The objective of this study was to explore the role of familiarity in cross-cultural product perception and perception changes according to food systems (hot sauce and spicy-chicken) in Korean and US consumers. Free choice profiling was conducted by Korean and US consumers on four spicy-chicken samples made using four hot sauce samples. Half of the hot sauce samples were selected to be more familiar to US consumers and vice versa to Korean consumers. A previous study that investigated cross-cultural perceptions of the same four hot sauce samples in US and Korean consumers was incorporated in this study. For distinct sample differences, US and Korean consumers perceived products similarly. However, for less obvious differences, flavor familiarity seemed to affect consumers’ product perceptions. In addition, product perceptions changed more dramatically according to food systems for familiar samples in each country. The findings of this study show that consumers’ product perception can be affected by flavor familiarities.

Purpose of this study is to investigate structural behavior of the rectangular hollow column with various transverse reinforcement details. Experimental variables are diameter, arrangement details and lateral spacing of cross tie. A total of 66 column specimens have been prepared and tested under axial compressive load. Test results showed that behaviors of column specimens were different depending on the cross tie details. Specimens with cross tie wrapping longitudinal steel and transverse steel have greater strength and ductility than specimens with cross tie wrapping the longitudinal steel.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of ionized calcium treatment on total bacterial cross-contamination of chicken carcass surface in the slaughtering process. The growth of Escherichia coli was strongly inhibited in a medium prepared by using a 0.5% ionized calcium solution. The total bacterial cross-contamination of chicken carcass surface and the scalding water was significantly increased as the number of scalding was increased (p<0.05). The total bacterial cross-contamination of chicken carcass surface reached a plateau without a further increase as scalding was performed consecutively for 10 or more times. The total bacterial cross-contamination of the scalding water was significantly increased as the number of scalding was increased (p<0.05). The total bacterial cross-contamination of chicken carcass surface of the chickens raised on a floor type farm was significantly higher than that of the chickens raised in a battery cages (p<0.05). The total bacterial cross-contamination of chicken carcass surface of the chickens raised on a floor type farm was significantly lower in the 0.5% ionized calcium solution treatment group than in the control group (p<0.05).

목 적: 난시안의 정확한 교정을 위해 자각적굴절검사에서 크로스실린더렌즈의 필요성을 제시하고자 하였다. 방 법: 근시성 난시를 가지고 있는 경기도 일부지역 대학생 159 안을 대상으로, Phoropter(Topon ACP-8, Japan)와 방사선시표를 이용하여 난시를 교정한 후 잭슨크로스실린더렌즈를 이용하여 난시 정밀검 사를 실시하였다. 방사선시표를 이용한 난시축과 난시량 검사결과와 크로스실린더렌즈를 이용하여 난시 정 밀검사 후의 난시축과 난시량을 비교 분석하였다. 결 과: 난시량은 방사선시표를 이용했을 때는 1.27±5.58D, 크로스실린더렌즈를 이용하여 정밀검사 후 는 1.64±7.86 D 이었으며, 통계학적으로 유의한 차이가 없었다(p>0.05). 난시교정 축방향은 방사선시표 이 용했을 때는 122.77±63.85°, 크로스실린더렌즈를 이용하여 정밀검사한 후는 112.37±67.20° 이었으며, 통계학적으로 서로 유의한 차이가 있었다(p<0.05). 결 론: 난시량과 난시축이 부정확하게 처방된 난시교정안경의 착용은 잔여난시를 생성하게 하여 안정피 로를 초래할 수 있으므로, 임상에서 크로스실린더렌즈를 활용한 난시 정밀검사가 필요하다.

Theories of advanced composite structures are too difficult for such field engineers and some simple methods are necessary. In this paper, Simple method of vibration analysis is presented. This method presented in this paper is studied self-weight and other loads. The result of the 2~3 times iteration is good enough for field engineering purposes. In the case of cantilevered composite materials beams with different cross section, increase of mass near the support does not significantly affect the vibration characteristics. As a calculations of the simple method of vibration analysis for cantilevered composite materials beams with different cross section, it is noted that the result of the second cycle at the point of free end (actually 5L/6 span) is only 2.2% away from the ‘exact’ solution.

가교(cross-link)는 사슬 내 외부의 유동성 감소 및 사슬 간격 변화, 내화학성, 내가소성, 선택도 등 기체분리막의 성능을 향상시키기 위한 여러 가지 개질 방법 중 하나이다. 본 연구는 선형의 지방족 가교제를 도입하여 폴리이미드 분리 막을 제조하였고 기존 폴리이미드 분리막이 가지고 있는 기체 분리 성능보다 더욱 향상시키고자 하였다. 가교 후 지방족 가교제의 분해와 주쇄의 이미드 고리의 풀림으로 인해 가교 전 보다 열분해 온도는 감소함을 확인하였다. 또한, 가교제의 사슬길이, 가교도와는 관계없이 가교 후 기체의 확산 감소로 인한 투 과도가 감소하는 것을 확인하였다. 기체분리특성은 CH4, N2, O2, CO2에 대한 단 일 기체로 측정하였으며 CO2/CH4, O2/N2 선택도는 가교 전보다 후가 더욱 향상 된 결과를 나타내었다.

In this study, factors analysis is performed for reducing friction in elevation motion of a large television stand over 50-inch. The first is a pipe type cross-section control for accurate position control of the piston rod. Here it was compared with the pipe type and labyrinth type orifice cross-section. The second study is for specification decision and volume compensation experiment as an apparatus for compensating of the volume of the cylinder is compressed as the volume of piston rod. Consequently, in the orifice cross section study between pipe type and labyrinth type through CAE and experimental consideration, cross section of labyrinth type orifice is preferred for reducing of friction. The result of total consideration in stability problem and performance of volume compensation for specification decision and volume compensation experiment is determined the final speculation of hollow rod φ8×φ4 and riveting system.

In this study, factors analysis is performed for reducing friction in elevation motion of a large television stand over 50-inch. The first is a pipe type cross-section control for accurate position control of the piston rod. Here, it was compared with the pipe type and labyrinth type orifice cross-section. The second study attempted to reduce the frictional force the gas seal lip technology. As the result of the first study, in the orifice cross section study between pipe type and labyrinth type through CAE and experimental consideration, cross section of labyrinth type orifice is preferred for reducing of friction. As the result of the second study, in the gas seal lip technology, the outer-inner diameter of φ20×φ8 in the test result of hollow rod is revealed more proper if the weight of 50 inch television assumed as 30kgf.

본 논문에서는 Co-Rotational plane beam transient analysis EDISON program(CR-보)를 이용한 에어포일 단면형상 변화 에 따른 진동특성 연구를 수행하였다. Co-Rotational 평면 보 해석은 대 회전과 작은 변형률을 갖는 보 해석에 적합하다. 항 공기의 날개를 외팔보로 가정하여, VABS를 통한 단면해석과 Fourier 변환을 통해 각 단면형상 변화에 따른 에어포일의 고 유진동수를 비교하였다. VABS를 사용하여 단면의 형상과 재료의 적층 정보를 고려한 단면에서의 유한요소 해석을 수행하 였다. 에어포일의 재질, spar 유무, 단일 등방성 재료·복합재료, 에어포일 최대두께의 변화에 따라 에어포일의 끝단 진폭과 고유진동수가 변화함을 확인할 수 있었다. 이를 바탕으로 에어포일 고유진동수 변화는 2차 관성모멘트/단면적, 밀도, 영률의 변화에 상당한 영향을 받음을 알 수 있었다.

Endocrine system of hormones is the critical factor for the development of testes. The levels of hormones are orchestrated by a positive or negative feedback system controlled by the hyphothalamic-pituitary-gonad axis. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of unbalanced endocrine system induced by the hemi-castration on testicular development in stallions. Four Thoroughbred stallions (age ranging from 3 to 5 yr) were used in this study. To disturb endocrine system, hemicastration has been performed on the stallions. Several parameters including testicular weight, volume, germ cell population on the cross-sections of round tubule, and the area of seminiferous tubules of stallion testes collected at the 1st hemi-castration and the 2nd hemi-castration (about 1 year after 1st hemi-castration) were compared. Testosterone levels were compared for 3 weeks before, after 1st castration, and before 2nd castration using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) analysis. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) procedure was conducted to compare germ cell populations between after 1st and 2nd castration using VASA antibody. The VASA positive cell population per a cross section of round seminiferous tubule was obtained by monitoring 100 tubules. Interestingly, the weight of testes obtained at 2nd hemi-castration (384±14 g) were significantly higher compared to that of testes collected at the 1st hemi-castration (288±34 g). The volume of testes (306±34 ml) collected at the 2nd hemi-castration was higher than that of testes (169±18 ml) collected at the 1st castration. In contrast, VASA positive germ cell population on the cross section of round tubule (124.9±12.4 vs 142.9±21.6) and the area of round tubule (124±9.7 vs 122.9±1.7 mm2) were not different after 1st castration and 2nd castration. the testosterone levels in the blood collected before, after 1st castration, and before 2nd castration were not significantly different. In conclusion, the hemi-castration induces testicular development to maintain the normal reproductive systems in stallions.

Firms acquire customers using myriad forms of marketing media (Neslin & Shankar 2009), and different media strategies yield different results to the firms. Therefore, allocating media strategy given a firm’s spending raises important questions for managers. This is especially the case since the media landscape has changed dramatically, with new media channels incorporating online, mobile, and social media now being considered the mainstream. It is crucial to understand how each form of media influences consumers and how it operates alongside traditional media. Based on Stephen and Galak (2012), marketers distinguish earned media from paid media. Earned media is defined as media activity that a company does not directly generate, such as press mentions on the internet and online community posts in consumer-generated social media. On the other hand, paid media refers to the media activity which a company generates (for example, television, radio, print, and direct mail). It is common for firms to consider using earned media and paid media at the same time when developing marketing communication strategies. Despite the coexistence of paid and earned media channels, previous empirical findings focus either on paid media or earned media and suggest that these individually will increase a firm’s marketing outcomes. However, there is a lack of research that examines the question of whether the use of paid media and earned media at the same time is synergistic. The effects of a cross media synergy only focuses on the resource allocation within paid media (for example, TV–Radio (Edell & Keller 1989), TV–Magazine (Confer & McGlathery 1991), TV–Print (Dijkstra, Buijtels, & Van Raaij 2005), and TV, Radio, Print and Outdoor (Briggs, Krishnan, & Sheeran 2003)). Thus, by considering paid media and earned media concurrently, this study investigates whether the synergies between paid and earned media have a stronger effect on a firm’s long term profitability than the isolated effects of TV or word of mouth (WOM) alone. In addition, the research on earned media has focused on short-term outcomes such as customer actions (for example, website sign-ups) and sales growth, sales rank, cross-product sales, and ratings (Trusov, Bucklin, & Pauwels 2009; Li & Hitt 2008; Moe & Trusov 2011). Moreover, in the limited research on the relationship between earned media and long-term outcomes, the outcomes are restricted to those related to soft metrics of communication effectiveness (for example, attitude and brand awareness). Therefore, we use customer equity, which is regarded as a forward looking firm outcome variable, thereby enabling marketers to monitor and measure the long-term financial impact of marketing spending (Kumar & Shah 2015). Moreover, cross-media synergy can be accurately measured by customer equity, which incorporates both customer acquisition and retention. Based on Villanueva, Yoo, and Hassens (2008), customers acquired through paid media focus more on trials, whereas customers acquired through earned media provide the firm with more repeats. In other words, paid media plays a key role in the acquisition of customers, while, on the other hand, earned media increase the retention of customers. Thus, it is appropriate to measure the cross-media synergy with the customer equity (long term profitability) that can capture the customer acquisition and retention simultaneously. Regarding the long term impact of the firm’s media strategy, previous research has used the economic impact of traditional marketing channel (for example, television, radio, magazine or newspaper, advertisement, e-mail links, and direct mail) versus that of WOM (for example, links from Web sites, magazine, or newspaper articles, referrals from friends or colleagues, referrals from professional organizations or associations, and referrals from search engines) on customer equity. Traditional marketing had a stronger effect than WOM in the short term, while WOM is a quiet, gradual-impact, long lasting driver (Villanueva, Yoo, & Hassens 2008). This result can be attributed to the different characteristics of each media channel. Although earned media, including WOM, is not entirely controlled by the firm, earned media may be more likely to last longer for various reasons. One of the reasons for this phenomenon is that earned media has greater credibility than conventional marketing activities that are implemented by the firms, and is therefore more persuasive than conventional advertising (Brown & Reingen 1987, Villanueva, Yoo, & Hassens 2008). In other words, considering the impact of each type of media in itself, earned media is more effective in increasing long-term profitability. However, the interaction effect of earned and paid media has not been empirically tested yet. Thus, it is conceivable that a cross-media synergy (incorporating the implementation of earned media and paid media at the same time) will last longer than the implementation of each isolated media. As Armelini and Villanueva (2010) pointed out, earned media and paid media have complementary effects. For example, offline advertising increases website visitation by influencing consumer awareness, while online advertising directly leads to website traffic (Ilfeld & Winer 2002). The consumer buying process involves distinct stages such as awareness, consideration, and purchase (Lavidge & Stener 2000) and each media influences customer buying behavior in a different way. Hence, it enhances the effectiveness in terms of long-term profitability to utilize the cross-media effect properly. For example, in the car industry, 64 % new car buyers become aware of the features and benefits of a car by obtaining information online, even though they purchase their cars from an offline dealership (J.D. Power and Associates 2004). This finding implies that a firm’s implementation of both paid and earned media properly will maximize the customers’ arousal of the target brands. Furthermore, converging paid media and earned media is expected to proliferate the growth of a firm’s profitability, such as sales, revenue, and customer’s equity, at an exponential rate. For example, the effects of TV advertising execution can be enhanced by press mentions that a company does not directly generate; this is because press mentions support the credence of TV advertising. Inversely, since paid media activities reach the audience relatively more than WOM (due to the high audience penetration share), the online share of press mention can proliferate rapidly with the execution of paid media activities. Therefore, the interaction between earned media and paid media has a greater effect on customer equity than isolated media implementation. The impact of a media synergy has more positive effect and last longer than isolated media implementation (and our model is displayed in Fig. 1). We collect data on marketing efforts, word-of-mouth circumstance, and performance of a telecommunication company. Based on customer equity models and quarterly marketing and performance data, we first estimate the lifetime value of the newly acquired and existing customers. Thereafter, we determine the customer equity of the company over each period. We develop and employ a time-series model for examining the relationship between cross media efforts (paid media vs. earned media) and the estimated firm’s customer equity. Finally, we examine the synergistic effect of cross media on the firm’s long-term profitability.

Well-developed listening skills are crucial to success in the marketing profession. Poor listening skills have been rated as the most important contributing factor to salesperson failure (Ingram et al., 1992). Listening errors can result in conflicts, missed business opportunities, alienated relationships, and a waste of time and money (Bergeron & Laroche, 2009). Recognizing the importance of effective listening, organizations such as Pfizer, Ford, IBM have introduced listening training programs for all their personnel (Shepherd et al., 1997). A number of definitions exist for “listening” (e.g., Bergeron & Laroche, 2009). From the marketing perspective, this paper adopts a well-accepted listening definition as “the cognitive process of actively sensing, interpreting, evaluating and responding to the verbal and nonverbal messages of present or potential customers” (Castleberry & Shepherd, 1993, p.36). Prior research has underscored the importance of “active listening” strategies such as active empathetic listening (Drollinger et al., 2006; Bodie, 2011); adaptive selling (Spiro & Weitz, 1990); and listening across cultures (Imhof & Janusik, 2006). However, despite its importance, neither marketing students nor professionals receive coaching or instruction for situations when listening is particularly difficult – i.e., when we are required to listen carefully to another person in the presence of hindrances to communication (distractions, inattention, poor delivery). Salespeople, students, journalists, counselors … are often faced with the task of “tough listening” - when they must listen carefully to a person that is not communicating in an interesting or engaging manner, when the environment is full of distractions, or when they as listeners are fatigued. The major hindrances to effective listening have been well documented, but extant research that addresses how people might overcome those hindrances is scant. The purpose of this paper is to explore the range of strategies that people use to improve their comprehension and empathy of others when they wish to listen carefully but find it difficult to do so. The practice of effective listening is perhaps one of the most human and fundamental components of community, commerce, and culture. Several academic disciplines such as marketing, education, communication, and psychology have closely examined the listening process in an effort to understand and improve it.

The Chinese ecosystem (especially in traditional markets) has been completely subverted by on-line stores such as Taobao and JingDong after 2010. This research is to understand how to improve traditional markets since 92.5% practitioners in the retail industry conduct business in traditional markets. By the mean time Korean traditional markets attract more customers. In this research the multi-group analysis is used to analyze the difference between Chines customers and Korean customers upon customer equity in traditional markets. The research objectives are: First, to understand the relationships among service quality, customer equity drivers and customer satisfaction in Chinese and Korean traditional markets; Second, find out how to improve the three drivers of customer equity through these variables mentioned above in traditional markets. In this study the relationships among service quality, the drivers of customer equity, customer satisfaction and customer lifetime value were studied based on the analysis of the data which were collected in Chinese and Korean traditional markets.

Cross-buying refers to the customer action of buying additional products and/or services from the same provider (Valentin 2004). With the belief that cross-buying enables firms to increase profit from existing customers, firms have steadily placed greater emphasis on cross-selling strategies for profitability. To date, numerous studies show that cross-buying behavior of customers has a positive effect on firm profitability. Business reality, however, offers a different perspective; namely, that high levels of cross-buying may not always be linked to firm profitability. For example, Best Buy (an electronics retailer in the United States) has identified approximately 20% of its customers as unprofitable in spite of them purchasing multiple items (McWilliams 2004). Shah, Kumar, Qu, and Chen (2012) found that customers who persistently exhibit certain types of behavior (e.g., excessive service requests, high levels of returning products, lower levels of revenue growth, promotion maximizers) are unprofitable even though they purchased more than one product category.The aforementioned research implies that cross-buying can exert a negative impact on profitability, thereby calling for further examination of cross-buying behavior. It is conceivable that a repeated purchase propensity (contrasted with a cross-buying propensity) concentrated on a single brand is more profitable. Therefore, our primary objective in this paper is to identify a more beneficial type of customer among those who tend to patronize a limited number of brands versus those who tend to patronize a variety of brands, using a one-dimensional model (brand dispersion index). In addition, the second goal of this research is to investigate the boundary conditions where cross-buying will not lead to an increase in sales (unprofitable cross-buying conditions). As two moderating factors that weaken a customer’s crossbuying propensity and a firm’s sales (frequency and transaction size of firms), we consider (1) promotion dependency and (2) spending limiter condition. We use transaction data that include partners in various industries such as gasoline stations, convenience stores, banks, restaurants, and online shopping malls, covering forty-seven categories. Because multiple partners in many categories are available, this allows us to study whether a customer’s cross-buying level in the current period (t) affects the customer’s purchase frequency and transaction size in the subsequent period (t+1). The observation period for the data set extends over three years. Findings from this study indicate that a high level of cross-buying at period t has a positive impact on increasing customer frequencies and transaction sizes in the subsequent (t+1) period. This means that cross-buying has the potential to increase the firm’s profitability. Customers who show a high level of cross-buying propensity tend to exhibit higher levels of loyalty than customers who concentrated on limited brands. Firms should find ways to induce customers with low cross-buying propensity to increase crossbuying. Regarding moderating effects, promotion dependency and spending growth (decline vs. stagnation), spending growth has a considerable moderating effect on the relationship between cross-buying propensity and a customer’s transaction size. Specifically, the effect of cross-buying on transaction size weakens when spending is shrinking. This result makes an important contribution to cross-buying research. If customers showing a high level of cross-buying do not increase their spending level, they may be merely switching to other brands in the program under a fixed budget. So while the rate of crossbuying seems to increase, profit might not increase. The findings from this study imply that it is crucial to target and motivate customers who tend to use various brands and contribute to sales to do more cross-buying instead of suggesting cross-buying to random customers. The promotion dependency, however, turns out to not have significant moderating effects on the relationship between the customer’s propensity to cross-buying and the customer’s purchase frequency and transaction size. For marketing purposes, it is important to consider which customers are more profitable among those who tend to do cross-buying among multi-brands versus those who tend to purchase repeatedly in a limited number of brands. This research provides a solution with a one-dimensional index, the brand dispersion index. Whether cross-buying is shown to be a positive or negative impact on sales, the results are meaningful in implementing customer relationship management. Regardless of the direction in the level of crossbuying, both directions provide a solution to allocate marketing resources. For instance, if the propensity for cross-buying increases sales, the firm should implement marketing strategies to encourage people to use a variety of brands by adding new brands. If repeat purchases increase sales, the company should concentrate on certain brands that customers use most frequently. In addition, by finding the conditions that do not increase sales (e.g., spending limiter condition), it makes marketing practitioners think that cross-buying does not always bring positive results. Overall, the findings from this study are that it is crucial to motivate and target customers who tend to use various brands and contribute to sales to do crossbuying activity, instead of promoting cross-buying to random customers. Conceptual Framework Figure 1 provides an overview of our framework for the relationship between brand dispersion and visiting frequency and transaction size of customers. Specifically, we hypothesize how customer frequencies and transaction sizes in time t+1 will be influenced by customer brand dispersion levels (the extent that customer transactions occur across a broad range of brands) in time t. In addition, we examine the moderating influence of two customer specific variables: (1) degree of promotion dependency and (2) spending limits.

Fashion bloggers and their personal brands have attracted significant attention in recent years, as prior research has indicated their importance in shaping the fashion industry. As fashion is cultural-specific social construct, to understand how bloggers’ personal brands are developed, it is critical to examine the practices of bloggers from two different cultures, namely, Taiwanese and American. The two cultures are chosen because fashionable persons in the U.S. are well established and can be considered as qualified brands that accumulate a significant amount of followers and fame. However, this institutional process is still under development in Taiwan where routine practices, norms and rules, and the structural features that serve to guide and constrain the behaviours of individuals have yet been established. To focus on the practices within the institution, the framework of practice theory is applied to analyze how individual bloggers negotiate their ways to become branded persons. Focusing on the best practices in the field, 20 most popular fashion blogs from the U.S. and Taiwan were selected in the sample. The verbal and visual texts visible in these blogs are analyzed. The results suggest that moving from amateur bloggers who take interests in fashion to establishing a well-connected fashionable persona in the fashion industry is a long process of celebrities in the making. The contrasts between the two countries indicate that cultural elements are important factors to consider in understanding the formation of persona-fied brands. It appears that the usual assumption of distinction between the public persona and the private persona does not always imply in persona-fied brands. When the external institutions have yet been established, the practices of such a distinction may prove to be challenging. While all the bloggers included in the sample are still unified persons that encompass both the creation and the execution of the personal brands. U.S. bloggers are slowly moving toward professional management of the brands where they see themselves as persona-fied brands and where other persons may execute the brandable qualities on their behalf. On the other hand, Taiwanese bloggers rarely make such a distinction. In fact, most of the bloggers have yet identified the two facets in their personas. They do not see themselves as micro-celebrities that stand in a higher level of the hierarchy than their fans. They regard themselves as part of a fashionable community where others appreciate their taste. This is evident by the practices of how they organize their communities and how they interact with their fan bases.

In 2015, the size of China’s cross-border shopping market was 97.3 billion dollars. The market increased by 63% during the last 5 years (Mun, 2016), and is expected to rise to 220 billion dollars by the year 2020. According to the e-commerce export trends of the Korea customs administration, in August 2015, the largest exporter was China (42%) and the largest export was clothing (52%) (Song, 2016). Accordingly, Korean corporations and brands are focusing on Haitao (海淘族, who enjoy cross-border online shopping) and proceeding to build customized websites and mobile platforms. Even though China's cross-border shopping is consistently growing, insufficient information is available to Chinese consumers. Hence, this research study is based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and analyzes the factors that influence the behavior of Chinese consumers in cross-border shopping the theory of planned behavior (TPB). The objective of this research is to identify how shopping values, subjective norms, attitudes, and perceived behavior controls influence the behavioral intention of Chinese consumers toward cross-border shopping. The respondents of this study were 20 to 30-year-old Chinese who live in first and second-tier cities in China, and have experienced cross-border shopping. Samples were collected through an online survey website, Sojump (问卷星), and 205 valid questionnaire responses were received. Reliability analysis, factor analysis and SEM (Structural Equation Modeling) were used to validate the measurement model and test the hypotheses with SPSS 21.0 and AMOS 18.0. The findings reveal that the utilitarian values and perceived behavioral controls of Chinese consumers have a positive effect on their attitudes toward cross-border shopping. Furthermore, their behavioral intentions were affected by their attitudes, and their perceived behavioral controls in cross-border shopping excluded subjective norms. The results of the study have implications for Korean fashion retailers who plan to exploit Chinese markets and for the formation of a theoretical basis for cross-border shopping.

Building on a sociological perspective, this study empirically examines how transformation expectations relate to conspicuous consumption and impulse buying by comparing Eastern (Thai) and Western (U.S.) consumers to scrutinize how consumers from completely different cultural and economic profiles diverge from each other with respect to their product/service expectations and their purchase and consumption tendencies. While Thailand represents a small developing economy, the U.S. denotes a large developed nation. Furthermore, Thai culture is characterized by a relatively high uncertainty avoidance, large power distance, femininity, and collectivism, whereas American culture is viewed as an individualist, masculine, risk-taking, and small power distance one (Hofstede, Hofstede & Minkov, 2010). The relationships set forth in this study are woven together based on the expectations states theory (EST), which generally bridges consumers’ expectations with their actions (i.e., the behaviors of buying impulsively and consuming conspicuously in this study). Our focal construct, transformation expectations, is treated as a second-order construct, consisting of four dimensions: “self-,” “relationship,” “hedonic,” and “efficacy” transformations. We postulate that transformation expectations positively influence conspicuous consumption and impulse buying, and that the relationships are moderated by culture. The data were collected from consumers in Thailand and the U.S. using a self-administered survey by means of quota and purposive sampling techniques. Our final sample size consists of 347 Thai consumers and 320 American consumers. The findings in this study show support for all hypothesized relationships. Both Thais and Americans tend to consume more conspicuously and purchase more impulsively when they have higher expectations that a product enables them to transform their lives. Surprisingly, the test of the moderating effect of culture showed a stronger relationship amongst Thai consumers. This finding contradicts to previous empirical evidences suggested in the literature. Future study thus should replicate and/or extend this study to confirm and validate the results so that appropriate marketing strategies can be tailored to fit diverse groups of consumers across the globe.

Increasing consumer scepticism about corporate behaviour has led companies to actively manage and advertise their corporate brands. However, it remains unclear how receptive consumers across different markets have been to such efforts. This study examines (i) consumer involvement (a motivational state activated by personal relevance of a stimuli) levels and (ii) processes with corporate advertising to demonstrate differences and similarities with product advertising across multiple markets. Using between subject experimental design, the study was conducted across three different markets with varying degrees of economic development i.e. USA (n = 285), France (n = 217) and Pakistan (n=311). Results demonstrate that consumer involvement levels with corporate advertising is higher in USA than in France and Pakistan. American consumers tend to be involved with corporate advertising as much as they are with product advertising, whereas, French and Pakistani consumers are more involved with product advertising. Apart from differences in involvement levels, study findings demonstrate substantial similarities in involvement processing and how they impact ad attitude and consumers’ behaviour across both the markets. The study holds importance for corporate communication and product managers with cross national responsibilities as it establishes differences and similarities for corporate and product ad involvement across developed and emerging markets.

With the rapid development of digital technologies and the Internet, the boundaries between countries are shrinking and markets are becoming global (Oh et al., 2016). Simultaneously, cross-border online shopping is another trend that has spread across the world, and global e-commerce has now become a reality (Johnson et al., 2003; Moore, 2015). However, in prior studies related to eWOM, the national culture has received little attention among the numerous factors that could adjust the effect of eWOM (Christodoulides et al., 2012). In addition, in the real world, although individuals are frequently exposed to combined eWOM messages containing both positive and negative information about the same product, most previous studies on eWOM have focused on the one-sided eWOM valence. There are not many empirical studies on the influence of the two-sided eWOM valence on consumers’ persuasions. Thus, Study I examines the attitude effect of the two-sided eWOM valence from a cross-cultural perspective, particularly on the basis of the differences in thinking styles between the Easterners and Westerners. For this, we use a 2[Valence: positive/negative, negative/positive] x 2[Culture: East (South Korea), West (United States)] factorial design. To classify the culture, the thinking style was measured as a within-group variable. As a result, the interaction effect between valence and culture (nation) was significant. Specifically, in the East (South Korea), no significant difference existed in the changes in brand attitude depending on the two-sided eWOM valence, whereas brand attitude changes from a negative/positive presentation order in the West (United States) were significantly larger than the positive/negative presentation order. Study II demonstrates the mediated moderation effect of perceived cognition congruency in a cross-cultural setting for explaining the underlying mechanism. Drawing on the cognitive fit theory, we present a two-sided eWOM-consumers’ perceived cognition congruency proposition: the two-sided eWOM valence that matches the information processing order consumers habitually have would facilitate the favorable comprehension (reflected by perceived cognition congruency) and assessment (reflected by changes in brand attitude) of the reviews. As a result, the two-sided eWOM valence indirectly affects brand attitude changes by mediating perceived cognition congruency. This valence directly affects the brand attitude changes in the Westerner (United States) group, which has an analytical thinking style. However, the direct and indirect effects of two-sided eWOM valence on brand attitude changes are not significant in the Easterner (South Korea) group, which has a holistic thinking style. This examination might explain why differences in the changes in brand attitude between the Easterners and Westerners were revealed through the twosided eWOM valence, thus providing in-depth insights into consumer responses for the valence. This study expands the diversity of studies conducted on the characteristics of the two-sided eWOM. Furthermore, it is expected to provide a strategic direction and practical implications for two-sided eWOM-driven information management by organizations.

This paper establishes the link between the “World of Barbie” and its influence in shaping the mindset of young, educated, urban Indian girls born post 1985 to belong to an albeit Transnational Imagined Community. Barbie, launched in India in 1985 by Mattel Toys India Ltd, quickly captured the mind, hearts and lives of young girls in the age 4-8years. Girls in the urban affluent Indian households became addicted to this “World of Barbie” and have enthusiastically imbibed the Barbie culture. Barbie, as Macdougall (2003) calls is a “Transnational Commodity”, has changed the way young Indian girls think of themselves belonging to a “Transnational Imagined Community”’ – be it the type of outfit they wear, how they converse with their peers, the way they define ‘glamour’ or ‘well-turned out’, or their aspired future state. The authors conducted a research amongst English speaking educated urban Indian affluent girls born between 1985 and 1998 who have internalized the “World of Barbie” which includes fashion accessories, bath sets, kitchen accessories etc. and enquired into how young girls think beyond their immediate environment , so as to delve deeper into the seminal work of Anderson(1983) on “Imagined Communities”. The present paper adopts the mix method research approach. Study 1 (Depth Interview) uses the deep understanding principle of case study research. Case study research is knowledge of “sense-making” processes created by individuals for a given stimuli (Woodside, 2010). Theory is built using case study research (CSR). “CSR method is an inquiry that focuses on describing, understanding, predicting, and/or controlling the individual” (Woodside (2010). Using CSR approach, Study 2 (focus group discussion) with Control group (girls not played with Barbie) and Research group (played with Barbie) was conducted. The authors used interpretive phenomenological analysis to infer the transcripts to understand the influence of “World of Barbie” on Transnational Imagined Community. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) explores in detail how participants are making sense of their personal and social world; the inferences were given conceptual code as following factors viz.,i) Past memories with Barbie, ii) Possession Attachment iii) Personal Internalization, iv) Behavioral Manifestation v) Global Imagined Community. The study 3 was fixed point (Likert type) survey analysis. The questionnaire consisted of 35 questions covering above mentioned factors. The final survey was conducted with sample size of N= 315. Structural equation modeling was used to derive the results. To conclude, ‘home country culture’ into which the respondent is born is seen to be malleable if internalization of certain alien culturalartifacts are positively imbibed into early childhood. The process of internalization of this new culture should be embedded in early childhood memories to bring about this cultural transformation in adulthood. This process of reculturation in the young urban Indian girls has been facilitated through the ‘World of Barbie’ helping their mindset to migrate into a distinctly different global culture as defined in the Transnational Imagined Community.