older women. Netnographic inquiry was employed first to examine what images were saved and what thematic boards were created. Three analytical frameworks for visual data analysis were integrated to further scrutinize the visual texts within the thematic boards. The analyses revealed three main themes-rejecting age, accepting age, and consuming age. The themes that emerged formed the basis for an age identity reconstruction process whereby women attempted to bridge the existing gap between older age and mainstream fashion discourse.

1960년대 인권운동의 영향으로 동성애나 자유, 평화 등이 현대 사회문화 전반에 새로운 패러다임을 형성하였다. 퀴어 코드도 같은 맥락으로 볼 수 있다. 동성애, 드랙킹/퀸, 바이섹슈얼, 트랜스젠더, 기타 성소수자들의 정체성을 둘러싸고 다양한 담론들이 생산되었다. 이 담론들은 뮤지컬에도 영향을 끼쳤고 그 중 뮤지컬 <헤드윅>, <킹키부츠>는 각각 트랜스젠더와 드랙퀸을 직접적인 소재로 삼았다. 여기서는 주디스 버틀러의 젠더 정체성 이론 가운데, 젠더의 역할, 모방성, 수행성, 에고 등의 키워드를 중심으로 작품을 분석하였다. <헤드윅>과 <킹키부츠>에 나타나는 젠더의 정체성은 사회의 보편적인 성을 표방하면서 주체의 재의미화를 도모하는 특징을 갖는다. 결국 두 작품의 주인공의 경우 주체가 호명에서 복종하지 않는 잉여물들이 현재의 권력에 대립 하고 전복하지만, 이는 단순히 규범 속 권력의 재배치에 불과하다는 것이다. 즉 이미 사회규범상 정해져 있는 젠더의 역할 속에서 남자와 여자라는 보편적인 성 역할을 치환하는 것에 불과하다 는 것을 볼 수 있다. 주인공의 정체성은 젠더와 같이 유동적인 의미를 가지며, 다중적인 젠더 정 체성은 주체의 의미를 재구성하는 동시에 전복이 일어날 수 있는 가능성을 말해준다. 이러한 주체에 대한 재의미화 시도는 기존 성, 젠더, 섹슈얼리티까지 전복시키며 한 인간의 성향과 주체적인 자아 정체성을 상징화한다.

이 연구의 목적은 글로벌시대 디아스포라에 의한 초국적 정체성의 출현과 형성과정, 존재 양상, 기능역할, 작동메커니즘 등을 고찰하는데 있다. 디아스 포라의 초국적 정체성 논쟁과 다양성에 관한 연구결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 초국적 정체성 논쟁은 결국 이주자 개인이 자기인식에 대한 자기결정을 어떻게 대응해 나갈 것인가라는 인정(승인)과 타자와의 관계성에 의해 결정된 것으로 나타났다. 둘째, 개인적 정체성, 집단적 정체성, 문화적 정체성, 국가적 정체성 등 다양한 정체성의 출현은 이주자의 개인적 경험(자기인식)이나, 상호작용(관계성), 불안정한 지위, 정치적 지지 등 다양한 요소들이 결합되어 형성된 것으로 나타났다. 셋째, 글로벌시대 정체성의 개념은 에릭슨의 예상을 훨씬 뛰어넘어 의미확대를 통해 일반인들에게 전폭적으로 전파되었다. 그 이유는 정체성의 개념자체가 개인보다는 민족과 국가라는 보다 확대된 의미 에서 국가이데올로기로서 기능을 수행해왔기 때문이다. 넷째, 초국적 정체성이란 개인의 생물학적 특성이든 민족을 대표하는 추상적인 개념이든 자기결정의 주체성과 감정의지에 의해 끊임없이 반복 재생산되고 있는 것으로 나 타났다. 글로벌시대 초국적 정체성의 가변성과 유동성은 디아스포라 정체성 의 다양성을 초래하였다. 그리고 이러한 초국적 정체성은 개인과 집단의 강 약, 분리와 통합, 새로운 집단의 형성과 유지 등과 직접적인 관련성을 가지고 있는 것으로 나타났다. 다섯째, 사례연구결과, 중국조선족의 초국적 정체 성은 과계민족으로서 중국국적을 소유한 국민정체성, 디아스포라적 관점에서 이중정체성･이중문화 성격의 적극적 활용을 주장하는 ‘제3의 정체성’등으로 다양하게 분화되고 있는 것으로 나타났다. 여섯째, 사례연구결과, 일계브라질 인의 초국적 정체성은 제1유형(일본인 정체성 지향), 제2유형(브라질인 정체 성 지향), 제3유형(일계인 정체성 지향) 등으로 나타났다. 결론적으로 이 연구는 디아스포라의 초국적 정체성이 이주지에서의 차별과 배제를 통해 이주자 자신을 새로운 정체성으로 생산 또는 재생산해 내고 있음을 시사하고 있 다.

이 논문은 1880년대와 1890년대에 예이츠가 민속을 어떻게 활용하는지 는 탐구한다. 예이츠는 민속을 활용하여 자신이 아일랜드인임을 강조하며, 프로테스턴 트교인이면서 중산층 도시민으로서, 아일랜드독립운동에 참여하고자 한다. 아일랜드 농부들의 민속은 보편적 원시종교의 계승이며, 민속과 신비주의는 동일한 곳에서 파생 하다는 것을 보여줌으로써 자신의 아일랜드 정체성을 강조하려는 것이다. 그는 농부들 과 자신이 같은 신비주의적이고 전통적인 신바주의를 공유한다고 강조함으로써 자신 과 농민층과의 연결 짓고 자신의 아일랜드정체성을 갖고자 한다. 문화에 활력을 불어 넣는 예술가로 자처하는 그는, 원시종교의 영항을 보여주는 것 같은 특징을 강조하여 자신과 농산층 사이의 고리를 만듦으로써, 힘을 얻고자 한다.

While there is broad agreement on the importance of an identity-oriented brand understanding and management, there is a high degree of disagreement as regards the definition of the brand identity construct. In the scientific discussion, a definition seems to prevail, in which the brand image that exists among the customers is contrasted with the brand identity which is either only associated with the within the brand company existing picture of the brand (self-image) or at least additionally with the brand’s meaning and goal. Falling back on very different research traditions in the field of the development of an identity theory, it is shown that the construct of brand identity should be understood in a much more comprehensive sense in order to fully unleash its heuristic power. In addition, it seems imperative to take into account that strong brands can become a kind of "personality sui generis", the further development of which cannot only be determined by the company which once brought the brand onto the market. The specific brand identity is much more subject to many social influences involving a huge variety of social actors. Against this background the idea of brand management needs reform, and should be re-conceptualized more in the sense of an attempt to channel all relevant social influences in a targeted manner. In this contribution, a corresponding approach of identity-oriented brand management is presented and illustrated by examples from the fashion sector. This is mainly due to the fact that the identity development of fashion marks depends to a great extent on numerous social influences and influencers.

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.

The market for luxury is changing with new competitors to the market, more modest growth, and new types of customers (Kim and Ko 2012, Ko, Phau and Aiello 2016) as well as the ubiquity of digital marketing channels (Okonkwo 2009). Moreover, social media has transformed the logic of fashion marketing by providing new ways of engaging, interacting, and connecting with customers (Dhaoui 2014) as well as enabling consumers to participate in branding process (Burman 2010). As a consequence, also luxury brands need to develop experience-based marketing strategies that emphasise interactivity, connectivity and creativity (Atwal and Williams 2009). What is more, despite of growing importance of social media marketing in luxury industry, extant research on the topic still remains quite limited (Ko and Megehee 2012). While the previous studies have well documented the benefits of luxury marketing on social media (Kim and Ko 2012, Kim and Ko 2010, Brogi et al. 2013, Kontu and Vecchi 2014, Godey et al. 2016), and their implications on luxury brand management (Dhaoui 2014, Larraufie and Kourdoughli 2014), and even co-creative marketing practices (Choi, Ko and Kim 2016, Tynan, McKehnie, and Chuon 2010), no studies to this date have looked at co-creation from consumer-perspective. This article provides a novel perspective on luxury branding, by following the resource-based theory of consumer (Arnould, Price and Malshe 2006) to study the brand identity as co-created in social media. To do this, visual frame analysis (Goffman 1974, Luhtakallio 2013) is applied on consumer generated images downloaded from Instagram feed of brand exhibition staged by luxury brand Louis Vuitton. Based on the analysis, a typology of co-created brand identities is proposed. The findings indicate that in the branded exhibitions, consumers co-create brand identity by utilising resources available in the experiential brandscape by taking and posting these objectifications of brand on social media (Presi et al. 2016) and in so doing create symbolic/expressive, and experiential/hedonic value (Tynan et al. 2010). Theoretically, this article provides a novel perspective on luxury brand as co-created and in so doing, demonstrates the dynamics of firm-consumer co-creation. What is more, to extend the emerging stream of visual analysis of luxury (Kim et al. 2016, Freire 2014, Megehee and Spake 2012), an application of novel is demonstrated in the article. Managerially, this explorative study provides new insights on luxury marketing in social media by suggesting that branded experiences should be designed in a manner that engages the consumer to actively use the resources available to them. The financial implications of this shift are also significant as according to McKinsey study, three out of four luxury purchases are influenced by social media (Hope 2016)